\n<\/p>\n
From Kiss classics to solo highlights \u2014 here are the rock legend’s finest moments<\/p>\n
\n\tAce Frehley was the spaceman guitar hero at the heart of Kiss. Just a kid from the Bronx, he transformed into an extraterrestrial rock monster with his silver makeup and glittery astronaut boots. As Space Ace, he was the driving force of Kiss with his heavy riffs, a larger-than-life strutter inspiring countless kids over the decades to pick up the guitar and play along \u2014 whoever your favorite bands are, the guitarists probably started out as Ace fans. But he was more than just a classic rock & roll character \u2014 his musical legacy is as gigantic as the planet Jendell itself. Here are some of the classic songs that will keep the Ace Frehley legend alive forever.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Mark Sullivan\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Nineties were an all-time peak for guitar bands, and that\u2019s because Nineties bands were full of guitar players who grew up worshipping Ace and the spell he cast in Kiss songs like \u201cParasite.\u201d It\u2019s the most proto-grunge of Kiss tunes, heavy as a dinosaur but surprisingly fast on its feet. It\u2019s a highlight of Hotter Than Hell<\/em>, the album where Ace really stepped out as a songwriter and lead guitarist (Gene sang it), alongside \u201cStrange Ways\u201d and \u201cComin\u2019 Home.\u201d But the punk thrash of \u201cParasite\u201d is Ace at his toughest, showing why he got more influential as a guitarist over the years. \u2014R.S.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n \t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Tom Hill\/WireImage\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t \t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Ross Marino\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\tIn a sense, Ace Frehley put his life on the line for rock & roll every time Kiss took the stage due to the pyrotechnics that shot out of his guitar, which were somewhat primitive in the band\u2019s early days. Such a disaster nearly came to pass one night in Lakeland, Florida, when he was electrocuted. \u201cI got knocked back, 220 volts,\u201d he later recalled, \u201cand I was knocked out for about five minutes. I had burns on my fingers. I almost bit the bullet.\u201d But the scary incident ended up inspiring the song that had his first lead vocal for the band, as well as one of the best guitar solos on any Kiss song. In Ace\u2019s optimistic reimagining, the painful experience is transformed into a song about sex \u2014 the work of a man who made transcending reality his everyday gig. \u2014J.D.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n \t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Paul Natkin\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\tKiss tried to duplicate the \u201clive\u201d-vibe success of their seminal 1975 Alive!<\/em> album with Alive II,<\/em> while also offering fans a handful of studio recordings. The best of them is Ace Frehley\u2019s \u201cRocket Ride,\u201d a blast of sexual-innuendo rock & roll that played right into the roguish guitarist\u2019s strengths. There\u2019s a monster riff, a shout-along chorus, and an ad-lib for the ages: \u201cCome on, grab ahold of my rocket!\u201d Ace shouts. Subtle, it was not. \u2014J.H.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n \t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: NBC NewsWire\/NBCU Photo Bank\/NBCUniversal\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t \t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Richard Creamer\/Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\tSept. 18, 1978, was perhaps the most Seventies day of the Seventies: The day all four members of Kiss released simultaneous solo albums. But Ace stood head, shoulders, and space boots above his bandmates on this day with his solo album, kicking it off with \u201cRip It Out.\u201d For the others, \u201cRip It Out\u201d would have been a standout contender for a hit. On Ace\u2019s album, it got overshadowed by \u201cNew York Groove,\u201d but \u201cRip It Out\u201d is the connoisseur\u2019s pick for solo Ace \u2014 he wails about betrayed love, but lets his Gibson do most of the talking. \u2014R.S.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n \t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Richard Creamer\/Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\tDynasty,<\/em> Kiss\u2019 1979 disco-leaning effort, and its radio hit \u201cI Was Made for Loving You\u201d left some members of the Kiss Army thinking their superheroes had gone soft. But Ace Frehley made sure a gritty rock edge remained in the band\u2019s sound with \u201cHard Times,\u201d one of three Dynasty<\/em> tracks on which he sang lead. He wrote \u201cHard Times,\u201d too, and it ripples with his Bronx attitude: \u201cWe had to fight to be accepted!\u201d he sneers at one point. \u201cThe hard times have made me strong.\u201d \u2014J.H.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n \t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Ebet Roberts\/Redferns\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\tAce Frehley left Kiss in 1982 and soon formed Frehley\u2019s Comet. The band released its self-titled debut in 1987. The singles were \u201cInto the Night\u201d and \u201cRock Soldiers,\u201d the latter recorded with a \u201cguitar army\u201d and inspired by being chased by the police while drunk-driving his DeLorean. But the catchiest thing on the album is \u201cCalling to You,\u201d a fun pop-metal ode to the rock & roll lifestyle. \u201cSome can\u2019t understand\/And they\u2019ll only go so far,\u201d he sings. For Ace, too far was always just the starting point. \u2014J.D. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n \t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Robert Knight Archive\/Redferns\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\tWhen Ace Frehley released 1989\u2019s Trouble Walkin\u2019,<\/em> his second solo album under his own name \u2014 his first non-Kiss LPs were as Frehley\u2019s Comet \u2014 he included a radio-ready version of Jeff Lynne\u2019s \u201cDo Ya.\u201d Originally cut by the Move and later made a bona fide hit by Lynne\u2019s ELO, the crunchy rock song was the perfect vehicle for Frehley the solo artist, and its video put the guitarist\u2019s face (sans paint) on MTV. Frehley also took the opportunity to make \u201cDo Ya\u201d his own, literally. For the final chorus, he cheekily shouts-out himself:\u00a0 \u201cDo ya, do ya want the Ace?\u201d\u00a0\u2014J.H.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n \t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: John Fotiadis\/Newspix\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\tFor his first solo album in 20 years, Anomaly,<\/em> Ace Frehley leaned hard into his origin story \u2014 but not the New York one. Rather, he embraced his fantastical Spaceman persona over songs like the cosmic instrumental \u201cSpace Bear\u201d and the on-the-nose rocker \u201cOuter Space.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s like I told you, I came from outer space,\u201d he sings on the latter. \u201cI want to take you away.\u201d The album may have appealed most to hardcore Ace fans, but it succeeded in proving that Frehley still had the chops of a pioneering guitarist. Listen to his extended solo break just after the 2:00 mark and marvel. \u2014J.H.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From Kiss classics to solo highlights \u2014 here are the rock legend’s finest moments Ace Frehley was the spaceman guitar hero at the heart of Kiss. Just a kid from the Bronx, he transformed into an extraterrestrial rock monster with his silver makeup and glittery astronaut boots. As Space Ace, he was the driving force<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[2902,16975,3941,298],"class_list":{"0":"post-28728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-comet","9":"tag-frehleys","10":"tag-kiss","11":"tag-solo"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Kiss, \u2018Cold Gin\u2019<\/h2>\n
The first classic that Ace Frehley ever wrote, \u201cCold Gin\u201d was a highlight of Kiss\u2019 raw 1974 debut album, a tale of drunken debauchery that turned out to be prescient in terms of all the turmoil to come. But Ace didn\u2019t feel quite confident enough to sing it himself, so ironically, the lead vocals were by Gene Simmons, who didn\u2019t touch a drop. Kiss kept playing \u201cCold Gin\u201d off and on for decades, but the definitive version is on Alive!<\/em>, with Paul Stanley\u2019s legendary intro banter, pleading, \u201cThere\u2019s gotta <\/em>be some people out there that like to drink tequila!\u201d According to an anonymous source backstage, Paul reports on the popularity of vodka and orange juice. (\u201cAaaall riiiight!<\/em>\u201d) But when he quizzes the Kiss Army on their favorite quencher, the people\u2019s choice is clearly \u201cCold Gin.\u201d \u2014R.S.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\nKiss, \u2018Shock Me\u2019<\/h2>\n
Kiss, \u2018Rocket Ride\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018New York Groove\u2019<\/h2>\n
When Kiss came up with the idea of releasing four solo records on the same day, not many people involved with the gambit would\u2019ve imagined that Frehley\u2019s would be the most successful \u2014 including the other members of Kiss, who condescendingly offered him help with the project. But it ended up being the breakout hit, thanks to Ace\u2019s smash version of \u201cNew York Groove,\u201d originally by U.K. glam band Hello. Frehley was skeptical of recording the song when producer Eddie Kramer initially proposed the idea, but he threw himself into it, taking inspiration from his deep knowledge of the then-vibrant Times Square prostitution scene \u2014 and he came up with one of the most beloved tunes of the 1970s. \u2014J.D.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n\u2018Rip It Out\u2019<\/h2>\n
Kiss, \u2018Hard Times\u2019<\/h2>\n
Frehley\u2019s Comet, \u2018Calling to You\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Do Ya\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Outer Space\u2019<\/h2>\n