GENE SIMMONS Talks Trash

KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons recently shared his top 10 Simmons-isms with Spinner.com. The top five nuggets follow:

5. On how Americans don't know how good they have it:

"When people come as an immigrant — [as I did] myself — we're shocked at how pampered and spoiled everybody is, which is really to say you live in the land of milk and honey and you don't realize that the rest of the world isn't a nice place."

4. On why rappers are more rock & roll than rock & rollers:

"So if the white boys ... all want to look like Kurt Cobain, then the public goes to rap stars, who sing about getting laid all the time. None of them sing about getting married, 'cause the male of the species doesn't want to."

3. On his disdain for anti-war protesters:

"What we did to our veterans of Vietnam was just the lowest form, and America should be ashamed of itself — and every crackhead who tried to burn the flag, I wish I could get them in my sights in front of a baseball bat."

2. On why it doesn't make sense for Jews to be pacifists:

"You can take a humanistic point of view: You don't have the right to take a human life. That's fine, but then you can't complain when your whole family is wiped out at Auschwitz. And my family almost was. And for Jews, especially in America, to be pacifists is astonishing.

1. On his own greatness:

"While all the rock stars, the few that are remaining, they're in bands, I'm the only brand, baby. No matter how big Mick Jagger or U2 is, there are no ROLLING STONES or U2 comic books or Visa cards."

View the entire list at Spinner.com.