What he's trying to say is that Kiss was pretty shitty. Sure they could play instruments, but they weren't that good. Their gimmick was 99% responsible for their success. If they didn't wear face paint, they would have never made it out of the bar scene.
I disagree with that. I get that Kiss is a take it or leave it proposition, and maybe it's because I was on board from (close to) the beginning, but it's a fallacy to assume that without the makeup that all else would have stayed exactly the same and the outcome would be different. Alive! made them celebrities, and it was an album. Music. They were doing something right musically even if it isn't your bag, and I have a feeling that Paul in particular would have been a rock star one way or the other. If the makeup thing didn't work, I believe he could have made it happen in some other way. Would he be singing "Love Gun"? Probably not, but I don't think people realize how relentless those two (Paul and Gene) were. They were going somewhere come hell or high water. To pass it off as "luck", as if they were sitting in their loft on 23rd Street waiting for stuff to happen to them - as opposed to making stuff happen for themselves - is not accurate.
Personally, I agree with Hef; Gene is Gene, and if you expect anything else, well, you're not paying attention. I would question his word choice as well, but even Paul will tell you, Gene likes to hear himself talk.
Big fan of Gene and Paul then and still am now.
EDIT: I am also probably one of the few people in the world that think Shannon is more repugnant than Gene. She does nothing for me, though I will agree she took a mean photo back in the day. Personally, I like Gene; met him once and he was as far from an "asshole" or "douchebag" as you can get. Second best celebrity encounter of my life, second only to... Paul, who was hands down the nicest person you could ever possibly hope for in a celebrity. He actually took about 10 minute to talk to my then six-year old daughter, got down on his knee to be at her height, and made her feel like the most special person in the world She had no idea who he was ("Do you sing "Beth"??") but she knew he was important to Dad and it made an impression on her. I'm taking her to her first Kiss show in two weeks. I just hope Paul's voice isn't total crap, though I'm not holding my breath.