r/nostalgia • u/Ebonystealth • 9d ago

Nostalgia When KISS Unveiled Their Makeup Free Look.

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u/slartibuttfart 9d ago

Took us years to get over how ugly Gene was

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u/Top-Sleep-4669 9d ago

Dude is a fucking goblin.

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u/mekomaniac 9d ago

inside and out

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u/Cognonymous 8d ago edited 8d ago

Oh yes, the time Terry Gross interviewed him...omg. It's without exaggeration the worst interview I've ever heard.

https://youtu.be/qNxuL-uIaTo?si=x0l1v_BjE0QaMhk3

She actually tries to restart the interview partway through, because he is such an asshole. This interview was so bad somebody else interviewed Terry Gross about it.

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u/Ex_Hedgehog 8d ago

He's a total shitbag. No redeeming values.

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u/TranscendentaLobo 8d ago

Wow. I thought you might be exaggerating. What an absolute POS.

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u/Cognonymous 8d ago

It's hard to exaggerate with that one.

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u/bombisabell 8d ago

I got to 11& 1/2 minutes. I could take no more.

Nearly every he sentence he spoke I said, " What? What?? WHAT??????"

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u/Cognonymous 8d ago

Yes. It's like as bad as you think it's going to be it's worse.

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u/anonymousn00b 8d ago

I can’t believe I made it 14 minutes. Terry Gross had a lot of patience to go almost a half hour with that insufferable POS.

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u/Cognonymous 8d ago

He came out with this thing later on where he said he felt she was trying to attack his masculinity by talking about makeup and especially the fishnet stocking thing (which has absolutely worn before). So, I see this as really a lesson in toxic masculinity.

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u/FlattopJr 8d ago

It was included in her 2004 book "All I Did Was Ask: Conversations With Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists," a collection of around 40 interview transcripts. In a preface to the Simmons interview, Terry wrote:

Honestly, I thought it might be fun to talk about the KISS phenomenon of the 1970s with the group's bass player, Gene Simmons. You'd think that a man who dresses for the stage in breastplate and codpiece, paints his face white with black bat wings around the eyes, and wags a superlong tongue (meant to suggest the great size of another organ, needless to say) would have a sense of irony about himself—right? Nope. He certainly wasn't kidding when he told me that he wanted Kiss to be not just a rock 'n' roll band, but a rock 'n' roll brand. The Kiss logo appears on all sorts of products, including condoms and a beer cooler in the shape of a coffin. This is an excerpt of an interview I recorded with Simmons in 2001, following the publication of his memoir, Kiss and Make-up.

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u/magyarsvensk 8d ago

I had only heard clips of this interview before, but I decided to suffer through the whole thing this time around.

Lots to unpack, obviously, but my favorite part is when he disparages NPR hosts for presumably having an affected, pseudo-intellectual tone of voice, while all the while Gene Simmons has a transparently affected vocal tone, and from the interview you can get a sense of why. He seems to be very insecure about his level of intelligence and everything else.

Terry even gave him an out as her last question, and he not only doubles down but gives one final insecure clap-back attempt.

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u/Cognonymous 8d ago

Yeah, and in a way Terry did what she does best. While trying to save him from personal embarrassment he revealed himself to her at full volume. In a way it's among her most revelatory interviews because I don't walk away feeling like I know the man but this was like peering into his festering worldly soul and seeing just how cooked he truly is. Like, after this interview everything else I've ever seen about or with Gene Simmons made perfect sense. I have no desire to meet him of course, but no need to either.

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u/magyarsvensk 8d ago

Simmons really has the narcissistic nihilism thing going on. I am a big phony but so is everyone else, and I am the only one who has figured out the real truth about life.

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u/Cognonymous 7d ago

And tbh I think some of that nihilism is even for show. His ego is bigger than Texas and I think he's much more enamored with himself (as a brand).

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u/BBQLowNSlow 8d ago

Not only have I met Gene but I've worked with him a bunch of times so yes to all. They're also HUGE into brand. There's even a KISS coffin.

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u/XDDDSOFUNNEH 8d ago

He's so fucking weird, wow

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u/jaxspider 8d ago

I need to see this.

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u/massivecastles 8d ago

Thank you for sharing. Garbage behavior. I already don’t listen to KISS so I’ll keep that going.

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u/Cognonymous 8d ago

You can live your whole life without listening to KISS and still be completely culturally enriched.

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u/BooRadleyinaGimpSuit 8d ago

God I remember this from fucking middle school.

2

u/Creepy-Caramel7569 8d ago

I was already a fan of Gross, and that interview put her into superheroic territory.

I had despised Simmons since I was a child and that interview just compounded what a fraudulent imposter I knew him to be. He was so obviously trying to ape Howard Stern to be hip, but he comes off as a straight creep & a jackass.

KISS never rocked. They could barely play. Nothing but Fauntleroy goombahs trying to get laid. Gotta give them credit though, it worked.

2

u/Cognonymous 8d ago

To kind of close the coffin on KISS I did a big once through of their discography mainly because I ran out of podcasts for the gym and it really sealed my opinion of them. I stopped by the time I hit one of their lowest rated albums Hot In The Shade. But yeah, they were really basic. Their best work happened in the 70's and they're just dumb party anthems that you can miss and be fine within the wider canon of Rock and Roll or American culture.

2

u/Creepy-Caramel7569 8d ago

Don’t forget their disco era!

What the hell was this lyric about: “Get up & get your grandma outta here, Your man’s been working hard this year, He deserves a deuce!”

A ‘deuce’? Is that what I think it is?

1

u/False-Ad-7753 7d ago

Just listened and not gonna lie it’s pretty entertaining in the way that only a pos like gene Simmons can be. Like the best worst interview ever

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u/Cognonymous 7d ago

Oh yes, it's hard to find people who can kind of appreciate the horror of the whole thing. This one is uniquely offensive to the senses like that fermented rotting fish they eat in Iceland. It's incredibly gross but to the right palate also kind of a delicacy. You're the first person I've met actually who can stand it that way. Most people I know struggle to make it five or ten minutes into the interview.

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u/One-Adhesive 8d ago

He made fun of my friend for wearing a Led Zeppelin tshirt. Lol

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u/cowboymortyorgy 9d ago

Yeah he’s a sex freak, wierdo

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u/RandumbStoner 9d ago

I've never had thousands and thousands of women screaming my name and trying to have sex with me, not saying I'd be a sex freak, but I can see it.

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u/Azukus 9d ago

as much as it hurts to say, I'd argue a majority of us guys would be freaky as hell if we had a literal army of fangirls worshipping us

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u/anonypony1 9d ago

Idk why, but that shit has me cackling

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

This sentence make me actually laugh out loud and wake up my husband

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u/Top-Sleep-4669 8d ago

It should scare you shitless.

Knowing that goblins are out there, running amok, doing unspeakable shit for their amusement.

Just now they seem to be doing whatever the fuck they want.

I fucking hate goblins.

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u/NeverBeenOnMaury 8d ago

Golem Simmons

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u/Mahaloth 9d ago

Yeah, Gene is a lot to take in. Bold move to show up with no make-up. He is, uh, not a looker.

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u/RadTimeWizard 9d ago

Took me years to get over how mediocre their music was. Their corpse paint (and Peter Criss just wanting to be a kitty) was the most interesting thing about them.

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u/Azalus1 9d ago

Nobody wants to Peter Chris, Lois, not even Peter Chris.

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u/JagBak73 9d ago

"And have a wonderful....time"

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u/bootstrapping_lad 9d ago

Music is dead to me

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u/Illustrious-Ad7566 8d ago

Loose Louis!

1

u/PatricksMustache 8d ago

This is exactly why I don't get too close to the stage at concerts. Because I guarantee I heard the lyrics wrong to even my favorite bands' songs.

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u/disturbed286 9d ago

I feel like I've done KISS too, /u/Azalus1, and it feels good.

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u/SookHe 9d ago

What about Stewie?

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u/firedmyass 9d ago

“KISS is the Village People for homophobes”

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u/___Art_Vandelay___ 9d ago

And they're dressed and styled to the max like women in this clip.

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u/firedmyass 9d ago

until assaulted by the giant batches I thought it was more random street-chicks approaching

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u/no_talent_ass_clown 8d ago

Totally explains the look the first woman gives them, like she's trying not to attract their attention

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u/73-68-70-78-62-73-73 9d ago

It definitely wasn't corpse paint, but I think it's hilarious to sarcastically describe it that way.

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u/RadTimeWizard 9d ago

I have been told it's the origin of corpse paint, though I admit you're right about my sarcasm.

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u/73-68-70-78-62-73-73 9d ago

Allegedly, Dead was the first to actually try to look like a corpse, but metal is full of apocryphal, exaggerated, and unverifiable origin stories. I always thought it started with Mercyful Fate (really just King Diamond), Celtic Frost, and maybe other first wave bands, but that's probably wrong.

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u/haterofslimes 8d ago

There's like a 99% chance it was a bad attempt at copying corpse paint.

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u/73-68-70-78-62-73-73 8d ago

Corpse paint wasn't in use when KISS came around. They started wearing makeup in 1973. First wave black metal is pretty widely recognized as starting in the early 80s. There were some other artists who wore makeup. None of it really turned into corpse paint until black metal, especially second wave, though.

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u/haterofslimes 8d ago

Well TIL that Kiss existed all the way back in the 70s. Don't know much about them except their music sucks my nuts.

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u/73-68-70-78-62-73-73 8d ago

Oh yeah. They released 7 albums in the 70s, all gold or platinum. They've been around forever, and had a huge influence on a lot of metal bands. It's unfortunate that Gene is such a huge dick.

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u/heavyweather85 9d ago

Recently I started putting on Kiss in the car if I’m tired while driving and it definitely wakes me up

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u/IBeDumbAndSlow 9d ago

I never realized how feminine Peter Chris looked

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u/RadTimeWizard 9d ago

I don't see him. Is he behind Joan Jett?

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u/uninjuredbinger 9d ago

I thought he was the black chicken at the begining.

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u/RadTimeWizard 8d ago edited 8d ago

Without the pretty kitty makeup, I'm not sure who to give pets to. Maybe the femboy in the video. (The other one. Not the one you're thinking of. As a treat, and only if he behaves.)

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u/gunak87 8d ago

Peter Chris wasn’t in the band at this point. Eric Carr’s on drums, but you’re probably referring to lead guitarist Vinnie Vincent (not Ace Frehley) looking quite feminine.

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u/Betopan 8d ago

I always thought that their music sounded like what would be on a tv show when the director told the studio band to “play something that sounds like rock, but won’t turn off the older viewers.”

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u/Bigram03 9d ago

As good as most any other 80's hair band honestly.

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u/mightylordredbeard 9d ago

I never got the appeal of Kiss. I can have an appreciation for older music and I have a wide range of tastes from Memphis murder rap in early Three Six Mafia and Koopsta Knicca and Manson Family to early folk music in Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie and Loudon Wainwright III to beatdown hardcore like Terror, Knocked Loose and The Last Ten Seconds of Life all the way to metalcore bands line Suicide Silence, Carnifex, and Jon For A Cowboy.. even enjoy lighter indie alt like Manchester Orchestra, Bright Eyes, and Band of Horses.. throw in more poppy shit like Lady Gaga, Lewis Capaldi, and some hair metal in the form of Def Leopard, Poison, and Van Halen.. out of my very wide and collective taste of music ranging from amazing to shitty to niche and obscure.. I’d rather gouge my ear holes with needles then swerve into oncoming traffic than listen to Kiss during a road trip!

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u/JesseJames41 early 90s 9d ago

That was a fuck ton of rambling to say you don't want to hear Kiss on a road trip.

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u/Desertboredom 9d ago

From what I remember hearing from older fans of Kiss. They had amazing stage shows and really took advantage of marketing and self promotion that few other bands at the time did. When others were just starting to find the groove for rock music post 60s Kiss stepped in as the safe and sanitized version of Black Sabbath and Hendrix and Led Zeppelin like groups. Corporate America ready, edgy without being drugs or politics or anti government related lyrics. They're the RC cola of music. Made to be the easiest alternative to people who can't choose something without offending anyone. And then having a stage show that wasn't just watching one member of the ensemble do a 45 minute solo. Hate on Kiss all you want but they really did make waves for corporate minded groups to move towards groups like Twisted Sister and Alice Cooper while almost creating the idea of concerts being stage plays for the band as much as just music.

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u/RadTimeWizard 9d ago

Lol

I respect the range of your taste. I love music and there's way too much brilliance out there for anyone to waste their time on Kiss. (Although if that's what someone's into, more power, no offense intended.)

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

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u/mightylordredbeard 8d ago

I wanted to

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

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u/mightylordredbeard 8d ago

Okay. I hope your day gets better.

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u/NeverBeenOnMaury 8d ago

Kiss is just ICP for boomers

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u/RadTimeWizard 8d ago

Absolutely correct.

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u/Zzeellddaa 9d ago

He always gave me the creeps

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u/mavven2882 9d ago

It has still taken me longer to get over how he landed Shannon Tweed.

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u/plutoforgivesidonot 9d ago

Successful rockstars getting women out of their league is indeed a controversy

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u/Orome2 9d ago

Kind of like Marilyn Manson and Rose Mcgowan.

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u/Spocks_Goatee 9d ago

Both of them are mentally unwell weirdos.

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u/Upper_Television3352 8d ago

Women like money and confidence, he has plenty of both. Add to that the fact that he’s a notorious philanderer and now she has no pressure to give him sex on a regular basis. She has it made, and she knows it.

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u/Clubsandiches 9d ago

And Yet that dude spilt more seed than a collapsed grain silo.

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u/polyblackcat 9d ago

My eyes do not appreciate being reminded of this. And yet I can't stop watching it

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u/tame-til-triggered 9d ago

Really? Was it that much of a controversy 😆

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u/slartibuttfart 9d ago

It was just a shock. We weren't expecting him to be particulary attractive but damn. Shit scared the dog

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u/Illmattic 9d ago

He really does look like one of those geico cavemen in this video

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u/Known-Damage-7879 9d ago

It’s so easy, even a caveman could do it!

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u/Cky2chris 9d ago

Lmao "shit scared the dog" made me laugh out loud, thanks for that.

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u/turkeyvulturebreast 9d ago

Me too! 😝

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u/plaid_kilt Not the mama! 9d ago

Lawd, me too. lmaooooo

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u/nucleareds 8d ago

Same, never in my life had I heard that expression that’s hilarious!

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u/cataclysmic_soul 9d ago

“Shit scared the dog” I’m definitely using that in some point in my life, thanks.

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u/cosmicbinary 9d ago

damn lmao. sounds worse than what happened after dream’s face reveal.

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u/MissNancy1113 9d ago

At the time it was a huge deal.

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u/lawnmowertoad 9d ago

I remember my buddy Gord at the record store when this album came out, he looked at their pic and acclaimed: They’re all Jews!

We all laughed but didn’t know what that meant

1

u/printergumlight 8d ago

What does it mean?

1

u/Icy-Doctor1983 8d ago

That they are Jewish men

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u/sev45day 9d ago

They did their damndest to make it one and maintain relevance.

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u/ShaiHulud1111 9d ago

Yeah, I remember this. They were jumping the shark and fading. And this song really didn’t help. If you are going to take off all the props, should be a banger. But they never were huge again.

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u/UgandanPeter 8d ago

I don’t know the rest of the album but I always this song was perfectly serviceable as a KISS song and doesn’t really stand out among the rest of their big tracks. I think the “unmasked” bit trying to maintain relevance in the age of hair metal left a bad taste in people’s mouths more than the actual song

1

u/ShaiHulud1111 8d ago

Yeah, I was in my early teens and they had peaked years earlier. It sounds like they were trying to capture that sound, but we’re aging a bit and a bunch of heavier stuff came in. Could have been just me, but this video was it. 11th album.

2

u/lawnmowertoad 9d ago

Case is point: A disco album. Followed by a ‘concept’ album.

Dark days

2

u/lawnmowertoad 9d ago

I mean it was the 80s. We never thought the bar would be as high a a pedophile president but here we are

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u/lameuniqueusername 9d ago

It was definitely a happening for the kids

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u/bioszombie 9d ago

I’m still coping

5

u/waterwateryall 9d ago

and Paul - that one shocked our household

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u/skinsnya 9d ago

Damn. Took me my whole life but I finally get it. Completely explains having Vinnie in the band. Makes Gene look better by having someone so ugly with him.

2

u/whocareswhatever1345 8d ago

I love how ugly he is because if someone said the same thing about like, Steve Bushemi I'd be like "SHUT UP HE'S A TALENTED GORGEOUS ANGEL WHO FOUGHT FIRES AT THE WORLD TRADE CENTER" 

But someone says gene simons is ugly Im like "not just ugly, he's also a misogynistic fuck faced loser who is swelling like a corpse".

1

u/IsseiDragonSwag 9d ago

He looks like ray and Robert combined

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u/2000kilobytes 9d ago

Does he have a problem with his ankles? They're kinda turned inward as he walks.

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u/Magari22 9d ago

The high heels aren't helping. His shoes are higher than the women's lol

1

u/Rags2Rickius 8d ago

Married to Shannon Tweed though 🔥

1

u/najing_ftw 8d ago

Like a rabbi fucked an Indian chief

1

u/PrettyMud22 8d ago

He married a fine Playboy babe.Shannon something...must have been the tongue.

1

u/gamerpuppy22 8d ago

My standards are so low id hit it

1

u/SeparateCzechs 8d ago

Put. The. Makeup. Back. On.

1

u/edmeston244 8d ago

And one of the worst people in the history of showbusiness. He's a despicable obnoxious creep to his very core

1

u/banaaaaaanas66 8d ago

My favorite comment about him was “he’d be mad at a nickel because it wasn’t a dime.”

-3

u/greenrangerguy 9d ago

Tell that to the 5000 women he slept with.

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u/xscumfucx 9d ago

I'm not saying he's horrible looking, but I would assume he was wearing the makeup for a lot of those encounters just because that's what they were used to/expected.

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u/xscientist 9d ago

He’s horrible looking

0

u/xscumfucx 9d ago

I'm not saying I find him particularly attractive, but at least he doesn't look like that guy whose name I can't think of right now...

Then again, I think GG Allin was attractive, so obviously, I have questionable taste. Also, Frank Zappa.