The song "Beth" might be divisive for several fans of KISS. The tune is not truly indicative of the greatness of the band. Instead, it's an overly saccharine track that sounds more like soft rock than the thunderous music KISS normally created. This is compounded by the fact that "Beth" appears on arguably the group's best album, Destroyer.
Another bit that made the song different is that it is not sung by either Gene Simmons or Paul Stanley, the two members who did almost all of the singing. Instead, drummer Peter Criss takes the lead. Is his voice transformative? Not really, but it's fine.
One long-held belief of the song (that was KISS's highest-charting track - it reached No. 7 in 1976) was that Criss wrote it as well as the singer. According to a new interview Simmons did on the Professor of Rock podcast, that isn't true. In fact, no one directly involved with KISS wrote the song.
KISS's Gene Simmons disputes Peter Criss wrote "Beth"
The origin of how KISS came to be the one to release "Beth" was that Criss and Simmons were riding in a limousine in Michigan, and Criss began humming the tune to a track that was called "Beck." Simmons suggested changing the word to "Beth" to avoid the hard consonant and to allow the melody to keep going instead of having a hard stop.
The actual song stemmed from a band Criss was in with Stan Penridge, and Penridge was the true writer of the song. He does have a songwriting credit for it, along with KISS producer Bob Ezrin, but Criss's name comes first. Simmons suggested a deal was worked out with Penridge to have that last part occur.
Of course, Simmons does sometimes simply like to talk to be heard. Maybe events unfolded as he said, but Peter Criss was not with him to dispute that. At least Gene Simmons is not putting forth the idea that his name should also appear among the songwriting credits.
What is most likely true, though, is that KISS fans probably don't care who actually wrote the song. Many might wish it never existed, and certainly wasn't the band's best-selling song. It doesn't feel like a KISS tune and never will.