• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Gene Simmons [still] Thinks Rock Is Dead

whether you call whether you call it rock or not I know the b******* they play on the radio now sucks

Allow me to shoot down my own rhetorical question. At present radio still reaches more consumers than television or the internet. Did not know that!

However, the attached article gives radio perhaps 10 more years of existence before it is subsumed. So it's influence appears fated to wane.

Invalid Link Removed
 
I'm not a Gene Simmons or Kiss fan and I am one of those old guys who played rock & roll "back in the day". What I will say regarding his alleged comment "Rock & Roll is dead" is that comparatively rock & roll is dead. If you look at the number of bands releasing LPs and the number of bands in general in the 60's and 70's compared to today I think you will see a marked reduction in product and bands. Also, there were a lot more venues back then. Everything from small club gigs to medium size concert gigs and even large concert events. In the 60's and 70's Rock & Roll was king of the music on the radio and what people listened to at home. Today hip hop is number one in sales and what people listen to. I think country music is even outselling Rock & Roll even though much of today's country music is pretty much a rock and roll music track sang with a twang and topped with a cowboy hat.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Darren Saw
Surprised no one on this thread has recalled the words of a great man who once sang;

Hey hey, my my,
Rock and roll can never die,
There's more to the picture
Than meets the eye,
Hey hey, my my

Out of the blue and into the black
You pay for this, but they give you that
And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black.

The king is gone but he's not forgotten
Is this the tale of Johnny rotten?
It's better to burn out than fade away
The king is gone but he's not forgotten

Says all this thread has been saying and needs to say, really.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SimonSays32
I have an idea for Gene: Why doesn’t he put together a band that isn’t KISS that plays exactly the music he would consider “rock”? I bet they could be pretty successful. Lots of good guitarists, vocalists, drummers, producers, etc. would be delighted to work with him. I would probably buy the albums.

Ace Frehley did just that. Good album.
 
  • Like
Reactions: selowitch
Just remember, Gene was the mastermind behind the Kiss Kasket. He buried rock all on his lonesome decades ago. Is Kiss on their final, final, really truly last one, concert tour? Is McCartney opening for them?

Slipknot_Kiss_Kasket1.jpg
 
I'm not a Gene Simmons or Kiss fan and I am one of those old guys who played rock & roll "back in the day". What I will say regarding his alleged comment "Rock & Roll is dead" is that comparatively rock & roll is dead. If you look at the number of bands releasing LPs and the number of bands in general in the 60's and 70's compared to today I think you will see a marked reduction in product and bands. Also, there were a lot more venues back then. Everything from small club gigs to medium size concert gigs and even large concert events. In the 60's and 70's Rock & Roll was king of the music on the radio and what people listened to at home. Today hip hop is number one in sales and what people listen to. I think country music is even outselling Rock & Roll even though much of today's country music is pretty much a rock and roll music track sang with a twang and topped with a cowboy hat.

Country was being rocked and popped in my youth (the 90s/early Oughts) - now it has been subsumed by whatever hip-hop sound is currently popular, throw in the twang chorus and a trap beat and you're good to go... although I mean, I might even be out of date on that considering the only stand out current "county crossover" hit I can think of is 'Old Town Road' and that is definitely dated now (jeez things move to fast anymore).

I really do think that the money has gone - but more for the industry at large, as don't kid yourself the artists at the top are just employees for an industry that is routinely not adapting well to the changing cultural economy.

So it's not that rock is dead - or jazz, or any music for that matter. Music is very much alive - it's part of us, it's ethereal, it's attitude and can't be killed but the industry is dying or is mostly dead.

Again - I think it is a great time to be an artist if you have the wherewithal to invest in affordable recording equipment. It is a terrible time to think about making a living off of it - but I mean, Hendrix died with nearly nothing in his bank account so... -\_:|_/-
 
"Dead" means "not dominant" in this context, the context of the pop culture industry. Punk rock was dead by 1979, but punk did not go away. Jazz was dead by 1970 and yet there are tons of jazz bands and young up and coming jazz musicians today. Countless more examples.

You're emotional response to my comment and hate @ me is more suitable to youtube comments than it is to TalkBass.

Right you are, Spectrum, I think we should be above this kind of reaction on TB, and I would urge everybody to show some respect... If you can't, use another forum.
 
Back when rock music was dominant, I would liken music in general to a 1970 Plymouth Road Runner. It was loud, fast, and if something broke, you fixed it.
Today, music is like a Toyota Prius. You rent it. It's "emotionally validated". And if it breaks, you throw it away.
 
It
No, we don't know any such thing, none of us do. 2015 was only 6 years ago. None of us can say that a band popular in 2015 won't be popular in 2065.
My comment wasn’t really clear. I intended to convey that an artist that had a stroke of success (a hit song on the charts) in 1965, on average, had a longer time period with that successful event than an artist has in 2015. That’s measurable.

I didn’t intend to imply an artist’s career that began in 1965 would last longer than an artists whose career began in 2015, although the past few years appears to indicate that will also be true, but you are correct in saying nobody will know.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SimonSays32
Rock is no more dead than Classical, Jazz or Blues. Music travels through the Universe randomly therefore you never know what's going to be popular at any given moment in time.

And don't be knocking Seniors as you will be one before you know it. I was 16 a few years ago at a Jimi Hendrix Experience concert and all of a sudden, I'm 68. Respect.
 
Rock is no more dead than Classical, Jazz or Blues. Music travels through the Universe randomly therefore you never know what's going to be popular at any given moment in time.

And don't be knocking Seniors as you will be one before you know it. I was 16 a few years ago at a Jimi Hendrix Experience concert and all of a sudden, I'm 68. Respect.

In school I was listening to The Doors, The Band, and The Dead while my friends were listening to Limp Bizkit, Aqua, Oasis, Tupac, etc. or basically whatever hour of Much Music (Canadian MTV) they dressed like.

I'd always laugh when they said I listened to old people music - because the musicians on the records I was listening to, were in their twenties...
 
  • Like
Reactions: LoveJackBruce
Is rock dead? I don't think so.

How many of you working musicians play songs by today's big pop artists, and never mix in older rock standards? Is anyone covering Justin Bieber? Katy Perry? Owl City? Any other pop acts? How big are your crowds, and how many people dance to what you play?

I think rock is still going strong in clubs and arenas -- or will be, when live musicians are able to perform live again. And a lot of rock's essentials can be found in today's country acts, including the theatrics and pyrotechnics that often go with big stage shows.

Perhaps more important to people like us, a lot of pop music uses sampling keyboards and sequencers to replace the instruments we're used to seeing and hearing in rock bands. Two keyboards and racks full of MIDI-triggered "basses" and "drums" can't possibly match the exciting stage presence of a four- or five-piece (or even larger) band playing "real" instruments.

What we're seeing now is -- I hope -- a temporary change in tastes driven by consumers who don't mind hearing twenty-plus slight variations on the same melody, played at the same tempo, by someone who relies on autotune to sing on-key. At some point -- soon, I hope -- today's children and latte-sippers will mature a bit and rediscover what live music is really about.