Ace Frehley - In Memoriam

April 27th, 1951 - October 16th, 2025

On a long and heartfelt podcast tribute that Eddie Trunk posted the day after his dear friend Ace Frehley's death, he pointed out the fact that Ace himself would have found it hilarious that the one thing that would take him out was literally falling down.  After all, the man has an album and song called Trouble Walkin'.  What is even more amusing, (and just goes to show that the world works in confounding ways sometimes), is that Ace Frehley died this way after years of reckless rock star behavior and drug and alcohol abuse, and also the fact that he was the youngest of the original Kiss members, yet the first to check out.  I agree with Trunk; Ace would have laughed his ass off in that trademark cackle of his because after everything, his steadfast "spaced-out" clumsiness is what did him in.

 

So we now live in a world with no Ace Frehley, at least not in the physical sense.  Obviously like many other giants that we lost this year, (David Lynch, Ozzy Osbourne, Robert Redford, Brian Wilson, Sly Stone, Val Kilmer, Gene Hackman, D'Angelo, Brent Hinds, Diane Keaton, George Foreman, David Johansen, etc), his work will endure, and it was a body of work that inspired gallons of guitar players and musicians.  As a founding member of one of the biggest rock bands of all time, Ace fulfilled a pivotal role.  He wrote a handful of Kiss classics, (or klassics I should say), and next to Gene Simmon's demon makeup, his Spaceman persona was arguably the most recognizable and tributed by fans, both at concert events and on Halloween.

 

By yours truly included.

One of the most fitting words that someone can use to attach to this legend is "character".  There are numerous famous stories pertaining to Ace's eccentric personality and behavior.  He showed up to his Kiss audition wearing two different colored sneakers.  He crashed his DeLorean into four cars during a high-speed chase up the Bronx River Parkway in 1983.  He rejected Bob Ezrin's schoolmaster production techniques on Destroyer and instead just fucked off and played poker with his buddies in lieu of recording guitar solos.  He refused to load in his own gear during the band's early days, too much of a rockstar even then to bother.  He showed up at the last minute to arena gigs where his future replacement Tommy Thayer was waiting in the wings, suited up in makeup and ready to hit the stage in case Ace was a no show.  Such fables only scratch the surface.

 

As is often the case though, wacky personalities can also be brilliant ones.  As a soloist, Ace Frehley was in a league of his own.  Along with Brian May, he is the most lyrical lead guitar player possibly in all of rock music.  Every one of his solos during his Kiss tenure, (and there is one in just about every single song), is singable, memorable, and a highlight.  Even when he fucks off in Gene Simmons' "Almost Human" and just makes weird background feedback noises, it fits such a sleazy and sinister track.  Like Neal Peart, Ace found it crucial to nail his parts on stage like they sound on the album, never wanting to disappoint people who knew them by heart and wanted to air guitar accordingly.  At the same time though, he would indulge himself and expand upon those leads on stage from their studio counterparts, as he did in the live versions of "She", "Rock and Roll All Nite", "Shock Me", and "New York Groove".

 

He also used such technical malfunctions as his guitar bellowing smoke to his advantage.

Ace's solo career was none too shabby either.  Obviously, his 1978 self-titled album that was released under the Kiss moniker is chock-full of bangers, as well as being wildly regarded as the finest of the four.  I many not agree with that assessment, (Paul Stanley's solo album remains my favorite Kiss record period), but there is no denying that Ace delivered the goods on it and furthermore proved to both himself and the record-buying public that he could front his own material with ease.  Post-Kiss, Frehley's Commit, the aforementioned Trouble Walkin', and his four albums that he did after the band's massive reunion streak are all full of more killer guitar solos and swaggering, enduring old man rock with various references to outer space, growing up in New York's boroughs, love, and just being a well-respected rock star.

 

The "well respected" part may seem like it took awhile to achieve as far as the mainstream rock media is concerned, who for decades delegated Kiss to a gimmicky "kid's group" that was not to be taken seriously.  Yet the truth is that Ace and his band were pioneers that have long held a special place in so many musician's hearts.  John 5, Dimebag Darrel, Sebastian Bach, Mike Portnoy, virtually every grunge-era musician, virtually every thrash metal musician, Slash, Lady Gaga, Trent Reznor, Lenny Kravitz, Tom Morello, Dave Grohl, the guys from Tool, even Garth Brooks; the list goes on and on as far as how many future musicians were and are massive Kiss fans.  One can make the argument that Ace was the stand-out musician in Kiss' original lineup; a non-virtuoso that nevertheless had an immediately identifiable style that rightfully puts him in the guitar god ranks along with any of his contemporaries, not to mention the oodles of axe-slingers that he inspired.

 

Me, Dimebag and Snake Sabo all have something in common - we like dressing up as this guy.

Yet now, Ace is gone, transported to that alien planet Jendell that he often times jokingly, (and possibly sincerely), believed to have actually spawned from.  For any longtime Kiss fans such as myself, this loss is a catastrophic one.  We also lost Eric Carr to cancer back in 1991, (the same day that Freddie Mercury checked-out, oddly enough), and Mark St. John whose time period in the band was all too brief died tragically after years of health issues and a prison beating in 2007.  One cannot compare the life or death of one person to another of course, but Ace's legacy is an enormous one that hits hard for those who adored his on and off-stage antics, incredible guitar playing skills, that unmistakable laugh, spaced-out demeanor, dedication and appreciate for his loyal fanbase, and the slew of material that he left behind which ranks as some of the best rock music ever produced.

 

Ace may not have had the world's greatest singing voice, his lyrics were often times embarrassing at best, and he had plenty of struggles throughout his life which he eventually overcame with many years of consistent sobriety under his belt by the end, but the man is so effortlessly loveable, singular, and ingenious that his passing is something that cannot be shaken off lightly.  As the title of his autobiography No Regrets implies, the man lived a life that he would never change.  It is only fitting then that we as fans should honor and champion that life.  Ace would probably not want it any other way.  He would not want us crying; he would want us to crash some cars, laugh our ass off, and make a whole lot of jovial noise in celebration.  Safe extraterrestrial travels Spaceman.  Now let us all bump "Rocket Ride" as it was meant to be bumped.

 

As fellow rock soldiers, we salute the one and only Ace Frehley.