RICK NIELSEN

Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons were such big fans of Cheap Trick that they brought them out as openers on their Can-Am Tour ’77. In the Cheap Trick anthem “Surrender,” Nielsen famously name-checked the band in the lyrics, “got my Kiss records out.” Like Joe Perry, Nielsen guested on Gene’s 1978 solo album and decades later jammed with the band at a 2016 gig in Cheap Trick’s hometown of Rockford, Illinois. “Gene and Paul saw Cheap Trick play in New York City at Max’s Kansas City. There was hardly anybody there, but they were clapping and really enjoyed the band. I jumped up on the table where Paul and Gene were, and there was a bill there, and I picked it up and I put it in my mouth and ate it. I think Gene told the story that it was a $100 bill, but I think I shit out a $20. [laughs]

“We did three months opening for Kiss in June, July and August of 1977, which went across the whole United States and Canada. The Japanese press was there to see Kiss, because they were huge in Japan. They liked our band so much that we started getting a lot of press in Japan, and that’s what really boosted our career, which made us do that record at Budokan [1978’s Cheap Trick at Budokan].

“Back in the ’70s, I was at Paul’s New York apartment and he had a lot of guitars on the wall. He knew I was a guitar collector too. A few years ago he introduced me to a guy named Gordon Miller, and he’s built me some guitars and cases because of Paul.

“My favorite Kiss songs are all the ones they played on the tour we did with them. But if I had to pick one it’s ‘Love Gun.’ Why? Because it reminds me of the Sex Pistols. Same word connotations. Love Guns. Sex Pistols. There you go.”