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Gene Simmons, "Kiss and Make Up"

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Boplicity

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Jul 21, 2000
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#1
Gene Simmons appeared on the NBC Today show this morning (Dec 11) to publicize his autobiography "Kiss and Make Up."

I was amazed how big he is. He could make two of Matt Lauer who interviewed him. His head is so big, I mean that BOTH literally and figuratively.

He was his usual max-macho self saying how much he feels the insitution of marriage is just too binding and constricting. He bragged about how active he still is with women and claims once you stop you are not a man anymore.

I didn't know his mother was a survivor of the German concentration camps. He immigrated to the U.S. from Israel when he was just eight. The band that influenced him to go into music was the Beatles. He admits it wasn't for the Beatles' music but their lifestyle.

They inspired him to want to create a band that was a "brand" (his word) as much as a band. he resented the idea of a traditional band which was all about a front man with a mic, while the other musicians were just back up players. He wanted every member of the band to be equally important to its fans.

For myself I can't stand Simmons, but his fans probably would find his book very interesting. And though I don't like his personality and attitude one bit, I give him every credit for having had a dream and made it come true. He transformed music for many and Kiss has a cult following of fans who keep the legend alive and well. Also just as the Beatles influenced Simmons, many, many musicians have confessed to have been influenced by Kiss.

Again, I'm sure Simmons fans will find the book an interesting read.
 
#2
Despite what you think about the music, the band KISS has proven without a doubt that they understand the music business. I knew about Gene being an immigrant, but not the rest. The local radio station last night stated that Gene claims to have bedded something like 4500+ women, and has the pictures to prove it. They were offering a free copy of the book to anyone who called in that could prove that they were one of the 4500.
 
#3
Wow! 4500 women. If Simmons is exaggerating by a factor of fifty percent, it would still be an amazing...ah...achievement. It seems a little obsessive-compulsive, though. He's trying so hard to prove he is a man, he has to count the number of different women he has bedded and brag about it in every chance he gets.

To me it seems to be a kind of addiction. He says he never did drugs, so sex was his drug--or so it seems.

Oh, for what it is worth, he can also type ninety words a minute, even to this day. At least that is what he told Matt Lauer on the Today Show this morning.
 
#4
4,500...& one was a Nun!
He's still has a ways to go before he attains Chamberlain-ville conquests! :D

BTW, Simmons was even on Mike O'Reilly's Show on Fox News tonight...pitching his book & sayin' how we're still being too soft on terrorist types.
 
#5
Originally posted by JimK
4,500...& one was a Nun!
He's still has a ways to go before he attains Chamberlain-ville conquests! :D
Click to expand...

I was just going to say that



Your not alone JO, I myself dont care for Simmons either, and I think Kiss is one of the most over-rated bands out there as far as musicianship goes. This is by no means intended to start flames folks, so please dont take offense kiss fans.
 
#6
I like Kiss. But I am sure that I would not like Gene Simmons. He is way too into himself. I like people that are more down to Earth. I do like simple Rock music. Bands that play easy grooves are sometimes easier to tap you foot too and stuff. I always had a hard time tapping my foot to Dream Theater. :D
 
#7
i started playing bass after my first contact with kiss. i listened to the song "god of thunder" and i imeediately want to ply a bass guitar. i was 8 years old nad i ended playing the trumpet in the local town band. it was all my family could afford. but that ideas was still with me and when i turned 15 and i was big enough to handle tha bass tuba i started playing that huge instrument. then i finally switch to electric bass. bass is my main hobby and passion, so i pay my dues to gene simmons which i respect a lot. there is a really interesting interview in the last issue of the magazine called Classic Rock. thank you guys to let me know about those books. i'll look for both on amazon.
 
#9
also, keep in mind that the majority of people out there only hear the few songs they play on the radio (and we all know what that's worth). they get pegged as being a bubble-gum band, which i don't think is entirely accurate. gene, paul, and ace weren't the greatest of musicians, but they did what they did very well, and did a great jobs of playing 3 seperate parts on the majority of their songs.

as for gene's book, and unless you're a big kiss fan, you probably won't enjoy it much. i haven't read it (except for a few excerpts), but from the reviews i've seen, it's nothing impressive...
 
#10
I have a lot of respect for KISS. If it weren't for them, I don't know how much of a musician I'd be today. I started out as a guitarist, and I feel almost as if Ace was my own personal teacher. His songs were doable, and I learned almost every one off the first 5 albums.

I used to like Gene Simmons for his "I could care less what you think of me" attitude, and his brutal honesty. I smiled my way through the BP magazine article and his definitions of R&R (which I kind of agree with). I saw him promoting the book a couple of weeks ago on some talk show however, and in about 10 short minutes lost a great deal of respect. He told a long drawn out story where the punch was that he wound up sleeping with some beautiful girl AND her mother. I thought it was really pathetic, I almost felt bad for him. There was no reaction from the show-host or the audience, which I think he was expecting - and it made me cringe. He was bragging about stuff that 16 year olds would brag about (no offense to you 16 year olds). He's a huge rock star, uh duh! Yeah - we know he got laid lots.... Doesn't he have something more inspiring or thought provoking he could talk about. If not, at least brag about something wilder than a mother and daughter - I mean, even I did that! Just kidding.
 
#12
Gene and his band mates have bragged incessantly about the number of women they have had, but I've never read the statement of one of those women telling about how great the experience was for the woman.

Just because Simmons has "had" 4500 women doesn't make him a great lover or even an average lover. It just makes him a high quantity lover. So what? I wonder how many times he had to see a doctor afterwards when one of his partners left him a unpleasant souvenir. That's one number he hasn't been bragging about.:o
 
#17
Originally posted by Boplicity
Gene and his band mates have bragged incessantly about the number of women they have had, but I've never read the statement of one of those women telling about how great the experience was for the woman.

Click to expand...

I guess if someone just NEEDED to know, there's a website called "Donna's Domain" where groupies write in and rate the sexual performance of rock stars...kind of like our Bass Gear Review Archive page :D

I'm sure Gene and crew are in their database...everybody else is (except me).
 
#18
i would never have picked up an instrument if it weren't for kiss. i still dig those tunes and i'm looking forward to unwrapping the kiss box set and gene's autobiography (already saw excerpts in guitar world and playboy) on 12.25.01 :cool:

how many women gene has nailed has no bearing on how i feel about gene himself. scott ian had a post on anthrax.com a few months ago about how he would never have picked up guitar if not for kiss and the ramones. at a concert he saw both gene simmons and johnny ramone there. gene was very open, friendly, and mr. regular guy to scott, while johnny just left the venue after the show with lisa marie presley and didn't even acknowledge scott. make of all that what you will.
 

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