Responding to Gene Simmons’ recent claim that he “had nothing to do” with KISS’ 1976 hit “Beth,” Peter Criss told Billboard that Simmons’ description of the song’s creative process is “not correct.”

Simmons had told YouTube’s “Professor of Rock” that Criss’ role in the song has been overstated: “Peter had nothing to do with that song. He sang it…The mythology of ‘Beth’ is exactly that: mythology. The real story is Peter was lucky enough to be in the same place at the same time as a guy who wrote a song called ‘Beth.'”

“Gene wouldn’t know how the song was originally written because Gene wasn’t there from the conception of the song in the late ’60s and he wasn’t there for the completion of the song with Bob Ezrin,” Criss told Billboard. “Gene’s statements are ridiculous and very uncalled for; he talks about things that he doesn’t know about.”

“What Gene’s getting wrong is that as the singing songwriter, I wrote the melody and creating the phrasing for the song that’s on the original demo ‘Beck’ with Stan Penridge [his late bandmate from the pre-KISS Chelsea]. Out of Stan’s little black book what remained on the reworked version of ‘Beth’ is Stan’s original verse and chorus, and my core melody remains on the reworked composition. The core melody was expanded with Bob’s orchestration symphony and musical genius. Bob and I sat at the piano at the Record Plant studio working out the song. Bob Ezrin changed the tempo and made it slower, and I worked on changing some of the second verse and the phrasing with the slower tempo.”

Criss adds that, “Bob Ezrin changed the title from ‘Beck’ to ‘Beth’ — not Gene or anybody else. It was Bob Ezrin; He asked me, ‘Peter, do you mind if we change the title?’ I said, ‘Absolutely not. Beth is much better.’ Bob took the song home and fixed the rest of the lyrics and the structure of the song. He added piano, some time changes and the incredible orchestra composition which elevated the song beyond my wildest my dreams. It was mind-blowing.

Criss sang “Beth,” which he co-wrote with the late Stan Penridge and producer Bob Ezrin. The song, which was originally released as the B-side to “Detroit Rock City,” peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. The track was certified gold by the RIAA and won the People’s Choice Award in 1977. The song featured on KISS’ fourth studio album, Destroyer.

Source: RTT Music News