New year, new controversies: Gene Simmons reiterated that "rock is dead," and took the opportunity to praise his favorite contemporary pop singers.
In an interview with Gulf News , the artist clarified the ongoing debate about the life (or death) of the genre, “Rock is dead. And that’s because new bands haven’t taken the time to create glamour, excitement, and epic things. I mean, Foo Fighters is an amazing band, but it’s a 20-year-old band. So you can go back from 1958 to 1988. That’s 30 years. Meanwhile, we had Elvis Presley , The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones , and it goes on. On records, you had Madonna , and in hard rock, you had AC/DC , maybe us [ KISS ]. Motown , all that good music. From 1988 to today, that’s more than 30 years. Tell me who the new Beatles is. You can’t. There are popular bands. BTS [K-pop group] is very popular. All kinds of bands are very popular. That doesn’t mean iconic and with a legacy forever. It’s different.”
Despite his skepticism about current music, Simmons highlighted two contemporary artists he enjoys and who stand out from other artists in the genre: “I think Billie Eilish is fantastic. She’s interesting because she and her brother [producer and singer FINNEAS ] actually write the material and are so unique and themselves.”
“ Lady Gaga is fantastic in the female category,” he continues. “She writes her own material, she sings like no one else in the industry. But she’s actually a musician, she writes her own songs, she plays piano, she can really do it. The rest of the world reacts to many pop divas, even though the vast majority don’t write their own songs and don’t play any instruments. And, in fact, that’s fine too. It doesn’t matter what you like, but it’s not the Beatles.”
On New Year's Eve, KISS delivered an epic show in Dubai that broke two world records – see images and learn more here.
