And it aggravates them that fans know it, too, and that some fans prefer Ace and Peter to Tommy and Eric, no matter how much Gene and Paul try to spin that it's a better band now. Alan It has cheesed Gene for decades that Ace, even with all the defects of character, is infinitely cooler than he is. IMO the solo albums were a vehicle to publicly embarrass Ace and Peter and prove who really made the band tick. It totally backfired on Gene, who I'm sure was convinced that Ace would release a total turd. In fact, the opposite happened.