Gene Simmons Appreciation Thread for Sunday (with Poll)

[Wood and Wire]

I can actually remember watching the Blue Angels when the TV stations shut down at night when I was young.

They're Heeeeere....!

 

[brianrost]

I never liked Kiss, too bad Gene didn't do more solo albums. Lovely jangly pop, as a boomer that presses all the right buttons for me. Of course he wouldn't be as stinking rich as he is now, but so what

 

[Wood and Wire]

I know Gene gets quite a bit of flack due to his comments off stage, but he calls it like he sees it. I respect that even if I don't agree with him on many things.

I think on stage and in the songs he holds it down. He's played and entertained millions. Like it or not, kiss has been a major influence. He isn't a technical virtuoso, but he's also not chop liver. His bass lines venture across the strings and compliment the songs well. Hes playing more than roots and fifths. Some of those classic kiss bass lines are really solid and fun to play.

I like kiss. I think Ace is awesome. I liked their old jams. I've been entertained many times through the years at kiss shows. I've never once been out in the crowd thinking Gene simmons isn't making it happen.

Gene off stage, I dont know him. the media trys to portray him as a scab of society. I dont think he is that. ive read stories about gene trying to steer rockers that were heading down the path of drugs and alcohol to a path of sobriety and living life. He seems like he was genuinely concerned for these people's well beigns the way the stories were told.

Just my two cents. Love him or hate him, you probably know who he is atleast.

How many other bands have saved Christmas, let alone defeated the Phantom of The Park?

 

[Wood and Wire]

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Cher, and Cher-alike.

 

[Wood and Wire]

capricious artistes at work and play

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Once again, Gene predicts Covid.

Hello Kissy.

 

[BazzaBass]

Inspired by a recent chart-topping Talk Bass thread soliciting opinion on the new Paul Stanley solo project single by Soul Station, a cover of Ohh Child (which was too Mike Curb Congregation for my own taste), I thought, why not put up a solo track from Gene for consideration? Granted, it is an oldie... But I am definitely not trolling, as I ADORE this song, I think it is of '65 Beatles caliber, and I love the Spanish Harlem-inspired strings, and the gooey, Teenage Fan Club-style Ohhs and Ahhhs.


Any other Kiss or Gene content or commentary welcome, too!

At least on Reddit I can down vote

 

[klejst]

I'll tip my cap to what he accomplished, however I never really understood the massive popularity of him...that he had not brought on himself or his arrogant attitude did not that is. Not trying to start a war.

 

[Sandman64]

Personally I think he is a pompous ass and an very underrated bassist/vocalist.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

He's a frontman as well as a bassist... no room for shy, retiring frontmen. Arrogance is vital.

 

[logdrum]

I used to buy Hit Parader when I was a kid and read something about his new band called The Grateful Dead, I thought they were going to be this heavy rock band, imagine my surprise hearing them play country music the first time I heard them, I thought, what the heck is this crap? I have grown to really like them over the intervening years though.

I thought the same, until I met the Deadhead that I eventually married. If Ralph Macchio sold his soul to the devil, I thought KISS and Grateful Dead collected them.

 

[JRA]

gene, gene, gene.....

 

[farmertom]

Ha! I like Dynasty, too.

love dynasty!
I’ll take Dynasty OVER Destroyer. There I said it.

 

[Billyzoom]

To me no Gene Simmons or Kiss thread is complete without this live video from The Midnight Special 1975:

I also believe no stage is complete without 6 Marshall heads and cabs and 3 SVT heads and 4 SVT cabs.

This was pretty great. I remember playing air guitar to Kiss countless times as a kid...Ace Frehley was my hero. Now when I hear him, after playing guitar for some years, I'm surprised at how simple his playing was. I can play a lot of his solos, and I pretty much suck. But I still dig them.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

love dynasty!
I’ll take Dynasty OVER Destroyer. There I said it.

With the exception of "I was made.." Dynasty is a really good album.

But Destroyer and Dressed to Kill are my favorites.

 

[3rdworlder]

while certainly not Chris Squire or Jaco, Simmons played exactly what his band’s songs needed

That's both, right and correct!

Hey, this is the line Carol Kaye is supposedly trying to teach him years later.

Yeah, I've seen the video but it was like over two decades later. Now, while I can hear the similarities, I doubt Carol Kaye ever heard that song from that 1977 LP.

 

[bobyoung53]

That's both, right and correct!



Yeah, I've seen the video but it was like over two decades later. Now, while I can hear the similarities, I doubt Carol Kaye ever heard that song from that 1977 LP.

Someone posted it here. I was actually joking but something never sat right with me about that video, kind of presumptuous to think you need to teach someone like Gene Simmons how to play certain types of bass lines.

 

[5StringBlues]

Loudest mimes ever.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

Loudest mimes ever.

A like wasn't enough for this one.

 

[eric138]

Love it! Might be my favorite song on any of the solo albums.

 

[Fuzzbass]

Kiss was an epiphany when I was a young teen. I caught the early hype in Creem and Hit Parader... all the band looked cool but Gene was the badass, for sure. Saw them on teevee, either In Concert or Midnight Special or both, then saw them live.

I was actually a Kiss snob: I don't think they started playing arenas until their live album came out, and they became a bit more pop after that, so I was the dick saying "Pfft, I'm no bandwagon jumper, I liked Kiss from the get-go, back when they were cool". (But they were still cool).