Good Times

Peter Criss, Kirk Miller, Mark Montague

This song was about Peter's divorce from his second wife, Debbie. During 1991 Peter's life had been hit by a series of personal disasters. In January his mother passed away and almost immediately he was hit with an imposter scandal that made national headlines. An American mass tabloid ran the headline "KISS Star Hits The Skids" (Star, 1/8/91), which was "followed by the wrenching details of how Peter Criss, a former drummer for the once wildly popular glam-rock band, had become a homeless alcoholic, panhandling for nickels and sleeping on the floor of the men's room at the Santa Monica Pier" (People 1/21/91).

According to Mark St. John, "Peter was going through hard times with his wife Debbie. I think they were going through a separation or whatever" (Mark St. John: The KISS ASYLUM Interview) around the time of the imposter scandal, but regardless of the timing of events, Debra would leave Peter for his lawyer. Mark Montague later recalled, "I actually went to court with him a few times for that trial there. It really never went to trial. They went to court twice and then the Star gave in and gave him a settlement but that's true. The lawyer who handled that case ended up - his wife divorced him for this guy" (Angela Monger). Even Peter summed up the miserable time: "I was 25 pounds overweight and my mother had died. It was a very bad time, the press were crawling all over my house" (Sunday Herald Sun). With all of that according to Peter, "my wife fell in love with my lawyer and left me" (Sunday Herald Sun).

The struggle which Peter endured during this period of his life would have a rejuvenating effect on Peter, who recalled, "After my wife left me, I adopted a 'screw everyone' attitude, got an apartment in Hollywood, and lived, and ate music. That's all I wanted to do" (Sunday Herald Sun). The loss of his wife would be summed up in the lyrics of the song: "I'm coming home to an empty house / Where my wife and child would meet me (yeah) / Now there's another man, living there / So there won't be no one there to greet me." Like the other songs that would also appear on "Cat #1" the mix of this original version is slightly different.