Gene Simmons repeated his well-known assertion that “rock is lifeless” however offered an argument for a way the stay music scene may nonetheless survive.
The Kiss cofounder made headlines with the soundbite in 2014, though it wasn’t the primary time he expressed an identical viewpoint. The model of his clarification eight years in the past turned a normal subject of dialog amongst artists and observers and stays a staple of interview questions.
“I stand by my phrases: Rock is lifeless,” Simmons advised Metal Hammer within the newest version. “The those who killed it are followers. Followers killed the factor they beloved by downloading and file sharing totally free. How do you count on someone who loves the guitar to come back into this artistic course of? You’ve obtained to invent your self. And so, rock is lifeless.”
He argued that, between 1958 and 1998, “a whole bunch of bands” together with the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, Prince and David Bowie had shaped and created “everlasting music” however that since that interval, music hasn’t had the identical lasting high quality. “Influential bands – that make someone wish to decide up a guitar, learn to play songs and be in a band – do not exist, as a result of you possibly can’t make a residing,” he mentioned.
However Simmons praised the stay music scene, such because the U.Okay.’s Obtain pageant, the place Kiss will take their ultimate bow in Britain this summer time. The explanation these occasions may survive, he mentioned, was “you acquire a fucking ticket. You paid for it in order that the those who set the stage up can receives a commission in order that the [drivers] that introduced the tools can earn a residing and feed their household.”
Nonetheless, he issued one other warning, noting that “should you don’t purchase tickets and it’s all free, how does anyone make a residing? … The those who work with us as a substitute of for us, they should feed their households. How do new bands survive? How have they got roadies? How do you pay for fuel? No, no. Rock is lifeless. And the followers are responsible. You all damage the one you like. Unhappy however true.”
Kiss Lineup Adjustments: A Full Information
An in-depth information to the entire personnel modifications undergone by the “hottest band within the land,” Kiss.
