The Guitar Riff That the Doors, KISS, and Pearl Jam All Have in Common

Sometimes, glaring similarities between two songs will hide in plain sight from a songwriter, as was the case for guitarist Ace Frehley when he pulled a “note for note” solo from the Doors to write the solo for KISS’ 1975 track, “She,” and when Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready did the same thing in 1991. While sharing a riff or musical motif isn’t necessarily uncommon, the apparent differences between KISS, the Doors, and Pearl Jam make the imitation so notable. After all, most people would consider the Doors to be far more psychedelic and ethereal than KISS’ gritty, East Coast hard rock. Pearl Jam wasn’t nearly as flashy as their makeup-clad predecessors, KISS.

Videos by American Songwriter

Nevertheless, a clear connecting line can be drawn from the 1960s-born Los Angeles outfit to the makeup-clad quartet from New York City to the Seattle kings of grunge.

KISS’ “She” Used This Robby Krieger Solo From The Doors’ Debut

Although their de facto anthem “Rock and Roll All Nite” is often the first track we think of when recalling KISS’ third album, Dressed to Kill, the 1975 album had plenty of rock ‘n’ roll bangers, one of which was the 8th track, “She.” With its nasty minor riffs and powerful group vocals, “She” embodies the best of what 1970s KISS had to offer. The track would become a significant source of inspiration for future rock stars like Mike McCready of Pearl Jam. But before Ace Frehley wrote his solo for “She,” he was listening to the Doors’ debut album, Waiting for the Sun, from 1968.

On an episode of Billy Corgan’s The Magnificent Others podcast, KISS frontman Gene Simmons recalled talking to McCready about how important Frehley was to McCready’s development as a guitar player, specifically because of his solo in “She.” “I said, ‘Mike, I don’t know how to tell you this, but that’s note-for-note a guitar solo from the Doors,’” Simmons said. “‘Ace liked it so much he just reproduced it.’ He goes, ‘No.’”

The Doors song in question is the closing track to their 1968 debut, “Five to One.” Robby Krieger first brings in the descending melody around the 1:12 mark of the Doors’ song, while KISS’ Ace Frehley brings in the same guitar lick around 2:48. The songs even share an overall style of a stark, minor-forward instrumental arrangement. Critics have categorized Krieger’s guitar parts on “Five to One” as proto-metal, which clearly helped pave the way for KISS’ bold, brash, hard rock sound.

Robby Krieger Helped Inspire Another Iconic Band Two Decades Later

When Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready first told KISS frontman Gene Simmons about the impact Ace Frehley’s guitar playing had on his own musical style, McCready was specifically talking about Pearl Jam’s debut single from 1991, “Alive.” Although the grunge track didn’t chart as high as others from subsequent releases, the early-era song has become one of the band’s most recognizable and iconic songs in their repertoire. McCready originally attributed his guitar solo on “Alive” to Ace Frehley’s from “She,” which you can hear toward the end of the song around 3:30.

But of course, as Simmons would later point out, Frehley was merely a conduit through which the Doors’ Robby Krieger could influence McCready over two decades later. And let’s be honest: if the Doors had hit their prime in the 1990s, we probably would have called them grunge, too. So, perhaps KISS, the Doors, and Pearl Jam aren’t such an unlikely trio after all.

Photo by Tom Hill/WireImage