Gene Simmons of KISS has a lot to say about rock and roll and famous bands of late.
In emphasizing how rock is indeed dead, he criticized boy bands that have captured the hearts of many around the world and called them not as influential or impactful as the bands in the past. Was there a need to compare?
Even after almost eight years since he initially declared it was dead, the tongue-wagging musician who could be the father of Liam Gallagher's son reminded the world that rock and roll are still dead. For him, artists and bands can categorize themselves as rock, but they are not in the true sense of what rock is for him, anyway.
"I stand by my words: rock is dead," Simmons said via Louder. "The people that killed it are fans. Fans killed the thing they loved by downloading and file sharing for free. How do you expect somebody who loves the guitar to come into this creative process? You've got to invent yourself, and so rock is dead."
As he defends his theory, he said that bands such as BTS, One Direction, and NSYNC could not compare to bands and artists that dominated from 1958 to 1988.
According to him, those 30 years were precious. "You got Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones and on and on. Motown. You have the surf thing and the Beach Boys, the British invasion - hundreds of bands. The Hollies are hardly ever talked about, they're a great band," he said. He added that in that period, the world got to experience
"Disco stuff - Madonna, Prince, Bowie; all that great stuff. You had the heavy bands Metallica and Iron Maiden."
However, after those golden years, from 1988 until today, no band can be classified as the new Beatles at all. Uncaring how much BTS earns or what the One Direction was able to achieve before it got disbanded, Simmons is sure none of these artists hold a thumb to the earlier ones.
Check out BTS below:
Below is one music video from One Direction:
Who has forgotten NSYNC?
There aren't any influential bands at present that inspire people to take up a guitar and learn to play songs or strive to be in a band, even if they have little means to do so, he said.
Maybe Kiss is the exception?
In June, KISS will perform at the Download Festival, which will be their final performance before they formally retire in 2023.
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