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Opinion on Gene Simmons: Revised Edition
- Thread starter twdavis13
- Start date
Gene goes into the same bracket as a lot of "shock" rockers. People will say thw same thing about him, Marylin Manson, Ozzy Osborne, Nikki Sixx to name but a few. And the end of the day these people know exactly what they are and what their role is in the music industry. Their entertainers. They put on a show for everyone to enjoy and they all do a brilliant job of it. Not make rediculously technical songs that only really fellow musicians would get. Plus i dont think Wooten double-thumbing his way through strutter would of worked.They play what fits
Strutter has a pretty nice bass line IMO.
Gene has never been a Root Note Hack like so many others in the business.
As I said before ... I think his playing suits the music nicely, and he was a lot more melodic than some of his contemporaries when that stuff was new.
Gene has never been a Root Note Hack like so many others in the business.
As I said before ... I think his playing suits the music nicely, and he was a lot more melodic than some of his contemporaries when that stuff was new.
You totally misunderstood my post. I said nothing positive or negative about Simmons, and I said nothing about budget
--your threads could've been about any of those other guys. Hell, I love Mike Watt, but you won't see me starting threads about him and his basses over and over.http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=560846&highlight=
I thought post #6 in this thread was kind of telling. You sound like you're on a mission to convert people who don't like him. I'm guessing from your (over)reaction that you're young. I may have come off a little too harshly. I'm just saying, chill. Like what you like, but why feel the need to promote one of the most relentlessly self-promoting musicians ever?
I have to give a big +1 to this...... He did fine with what that music asked for....was he a bass-God, No...but I've got great memories of KISS songs (bass lines included) from my childhood and still listen to them today....
Then I guess he shouldnt start any more threads about this because apparently he is extremely interested in what everyone else thinks.
Simmons? He was not a great player by any stretch of the imagination. Of course lately you dont have to have any talent according to this forum. Regardless of your ability there will always be homers who will just say that the player being discussd played for the song blah blah blah.
Pete Wentz is awesome. He plays for the song.
Gene is underrated as a bass player and songwriter and a heck of a performer. When you see his age and what he's still doing, remember it when you are that old. Yeah he's an arrogant greedmeister, no doubt. But his simple bass lines are very clever and very cool. He copped "Boys Are Back in Town" intro lick for his "Detroit Rock City" lick, but it's still great and very cool. He copped LOTS. Watch Dennis Dunaway of Alice Cooper's Band and you will see a lot of Gene, along with Sir Paul McCartney. The intro riff to "100,000 Years" is very clever, as is his playing on "Strutter", "Deuce", "God of Thunder", "Going Blind", "She", "Naked City", "Almost Human", "Flaming Youth", "Sweet Pain", "Larger Than Life", etc.
He holds it down great live and he does play his bass on recordings. Maybe not all, but he does. He plays guitar and Paul Stanley plays bass also (check "Love Gun" for Paul's cool bassline). Gene is a practical model for hard rock playing. His bouncy, walking type lines are almost non-existent in today's types of rock music. Everyone will say McCartney is amazing and Gene is horrible. That's crap and anyone with semi-intelligence can hear the similarities in styles. This reminds me of the Roger Waters thread. You have to look at playing in context. Gene is not a tapper, slapper, or shredder. He is a showman in a powerful and visual hard rock band. And I know you long to do that bass solo with the blood. Beats the hell out of jazz any day for me.
He holds it down great live and he does play his bass on recordings. Maybe not all, but he does. He plays guitar and Paul Stanley plays bass also (check "Love Gun" for Paul's cool bassline). Gene is a practical model for hard rock playing. His bouncy, walking type lines are almost non-existent in today's types of rock music. Everyone will say McCartney is amazing and Gene is horrible. That's crap and anyone with semi-intelligence can hear the similarities in styles. This reminds me of the Roger Waters thread. You have to look at playing in context. Gene is not a tapper, slapper, or shredder. He is a showman in a powerful and visual hard rock band. And I know you long to do that bass solo with the blood. Beats the hell out of jazz any day for me.
I don't think he's a great bassist, but he definitely does have his moments. Some KISS songs wouldn't be same without the cool little bass groove that he puts throughout the song.
This.
Also, "great" and "so-so" are very relative. Is Gene great like Jaco, Wooten, Jamerson et al? Hell no. Is he fantastic at writing and performing great walking funky basslines that fit Kiss' music perfectly? Hell yes. The similarities between Gene's and Macca's lines are frieghteningly similar.
For the record, in the poll I chose so-so (because he's not great in the Jaco, Wooten, Berlin etc. realm), but I do think he's a great bass player in his genre. People who think otherwise are very close-minded or are too young and/or stubborn to have listened to early Kiss work (70's material).
BTW, did anyone notice I actually voted for the "SO-SO" option?? see, I'm not completely worshipping of Simmons. I could've easily voted the first choice, but I don't agree that he is "GREAT" in the sense of other players. As for the music, genre, time he was playing in, he IS great. I like to think of his as being Lower-Upper.
That's pretty much my take on his stuff as well.
No, not an all out virtuoso, but certainly better at what he does than your avarage player, and very much underappreciated/underated IMO.
I went with great, mostly because of the whole package. I do think that playing melodicl and appropriate parts, while also carrying a lot of the vocal work on top of that is pretty impressive.
I'm failry convinced that many of the nay-sayers haven't really given a good listen to his work, and are chiminig in based more on his public persona, than his actual ability.
I would say he is good or perhaps decent in the least. For his genre though? Well I can think of others in KISS' genre that I prefer to them most definitely and think they're better than him for that era. Roger Glove, Joe Bouchard, and Dennis Dunaway are a few I consider to be much better. It all clocks to opinion, and to be honest, I don't think I'm being close minded. I've listen to a good portion of their early work, I just find the three above better,
I was the default singer when our guy went to another gig, and the Kiss stuff was simple enough for me to learn to sing and play at the same time, while still entertaining. Like said above ,he may not have been the best, but we cant all be Entwhistle,or Squire. Party on Dudes!
Gene was always good enough to play on all the KISS records. In many cases, he was too busy with other projects, acting, and outside activities to come in and play. This was honestly the case. He's also not very attached to or precious about needing to play all the bass parts on KISS records - his identity and reason for being aren't tied up in that.
Gene hired Neil Jason to play on his solo album because he wanted to feature his guitar playing and leave the bass to someone else.
Gene hired Neil Jason to play on his solo album because he wanted to feature his guitar playing and leave the bass to someone else.
I voted Awesome/Great....flame me , I don't care.
I know that despite my level of knowledge & taste now, I would have probably never picked up the bass if it were not for Gene. I can't forget that and will always be indebted to him for inspiring me to chase my dreams.
His playing on the first 4 albums was much more than great at the time. I think I remember Playboy voting him best bassist back in the day, IIRC. Considering he was also able to play those walking lines,run, jump, & hold down at least half of the vocals at a time when a lot of bassist were completely boring should inspire any bassist wanting to be an entertainer as well, IMO.
His skills at self promotion and business in general are in a league of their own. He can take his failures and come out not only unscathed, but still manage to squeeze some type of success out of them. Some of his ventures have been tacky, or over-priced failures, yet he keeps on ticking...
I actually owned one of his original Kramer Ax Guitars(6 string, autographed and numbered) back years ago. I called the factory and they only knew where 2 were at the time, mine and Rick Neilson of Cheap Trick had one. I hit a severe money crunch and had to sell it, but before I did, I replaced the pickups...so Gene's original pup is in one of my guitars today...
I know that despite my level of knowledge & taste now, I would have probably never picked up the bass if it were not for Gene. I can't forget that and will always be indebted to him for inspiring me to chase my dreams.His playing on the first 4 albums was much more than great at the time. I think I remember Playboy voting him best bassist back in the day, IIRC. Considering he was also able to play those walking lines,run, jump, & hold down at least half of the vocals at a time when a lot of bassist were completely boring should inspire any bassist wanting to be an entertainer as well, IMO.
His skills at self promotion and business in general are in a league of their own. He can take his failures and come out not only unscathed, but still manage to squeeze some type of success out of them. Some of his ventures have been tacky, or over-priced failures, yet he keeps on ticking...
I actually owned one of his original Kramer Ax Guitars(6 string, autographed and numbered) back years ago. I called the factory and they only knew where 2 were at the time, mine and Rick Neilson of Cheap Trick had one. I hit a severe money crunch and had to sell it, but before I did, I replaced the pickups...so Gene's original pup is in one of my guitars today...
Don't listen to Kiss, and don't know Gene. Can't make an informed decision. I think his reality TV show is scripted and lame. From reading the letters to people on his website, I see he has some of the same views on life that I do, and I respect the man for that. Seems like a huge ego hound though. Would have like to have some of his life experiences, and would like to play in front of his massive stack of SVT's.
You're totally right and that was an error on my part. I didn't mean his genre, what I meant to type was his setting (i.e. in Kiss). Somewhere between my brain and my fingers, the alcohol took over and things got all twisted. My bad.
