As we all know, the beginning of Van Halen's music career is inextricably linked with KISS. However, although Gene Simmons once let the band fly to New York to make demos for them, they did not move forward together. Simmons recently stated that this was a "big mistake". However, Paul Stanley's view is a bit different.

Simmons and Stanley touched on this topic in the most recent annual KISS Kruise Q&A (shown below). With the development of history, KISS recorded TV specials in Los Angeles and was invited by local DJ Rodney Bingenheimer to watch two unsigned performances, one of which was Van Halen. After the performance, Simmons shared his desire to cooperate with Van Halen and offered to sign them under his management brand. Things went to the end when Simmons drove the band to New York to record a demonstration.

When talking to fans, Simmons recalled, "We made a big mistake-one. There was a band called Van Halen. They signed with Thousand Faces Company. There was a demo of 24 tracks. They were locked, The stocks and barrels are signed. I am very happy. I want to sign a contract with us, but we refused."

Stanley and manager Bill Okin decided not to move forward, and then explained why they refused to manage the team. "Thank God," Stanley said during Simmons's discussion. "The reason we refused is because joie de vivre, a part of Gene, means loving life and he likes to watch and do all the different things. Sometimes it means controlling him, especially in other projects early in the band’s career. It really hurts the band."

He added: “You can’t listen to Van Halen’s songs and you wouldn’t think they’re great. Bill knew this. When Gene saw Van Halen for the first time at Starwood, I was with him. But when we The idea of ​​managing or making a band when we were really still at the beginning of our career was...this move is called self-protection."

Van Halen's major breakthrough soon arrived. It was originally a recording contract for two albums provided by Warner Bros., and their first album of the same name came out in 1978.

At the same time, during the time when Van Halen finally achieved a breakthrough, KISS was as prolific as ever, releasing three albums in 1976 and 1977 respectively, and in 1978 all four members released solo albums at the same time.

Although the opportunity was missed, for the two bands that were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it all went well.