GENE SIMMONS Says KISS Makes More Money Than Ever Before, Stands By His Claim That 'Rock Is Dead'

X17 Online spotted KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons and guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley as they were checking in for their flight before heading to Europe for their summer 2022 tour. Simmons was asked to clarify his previous "rock is dead" comments, and he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Rock is dead. Because as soon as fans were able to download and fileshare for free, new bands didn't have a chance to make a living. And that breaks my heart, because there's so many great talented young musicians and writers who are never gonna get the chance that I got. Anything that is free or a penny when it should cost a dollar or more soon is worthless.

"From 1958 until 1988, we had Elvis [Presley], THE BEATLES, all the great blues men, Madonna; in disco, you had the great Motown stuff which is unequaled; you had heavy bands — METALLICA and IRON MAIDEN and all that stuff — U2, Prince, David Bowie, all that," he continued. "From 1988 until today is more than 30 years. Who are the new BEATLES? Who are they?

"Right around '88, Napster and all the rest of that showed people how to get music for nothing and you took away the value," Gene added. "Then musicians can't earn a living. Not the old ones who are big and fat and rich. I understand. But the baby bands, it breaks my heart. They're not gonna get the chance. Rock is dead."

Asked if the decline of the music industry as consumers value access over ownership and experiences over assets has affected the size of his royalties at all, Simmons said: "No. We make more than ever before. So it's not about me. It's about the baby bands."

This is far from the first time Gene has painted a bleak picture of the state of rock music. Back in 2014, he told Esquire magazine that "rock did not die of old age. It was murdered. Some brilliance, somewhere, was going to be expressed and now it won't because it's that much harder to earn a living playing and writing songs. No one will pay you to do it."

A number of hard rock and heavy metal musicians have weighed in on the topic in a variety of interviews over the last several years, with some digging a little deeper into Simmons's full remarks and others just glossing over the headline.

Last September, Simmons doubled down on his claim that "rock is dead", blaming young rock music enthusiasts and online streaming platforms.

"By and large, new artists will never have the chance that we got, because record companies would give us millions of dollars — once we got successful — as an advance, non-recoupable, with a royalty system and all that," he told US Weekly. "And so we didn't have to work day jobs. Now if you're a new band, you can't make a living because all the freckle-faced college kids — who, by the way, hate me — because what I'm saying is it's robbery. You're robbing by downloading and filesharing that music. It doesn't affect me; our band came before, when it was a real business. But the new artists, you're breaking my heart. It's like new babies being born without being able to have food. You're taking food from their mouths so they have to go work for a living and not have enough time for their art.

"Who killed the music business? The fans did," he continued. "Not a foreign power, not aliens; the fans killed it. And who do I blame? The record companies for not suing that first putz who dared break into the henhouse and steal some eggs and a chicken for free. As soon as you let that first fox into that henhouse to take some eggs without paying for it, the rest of the foxes come along. Likewise, cockroaches — you allow one into the kitchen, you squash that first one, the rest of 'em are gonna go, 'Uh-oh, we've gotta watch out.'

"So, Pandora's box has been opened. There are hundreds of millions of fans around the world that are trained [in their minds] not to pay for music. So what does that do for new bands? It kills them. When you take away the value of something, it becomes by definition worthless.

"Imagine being a farmer, and you sell eggs and chickens — that's what you do. And that first little cute fox comes in and steals an egg. And the farmer is gonna try to shoot the fox, 'cause, 'Hey, you're stealing my living.' And the wife says, 'Don't [shoot the fox]. It's so cute.' That cute little fox takes the egg back to where all the foxes are: 'Hey, we've got a sucker over here. Let's go get some chickens and eggs.' Before you know it, there are no chickens; no eggs' the farmer's out of business; the trucks that drove the farmer's stuff to market are out of business 'cause they don't have stuff; the supermarkets that sold the stuff are out of business. Everybody's out of business because that first putz, that first little hole in the Titanic sank the whole ship."