{"id":226043,"date":"2025-10-19T22:06:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T22:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/226043\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T22:06:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T22:06:13","slug":"to-be-honest-i-actually-didnt-want-to-record-this-song-ace-frehley-on-his-one-regret-about-the-hit-that-is-forever-associated-with-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/226043\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cTo be honest, I actually didn’t want to record this song.\u201d Ace Frehley on his one regret about the hit that is forever associated with him"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ace Frehley will be forever celebrated for his years with Kiss, the iconic group he cofounded in the 1970s with Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley<\/a> and Peter Criss.<\/p>\n

But Frehley \u2014 who died on October 16<\/a> at the age of 74 from injuries after a fall at home<\/a> \u2014 will also be remembered for his signature solo hit: \u201cNew York Groove,\u201d released in 1978.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

That was the year all four Kiss members issued solo albums. But only Ace scored a top 20 hit, when \u201cNew York Groove\u201d reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was especially appropriate, since the electric<\/a> guitarist was a Bronx-born native of the Big Apple.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Since then, \u201cNew York Groove\u201d has remained popular in the New York area, where it\u2019s become the Mets signature tune, played at home games to celebrate a win.<\/p>\n

But as Ace explained, he had one regret about the song: He didn\u2019t write it.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people think I wrote \u2018New York Groove,\u2019\u201d he told Louder<\/a> in an interview published October 6. \u201cIt\u2019s not a myth that I\u2019ve perpetuated, but that\u2019s the way it is.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I would\u2019ve wrote the song, though. I would\u2019ve made a lot more cash out of it,\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

The foot-stomping three-chord tune was actually written by Russ Ballard, the British songwriter behind hits like Rainbow\u2019s 1979 hit \u201cSince You Been Gone\u201d and \u201cGod Gave Rock and Roll to You,\u201d originally recorded by Argent in 1973 and covered by Kiss, no less, in 1991 as “God Gave Rock ‘\u2019N’ Roll to You II,” with modified lyrics.<\/p>\n

Ballard told Louder he wrote the song while en route to New York City for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I was sitting on the plane, I got out a pen and paper and started thinking of the phrase \u2018back in the New York groove,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019d be a good title for a song, I reckoned; the whole idea of someone going back to New York and singing about the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

The tune was originally cut by the London-based glam-rock band Hello in 1975 and became a number nine hit in the U.K.<\/p>\n

Strangely, Frehley had no recollection of hearing Hello\u2019s version.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr maybe I have and I just can\u2019t remember,\u201d he told Louder. \u201cCan you send me an MP3 of it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Freely said \u201cNew York Groove\u201d became forever associated with him after \u201cwe realized we needed a more commercial song for inclusion on my solo record.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I actually didn’t want to record this song,\u201d he told Guitar Player<\/a> last year. \u201cEddie Kramer my producer, introduced me to it. He kept saying to me, \u2018Ace, you\u2019ve got to record this song,\u2019 and I kept saying, \u2018I don’t think it has anything to do with any of the other songs.\u2019<\/p>\n

To be honest, I actually didn’t want to record this song. Eddie Kramer my producer, kept saying to me, \u2018Ace, you\u2019ve got to record this song.\u2019\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u2014 Ace Frehley<\/p>\n

\u201cBut once we had finished recording a lot of the album in Connecticut, we went down to Manhattan to do the overdubs and vocals, and once we got down there, he finally talked me into doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He cut the track at Plaza Sound Studios above Radio City Music Hall on 51st Street, giving him a memorable view of the hall\u2019s Rockettes dancers to go with the session.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was kinda cool because the Rockettes used to sun themselves on the roof,\u201d he recalled to Louder. \u201cThese beautiful, semi-naked girls were constantly walking into the studio and checking out what was going on. So that was quite a nice recording environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ace also remembered that, on this particular session, he used his sunburst \u201859 Gibson Les Paul<\/a>, one of the guitars he, unfortunately, parted ways with.<\/p>\n

\u201cI bought it in a guitar store, and it was really faded, but it was a great guitar,\u201d he told Guitar Player. \u201cGibson actually ended up putting out a copy of it several years ago. They got ahold of a guy that owned it and did a version that was aged and a regular version too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"KISS\n<\/p>\n

Ace and the gang get their New York City groove on Broadway in 1976. (Image credit: Richard Corkery\/NY Daily News via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Considering that Ace often stood in Simmons and Stanley\u2019s creative shadow, it was a point of pride that he was the only Kiss member to have a solo hit. \u201cI’m starting to come out of my shell and I’m going to get stronger,\u201d he told People in 1980, noting that the song\u2019s success gave him some clout in the group.<\/p>\n

Despite that, he didn\u2019t gloat over his achievement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t feel like I was getting one over on the other guys in Kiss,\u201d he remarked to Louder. \u201cIt\u2019s just something that happened. I was lucky that it came out as good as it did.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never really listened to the other three solo records, although I did put Gene\u2019s on once. When I heard his version of \u2018When You Wish Upon a Star<\/a>,\u2019 I had to pull it off the turntable, ha-ha-hargh!\u201d The tune was originally a children\u2019s favorite from the Disney animated film Pinocchio, but in Simmons\u2019 hands it became a cringe-inducing oddity.<\/p>\n

While \u201cNew York Groove\u201d remains one of Ballard\u2019s best-known tunes, he remains a little mystified by its success.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess it surprised me because it\u2019s so incredibly simple,\u201d he says. \u201cThey say a good song will always sell. And there\u2019s a lot of truth in that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ace Frehley will be forever celebrated for his years with Kiss, the iconic group he cofounded in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":["post-226043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}