DEATH I HEAR YOU CALLING
Kiss bassist Gene Simmons can’t wait for rap music to be dead
Rolling Stone — Gene Simmons is not happy with the pop charts. “I am looking forward to the death of rap,” the Kiss singer and reality-TV star tells Rolling Stone. “I’m looking forward to music coming back to lyrics and melody, instead of just talking. A song, as far as I’m concerned, is by definition lyric and melody … or just melody.”
Simmons shared the opinion during an interview about the 40th anniversary of Kiss’ Destroyer, bemoaning the current state of the music industry at large. “I hate the Internet,” he says. “I make a living, but to be a new band now and just give out your music for free, it’s the crime of the century.” He ascribed the state of the music industry to what he feels is a lack of superstars.
The roots of hip-hop, in his opinion, date back to the Sixties. “I’m all for anybody talking,” he says. “‘Wild Thing’ was talking: ‘Wild thing, she makes my heart sing/ she makes everything … .’ There’s no melody there. That’s cool. Napoleon XIV, ‘They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!’ That’s a funny song, but those are novelty records. So was Dickie Goodman and ‘Mr. Jaws.’ These were all hits, by the way. But predominantly, music is about melody and lyric, whether it’s rap or doo-wop, or yeah, even rock.
“As far as I’m concerned, rock is dead,” he continues. “There ain’t no new bands. Foo Fighters, I love ’em, but they’re a 20-year-old band. These are long-in-the-tooth bands: Nirvana, Pearl Jam. They’re old bands.”
He went on to say, however, that he did not feel all hope was lost. “That doesn’t mean there’s not new bands out there,” Simmons says. “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.”
Then he recapitulated his theme. “Rap will die,” he says. “Next year, 10 years from now, at some point, and then something else will come along. And all that is good and healthy.”
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