“I’m 5’7” but I’ll have an operation, I’ll do something”: Ex-Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman was denied a Kiss audition for being too short

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Former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman has said that his height once cost him the chance to audition for Kiss.

The Japan-based, American-born musician, who played with Megadeth from 1989 to 2000, made the revelation during a recent interview with Sam Ash Music. When asked if there was any Kiss song he would have liked to have played guitar on, Friedman answers (via NME): “I would’ve wanted to be on any Kiss song. I’ll give you a quick story about that – when they were changing guitar players a long time ago, I got a call from Kiss’s people.”

To gauge his eligibility for the role, Friedman received a number of appearance-related questions, asking about his hair length, facial hair and height. When Friedman said that he was five foot seven inches tall, the pre-audition interview was swiftly shut down.

“I’m like, ‘What? I’m 5’7”, but I’ll have an operation, I’ll do something,’” Friedman remembers. “And they were like, ‘I’m sorry, it’s not going to work out.’ I was so bummed.”

Almost all of Kiss’s original lineup – Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss – are more than six foot tall, with the exception of drummer Criss, who’s five foot nine inches. Simmons, Stanley and Frehley also performed live with platform boots, making them several inches taller during their shows.

The Kiss gig wasn’t the only one Friedman was denied for aesthetic reasons. In November last year, the guitarist said that he “failed miserably” when auditioning to join the solo band of Ozzy Osbourne, based on how he dressed at the time.

“Everybody was friendly enough. But our images were very different,” Friedman said. “Those guys in the band were, like – it was just like a rehearsal, and they were totally decked out in 1980s Sunset Strip… skull t-shirts with handcuffs and long necklaces. And they were just ready to go out on the Strip, and I was just in jeans and a t-shirt, totally normal. It was just a different air.”

Kiss, with Tommy Thayer replacing Frehley and Eric Carr replacing Criss, disbanded late last year following an extensive farewell tour. Simmons was recently given the key to the city of Niagara Falls, New York, and had a street there named after him.