The mis-perception of Kiss has always been rooted in jealousy and fear - in many ways it seemed almost political, and still does to this day. To a man Kiss never considered themselves to be anything but a loud rock n roll band with a spectacular show. Period. Even Ritchie Blackmore (a musician's musician if there ever was one) "got it". Others, however, felt that Kiss' visuals and bombast cheapened the "art" of rock, or maybe its integrity - truly a head-scratcher there. To draw a sports analogy, it was like Larry Bird or Michael Jordan saying that the Harlem Globetrotters sucked because entertained while they played basketball. I remember vividly the onslaught of hate mail that was printed in Guitar Player following the Kiss cover story in 1978(?). They actually gave it a separate section! Gene has always been about the merchandising, and good for him. He had the perfect vehicle for it, and no one can deny that he worked his butt off to make it happen.