Typical rockstar sex, drugs and rock and roll story. I kind of felt sorry for Peter but I can also empathize with some of his story. He's a typical under educated street kid that spent quite a bit of time in the school of hard knocks.He worked hard and made something of his life but he was on a path of self destruction from day one. Most of his early problems with KISS were seemingly self induced. He blames others but he also owns his own shit after the fact.I could tell as I got deeper into the book that his ego, along with his poor choices and blindly trusting what he thought were his brothers in the band cost him dearly time and time again. I've been there and done that. I learned early that you can't trust even what appears to be your closest friends. When it comes to money and greed, humans are by far the lowest of animals. Your so called band of brothers will screw you for money every time.As for his problems with women, he got exactly what he deserved. Anyone with a mother, wife, daughter and/or sister that can talk about women with such a filthy, sexist attitude and objectify them the way he did in this book should get fucked just as bad as he did every time. He asked for it, he got it. Hopefully he's finally learned to respect all women.In the end, it was a fairly good book. I was glad to hear his side of the story.KISS has been number one in my book from day one and they still are. That includes all members and former members. I loved the original band from the first album through Unmasked the best. Long Live KISS. I wish Peter Criss the best. Jealousy, ego and his addictions cost him a lot but he's still that tough street kid. I'm sure he's doing okay. Ok, Peter's turn. Gene's book was a lot of whitewash revisionist KISStory, as are his YouTube rants about the band as well as the commentary on KISSology. I love KISS so I know bullshit when I read or hear it. Especially from Gene $immon$. If you've ever seen Family Jewels you know even his family takes everything from him with more than a grain of salt. Ace's book was straightforward but admittedly hole ridden due to his extensive substance use and general foggy memory. To say it was a little thin would not be terribly fair but he clearly didn't care or pay much attention to what was going on around him. It is considerably more entertaining and realistic than Gene's. Peter's book is almost like an emotional gushing. Clearly he was the most emotional of the group. Described by Gene and Paul as a complainer, this is clearly evident throughout Peter's book from his own writing. I don't think any man has cried as much as Peter Criss in one lifetime. No one in KISS is ever satisfied with anything by all accounts. Peter's book only serves to reinforce what we pretty much knew already, but with a raw emotionality not exhibited by the other 2 previous books from Gene and Ace (Paul's book just came out: TBD). From the outside Peter can seem like a sympathetic character, but often only pathetic. The one take away from the 3 books is extreme narcissism on everyone's part within the band. All of them too insecure or blind to see what they all had in front of them which was one of the greatest bands in Rock history because of the chemistry of those 4 individuals. The only time this was realized was Ace's audition. However Peter seems to be the only one of them to actually appreciate it to a degree. The road stories are well told and seem as accurate and believable as Ace's but it's a bit of a schizophrenic read because of the vast emotional swings of Peter's personality. He takes you through laugh out loud antics then quickly turns paranoid or saddened by circumstances. All 4 of these guys crave inordinate amounts of attention. The rock and roll touring lifestyle only seemed to make of them worse and continually alienating each other. It's interesting to read all of this so many years later as an adult. Still none of the public literary bickering diminishes my love of those records or the mythology they made way back when. KISS are and will always be a special case. The best part about them is the part they take for granted from the inside but we as true fans of the band do not. Having read a good many accounts from other bands' members the KISS memoirs are for the most part well written and enjoyable reads compared to some other rock and roll fare. This is a must read for any true KISS fan and quite enjoyable for the most part.
