Former Kiss guitarist Vinnie Vincent has taken note of his fans who have complained about the CD single he priced at $200 (plus $25 in shipping) before New Year’s, and he’s responding by promising more CD singles … priced at $500.
“This New Year will also see the release of the MASTER SERIES GUITAR POWER DRIVE BALLADS like FORBIDDEN with VV on vocals, GYPSY IN HER EYES (new recording with VV’s re-written lyrics) BACK ON THE STREETS (recent recording), UNCONDITIONAL with VV vocals,” he wrote in Facebook comments (caps lock all his, always). “The list is very long. They will be offered as CD singles to protect against pirating … at 50 per single with a threshold of $500 U.S. and $500 International.”
Last month, the guitarist, who played on two Kiss albums in the early Eighties, including Lick It Up, blasted fans who balked at the wallet-busting price tag for his “Ride the Serpent” single. “If you like what I do, then support the artist,” he told one fan. “You bitch because it’s one song? This one song is worth more than most entire albums. Consider yourself lucky that it’s only $200, and that it’s autographed yet. It was originally $300, but with the economy suffering as it is, I made it $200.”
The songs will eventually feature on a long-promised full-length album from the artist’s Vinnie Vincent Invasion, Judgment Day Guitarmageddon, which would be his first new music since he put out the Euphoria EP three decades ago. “Would be,” of course, are the most important words in that sentence since Vincent has also posted that he may never release the record if fans won’t pay what he considers a fair price for music.
“I’ve created an elite product for elite taste,” he wrote in another Facebook comment. “So for the smash-and-grab EBT card group of self-entitled complainers bitching about price..fuck off. … The magic of VINNIE VINCENT INVASION is escapism. GUITARMAGEDDON is escapism on steroids. So it comes down to this; if the fan support is not there which it does not appear to be, this record will not be released. Am I fine with that? Absolutely. One hundred percent. It will be the greatest album of all time, never to be heard, never to be released.”
Vincent has always told fans that the album would never feature on Spotify, only to come out on vinyl and CD. He’s also chastised fans who have been listening to demos of Guitarmageddon songs that have leaked over the years.
The artist has a high opinion of the music, too. “GUITARMAGEDDON is one of the greatest rock albums of all time,” he wrote in a comment. “I lived thru MEET THE BEATLES, ZEPPELIN II, HENDRIX ARE YOU EXPERIENCED, JEFF BECK TRUTH, CREAM WHEELS OF FIRE, PINK FLOYD etc.. The only difference is these albums are generation-tested and have the benefit of fermentation of time. But as for impact and perfection from the first song to last, GUITARMAGEDDON is a classic.”
After a short stint in Kiss, during which he donned makeup and assumed the character of the “Ankh Warrior,” Vincent formed the Vinnie Vincent Invasion in 1984. After the release of Euphoria in 1996, he kept a low profile until returning to the public at the Atlanta Kiss Expo in 2018.
