The 2 bands from the 90s that Gene Simmons said he likes

Five decades ago in 1973, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley formed Kiss, a group that would become one of the most influential of all time not only for their music, but for their look, live concerts and for their merchandising business. As everything in life, music also evolves and they were one of the groups which were able to survive for 50 years and keep being heard and seen by millions of fans worldwide.

Many Rock and Roll fans think that the style really was over in the late 80s and not many good things appeared after that. However, the Kiss bassist and singer Gene Simmons thinks differently and he even mentioned two bands from the 90s that he likes.

The 2 bands from the 90s that Gene Simmons said he likes

Green Day

Since the 90s the Rock and Roll audience has become smaller when compared to other music genres and only a few were able to really build a bigger fanbase. The Punk Pop band Green Day, which was formed in East Bay, California in 1987, becoming famous with the release of the classic album “Dookie” in 1994, is one of those.

For a few decades, Gene Simmons has been saying that Rock and Roll is dead. Especially because of the file-sharing programs who made people get used to not paying for music. That makes it harder for new bands to make a good amount of money to continue to be motivated to have a career and make better records. In an interview with Consequence in 2012, Simmons was asked about that statement. He was questioned if there weren’t new good bands. He explained that he really didn’t meant that.

“I don’t mean that. I mean, there’s Green Day, and they’re doing very well. In some markets, they do very well. And Foo Fighters are a very big band. But on the level of stadium bands around the world, there are very few. And they tend to be old. Oh yeah, I think they’re terrific. Green Day is terrific. Foo Fighters is one of the best bands out there,” Gene Simmons said.

Since their inception Green Day released 14 studio albums. They have sold an estimated amount of more than 75 million records worldwide. They are formed by Billie Joe Armstrong (Vocals and guitar), Mike Dirnt (Bass) and Treé Cool (Drums).

The trio are also fans of Kiss and even covered the band live a few times. It happened more recently during their 2021 tour when they performed the classic track “Rock and Roll All Nite”.

Foo Fighters

As Simmons told Consequence, Foo Fighters is another band he really admires. He is a good friend of the band’s leader Dave Grohl. And he 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.

He already said that they are the band which is carrying the torch of Rock and Roll music nowadays. In a conversation with The Quietus in 2013 he listed the album “The Colour And The Shape” (1997) as one of his favorites of all time. He said that in his opinion, Dave Grohl, who was previously a member of Nirvana, can play guitar and sing as well as Kurt Cobain.

“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.

Foo Fighters was formed in 1994 by Dave Grohl who recorded the band’s entire debut album by himself. He played all the instruments and recorded the vocals. Since then the group had released 10 more studio albums, which had the participation of the other band members. The group already was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and have sold an estimated amount of more than 30 million records worldwide.

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).