🎸 Spaceman and the Riffs That Never Fade
Ace Frehley wasn’t just the Spaceman of KISS — he was the cosmic outlaw who made rock feel infinite. His riffs still echo in every amp that hums and every dreamer who dares to plug in.
Remembering Ace Frehley (1951 – 2025)
There are guitarists who play notes, and then there are those who bend the universe. Ace Frehley was the latter — the interstellar architect of tone, swagger, and showmanship who helped build one of the loudest legacies in rock history.
As the original lead guitarist and co-founder of KISS, Frehley didn’t just shred — he launched. In full Spaceman regalia, silver makeup glinting under the stage lights, he turned every solo into liftoff. His riffs didn’t just ring through arenas; they became anthems of escape for every kid who ever felt like they didn’t belong on this planet.
When you strip away the pyrotechnics and the smoke, what remains is pure electricity — the sound of a man channeling energy through six strings and a Les Paul that glowed as bright as the stars he sang about. Ace wasn’t just a character; he was a cosmic outlaw with a grin and a tone that could melt steel.
The Man Behind the Mask
Beneath the paint, Ace was human — beautifully flawed, wildly creative, and unflinchingly real. His solo career proved that his identity was never limited to KISS. Songs like “New York Groove” still pulse with that city-street confidence — gritty, rhythmic, unpretentious. It’s a track that could only come from someone who’d lived every high and low of rock’s roller coaster and still found his groove on the other side.
In interviews, he was funny, raw, and occasionally unpredictable — a true reflection of the era he helped define. Ace was never afraid to say what he felt, even if it rattled the establishment. Maybe that’s why his fans loved him so fiercely. He was real, and in rock ’n’ roll, real is rare.
A Legacy Written in Light and Feedback
From his iconic smoking guitar solos to his unspoken influence on generations of rock and metal players, Ace Frehley’s DNA runs through modern music. You can hear it in the swagger of Slash, the tone of Joe Perry, the showmanship of countless arena bands that followed.
For Gen-Xers, Ace wasn’t just part of KISS — he was the reason kids picked up guitars in the first place. He represented possibility: that someone a little weird, a little wild, and completely themselves could take over the world armed with nothing more than a dream and a distortion pedal. And now, as the amps go quiet, the echo of that dream remains.
The Spaceman Lives On
It’s easy to say rock stars never die — but in Ace’s case, it feels true. His riffs are still orbiting. His laughter still hums in interviews and backstage stories. His fingerprints are on every pick-slide and power chord that ever made a crowd lose its mind.
He once said he wasn’t sure where the Spaceman came from — maybe outer space, maybe the Bronx, maybe a little of both. Wherever it was, the energy he brought to this world was bigger than any stage could hold.
Rest easy, Ace. You took us higher than we ever thought we could go.
The Spaceman has returned to the stars — but his riffs will never fade.
The Torch Still Burns: How CommonX Is Keeping MTV’s Spirit Alive
When MTV started fading from the airwaves, a generation felt like part of its soul was slipping away. But the truth is — the movement isn’t dead. CommonX is carrying the torch, keeping alive the spirit of connection, creativity, and rebellion that MTV once gave us. From iconic artists to new voices, we’re still tuning into the same frequency — the one that plays from the heart of Generation X.
A glowing retro CRT television flickers in a dark room with the CommonX logo and skull emblem on-screen, symbolizing the passing of the MTV torch to a new generation of creators.
🎸 The Torch Still Burns: How CommonX Is Keeping MTV’s Spirit Alive
MTV didn’t just play music.
It played moments — the kind you felt in your bones long before you could name them.
When the headlines hit that MTV was winding down some of its music channels, the internet reacted like it just heard the last guitar feedback fade out. Nostalgia, disbelief, heartbreak — but also something else: a sense that a torch needed carrying. And that’s where we come in. MTV may be changing, but the movement it sparked — that fusion of rebellion, rhythm, and raw emotion — never died. It just evolved. CommonX isn’t replacing MTV. We’re preserving what it stood for and reigniting it for the world we live in now.
🎧 The Signal Never Died
The ‘80s and ‘90s MTV generation was raised on a steady diet of noise, neon, and truth. From “Headbangers Ball” to “120 Minutes,” MTV taught us that music wasn’t just background — it was identity. Now, as traditional TV fades and algorithms decide what you see, CommonX is the counterpunch — a reminder that authentic culture still lives off the grid. From Rudy Sarzo and Ivan Doroschuk to Sid Griffin and Chris Ballew, we’ve sat down with the voices that shaped a generation. The names may have changed, but the spirit — that fearless curiosity to ask, challenge, and create — is still the same. MTV gave us the soundtrack. CommonX is picking up the mic.
🔥 Keeping the Flame Alive
MTV once gave a generation permission to be loud, weird, and unapologetically real. Somewhere along the way, it turned into reruns and reality shows. But here’s the truth — the artists, the dreamers, and the rebels it inspired didn’t disappear. They just went independent. That’s why CommonX exists — to keep the flame burning. To tell the stories behind the music, the meaning behind the madness, and the movement behind the noise. Whether it’s through The X-Files blog, the CommonX Podcast, or Curb Fail Productions, we’re building the next chapter of a legacy that started in front of that flickering TV screen.
⚡ A New Era for Gen-X
We don’t see MTV’s decline as an ending — it’s an invitation. A challenge to the next wave of creators to stop waiting for permission and start broadcasting their own signal. Because the truth is, the world still needs the energy MTV gave us — the guts to challenge, the hunger to create, and the soundtrack that told us who we were. And that’s exactly what CommonX is doing: not replacing the past, but remixing it into the future. ⚡ A New Home for Generation X We’re not competing with MTV — we’re continuing it. Because the truth is, the world still needs what MTV gave us: culture with a conscience, rebellion with rhythm, stories that matter. And now, it’s our turn to amplify it in a new way — one podcast, one article, one story at a time.
This isn’t the end of an era. It’s the next track in the playlist.
💫 CommonX aims to keep MTV Alive
The music didn’t stop — it just found a new station. Welcome to CommonX, where the spirit of MTV still spins.
Written by Ian Primmer — CommonX Podcast
Chris Ballew & Beck — When Weirdness Changed the World
Before the hits, Chris Ballew and Beck were friends exploring sound and freedom. Their playful experiments helped shape the 90s alternative rock landscape — and their creative bond still echoes through every note.
Real Talk. Common Ground.
Before stadium crowds sang Peaches and Lump, before Loser became an anthem for every art-school kid who never quite fit in, Chris Ballew and Beck Hansen were just two friends chasing sound in tiny rehearsal rooms.
In the early ’90s they shared basements, cheap tape decks, and a belief that rules were for other people. Beck was experimenting with folk-hip-hop collage; Ballew was testing what could happen if you cut half the strings off a bass. Out of that chaos came a friendship built on curiosity and humor—two kindred spirits learning that imperfection could be its own kind of perfection.
When Beck’s star began to rise, Ballew kept following the same muse back home in Seattle, forming The Presidents of the United States of America. The band’s stripped-down punch felt like a cousin to Beck’s collage pop: witty, raw, and fearless. Together they helped turn “alternative rock” from a label into a language—a space where experimentation, fun, and sincerity could all live in the same three-minute song.
“Playing with Beck reminded me that music is a sandbox, not a science,” Ballew told CommonX. “Every sound you make should surprise you a little.”
A Friendship That Still Resonates
Even decades later, you can hear echoes of those jam-session nights in everything Chris touches—whether it’s the joyful minimalism of the Presidents, his kids-music alter ego Caspar Babypants, or his new solo tracks recorded in his home studio.
That friendship with Beck wasn’t just a chapter; it was a spark that showed both artists how far pure play could go.
🔗 Hear the Conversation
Catch our full talk with Chris Ballew on The CommonX Podcast—streaming now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.