• 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 free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Gene Simmons

#21
met Gene Simmons quite a few times, he was nice enough but condescending, an old pal of mine played keys for them on a few tours and had a good time, but he said they did try to screw him royally with a live DVD contract that would've paid them nothing... told them about the filming and recording 15 minutes before stage time and put a contract under their nose... but I guess that's just business... good bass lines on the cooler stuff, but Jean Beauvoir played a lot of them...
 
#24
Vincent P said:
I grew up listening to KISS. Their music has become some of the listening staples for the 70's era. Nothing shocked parents better than hanging a poster of the Demon in your bedroom back in the day. I have to agree that Gene is more of a showman/24hr self promoter then a brilliant bassist, but he is a true rock and roller and the most dedicated to his fan base.
Click to expand...
+1....... Kiss as a whole is great.
 
#27
I was a huge KISS fan back in the day. Gene knows how to market and promote, that's a given. Paul and Gene always say it was about the music, but the show part always seemed to come off better.

Whomever played bass for KISS recordings/live etc. played parts that fit the song, image and show.

I try not to watch "reality" TV, but his show is pretty good. His wife doesn't take any crap, his daughter is sweet, and his son is very quick (that part doesn't seem scripted) to slam his dad.
 
#28
I cut my teeth as a bass player on the early Kiss albums. For that particular time in music history, Gene had some of the most tasteful lines being recorded. Nothing particularly flashy, but definitely creative and they fit the music well. Listen to the first several Kiss' albums and try to block out Gene's bass lines -without them the music would be very plain.
 
#32
Think he's a good player for what they do, and his lines are interesting enough. Early work seems right in line with what was going on at the time. The ones I've worked on are fun to play.

But definitely not one to be held up as a heavy duty bassist extraordinaire. But their style of music, I don't think, really calls for that.
 
#35
Rodr-Evil said:
Really you think that?? I don't agree at all, what about Going Blind, with a very good Bass line, or Deuce, She, etc etc etc??? :hmm:
Click to expand...

It's all matter of taste, but I don't like his solo albums.

I find them much worse than KISS or solo albums of Paul, Ace and Peter ( he has some weak moments too ) but it can be like discusing whats better: orange or strawberry :)
 
#39
I have been a KISS fan almost all my life. It was Gene Simmons that inspired me to pick up a bass when I was 13. Yet ironically it was Ace Frehley that influenced me the most on bass (go figure)....the only thing of Gene's playing that rubbed off on me was using a pick. Back in the late 70s -early 80s a bass player with a pick was looked down upon..least in my area. I refused to budge on my use of a pick but developed a 'hybrid' picking/plucking style -- pick held in thumb and first finger, plucked when it would help the riff with second and third finger. Have no clue if there are any other bassists here that do that or whatever but anyway....

Gene's playing is just enough to get the job done. Hes not bad, but hes not driven to be better then what it takes to make the song. He'd only interested in doing just enough to make the song and thats it. It is a shame because perhaps if he had more passion with his playing, he might have become something really good. Though he did only pick up the bass just for the goal of making money and one can surmise with an axe that only had 4 strings it would /seem/ easy enough...

Does he or did he play in the studio laying down the tracks? Most of the stuff he did but not everything. God of Thunder for example as far as I can recall he may not have. Funnily enough I know the riff to that song like the back of my hand and when I picked up a bass again after a decade or so out of it that was the ONLY thing I could play as I took some basses for 'test drives' at the local shop.

I know some other KISS songs...they are nothing spectacular in my book. As I said, they do the job and that is it. His early stuff was better and had more energy IMO.

If it wasn't for Gene I probably never would have picked up a bass. I was 13 and he was my idol... I wanted to emulate him but from there I went my own way with the axe. I will always be grateful in a sense that I became a player of my most favorite instrument in the world. But I do not consider him a 'super' bass player. I have seen them in concert 4 times (yea only 4..hehe most KISS fans have seen them far more then that) and twice on was up at the stage on his side. He plays it like its a job and nothing more....though his solos live aren't that bad....*shrug*

As for him being an *******? I knew a man who knew him a few years ago. KISS is a business and nothing more to him. Pauls creativity has always been stifled and under Genes thumb from the legal business aspect of it. Gene had no patience for Aces partying BS.... Peter was too restricted in what Gene wanted to do with the band. Kulick was considered and employee for KISS and nothing more. Same with the last drummer before Peter came back. Vinnie was not tolerated because of his partying ways and Eric was the only none original member that was ever considered part of the band and not just paid help... Gene was the biggest reason why Ace and Peter left....and the way Gene worked their rejoining the band as paid players and nothing more.

Ok I took this way off topic..sorry...
 
#40
Gene Simmons led to Michael Anthony who led to Steve Harris, they are the reason that I play bass today. Gene doesn't get the respect due to the whole make up/comic book thing.
Check out the bass lines to
"Love her all I can"
"Room Service"
"Mr. Speed"
"Take Me"
"Sure Know Something"
He did some very tasty stuff.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back