Gene Simmons says he once had to be talked out of using a swear word as the title of a Kiss song.”I originally wrote a song called ‘Shit’ — ‘Doesn’t mean shit to me’ was the tagline,” Simmons told UCR. “Bob Ezrin, who produced that record, said, ‘You can’t call a song ‘Shit.’ Wal-Mart won’t put it out. So I said, ‘How about ‘Spit?’ ‘Doesn’t mean spit to me?’ Same vibe, different word.”The impressively gonzo “Spit,” which borrows some lyrics from Spinal Tap’s “Big Bottom” and mixes them with guitar solo quotes from “The Star-Spangled Banner,” wound up on 1992’s Revenge.Read More: Kiss Band Member Power RankingsSimmons and his new band have added “Spit” and other curiosities from Simmons’ songbook into the freewheeling set lists of his post-Kiss solo concerts. They’ll be back on the road for six weeks of dates starting April 3 in Anaheim, you can see the schedule below.”The shows are almost never alike,” Simmons adds. “We toss around songs; if somebody in the band says, ‘Hey, why don’t you do [Cream’s] ‘Sunshine of Your Love?’ we look at each other and go, ‘What key?’ and there you go.”Why Gene Simmons Named His Solo Album ‘Asshole’Twelve years after the release of “Spit” and Revenge, Simmons defied Ezrin’s advice by naming giving his 2004 solo album the eye-raising title Asshole. “It’s just another way of me saying, ‘I don’t care what anyone says about me,” he told Q Magazine at the time. “I’m preempting what people say and therefore diffusing the power of my detractors.”Hear Kiss Perform ‘Spit’Gene Simmons Band 2025 Tour DatesApril 3 – Anaheim, CA @ House of BluesApril 4 – Temecula, CA @ Pechanga Resort CasinoApril 5 – Rohnert Park, CA @ The Event at Graton Resort & CasinoApril 8 – Auburn, WA @ Muckleshoot Casino ResortApril 10 – Magna, UT @ The Great SaltairApril 11 – Denver, CO @ Paramount TheatreApril 25 – Clearwater, FL @ Ruth Eckerd HallApril 26 – Miami Beach, FL @ FillmoreApril 28 – Tallahassee, FL @ The MoonApril 29 – Jacksonville, FL @ Florida TheaterApril 30 – Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock LiveMay 2 – Peachtree City, GA – The Fred AmpMay 3 – Beaver Dam, KY @ Beaver Dam AmphitheaterMay 5 – Red Bank, NJ @ BasieMay 6 – Montclair, NJ @ WellmontMay 8 – Bethlehem, PA @ Wind Creek CasinoMay 9 – Huntington, NY @ The ParamountMay 11 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun ArenaMay 14 – Northfield, OH @ MGMMay 15 – Niagara Falls, ON @ Fallsview CasinoMay 17 – Hammond, IN @ The HorseshoeMay 18 – Rockford, IL @ Hard RockMay 20 – Nashville, IN @ Brown County Music CenterMay 22 – Dallas, TX @ House of BluesMay 23 – San Antonio, TX @ Tobin CenterMay 24 – Houston, TX @ House of BluesKiss Solo Albums Ranked Worst to Best Counting down solo albums released by various members of Kiss.Gallery Credit: Matthew Wilkening
