Gene Simmons Wrote a KISS Screenplay That Never Became a Movie, Inspired by One of the Biggest Rock Bands of the 1960s

Gene Simmons once revealed that one of KISS’ many albums was based on a screenplay he’d written. But, unfortunately, it never got made into a movie. This might sound odd, but in the 1970s and 1980s, it was fairly common for this to happen. Some notable albums turned into movies include Paul McCartney’s Give My Regards To Broad Street, Prince’s Purple Rain, Pink Floyd’s The Wall, and The Who’s Tommy. Gene Simmons also admitted that one of the reasons he created one of his own albums, based on a screenplay, was because of The Who’s Tommy.

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In 1969, The Who released their fourth studio album, Tommy. It was a major success, as it peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200. Six years later, that success continued after the album was turned into a feature film. Featuring Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, Elton John, Keith Moon, Tina Turner, Eric Clapton, and Jack Nicholson (yes, Jack Nicholson), the film was a commercial and critical success. Gene Simmons tried to replicate this success with his own project, but unfortunately came up a little short.

The Album Gene Simmons Thought of as a Silver Screen Motion Picture

The album Gene Simmons created from his screenplay was KISS’ 1981 album, Music From The Elder. Following its release, the album went on to have a mediocre chart performance relative to their prior releases. It only reached No. 75. For seemingly this reason, as well as some others, Gene Simmons’ vision never came to fruition in the form of a real film.

Concerning the chart history and the inspiration behind the album, Simmons stated, “I take full blame. It was based on a treatment, a semi-script that I wrote called ‘The Elder’. I was staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel at that point and I wrote it on the Beverly Hills Hotel stationery,” via Rolling Stone.

“In hindsight, it was an interesting mistake,” added Simmons. “We all were sort of [thinking], ‘The Who are the threat, and they have ‘Tommy’? Why can’t we have ‘The Elder’! The Beatles had ‘Sgt. Pepper’. This will be ours.’ Well, it wasn’t.”

The story Simmons developed was about a young hero looking for legendary figures to help him save the world. Drawing inspiration from materials such as The Lord Of The Rings, the story was an ambitious fantasy tale, and if you’ve heard the album, then you’ve surely already picked up on that. Even though that movie seems quite sellable, especially given that KISS was attached, it still, unfortunately, was never made into a blockbuster film.

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