Kiss In The Hall

It looks like Kiss will pull an Axl Rose and not perform at their own Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction in April, because they can't agree on which band member should play.

And, honestly, I kind of agree with their reasoning:

Our intention was to celebrate the entire history of Kiss and give credit to all members, including longtime present members Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer, and additionally Bruce Kulick and Eric Carr all who have made this band what it is, regardless of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame's point of view. (And) although Kiss has moved forward far longer without them, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss are at the very foundation of what we have built and this would all be impossible had they not been a part of it in the beginning.

Good on them to acknowledge both the foundations and the present (though that's kind of easy seeing as Thayer and Singer actually wear Frehley's and Criss' make-up attire on stage), and perhaps they're even honest enough with themselves to agree with my position that the Kulick/Carr was musically their best line-up (also: no make-up, just rock).

Just one thing, though: they never once mentioned either Vinnie Vincent nor Mark St. John (though his stint was pretty short)... selective memory?

Video Of The Week: L.A. Guns

I touched upon this song last week, briefly, and figured it would be the best time to share the video with everybody. I'm talking of course about L.A. Guns' The Ballad Of Jayne, written in tribute to Jayne Mansfield, who died on the very same day that then-singer Phil Lewis was born.

But the story with L.A. Guns was never cut nor clear. Lewis was the band's third lead singer,though he is part of what many call its ''classic'' line-up, i.e. the 1988-1991 era. Of course, the most famous singer to have played with band namesake Tracii Guns is Axl Rose (Guns N' Roses, get it?), but Lewis remains the voice of L.A. Guns for most fans.

Which is why he's currently fronting the band, despite having left it in the mid-1990s - there are no original members in that version of the band, which has been touring and recording since 2002.

However... Tracii Guns also has a band called L.A. Guns touring and recording, with former members Paul Black and Nickey Alexander in tow, making it a ''more legitimate'' version of the band, despite not having the voice people expect to hear when listening to the band.

And how did this two-band-sharing-one-name-and-repertoire thing get to keep existing, you might ask? Simply put, Lewis re-joined a version of the band in the early-00s, an incarnation that Guns eventually left (to join Nikki Sixx's Brides Of Destruction). So that band had the right to keep using the name, since it was the same entity, kind of like a sports franchise roster changes a lot but remains the same team.

But Guns' The Tracii Guns Band was fledgling in the mid-00s, and he technically owns the band's name, so he decided to change his band's name to L.A. Guns because it had the m ost ''original members'' in it.

They fought it off in court and it was decided both entities would be allowed to continue mock-rocking and cock-blocking one another, as long as there was a distinction to represent which version for the band fans are paying for.

Case in point: this flyer from last July:

For the time being, Guns has disbanded his band (as of late 2013), which since that decision, Lewis' band has gone through three lead guitarists. It's a safe bet that one of Lewis or Guns - probably both - will make some sort of arrival and/or departure from an incarnation of the band in the near future, though.

Still, despite its rocky history, the band has some pretty good songs, most of which are on their second (Cocked and Loaded) and third (Hollywood Vampires) albums (out of 13), such as this classic:

This Week's Top 10s

Top 10 Songs:

10. RED EYES, The War On Drugs (2013)
9. MONKEY BUSINESS, Skid Row (1991)
8. FOR IT ALL NOW, Outernational (2013)
7. AFTERLIFE, Arcade Fire (2013)
6. RHYME OR REASON, Eminem (2013)
5. ORDINARY LOVE, U2 (2013)
4. HIGGS BOSON BLUES, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (2013)
3. BIG SHOT, The Pack A.D. (2013)
2. HIGH ROAD, Cults (2013)
1. DO WHAT U WANT, Lady Gaga (feat. Christina Aguilera) (2014)

Top 10 Cock Rock/Hair Metal Bands:

10. BON JOVI
9. EUROPE
8. TWISTED SISTER
7. YNGWIE MALMSTEEN
6. SLAUGHTER
5. SCORPIONS
4. KISS
3. L.A. GUNS
2. MÖTLEY CRÜE
1. SKID ROW

No, I didn't include Guns N' Roses, because despite the fact that they sprayed their hair in their very first video (Welcome To The Jungle) and hail from Los Angeles, they actually had balls, as opposed to those who had to wear spandex to show them. Bon Jovi only barely made the list because New Jersey is so good it should have been made by another band.

L.A. Guns gets top-3 consideration because The Ballad Of Jane is the quintessential ballad, and Kiss My Love Goodbye is the era's typical rocker - feats Skid Row also attain with I Remember You and Youth Gone Wild, with the addition of the quintessential power-ballad, 18 And Life. But Skid Row takes top spot because their sophomore effort, Slave To The Grind, improved their output quality by at least 200%. Mötley Crüe takes the silver medal home for sheer consistency, the quality of their Dr. Feelgood record, and for being able to milk decent hit songs from even average records.

Van Halen and Poison are where they should be - at home, crying.