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Tag: Gene Simmons

  • Kristen Wiig and Harry Styles: Dirty Dancing?

    Kristen Wiig and Harry Styles reportedly treated guests who attended the Saturday Night Live after party this past weekend to a dance extravaganza. The two most notably kicked up their heels to the Dirty Dancing theme song “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life.” UPI reports that the pair even danced on a table.

    Wiig played Styles–who is one-fifth of the popular British boy band One Direction–while she was a guest on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon earlier in 2014. Harry Styles is clearly a forgiving young man, because Kristen Wiig made it quite clear during her guest stint that she had little to no knowledge about the heart throbs or their music.

    Nick Simmons, son of rocker Gene Simmons, captured the SNL dance moves and posted them on Instagram. Even though Kristen Wiig didn’t know much about One Direction, it clearly didn’t prevent her from rocking out with Harry Styles.

    A video posted by Nick Simmons (@nickseesthings) on

    Nick captioned the clip, “So the kid from @onedirection and Kristen Wiig got on a table and danced tonight at the SNL after party. So that’s a thing.”

    That was certainly a thing, but no one would expect any less from Kristen Wiig. Prior to the after party she upstaged Amy Adams during her monologue, while she was hosting SNL.

    Don’t you just love how Kristen Wiig is the life of the party–no matter where she turns up?

  • Taylor Swift Pulls Her Music from Spotify. It’s For the Best.

    No matter where the geopolitics of the globe go in the next few months, the world can breathe one big sigh of relief for this: Taylor Swift’s music is no longer available on Spotify. The powers that be on Spotify want her back, of course. They posted this to their company blog.

    “We hope [Swift will] change her mind and join us in building a new music economy that works for everyone. We believe fans should be able to listen to music wherever and whenever they want, and that artists have an absolute right to be paid for their work and protected from piracy. That’s why we pay nearly 70% of our revenue back to the music community.”

    Swift’s decision to pull all of her songs from Spotify is the next move in a game she has already been playing. She and several other artists have withheld their newer music from the streaming service for a while. This a strategy called “windowing,” whereby an artist controls where their music is available first so as to maximize the profits of an album early on, recoup expenses of the project, and make the most money they can.

    Nobody blames a major-label act who is beholden to the antiquated machinations of the Music Industry for trying to make more money. For Swift, this has become a rallying cry.

    Back in July, Swift wrote an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal about this. Ironically, the WSJ site is behind a paywall, so you’ll have to shell out some money to read what she said. But, thanks to a few sites that have posted bits and pieces of the article, we can tell you a few things about it.

    “Piracy, file sharing and streaming have shrunk the numbers of paid album sales drastically, and every artist has handled this blow differently,” Swift wrote.

    The trouble is, Taylor Swift’s reasoning on the matter puts her in the same boat as dinosaurs like Gene Simmons, who does not understand the difference between “piracy” and “file sharing” — both of which completely cut out profits for anyone, artist and record companies alike — and “streaming” or “downloading” in general, which are perfectly legal.

    Gene Simmons linked these legal and illegal means together when he declared that “rock and roll is dead … murdered.” Now Swift links piracy and streaming in the same fashion.

    “Downloading,” such as via iTunes Music Store, and “streaming,” such as through Spotify, do pay artists. They may not pay as much, particularly in the early days of a release, but they keep that music in the public eye and available for “the long tail.” And this is something that Swift and her ilk don’t understand. It’s about playing the long game, versus grabbing profits up front and running for the door.

    Here is a bit more of the paywall-protected article Swift wrote.

    “In recent years, you’ve probably read the articles about major recording artists who have decided to practically give their music away, for this promotion or that exclusive deal. My hope for the future, not just in the music industry, but in every young girl I meet…is that they all realize their worth and ask for it.”

    Maybe Swift knows more than Led Zeppelin, who cut a deal with Spotify less than a year ago to carry their entire back catalog. Maybe she figures they are ‘practically giving their music away’ because they don’t ‘realize their worth’.

    No, Led Zeppelin is now on Spotify because they do understand their worth. Led Zeppelin has made music that stands the test of time. It will be around and selling for decades to come. Making it readily available via a medium like Spotify, even if that medium doesn’t pay as much as the old industry model wishes yet, is investing in the future. The more people migrate to services like Spotify, the more Led Zeppelin will make. And making their catalog available there contributed to that rising tide.

    Or how about the band that called Gene Simmons on his bull that “rock is dead”? Let’s look at Foo Fighters.

    Foo Fighters is in the middle of an incredibly successful campaign for their Sonic Highways television series on HBO and the upcoming album of the same name. And what do they do every week? They release another song from the album. And it goes on Spotify.

    Dave Grohl looks at the long view. And based in that view, he doesn’t even mind outright “piracy.” He sees it as a way to spread his music even further than a sales model could.

    “I would rather have a venue filled with people singing every word to every one of our songs,” Grohl says, “than making sure that every one of them bought the record to do so.”

    On another occasion, Grohl said, “I don’t think it’s a crime; it’s been going on for years. It’s the same as people making tapes for each other. The industry is more threatened by it because it’s the worldwide web and it’s a broader scope of trading, but I don’t think it’s such a fucking horrible thing. The first thing we should do is get all the fucking millionaires to shut their mouths, stop bitching about the 25 cents a time they’re losing.”

    And remember all of Gene Simmons’ whinging? Yet every Kiss album you can name is in Spotify.

    Swift’s gripe about sales ignores the evolution of the music industry she claims to defend.

    “Historically record sales accounted for the majority of band revenues,” explains Chris Carey, senior economist at PRS for Music. “As record sales have suffered in recent years the industry has looked to other areas for revenue. Synchronizations [use in video games, tv programs, etc.] and merchandise sales have become increasingly important, and the boom in live music is well reported. It used to be that bands would tour at a loss to sell CDs. Nowadays music is often given away in order to generate buzz and promote live events.

    “If you’re not making money from records you have to make it somewhere else,” says Carey. “Merchandise was up more than 20 percent in 2009 growing at a good rate and in 2008 live music was up about 13-14 percent, which is boom growth.”

    My guess as to why Taylor Swift does not want to go for the long view with something legal and valid like Spotify is this:

    She’s not going to be around to reap the rewards. Her music does not have that timeless appeal. When Foo Fighters, Led Zeppelin, and even Kiss are still pumping out music on services of the future like Spotify, Swift will be trying to bolster her film career or whatever the next thing is she moves on to. She has a limited window to make her money in. And she knows it.

    So grab what you can, Taylor. ‘Cause you’re no Dave Grohl.

  • Gene Simmons and Dave Grohl Agree on Something: American Idol and The Voice Suck

    A few weeks back, Gene Simmons gave an interview to son Nick for Esquire Magazine in which he claimed that rock and roll is dead.

    “When I was coming up, it was not an insurmountable mountain. Once you had a record company on your side, they would fund you, and that also meant when you toured they would give you tour support. There was an entire industry to help the next Beatles, Stones, Prince, Hendrix, to prop them up and support them every step of the way. There are still record companies, and it does apply to pop, rap, and country to an extent. But for performers who are also songwriters — the creators — for rock music, for soul, for the blues — it’s finally dead.

    “Rock is finally dead.”

    Gene further claimed that what “murdered” rock was “file-sharing and downloading.” His logic was that these activities hurt the business model of a major-label structure, which means they can’t or won’t support an act. He said that file-sharing devalues music to the point that “nobody will pay you for the 10,000 hours you put in to create what you created.”

    But someone took issue with Gene’s “rock is dead” diagnosis.

    Since Gene’s comments, Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters have launched their Sonic Highways series on HBO, with weekly song releases from the upcoming album of the same name. In the series, one of the things they highlight is the tenacity of bands that were ignored by major labels long before file sharing was an issue. Many of these bands chose to go DIY (Do It Yourself) route, pressing their own vinyl, hand-designing their own covers, and getting the word out without the permission of the major label gatekeepers.

    Some of those bands were the very groups that inspired and helped launch future hit-makers like Nirvana and Foo Fighters. They’re still around, still respected, and put the lie to Simmons’ “rock is dead” argument.

    But Grohl and company do have some common ground with Simmons. Recently, Simmons also declared that vocal competition shows on TV, such as The Voice and American Idol “sugarcoat shit” and do not consider that “it’s a waste of time if they don’t have the goods intrinsically” to be rock stars. They just look for the same cookie-cutter voices.

    “Your qualification for being on this show is you can sing in the shower?” Gene asked.

    Simmons was hawking his own band competition show, of course, where he promises “to open the trapdoors of life and get tough” on contestants.

    Dave Grohl, also promoting the aforementioned Sonic Highways show and songs, spoke to Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes about this too. Grohl said he would never make it past the first round in such a show. And he thinks that that style of judging is way off base.

    “Who’s to say they’re not good or not? Imagine Bob Dylan standing there singing ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ in front of those judges,” Grohl said. “‘Sorry, it’s a little nasally and a little flat. Next.’”

  • Gene Simmons Tells Women, Men ‘Will Run Out on You’; Make Your Own Money

    Gene Simmons is a man with his own opinions, which he holds dear. Whether he is claiming rock and roll is dead — which is, thankfully, being challenged and disproven by Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters — or telling depressed people to go kill themselves, or calling reality TV music competition shows ‘sugar-coated shit’, Simmons is anything but shy.

    Recently, Simmons was on Fox News, one of his favorite haunts nowadays, to promote a new book from him called Me, Inc.: Build an Army of One, Unleash Your Inner Rock God, Win in Life and Business.

    Gene’s book is described as, “a lifetime of field-tested and hard-won business advice that will provide readers with the tools needed to build a solid business strategy, harness the countless tools available in the digital age, network like hell, and be the architect for the business entity that is you.”

    Gene claims that the book was “inspired by The Art of War,” the classic by Chinese strategist Sun-Tzu. He proposes “thirteen specific principles for success” that cover everything “from finding the confidence within yourself that’s necessary to get started, to surrounding yourself with the right people to partner with and learn from, to knowing when to pull the plug and when to double-down.”

    Gene Simmons has written books about his business and personal life before. He’s a businessman, and he will continue to pump out product until the day he drops, and then he will probably have some entity that keeps on maximizing on what he has built for his children and their children. If Elvis can keep making money, you can sure bet Gene Simmons can.

    In the Fox News interview mentioned above, Simmons was asked by Andrea Tantaros to expound on the opinion he sets out in the book that women should forego having a family and marriage until they have a career and financial independence established for themselves, apart from any man, first.

    “This is a very complex and difficult question to answer so I’m going to put it as simply as possible. Women: Stop depending on men. It’s as simple as that. Imagine there are no men in life,” Simmons said. “Find out that thing that you’re good for that makes the money and then get married and or have children from a position of strength.”

    Simmons points out that, statistically speaking, it is highly likely that a man will “run out on you”, and that a woman should be able to handle budgeting, have a more-than-adequate income of her own, and approach any relationship “from a position of strength.”

    Tantaros asked Simmons about his wife Shannon Tweed, who the rocker finally married in 2011 after having children and spending 28 years together.

    “You had the blessing of a woman who stuck by you, who raised your children,” Tantaros said. “I read this and I thought, wait a minute, he’s telling me to be selfish and put myself first but at the same time, he regrets those decisions to be selfish.”

    Simmons said he should have married her earlier, but chalks it up to his selfishness.

    “It is a massive failing for me that I didn’t recognize the purity and sanctity of love,” Simmons said. “Why I didn’t marry Shannon when I first met her and dropped head over heels with her is the stupidity and arrogance and selfishness of man.”

  • Gene Simmons Says Reality Singing Competition Shows ‘Sugarcoat Shit’

    When you get to be Gene Simmons’ age — and have his wealth — telling it like you see it just comes with the territory. Not necessarily everyone agrees with Gene, but his opinion spews do make for some chuckles.

    Like when Gene said that depressed people should just kill themselves.

    Simmons was asked if he was still friends with former Kiss members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, both of whom have had addiction demons to fight in the past.

    “No, I don’t get along with anybody who’s a drug addict and has a dark cloud over their head and sees themselves as a victim. Drug addicts and alcoholics are always: ‘The world is a harsh place.’ My mother was in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany. I don’t want to hear fuck all about ‘the world as a harsh place.’ She gets up every day, smells the roses and loves life. And for a putz, 20-year-old kid to say, ‘I’m depressed, I live in Seattle.’ Fuck you, then kill yourself.”

    “I never understand, because I always call them on their bluff. 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.”

    Simmons later apologized for his remarks. But even Ace Frehley, whom he had described as having “a dark cloud over [his] head” called him out on that rant.

    Then came the time Gene made the grandiose announcement that “rock [music] is finally dead”. Simmons blamed file-sharing and “downloading” for the murder of rock.

    In Gene’s world, you have to fight for things. You have to scrap and prove you deserve it, go out and take it, pay dues. And it is understandable that Gene would believe this. He built what he has. At a young age, he came to America with his mother from Israel. She spoke no English.

    Gene started small business ventures as a youth, got training as a typist, saved money like a pro, and started a band that became hugely successful. He played it smart, licensing thousands of products and running the band like a business. His work has paid off.

    And Gene doesn’t like to see anyone else complain, get something for nothing, or be coddled on their way to the top.

    So when Gene Simmons got the chance to start his own music competition show, called Coliseum, he vowed it would be different from all the other shows out there of that ilk.

    “Coliseum is a no-holds-barred competition show between musical gladiators in the arena fighting to survive, fighting to be the champion, fighting to curry the favor of Rock Caesar,” Simmons said in a statement. That “Rock Caesar” would, of course, be Simmons, giving the thumbs up or thumbs down to acts on the show.

    “TV shows are fantasy because they’re selling soap suds, Simmons told Hollywood Reporter. “It’s family entertainment, it’s primetime, the kids are there, and they don’t want to get too realistic.”

    Simmons feels that some of the contestants that parade through other music competition shows are just not up to par.

    “You can’t sugarcoat shit, pardon me. You can mentor anyone you like, but it’s a waste of time if they don’t have the goods intrinsically.”

    Gene’s band Kiss is known for theatricality, pyrotechnics, and putting on what was recognized as the best rock show in the business for years. He thinks people who want to win on his show need to focus on the whole package.

    ”Your qualification for being on this show is you can sing in the shower? Is that it, without paying any dues or writing songs or any stagecraft? … We want to create superstars, not just singers that get record deals.”

    Gene promises it will be far tougher to get the brass ring on Coliseum.

    “We want to open the trapdoors of life and get tough. There will be heartbreak, and people are going to cry and their dreams will be shattered, just like in real life.”

    No network is yet attached to Coliseum. Simmons is currently shopping the show around.

  • Gene Simmons Talks Ray Rice Incident

    Gene Simmons Talks Ray Rice Incident

    Gene Simmons is one of the many celebrities who have something to say about the Ray Rice elevator incident.

    Simmons said that he doesn’t think Rice’s punishment is severe enough and that he feels like he should do some time in prison so he can understand exactly how wrong he was to hit his wife.

    “My opinion is, if he was in jail for a day and became somebody’s girlfriend maybe he’d knew what abuse is life, but that’s another story,” Simmons said. “I’m against physical violence of anybody. You raise your hand to somebody you should he held accountable, not just in the legal system. It’s unsportsmanlike.”

    Simmons went on to say that the incident was bad enough itself, but the fact that Ray’s wife, the victim of the attack, takes up for him is even worse.

    Janay Rice was only Ray’s fiancé when he knocked her out in the elevator, but she married him just a short time later and now she refuses to believe that she is a victim and has asked everyone to leave her and Ray alone and to let them deal with things on their own.

    She insists that she instigated the fight that led up to the elevator knockout and says that after it happened Ray got help and that they are now in a much better place and much happier.

    She has also said that she feels like it isn’t fair that Ray got banned from the NFL and has accused the media and those who are obviously against Ray, of ruining the couple’s life and future.

    “The saddest part of the ordeal is that Rice’s wife or fiancee isn’t copping to the fact that she was abused. More than abused – knocked out, the physical stuff,” Simmons said.

  • Gene Simmons Ready To Launch New Music Reality Show

    Gene Simmons, of KISS fame, is heading up a new musical reality show as the “Rock Caesar”.

    His new show, Coliseum, pits talented singers against one another to gain the coveted thumbs up.

    Most of us know how the ancients did it.

    Thumbs up means you go on, thumbs down means you (your career) die.

    The famous singer will coach his “gladiators” before they are ready to perform before the audience.

    “Coliseum is a no-holds-barred competition show between musical gladiators in the arena fighting to survive, fighting to be the champion, fighting to curry the favor of Rock Caesar,” said Gene Simmons in a statement.

    This announcement comes right on the heels of Simmons making a cringe-worthy statement on the controversial Ray Rice debacle.

    While most of the population most likely feels that Ray Rice did wrong by his then-fiance, Gene Simmons took it a step further with his opinion on the matter. Not that some people don’t agree…

    He said, “That guy needs, well my opinion is, if he was in jail for a day and became somebody’s girlfriend maybe he’d knew what abuse is like,” Simmons said during an interview on the Mike and Mike radio show. “But that’s another story.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGRQHiCEh58

    Simmons added, “I’m against physical violence of anybody. You raise your hand to somebody you should he held accountable, not just in the legal system. It’s unsportsmanlike.”

    He admitted that his biggest worry was for Janay Rice, who went ahead and walked the aisle with her alleged abuser.

    Simmons said he was “sad” that Janay Rice “isn’t copping to the fact that she was abused. More than abused, knocked out, the physical stuff.”

    I think it’s safe to say that most people felt sad for her in that way.

    Congrats to Gene Simmons on his new show! We shall see if the nation gives it a thumbs up or thumbs down.

  • Gene Simmons Says Rock Is Not Just Dead, It Was Murdered

    Gene Simmons, the bassist for the iconic rock band KISS, has an interesting take on the demise of rock music.

    In a recent interview with Esquire magazine, in an interview conducted by his son, Nick, Simmons said that rock is not only dead, it was murdered.

    “Don’t quit your day job is a good piece of advice,” the 60-year-old Simmons told his son. “When I was coming up, it was not an insurmountable mountain. Once you had a record company on your side, they would fund you, and that also meant when you toured they would give you tour support.

    “There was an entire industry to help the next Beatles, Stones, Prince, Hendrix, to prop them up and support them every step of the way,” he continued. “There are still record companies, and it does apply to pop, rap, and country to an extent. But for performers who are also songwriters – the creators – for rock music, for soul, for the blues – it’s finally dead. Rock is finally dead.”

    Simmons said he mourns the death of rock and wishes for the the days when rock was in its heyday.

    “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,” he said. “He will most likely, no matter what he does, fail miserably. There is no industry for that anymore. And who is the culprit? There’s always the changing tide of interests – music taste changes with each generation. To blame that is silly. That was always the exciting part, after all: ‘What’s next?’”

    Simmons went on to explain that the end of rock music was a deliberate act and not just a natural evolution of music.

    “But there’s something else. The death of rock was not a natural death. Rock did not die of old age. It was murdered. 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.”

  • Gene Simmons Says Rock Is Dead. Gene Simmons Is Wrong.

    Kiss founder and co-frontman, Gene Simmons, is a businessman. It’s as simple as that. He will do and say almost anything to protect and promote his investments and properties. So when Gene Simmons says something authoritative, outlandish or controversial, you have to take it with a palmful of Kosher salt.

    Recently, in an interview with Esquire magazine, an interview conducted by his son, Nick, Gene Simmons made the summary statement that Rock music is dead.

    “Don’t quit your day job is a good piece of advice. When I was coming up, it was not an insurmountable mountain. Once you had a record company on your side, they would fund you, and that also meant when you toured they would give you tour support. There was an entire industry to help the next Beatles, Stones, Prince, Hendrix, to prop them up and support them every step of the way. There are still record companies, and it does apply to pop, rap, and country to an extent. But for performers who are also songwriters — the creators — for rock music, for soul, for the blues — it’s finally dead.

    “Rock is finally dead.”

    And what killed rock? According to Simmons, file-sharing.

    “The death of rock was not a natural death. Rock did not die of old age. It was murdered. 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.

    “The masses do not recognize file-sharing and downloading as stealing because there’s a copy left behind for you — it’s not that copy that’s the problem, it’s the other one that someone received but didn’t pay for. 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.”

    Simmons, like others before him, confuses the “death of rock music” with what it really is “the death of the music industry as I knew it”. These two things are not the same.

    Contained within Simmons’ answer are the clues that he is clueless about what is happening around him in the business he started out in. For example, he equates “file sharing” and “downloading”.

    A similar gripe was made by country superstar Vince Gill. Back in 2012, Gill griped about how cheap it is to buy music digitally.

    “Income streams are dwindling,” said Gill. “Record sales aren’t what they used to be. The devaluation of music and what it’s now deemed to be worth is laughable to me. My single costs 99 cents. That’s what a (single) cost in 1960. On my phone, I can get an app for 99 cents that makes fart noises — the same price as the thing I create and speak to the world with. Some would say the fart app is more important. It’s an awkward time. Creative brains are being sorely mistreated.”

    What Gill and others miss is that the profit margin on a 99¢ download is almost 100% — for an independent musician. The trouble with older, established acts is that their record labels are selling digital downloads like mad, but not cutting them in on the action. They see the world through the lens of their old business models, angry that this new digital thing is paying them less.

    But, despite Simmons’ fears, new musicians are not going his old route — the route of begging an A&R guy to come sign them up for the Sugar Daddy treatment at the expense of their creative freedom. The new vanguard is recording their stuff at home on Garageband, putting it straight onto iTunes and Myspace, and keeping more money off each download than Simmons or Gill get.

    We’re not worried about the future of rock, Gene. You’re just worried about the future of Kiss. You guys have an old-school contract model. Sorry.

    By contrast, Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters — a band that sells like mad — looks at it this way:

    “I think it’s a good idea because it’s people trading music. It has nothing to do with industry or finance, it’s just people that want music and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s the same as someone turning on the fucking radio, it’s the same as someone putting a cassette in a cassette deck when the BBC plays a special radio session. I don’t think it’s a crime, it’s been going on for years. It’s the same as people making tapes for each other. The industry is more threatened by it because it’s the worldwide web and it’s a broader scope of trading, but I don’t think it’s such a fucking horrible thing. The first thing we should do is get all the fucking millionaires to shut their mouths, stop bitching about the 25 cents a time they’re losing.”

    Or, even better:

  • Gene Simmons Issues Statement of Apology For Depression Comments

    Gene Simmons has been in hot water all week because of his insensitive comments about depression. His comments were so harsh, KISS music has actually been banned by an Australian radio group.

    For those who missed it, last week the KISS rock-star recently shared his opinion of depression and drug abuse during an interview, reports Anti-Music.

    When the 65-year-old singer-songwriter was asked whether or not he still had a relationship with the original members of the legendary hard-rock band, he had no reservations about sharing his honest opinion. His response is what led to the discussion about depression. Needless to say, his comments weren’t taken lightly. So, he opted to offer some clarity about his remarks.

    On Friday, August 15 the Family Jewels reality TV star took to the KISS’ official Facebook page with a statement of apology.

    “I want to make this statement about my views on depression for the record and to clarify my prior remarks.

    “To the extent my comments reported by the media speak of depression, I was wrong and in the spur of the moment made remarks that in hindsight were made without regard for those who truly suffer the struggles of depression. I sincerely apologize to those who were offended by my comments. I recognize that depression is very serious and very sad when it happens to anyone, especially loved ones. I deeply support and am empathetic to anyone suffering from any disease, especially depression.”

    He went on to explain how his comments were taken out of context by the media.

    “I have never sugarcoated my feelings regarding drug use and alcoholics. Somewhere along the line, my intention of speaking in very directly and perhaps politically incorrectly about drug use and alcoholics has been misconstrued as vile commentary on depression. Unkind statements about depression was certainly never my intention,” Simmons wrote.

    “Fully, you will know that and I do not intend to defend myself here and now, by listing the myriad charities and self-help organizations I am involved with. Rather, I simply want to be clear that my heart goes out to anyone suffering from depression and I deeply regret any offhand remarks in the heat of an interview that might have suggested otherwise.”

  • Gene Simmons Gets Called Out by Ace Frehley Over Depression Comments

    Ace Frehley freely speaks his mind, especially when he’s telling other people when to shut up.

    In a recent interview with Billboard Magazine, Frehley had a ball talking about his new album, Space Invader. But when asked about some of Gene Simmons’ and Paul Stanley’s recent business ventures, he chimed right in.

    “I don’t want to be part owner of an [arena] football team. [Laughs] That’s Paul and Gene’s newest venture. The first thing that came to my mind [when I heard that] was, ‘Hey, what about the music? Why don’t you stay focused on the music?’ It just seems like they’re spreading themselves a little thin. Maybe you should focus on your records a little more and they’d be better. And you can quote that.”

    Ace has long complained about how Gene Simmons was a focused business person, including wearing three-piece suits to band meetings. And Frehley says he feels free to say what he wants about Gene and has no fear for their relationship.

    “Oh, I’m not worried about what I say about Gene. Me and Gene have been mudslinging back and forth to each other for years. The press makes it out like we hate each other, [but] I could go over to any of their houses and hang out. I try not to get involved with all the rhetoric, but sometimes I can’t hold back.”

    Frehley then brought up some of the statements recently made by Simmons, that he has caught flack for in the press and from the public.

    “Gene has the balls to go on the Internet the other day and say, ‘Look, if you’re a depressed person, kill yourself.’ I don’t think Robin Williams’ family is too happy about his statements, you know? He used to say to me in the ’70s every time I did something stupid, like I crashed a car or I got loaded when I shouldn’t, he’d say, ‘Ace, you’re shootin’ yourself in the foot.’ Well, you can print, ‘Hey Gene, you’re shootin’ yourself in the foot a lot lately.’ ”

    Gene Simmons has apologized for his ill-advised comments about depression-sufferers.

  • Gene Simmons Apologizes For Depression Remarks

    Gene Simmons doesn’t seem like the kind of person who cares if he offends someone with his comments. He did however, recently issue an apology for some comments he made about depression and suicide during an interview.

    Simmons was asked if he is still friends with his former bandmates Ace Frehley and Peter Criss.

    He replied by saying,

    “No, I don’t get along with anybody who’s a drug addict and has a dark cloud over their head and sees themselves as a victim. Drug addicts and alcoholics are always: ‘The world is a harsh place.’ My mother was in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany. I don’t want to hear f*** all about ‘the world as a harsh place.’ She gets up every day, smells the roses and loves life. And for a putz, 20-year-old kid to say, ‘I’m depressed, I live in Seattle.’ F*** you, then kill yourself.”

    “I never understand, because I always call them on their bluff. 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 f*** up, have some dignity and jump! You’ve got the crowd,” he continued.

    His comments were not taken lightly and many people criticized him for his cruel words and lack of sensitivity.

    Some radio stations even refused to play KISS music as a response to Simmons’s comments.

    Simmons quickly apologized for his comments saying,

    “Depression is very serious and very sad when it happens to anyone, especially loved ones. I have not commented on various allegations made in the media, but I want to make this statement for the record and to clarify. I deeply support and am empathetic to anyone suffering from any disease, especially depression. I have never sugarcoated my feelings regarding drug use and alcoholics. Somewhere along the line, my intentions in speaking very directly and perhaps politically-incorrectly about drug use and alcoholics have been misconstrued as vile commentary on depression.”

    “Unkind statements about depression was certainly never my intention. And I do not intend to defend myself here and now by listing the myriad charities and self-help organizations I am involved with. This is not about me. This is about clearing up misconceptions and being clear. My heart goes out to anyone suffering from depression,” he added.

    While Simmons’s apology may be sincere, many people are still upset and he has reportedly deactivated his Twitter account as a result of the backlash he received from his followers.

  • Gene Simmons Apologizes for Telling Addicts and The Depressed to Kill Themselves

    Gene Simmons, bassist for the iconic rock group KISS, has issued two apologies for appalling comments made during a recent interview about drug addiction and depression.

    Simmons’ comments came in an interview with Songfacts when he was asked if he still gets along with original KISS members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. His answer is truly dumbfounding.

    “No, I don’t get along with anybody who’s a drug addict and has a dark cloud over their head and sees themselves as a victim,” he said.

    “Drug addicts and alcoholics are always: ‘The world is a harsh place.’ My mother was in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany. I don’t want to hear f*** all about ‘the world as a harsh place.’ She gets up every day, smells the roses and loves life. And for a putz, 20-year-old kid to say, ‘I’m depressed, I live in Seattle.’ F*** you, then kill yourself.”

    “I never understand, because I always call them on their bluff. 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 f*** up, have some dignity and jump! You’ve got the crowd.”

    After his comments made the rounds, the Australian radio group Triple M announced they would ban KISS music on their five radio stations across Australia.

    Simmons responded — just days following the death of Robin Williams to suicide — with a statement on his personal Facebook page:

    “Depression is very serious and very sad when it happens to anyone, especially loved ones,” Simmons wrote.

    “I have not commented on various allegations made in the media, but I want to make this statement for the record and to clarify. I deeply support and am empathetic to anyone suffering from any disease, especially depression.

    “I have never sugarcoated my feelings regarding drug use and alcoholics. Somewhere along the line, my intentions in speaking very directly and perhaps politically-incorrectly about drug use and alcoholics have been misconstrued as vile commentary on depression.”

    “Unkind statements about depression was certainly never my intention. And I do not intend to defend myself here and now by listing the myriad charities and self-help organizations I am involved with,” he continued.

    “This is not about me. This is about clearing up misconceptions and being clear. My heart goes out to anyone suffering from depression.”

    Simmons also posted a similar statement on the official KISS Facebook page:

    “I want to make this statement about my views on depression for the record and to clarify my prior remarks,” wrote Simmons.

    “To the extent my comments reported by the media speak of depression, I was wrong and in the spur of the moment made remarks that in hindsight were made without regard for those who truly suffer the struggles of depression. I sincerely apologize to those who were offended by my comments. I recognize that depression is very serious and very sad when it happens to anyone, especially loved ones. I deeply support and am empathetic to anyone suffering from any disease, especially depression.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Gene Simmons: Fox News Fan; Republican?

    Gene Simmons: Fox News Fan; Republican?

    Gene Simmons, The Demon, singer and bass player in KISS, is a shrewd businessman. His unique attitudes about marriage, rock and roll, and his band are the stuff of lore. But Simmons has been saying some things over the years that lead some to wonder if this “rock and roll all night, party every day” legend is lining up more with conservative Ted Nugent than with liberal Eddie Vedder.

    Gene Simmons once said on Fox Business, when asked if he thought President Obama’s credibility was shot, “We’re all in trouble when you ask rock stars what they think about the political climate … I voted for [Obama], and I have a lot of concerns … I believe government should stay out of my way … the government doesn’t even know how to run government.”

    Simmons said then, and at other times, that he did vote for Obama in 2008. He has since said that he regrets that.

    “Because I voted because the man that was running was a moment in history. I, in the back of my mind, I wanted to show the world that America – the land of slaves, the land that tortured its black population for hundreds of years – is also the place of hope that could give an African-American a chance to lead the most powerful place on the face of the planet. However, if you take a look at the resume, you couldn’t find somebody, in retrospect, more unqualified – two years in public office, never ran his own company. So, I’m, after the fact, I was questioning the qualification.”

    Recently Simmons tweeted about Fox News’ market share, particularly compared to that of CNN.

    Gene’s partner in KISS, Paul Stanley has said that he is embarrassed by Gene’s outspokenness on political matters.

    “It’s absurd that a celebrity could speak out on the economy or politics with no more justification than a hit album or a movie. Not to deride Gene, but I just think he’s part of a symptom of absurdity where you’ll see somebody on television whose only criteria for being there is success in a field far away from what they’re being asked about. I really don’t know who is more ridiculous, the celebrity answering these political questions or the person asking them”

    Image via YouTube

  • Gene Simmons Guest Stars on ‘CSI’

    Gene Simmons is comfortable being on television. He stars in the A&E reality series Gene Simmons: Family Jewels, and has appeared as himself on hit shows like Castle and Ugly Betty. So it’s no surprise the KISS superstar is guesting in the 14th season on show CSI.

    “We’re really excited to have Gene Simmons guest-starring on CSI, playing himself in a rock-and-roll-themed murder mystery,” said executive producers Don McGill and Carol Mendelsohn.

    Simmons will appear in the 17th episode tentatively scheduled for March 12.

    The Israeli-born rock star played bass for the band KiSS. He co-founded the metal/rock band in the 70’s. With them, Simmons has sold over 100 million records.

    Image Via YouTube

  • Sophie Simmons Impresses “X Factor” Judges

    Being the daughter of infamous Kiss member Gene Simmons can’t be easy, especially when your life has been showcased on a reality show and your mother is Shannon Tweed. But Sophie Simmons decided she wanted to take the stage at “The X Factor” and show the judges that she’s more than just a celebrity’s kid.

    After choosing a particularly difficult song in terms of competing with the original–Adele’s “Make You Feel My Love”–Sophie chose to tell her parents she was auditioning just a day before she graced the stage, wanting to keep their protests to a minimum. But however they may have felt about her decision, they both accompanied her and waited backstage while she performed.

    Although it’s hard to believe that the judges had no idea ahead of time that Gene Simmons was in the building with his daughter, they seemed surprised to learn who she was. Sophie insisted that she “didn’t want any help”, and that was the reason she hadn’t wanted to tell her parents what she was doing.

    The 19-year old got good reviews from the judges, with Simon seeming the most impressed. Demi Lovato said she wanted to see Sophie gain “more control” over her voice, while Britney praised her. L.A. Reid was the only one who didn’t seem blown away, and gave her a no, but the other three judges sent her through to the next round.

    “I didn’t know how badly I wanted it until I was up there,” a tearful Sophie said.

  • Look At This Creepy Gene Simmons Bug

    Look At This Creepy Gene Simmons Bug

    You too can rock n’ roll all night and party ev-er-y day with this incredibly F-ed up Gene Simmons inspired classic VW. That is, if you live or can travel to Denver, Colorado. That’s where the the car is listed on Craigslist. All it takes is $10,000 and a desire to invest that money in freaking everyone out.

    From the actual listing: “Car will be finished in 40 days (in time for concert) come see it now, buy it as is for less, or put downdeposit to hold it for you and your coolest friends to take to “Comfort Dental Ampitheater” Aug 8th.”

    Driving this around a KISS concert would certainly make you a hit, so some rich dude that loves KISS is sure to buy it.

    (image)

    The car features Gene Simmon’s visage (obviously), but it also sports rope on top for the hair, a new engine, new modified body and many other restorations.

    (image)

    [geekosystem via uproxx]

  • KISS Angry Birds? Gene Simmons Talks Destroying Pigs All Nite

    KISS is the type of band that means a lot to some people and next to nothing to others. It’s one of those things you either get or you don’t. A KISS fan (in his 40s) explained to me: “If you grew up during that time, there was simply nothing better than KISS.” I’m sure I’ll eventually say the same thing about Stone Temple Pilots. But I digress.

    For a guy who hasn’t produced a ton of music in the past couple of decades, Gene Simmons has been able to stay in the sight of the pop culture radar. I mean, he is pretty iconic. Simmons has been a part of a few notable ad campaigns and starred in a pretty popular reality show.

    Now, in an interview with Industry Gamers, he explains how he plans to tackle the word of mobile gaming. Apparently, a KISS Angry Birds game is at least being talked about.

    Simmons talked to IG at the Sundance Film Festival, and one of the topics of conversation was gaming. He said that KISS and Angry Birds will be making a deal. He also talks KISS golf courses and Hello Kitty. Check out the whole quote below:

    Well, we’re talking with Sony games now. We are really trying to take it in areas that haven’t been done before and have stayed out of the marketplace because the ideas simply weren’t exciting enough. So while the gaming world is waiting for the KISS games that are going to explode, we’re busy taking the brand to places where no band has gone before. So Hello Kitty is one of the biggest brands on planet Earth. Now there’s KISS Hello Kitty, which we’ve already launched in 90 countries.

    We’re talking with Angry Birds, KISS and Angry Birds, which will become a deal. The KISS and the Archie world have now teamed up and the first issues of KISS Archie comic books hits the world this month. KISS golf courses are starting in Las Vegas right across from the Hard Rock. That opens in January. It’s just endless what we can do, but we only do things when it’s right. Just because there are games, and just because there’s this or that out there, unless the deal is right and unless the content is exciting to our fans, we don’t do it.

    He also talked playing Angry Birds himself:

    The Angry Birds people were up here and we sat down and we played Angry Birds. We blew some buildings apart, catapulted some of the birds, and then their eggs were stolen.

    I can only hope that the game would involve flinging little Peter Criss heads at groupies, or something like that.

    [Via GeekOSystem]

  • Gene Simmons Hacker Arrested, Linked To Anonymous

    The FBI has arrested a hacker linked to Anonymous for a DDoS attack last year against Gene Simmons’ website. The 24-year-old Kevin George Poe was apprehended in Connecticut. He has reportedly been ordered to appear before a Los Angeles court on an as of yet unscheduled date.

    “The arrest once again sheds light on the increasing amount of DDoS attacks by criminals and hacktivists that are sometime out for financial gain or just looking to make a political or ideological statement,” Mike Paquette, Chief Strategy Officer at Corero Network Security, tells WebProNews.

    “Traditionally, DDoS attacks have consisted of massive floods of network packets that overwhelm a company’s bandwidth, routers, firewalls, switches and servers,” he says. “ In 2012, blue chip corporations, retailers, banks and government agencies can expect more sophisticated application layer attacks that cause a denial of service without filling up all of the available bandwidth.”

    “In other words, they don’t require a large volume of traffic to have their effect,” Paquette continues. “So in essence the attackers will profile a company’s Web application and build botnet scripts that use ‘heavyweight’ application transactions to overload backend databases and other servers. Attacks using these scripts cause the targeted application to become unreachable, thus making the DDoS attack successful.”

    While many of us may think about Simmons as a rock star, Simmons all about business. He talks about this all the time. Have you ever seen the insane amount of Kiss merchandise there is? Simmons himself is always pitching it.

    Gene Simmons' store

    The lesson for businesses is to improve your security.

    “In 2012, IT administrators should update their business continuity plans and improve their overall security posture in preparation,” says Corero. “The negative impact of business and productivity losses makes it essential to be diligent in preparation.”

    “When working with technology providers, organizations should make sure their DDoS Defense solutions are flexible, improving the likelihood they are able to accommodate future variations of DDoS attack techniques,” he says. “Being prepared, vigilant and ready to act fast will go a long way in thwarting the DDoS attacks of tomorrow.”