Courtesy of  Cherry Bombed

Singer-bassist Gene Simmons of Kiss has recently reached the top of my shit list‰ÛÒand for good reason. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Simmons says he‰’s looking forward to the death of rap and the revival of music with lyrics and melody. Then he goes on to diss other genres and whine about how rock is dead, being the classic 66-year-old rock n‰’ roll musician who fell out of relevancy. Don‰’t get me wrong—I love a lot of classic rock, but I never bothered with Kiss because I don‰’t think they‰’re all that, and I really don‰’t care for what he has to say about the future of music. How many old rock artists are we going to have to hear cry about their lack of relevancy by targeting rap for destroying music?

What bothers me the most about his interview is that he makes sweeping generalizations with such confidence as if he‰’s got the music industry all figured out. It wouldn‰’t be an interview with a classic rock musician in their 60s if they didn‰’t say “rock is dead‰” at least once. Sure, rock isn‰’t like the 70s anymore, but that‰’s because it‰’s 2016 and genres evolve, audiences change, and lyrical content shifts. While reflecting on the early 70s music scene in New York City, he says, “other than Kiss, which plays stadiums around the world, there’s no other New York band that was ever able to do that. New York, for all its cultural impact, hardly produced any rock bands at all. There’s the Ramones and the Dolls, and that’s kind of it. Ramones never had a gold album until some of them died.” Let‰’s just take 500 steps back and list off some artists that originated in New York that Simmons omitted: The Velvet Underground, Simon and Garfunkel, Talking Heads, Blondie, and Sonic Youth. None of them were painting their faces and sticking their tongues out, but he glorifies himself without acknowledging the incredible, successful music that has come out of New York.

I‰’m not going to say Kiss was unsuccessful. They actually did really well as far as gold albums go (because let‰’s just pretend for a second that success is only determined by the amount of money you make). In my opinion, this doesn‰’t give Simmons the authority to say rap is on its way out. Over a few decades, I‰’m sure he‰’s bared witness to how music has evolved and is shaped by the times. Yes, he‰’s probably nostalgic for his glory days, but why does current rap, EDM, pop, rap, R&B, and hip-hop have to suck? It‰’s just not your scene, Gene. Rock isn‰’t dead; it‰’s just not what it was 40 years ago and that should be okay.

There doesn‰’t seem to be a point in asking old white men who were in their prime over 30 years ago what they think about today‰’s rap. He even said he doesn‰’t “have the cultural background to appreciate being a gangster‰Û, yet still said he can‰’t wait for it to die in the next 10 or so years. Rap will change for sure, but I don‰’t see where he‰’s coming from in saying that it‰’s dying. Has he even listened to anything of Kendrick Lamar‰’s? He‰’s certainly not the only artist bringing racial commentary to the forefront of his music platform, but Kendrick is a perfect example of how rap can provoke conversation about issues like the cycle of poverty, gang violence, and racism. Let‰’s be real ‰ÛÒ saying “I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day‰” in the 70s wasn‰’t revolutionary, but it fit the culture and that‰’s what music tends to do. He doesn‰’t have a place in this conversation to write off rap as “just talking.‰” So Gene Simmons, bite your abnormally long tongue before you diss a genre you hardly know anything about.

The interview gets even more cringe-worthy when he talks about Lady Gaga‰’s potential as a rock artist. “As far as I’m concerned, if Lady Gaga dropped the disco and the pole dancing and all that stuff and put together a rock band that would be legitimate because she’s got the musical goods. She can write songs, play instruments and can actually sing. And she understands the fearless quality of spectacle. I’d love to see her do Queen-style music. She can do it. Madonna cannot.” I don‰’t disagree that Gaga has incredible talent from her vocals to her spectacles, but his definition of legitimate rock is telling of the fact that he doesn‰’t want change in the scene ‰ÛÒ he just wants to mold current artists into the crazy spectacles that he was apart of. We‰’ve all heard time and time again questions like, “where‰’s the next Beatles?‰” so much so that people have once claimed One Direction to be it. We don‰’t need replacements for music legends; let them age and be appreciated as pioneers of their time—but I digress. I‰’m sure his times on stage were nothing short of impressive, but Gaga can keep doing what she‰’s doing and still keep her legitimacy. He‰’s really giving a back-handed compliment to Gaga for seeing potential in her while minimizing her music to disco and pole dancing. She‰’s proven to be a lot more than that. Her lyrics have reached out to victims of sexual assault and discrimination for sexuality or gender identity ‰ÛÒ and she‰’s doing it in the realm of pop music.

I get why Gene Simmons feels this way about today‰’s music, but giving his opinion the limelight in a Rolling Stone‰’s article just seems like a way to rub people the wrong way, especially those in the industry doing great things. Let‰’s just stop asking rock n‰’ roll legends what they think about modern day music because we continually get responses like ‰music isn‰’t as good as it used to be, and in order to bring it back, we have to be like the legends.‰’ I‰’m not going to get into his thoughts on pop, R&B, and EDM because I think I‰’ve aired him out enough for now, but you can find that here. Stay angry y‰’all.