KISS’ Gene Simmons on why rock’n’roll is “still dead”

KISS’ Gene Simmons has once again doubled down on his assertion that “rock is dead”.

The bassist and singer has been declaring the demise of the genre for over a decade now, dating back to comments from 2014 in which he accused record labels of failing to adequately support rock artists. At the time, he told young musicians and songwriters, “Don’t quit your day job”.

In 2021, he returned to the topic, saying that contemporary artists may be popular, but that does not mean they are “iconic”, saying new bands “haven’t taken the time to create glamour, excitement and epic stuff”.

He also pointed his finger at the younger generation of music fans, accusing them of “killing the thing that you love”, despite appearing to be more critical of the streaming model and its low pay for artists.

Now, Simmons has reasserted his point that “rock is dead” during an appearance on The Zak Kuhn Show.

“People don’t understand how I can say that when we all have our favourite songs and we love our favourite bands – you and I and everybody else,” he said. “But what I mean is that… Well, let’s play a game, and I’ve done this before. From 1958 until 1988, that’s 30 years. So what came during that period? Well, we had Elvis, we had The Beatles, The Stones, Jimi Hendrix, all that, Pink Floyd, the solo artists, David Bowie and just music that lasts forever, we’d like to think.”

“In the disco world, you had Madonna, more heavy guitars, you had AC/DC and everybody else, Aerosmith and on and on. And you had Motown at the same time. You had Prince. It was a very, very rich musical menu. It could go up and down. You had prog bands, you had Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant, and you had the heavy bands, Led Zeppelin and so on. And from 1988 until today, it’s something like almost 40 years, certainly 35 years. Who are the new Beatles?”

Simmons went on to dismiss Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters as examples of more recent bands on that level. “My point is if you randomly walk down the street and you ask the first young person you meet, a 20-year-old, and you say, ‘Name me anybody in Pearl Jam,’ good luck with that. ‘Name me or tell me a song. Hum a song.’ They [can’t].”

Elsewhere, Simmons said he stood by his comments as a guest judge on Dancing With The Stars after receiving accusations of misogyny.

He also had his say on rumours of a possible reunion of The Smiths. “Get rid of the guitar player and get somebody else,” he said. “Nobody cares. They just want to hear the songs. I keep saying this over and over again. If you go down the street, and with all due respect to Johnny Marr, you go down the street and ask the general person, “Who’s Johnny Marr?” they won’t know who you’re talking about.”

Also in his firing line recently was Flea, who Simmons said does not have a “memorable style”.