The Kiss co-founder, bassist and singer Gene Simmons had the chance to see the evolution of music being a kid in the 50s and a teenager in the 60s. He was discovering music during one of the golden eras of Rock and Roll music, so he was deeply influenced by what was made during those years.
Gene has a really broad musical taste and talked about many bands over the years. He even mentioned which are the two best albums of all time in his opinion.
The 2 albums Gene Simmons said are the best of all time
The Beatles “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”
Simmons mentioned two albums in an interview with Classic Rock in 2024 when he was asked to pick the best album of all time. “My first thought is Sgt. Pepper,” Gene Simmons said. The album released 1967 is considered one of the records that gave birth to Progressive Rock music. Besides the two title-tracks, it also had praised songs like “With a Little Help from My Friends”, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, “Getting Better” and “A Day in the Life”.
Although Simmons mentioned that album as his first choice for the greatest album of all time question, he mentioned on other occasions that his favorite Beatles record was the “White Album“. Released in 1968, the album is actually called “The Beatles” but became known as the “White Album” because of the cover.
In an interview with Goldmine Magazine in 2023, he said that the record could be the best of their career. “The Beatles’ ‘White Album’ is one of my favorites. Because you’re seeing turmoil within perhaps the greatest band that ever existed that recorded its own music, where each member was a star. But you could hear and feel the disjointed sense of that album. Although clearly the songs shined and the playing and the production was terrific.”
He continued:
“It’s interesting that Abbey Road perhaps was the greatest Beatles album. They were breaking up at that point, but somehow that had a more unified thing. But just for crazy out there music, it’s gotta be ‘The White Album’,” Gene Simmons said.
Stevie Wonder “Innervisions”
“I could also pick one of Stevie Wonder’s classic records, say Innervisions. When you think about talent, Stevie Wonder can do it all: songwriting, arranging, singing, keyboards, guitar, bass, drums. Oh, and I forgot to mention he’s blind!” Gene Simmons told Classic Rock.
Stevie Wonder was born in 1950 and started his musical career when he was still a kid, in 1961. “Innervisions” was his sixteenth studio album and he was only 23 years-old when that record was released. Some of the most famous tracks of that album are “Higher Ground”, “Living for The City”, “Golden Lady”, and “All In Love is Fair”.
Like The Beatles, Stevie Wonder is one of the most influential musicians of all time. He sold an estimated amount of more than 100 million records worldwide. Until 2024 he released 23 studio albums and more than 90 singles during his career.
He released eleven albums in the 60s, eight albums in the 70s, four albums in the 80s and since the 90s he only released three studio records. The most recent one is “A Time to Love” (2005). But during the past decades he collaborated with many artists and released some singles.