Gene Simmons: Rock Is Finally Dead

Shadow_Ferret

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I dug their wholly forgettable music. Their stomping feet and wanton disregard for talent. I mean, I seriously dug it. I think they have earned their place in the pantheon of rock n roll.

But they are about as relevant as Scritti Politti.

I had all their albums. Well, their first 4 studio albums and the live album. I still like a lot of their songs. Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise were able to take a nothing band, harden their sound, throw in some glam, and come up with a teen music sensation that swept the nation.

Relevant? I'm not sure what that even means. They sold millions of records, filled stadiums, and had a legion of fans. Doesn't get much more relevant than that.

And I have no idea who Scritti Politti is. Are they related to Milli Vanilli?
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poetinahat

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Play nice, please. One can disagree without disrespecting.
 
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poetinahat

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What makes you think that's what I'm talking about?

Just because you haven't heard of something doesn't mean it's unimportant to someone else.
 
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poetinahat

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Maybe I read it wrong - in which case, mea culpa.

No, actually, that's not enough.

I'm sorry, Shadow. I over-modded. I read something into your post that wasn't there. I try to assume good intentions, as our friend Williebee recommends. Sometimes I fail, as I did this time.

It is, as one might say in a music forum:

Nobody's Fault but Mine
 
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Maze Runner

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I commend your honesty, Poet. It's not always easy to do. A few weeks ago I overstated in PC&E. I've tried since to go back and read it to see just how bad it was, but it had been deleted as it I'm sure should have been. Not so much for the content but for the tone, and one especially disrespectful comment. So in the spirit of your post, I'll apologize here, if it's okay.

As to the topic of this thread, I'll just say that I think Gene (never was a kiss fan) makes some good points and leave it there. Thanks all.
 

BenPanced

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I guess Gene's never really completely recovered from the fact Ace Frehely's solo album was more popular than his.

Boom. Yeah. I went there.
 
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KTC

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I had all their albums. Well, their first 4 studio albums and the live album. I still like a lot of their songs. Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise were able to take a nothing band, harden their sound, throw in some glam, and come up with a teen music sensation that swept the nation.

Relevant? I'm not sure what that even means. They sold millions of records, filled stadiums, and had a legion of fans. Doesn't get much more relevant than that.

And I have no idea who Scritti Politti is. Are they related to Milli Vanilli?

LOL! I was on the fence with whether I should use Scritti Politti or Milli Vanilli. That's scary that you did that!

I worked in a record store during Kiss's heyday. I have their first 5 studio albums. I adored them. I still get a giggle out of them now and then. Like I said, they really cleaned up when the rock nation needed their black lollipop humour metal jackets. They did it. They scraped the societal barrow for all the change they could get...penny, nickel, dime, quarter, dollar. But they weren't relevant. They were businessmen in high fashion makeup. I don't care what Genie says when he opens his mouth. He's a doll who fronts a band of dolls...a performer with his fingers on the strings of his own puppetness. Let him play...but please...opinions? He's about as rockstar as a twinkie.

Scritti Politti had a hit PERFECT WAY. Great song...I danced to it. But I don't care about what the Scritti people have to say about anything. Gene = Scritti. That is all.
 

KTC

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Oops. I only read one comment at a time. I didn't see any issues. *puzzlement* Then I thought, maybe it's me being an ass. God yes...I'm always an ass. My problem here is that I'm just having fun with Gene. It's my new game by Ronco. FUN WITH GENE. It's where I try to pretend he matters.

But seriously, I commend him for having one of the greatest business minds of the 20th century. And that's no bull. Kiss merchandise is the biggest seller of all time, music wise...and maybe even everything wise. He's a genius businessman. EVEN relevant...as a businessman. People would pay for his marketing savvy.
 

Shadow_Ferret

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Oh, OK. Relevant as in social relevance, where either the band, or members of the band, speak significantly to that generation about social or political topics of the day. Sorry, I was in a less analytical place yesterday.

So Kiss weren't relevant in the way some of their contemporaries might have been, like David Bowie, Iggy Pop... Wow, its hard to come up with names since I wasn't politically aware in high school. I listened to the music and pretty much only cared about the important things in life as Ian Dury put it: sex and drugs and rock and roll.
 

KTC

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I feel they were always just county fair fun. Where there were THE SERIOUS BANDS and THE FUN BANDS, Kiss had a place in my heart among the fun ones. Whether they were factually relevant or not eludes me. My kaleidoscope is different than your kaleidoscope. To me, they were the cotton candy of the scene. When I wanted life, I didn't turn to Kiss. When I wanted just a shade of laughter and a whole lot of flame-throwing...I was there. Front and centre.
 

nighttimer

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Gene Simmons reminds me once again of the lyrical wisdom of Ian Hunter's "I Am What I Hated When I Was Young."

Rock isn't dead as much as rock is a different business than when Gene made the scene. Radio doesn't play new rock. Record companies don't break new rock acts. MTV hands out video awards for rock videos they don't play.

Streaming and downloading has created a paradigm shift in how music is listened to (I was going to say how it is "bought and sold" but who buys music anymore?), but most acts never made money off of sales of records anyway. Bands went into a studio, made a record, sent it to the radio stations, and hit the road for the next year.

That's all over now. I used to go concerts all the time. I have a basement full of vinyl records and compact discs. I had my car stereo tuned to the local rock, soul and jazz stations.

Now I don't go to concerts any more. Too damn expensive. I still have the records and CD's and still love them, but I buy fewer and fewer each year and nearly all of them from online stores. The music stations in my car have been replaced by talk and sports stations.

That's the way of the world. Plant your flower and you grow a pearl. Some of you know where that came from and some of you won't have a clue. That's called change and there's nothing Gene Simmons can do about it except come off like the sour old man he is trying desperately to hang on to a youth that's long gone.

I still love rock n' roll. I never liked KISS.