Rock and Roll Garage

One of the most important American rock and roll artists of all time, Kiss co-founder, bassist, and singer Gene Simmons has influenced countless generations of musicians with the music he wrote in the hard rock band. Although he is a rock and roll icon, he has a broad musical taste and is always paying attention to what’s happening in the music business. While he’s not a huge fan of current pop music, he has mentioned three artists from the genre that he likes. 3 Pop artists that Gene Simmons said he likes Lady Gaga https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBynw9Isr28&pp=ygUVbGFkeSBnYWdhIGFicmFjYWRhYnJh The first one is Lady Gaga, who Gene said is "more talented than all the others". He said multiple times during the past years that Rock and Roll is dead and that Pop music is really what is in the spotlight at the moment. Because according to him, Pop stars like Gaga are the only artists nowadays that can really build a faithful fanbase. Like Kiss has the Kiss Army, Gaga has her Little Monsters. “It is in your favor if you have a fanbase that feels like they’re connected and they have the flag, like in soccer. That is tribalism. It doesn’t have to be mean-spirited. It’s an identity. (...) Gaga, I think, is more talented than all the others. Because her songs and her are, ‘I was born this way.’ So the music is not just — and I don’t mean ‘fluff’ in a bad way, because there’s some wonderful fluff stuff. A lot of the British Invasion was all these great songs that you sang meant nothing. But when a song is saying (singing) ‘you want a revolution’, the song is about something." “And so if you have a body of work that’s about something, you get the beginnings of tribalism. And if you’re the embodiment of that tribe, now you’ve got something. Yes, Gaga’s fanbase is about that. And of course, she’s widened her thing by doing pop, Tony Bennett, and all this stuff. She’s the real deal. She’s got the musical chops. She can play, sing; (she is a) chanteuse,” Simmons told the Greatest Music Of All Time channel. Gene Simmons said she is the only Rock star from the last 20 years She is a fan of Kiss' music and even had the chance to go see them playing live and meet them backstage. Although she is viewed as a Pop star, Simmons once said that she was actually a Rock Star. He told Star Advertiser (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage), that Gaga was the only real Rock Star he had seen during the past 20 years. "The only real Rock star I’ve seen in the last 20, 25 years is Lady Gaga who just arrived on the scene. That’s a star. She’s actually got the musical (talent), she can play the piano, she can write songs, she can really sing." "I’m not a fan of that kind of music but she’s got the goods. I appreciate all the Pop divas but if you don’t play your own instrument and write your own songs you can’t have my admiration which is not as valid as your fans’ admiration. If they’re buying your albums and especially if they’re going to see you live that is as much validation as you should ever have. Whether I get or not, Gene Simmons told Star Advertiser (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). She almost recorded with Kiss Curiously, she almost sang on Kiss' final studio album "Monster" which was released in 2012. The band invited her to record the vocals of the song "Freak" and she liked the lyrics but eventually Paul Stanley ended up being the vocalist in that one. Like Kiss, Gaga is also from New York City but she was born in 1986, when Kiss already was in the music business for 13 years. Her first album "The Fame" was released only in 2008 and since then four more solo albums were made. She also became an actress, being part of movies like "Joker: Folie à Deux" and "A Star is Born". Billie Eilish https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9PVRfjEBTI&pp=ygUNQmlsbGllIEVpbGlzaA%3D%3D The second one is Billie Eilish, who is the youngest one on the list and Simmons praised multiple times. She was born in 2001, when Kiss already had almost 40 years. “The most unique new artist and I hope she moves on, she’s still really young, is Billie Eilish. She’s called Billie Eilish but it’s really her brother that creates those sonics, the lyrics and all that. But the imagery is Billie, because her brother (Finneas) doesn’t look like Billie. I believe that’s gonna be an exciting journey and there’s an awful lot of good music out there,” he said in an interview with US Weekly (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). As the Kiss bassist and singer explained, all the records are written by the brothers and the first two ones were produced by Finneas. Simmons not only praised her once, he really was interested in the music she was doing with her brother. He even recommended her documentary “Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry” (2021). He praised her movie on his social media, saying: “Have to say I was blown away by the @billieeilish Docu. A unique and original artist. Her brother @finneas is a major talent, multi instrumentalist and producer. Catch the Docu #TheWorldsALittleBlurry. You will love Billie Eilish.” She is one of the most successful artists in the world right now and already won two Academy Awards, being also the first person born in the 21st century to win one. She also won 9 Grammy Awards and two Golden Globes. Her most recent album is "Hit Me Hard and Soft" in 2024. Taylor Swift https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-ORhEE9VVg&pp=ygUMVGF5bG9yIFN3aWZ0 "The third one is Taylor Swift, who is certainly the most successful pop star of the past few decades. She has a huge army of fans, called Swifties, who are extremely connected to everything she does. Many famous older artists have even compared the Taylor Swift phenomenon to what Beatlemania was like back in the 1960s. Gene praised her and even said she is really the only big artist in the world these days as he told Page Six (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). “No (there are no current amazing Rock bands), neither you can think of anybody. When we were growing up in the 60s. The 60s had Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Beatles, Elvis, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd.” Gene Simmons continued: “Later on you had Madonna, Motown, Prince, David Bowie, all that happening at the same time. What’s happening now? There’s no question Taylor Swift has taken over and she’s great. I’m a fan and I know her. She’s really a solid person. Other than that (Taylor), I’m not sure what’s cool other than this (He shows a Kiss photo).” He really admires artists who write their own songs, unlike many pop stars who are basically interpreters of songs written by other people. “(Her success is) well deserved. She’s young. She paid her dues. She started off in her early teens as a country singer and decided for herself to broaden her thing. Because she decided, not because there were any rules that she was going to follow. I’ve met her a few times. She’s a very impressive young lady,” he told Forbes. She currently has the highest-grossing tour of all time. From 2023 to 2024 (60 shows), The Eras Tour made more than 1 billion dollars. She has sold an estimated amount of more than 200 million records worldwide.

3 Pop artists that Gene Simmons said he likes

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3 Pop artists that Gene Simmons said he likes

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