KISS's Gene Simmons says: "Rock is dead… except for Tame Impala"

According to Gene Simmons, all of contemporary rock’n’roll is crap: except for music being made by Perth band Tame Impala.

The controversial, over-the-top and over-madeup rock star and guitarist of KISS, said in a recent interview with Esquire magazine, “Rock is finally dead. It’s very sad for new bands [and] my heart goes out to them. They just don’t have a chance. If you play guitar, it’s almost impossible. You’re better off not even learning how to play guitar or not to write songs, and just singing in the shower and auditioning for The X Factor.”

Simmons blames “the masses” whom he insists “do not recognise file-sharing and downloading as stealing”. He gets even more specific in his blame, pointing the finger at “white, middle- and upper-middle-class young people” who “felt they were entitled to have something for free, because that’s what they were used to”.

KISS came to prominence in the late 1970s, when competition in the music industry was not so immense and erratic it is today, and when music was made available in two formats only: vinyl and cassette. No internet. No MP3. No CD. No YouTube or Soundcloud. Simmons feels the digitisation of music and its instant accessibility, sometimes for free, leaves little room for income for up-and-coming musicians.

“The problem is that nobody will pay you for the 10,000 hours you put in to create what you created. I can only imagine the frustration of all that work, and having no-one value it enough to pay you for it,” he went on to tell Esquire in the interview which, incidentally, was conducted by his own son Nick Simmons.

There is one band, and one band only, whom Gene Simmons said is keeping rock alive, and that is Perth outfit Tame Impala.

“During the ’60s and ’70s,” he said, “Tame Impala would’ve become big, I’m convinced.”

Simmons’ “rock is dead” rampage comes shortly after he made headlines and hit social media shame when he was quoted belittling people who suffer from depression, saying in July: “ I’m the guy who says ‘Jump!’ when there’s a guy on top of a building who says, ‘That’s it, I can’t take it anymore, I’m going to jump.’ Are you kidding? Why are you announcing it? Shut the fuck up, have some dignity, and jump! You’ve got the crowd.”

Social media went into overdrive with feedback on Simmons flippant comments, with most people disagreeing with his view.  Antonino Tati