Besides being known as the influential bassist, singer, and songwriter who co-founded Kiss alongside Peter Criss, Ace Frehley, and Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons is also remembered for being a very sincere person. He has always shared his genuine opinions about other artists, openly stating what he liked or disliked about them.
A part of the record industry since 1974, when Kiss released their debut album, he had the opportunity to witness the evolution of rock and roll music up close. Simmons saw many bands come and go, while also witnessing new groups emerge from the ashes of those that disbanded. One of them was Foo Fighters, which was created by the Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl in 1994.
What is Gene Simmons’ opinion on Foo Fighters
When Nirvana released their groundbreaking album “Nevermind” in 1991, Kiss was still making the kind of music they were doing in the 80s. The tracks were more radio friendly and also there were many ballads. But things changed in 1992, possibily due to the revolution caused by the Grunge band. In 1992, the group released “Revenge”, which probably is their heaviest album.
Although Grunge’s explosion was not good for older Rock bands like Kiss, Simmons admired the new sub-genre. He also likes Foo Fighters, the band that emerged after Nirvana’s end. For years he’s been saying that Rock is dead and often mentions Foo Fighters as one of the great bands that appeared and are still active.
In an interview with the Quietus back in 2015, he even listed the album The Colour and the Shape (1997) as one of his favorites of all time. “The thing about this band is that it came out of a grunge background, obviously Dave came out of Nirvana. But he can play guitar just as well or better than Kurt, sings great. The most interesting thing I find about Foo Fighters, and songs like ‘My Hero’, is that they are based in pop melodies. Not based in the blues. Which is really interesting, having that big wall of sound guitar thing with pop melodies and interesting lyrics.”
Gene Simmons continued:
“Just an interesting band. This album just has the songs and it has the attitude. (…) Colour is a consistent record. It makes one statement. So what that means is that they can take that music and play it live and it should sound similar to that record, consistent. I would include more if I could, but when you pick an album, it’s not just a standalone item. It’s about what’s happening in your life, where you are and so on,” Gene Simmons said.
He is a good friend of Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters covered Kiss many times live, playing “Detroit Rock City” multiple times during the past years. Grohl is a huge Kiss fan and said many times the band influenced when he was young.
Gene already went to see the band live and was almost part of the Taylor Hawkins Tribute show in Los Angeles in 2022. However, he ended up not being able to go and perform that night.
Nowadays the band is formed by Dave Grohl (Vocals and guitar), Pat Smear (Guitar), Nate Mendel (Bass), Chris Shiflett (Guitar), Rami Jaffee (Keyboards) and Josh Freese (Drums).
Simmons once explained why Rock is dead using Foo Fighters as an example
Simmons has been saying for years that Rock and Roll is dead because of the illegal downloads and the transformation of the music business due to streaming. According to him, new bands can’t make a living with their music anymore and since they still don’t have fame and hits, they can’t really make good money touring either. To explain more why he believes Rock is dead, he used Foo Fighters as an example in an interview with Gulf News in 2021.
“Rock is dead. And that’s because new bands haven’t taken the time to create glamour, excitement and epic stuff. I mean, Foo Fighters is a terrific band, but that’s a 20-year-old band. So you can go back to 1958 until 1988. That’s 30 years. During that time, we had Elvis, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Rolling Stones, on and on.”
“In disco, you had Madonna, and then you had your hard rock, you had AC/DC, maybe us, a few others. Motown, all that great music. From 1988, until today, that’s more than 30 years. Tell me who the new Beatles is. You can’t. There are popular bands. BTS is very popular. All kinds of bands are very popular. That doesn’t mean iconic and legacy and for all time. It’s different,” Gene Simmons said.
Until 2024, the Foo Fighters released 11 studio albums and 14 EPs. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021 by Paul McCartney.