Classic Rock
Gene Simmons explains why he thinks Rock is still dead
Gene Simmons helped to form Kiss in New York City back in 1973 alongside Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley and Peter Criss. They became one of the most influential Hard Rock bands of all time and inspired countless groups over the decades.
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In the music business since the early 70s, Simmons had the chance to see the evolution of Rock and Roll music but for a few years already, he thinks that the music genre is dead. In an interview with The Zak Kuhn Show (Transcribed by Blabbermouth), he explained why he thinks Rock is still dead.
Gene Simmons explains why he thinks Rock is still dead
“It is. And people don’t understand how I can say that when we all have our favorite songs and we love our favorite bands — you and I and everybody else. 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. 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 — Oh God — 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?”
Kiss came to an end as a band in 2023 after five decades on the road. Their final shows happened at the Madison Square Garden in New York City. Gene Simmons already toured a lot in 2024 with his solo band, but Paul Stanley still didn’t play live again after the final Kiss show.
