by Dee Snider recently commented on the long-standing debate surrounding KISS’s replacement members. He addressed the issue in a statement shared on X (formerly Twitter).
The statement focused on whether Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer should have adopted the personas of their predecessors, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. Rather than developing their own identities, they were assigned the original members’ stage personas.
A KISS fan wrote, “I’ve never understood why Thayer and Singer took on the personas of Ace and Peter, when Vinny Vincent and Eric Carr had their own unique identities. As the Highlander once said, there can be only one.”
“I’ll bet Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer would have preferred their own makeup designs,” Snider said in his response. “Hell, they made Eric change his hair color to match Peter Criss!”
Snider’s comment reflects a broader conversation among KISS fans about the band’s decision. The band had replacement members assume the original members’ stage personas and identities rather than create new ones, as previous replacements Vinny Vincent and Eric Carr had done.
KISS’s legendary stage personas—The Demon (Gene Simmons), The Starchild (Paul Stanley), The Spaceman (Ace Frehley), and The Catman (Peter Criss)—were not just costumes but core to the band’s identity. Each character was tied to a unique makeup design established in the early 1970s, turning KISS into a cultural phenomenon. These personas became inseparable from the musicians who created them.
When KISS’s lineup changed over the decades, a question emerged: should new members wear the iconic makeup of the original members? Tommy Thayer replaced Ace Frehley as lead guitarist starting in 2002. Eric Singer took over as drummer after Peter Criss’s departure in 1991. Both replacement members adopted the Spaceman and Catman makeup respectively, continuing the visual identity in KISS’s live shows. Ultimate Classic Rock notes that this decision was legally enabled because Frehley and Criss had signed over the rights to their makeup characters to Simmons and Stanley, giving the band the authority to assign the personas to new members.
Dee Snider has been one of the most vocal critics of this practice. The Twisted Sister frontman has repeatedly criticized KISS for allowing replacement members to wear the iconic makeup. iHeart reported that Snider argued this approach “cheapens the legacy” of the originals. He particularly targeted Tommy Thayer, noting Thayer’s prior participation in a KISS tribute band and suggesting that “he’s imitating Ace in his entire act!”
KISS has defended their decision both practically and philosophically. Paul Stanley brushed off Snider’s criticisms, dismissing his perspective as irrelevant. The band’s stance is that the personas are part of KISS’s theatrical tradition. Since Simmons and Stanley own the rights, they can assign the characters as they see fit. This business decision has allowed KISS to maintain its visual continuity through changing lineups. However, it has also fueled ongoing debate about artistic authenticity and whether iconic stage identities should belong solely to their creators.
