Producer Desmond Child revealed that Gene Simmons believed KISS wrote better songs than Bon Jovi and Aerosmith.
Child recalled, “When they made this album called ‘The Elder,’ where they didn’t use any outside songwriters, he [Simmons] said, ‘We don’t need outside songwriters like Bon Jovi and Aerosmith. We can do it ourselves and in fact, we put two guards at the front of the studio door to keep Desmond Child out.'”
Child continued, “He didn’t say it once. He said it like a hundred times in a global publicity tour and I started getting… Everybody was sending me this quote. He said it the same way every time and my feelings got hurt. So I called Paul [Stanley] up.”
Child recalled telling Stanley, “‘Paul, why would he slag, why would he attack someone who puts money in his pocket, who loves KISS? There’s so many enemies of KISS that he could attack. Why me?'” According to Child, Stanley responded, “‘Oh, well you know Gene. I can’t… You know Gene.'” Child replied, “‘Well, I don’t and I don’t understand it.'”
The conversation continued, with Child asking, “‘Paul, you were there when he were saying this stuff. Why didn’t you speak up?'” Stanley allegedly responded, “‘I can’t control Gene, you know.'” Child suggested, “‘Well, you can tell him to go f*ck himself. All right?'” He described it as ‘not a very nice conversation.’
Later, when Child returned home, he found a message from Simmons on his answering machine that simply said, “‘Hi, it’s Gene, sorry.'” Child recalled this with a laugh.
Child also noted in another interview, “I never wrote with Gene Simmons. I didn’t know him until much later. My relationship was always with Paul Stanley, and Paul would bring Gene the songs that we co-wrote. The only time I became aware that he didn’t like ‘I Was Made for Lovin’ You’ was when KISS started doing an album called ‘The Elder,’ produced by the legendary Bob Ezrin.”
Desmond Child worked with KISS on several albums, including ‘Dynasty,’ ‘Animalize,’ ‘Asylum,’ ‘Crazy Nights,’ ‘Smashes, Thrashes & Hits,’ and ‘Hot in the Shade.’
