The world would be a much better place if more people could admit they were wrong. Instead, most countries’ political systems are full of stubborn people doubling down on their bad ideas long after it becomes clear that they were bad ideas. Being a successful artist, though, often means having to abandon ideas that you know aren’t working. That’s apparently the reason Kiss has been so successful as a band, at least according to Paul Stanley.
In a recent episode of The Allison Hagendorf Show on YouTube, the long-time co-led vocalist for Kiss, Paul Stanley, was asked about his favorite thing about his former bandmate and fellow co-lead vocalist, Gene Simmons, was, and Stanley said that it was Simmons’ ability to admit when he’s wrong. Here’s what he had to say (as transcribed by Blabbermouth):
“Um, well, that’s an interesting question. Gene will always admit when he’s wrong, and that takes somebody big. And I don’t know that he’s like that with everybody else, but we have a relationship that’s so close that I think both of us will say, ‘I screwed up,’ or certainly I’ve told him something that went against what his line of thinking was, and he goes, ‘You’re right.’ So, that takes a big person. And, again, I think that there’s no substitute for time. And I was telling one of my kids that you can have your best friend who you met a month ago, but to find out if they’re really your best friend is gonna take months, years — going through hard times, good times, bad times. How somebody responds to all those kind of crises and everything determines whether that person is in your life or not. And push come to shove, Gene’s always been there. And likewise. I can’t think of anything that I wouldn’t do for him, and I can trust him to do the same. That amount of years says volumes.”
That’s certainly an endearing quality if it’s true. But I get the feeling that his ability to admit he was wrong is going to be put to the test once the $200 million Kiss Avatar show inevitably fails.