In an interview conducted by his son Nick Simmons for Esquire Magazine, “KISS” front man
Gene Simmons stated that rock and roll is finally dead.
“The death of rock
was not a natural death,” Simmons said. “Rock did not die of old age. It was
murdered.”
The murder of rock
music has been collectively committed by individuals who can no longer
comprehend or treasure it's true brilliance , Simmons said.
“I am so sad that
the next 15-year-old kid in a garage someplace in Saint Paul, that plugs into
his Marshall and wants to turn it up to ten, will not have anywhere near the
same opportunity that I did,” Simmons said. “He will most likely, no matter
what he does, fail miserably. There is no industry for that anymore.
... And the real culprit is that kid's 15-year-old next-door neighbor,
probably a friend of his. Maybe even one of the bandmates he's jamming with.
The tragedy is that they seem to have no idea that they just killed their own
opportunity — they killed the artists they would have loved. 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.”
“It's very sad for
new bands,” Simmons said. “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 write songs, and just singing in the shower and
auditioning for The X Factor. And I'm not slamming The X Factor, or pop singers.
But where's the next Bob Dylan? Where's the next Beatles? Where are the
songwriters? Where are the creators?”
However, Simmons
offers advice to young musicians and songwriters, stating “don’t quit your day
job,” because the days of creative solace have vanished.
What do you think? Has true creativity been replaced
with an artificial "X factor"? Is the next Bob Dylan hiding behind
the shadows of another wayward reality icon? Or is Neil Young right?
