“Beth” by KISS (1976)

Dad’s Song of the Day #49, Oct. 17, 2025

Oct 17, 2025

I had a different entry ready to go today, but I have learned about the death of Ace Frehley, the lead guitarist and silver-glittered “Spaceman” for KISS.

I never really connected with KISS, but, in Grade 9—while I was chillin’ to Steely Dan (DSOTD #45)—my friend and classmate Carl Desantis was a charter member of the KISS Army.

He was the main KISS man at Cedarbrae Collegiate, totally unabashed, with a truly impressive jean jacket, embroidered, patched and marker-ed all over with the famous KISS insignia! For Halloween (and very possibly any random weekday), Carl roamed the hallways as Paul Stanley, with white pancake facial makeup and a big black star over his eye.

As hard as he tried to recruit me, I never caught KISS fever. But a few of their songs were obviously great, particularly “Beth”, the most unexpected syrupy ballad of the very syrupy mid-‘70s.

I mean, seriously, this sounds nothing like anything else in the KISS catalogue, but it’s kind of glorious: Peter Criss, drummer for the notorious hard rock monsters, plaintively seeking—along with a 15-piece orchestra!—understanding from his wife about the rigours of playing in a rock band: ”…We just can’t find the sound…”; ”…Just a few more hours…”

Of course, it was all a total load of bollocks, as the tales of this band and its groupies are nothing short of legendary.

Still…”Beth, what can I do?”

I lost touch with Carl after high school…but in 1999, a movie called Detroit Rock City was made, about a group of high school kids in 1978 trying to get into a KISS concert. When I learned that it had been filmed at Cedarbrae, I thought of my old buddy Carl…as I think of him again today, wondering how deeply—after all these years—he feels the loss of Ace.