Kiss saw him as a creative catalyst - he had a lot of influence on Lick it Up, which catapulted the then floundering seventies band into the eighties glam rock scene. He co-wrote the hit too, should still pay him quite a bit unless Paul and Gener bought him out which they probably did.
Simmons thought him a talent as a guitarist, but an idiot as a person who wasted his chance with Kiss. His successors in Kiss certainly had none of the bravado he had. I guess Gene was right about the idiot part though.
