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Opinion on Gene Simmons

Opinion on Gene Simmons

  • He's Awesome

    Votes: 41 8.4%

  • He's Ok

    Votes: 182 37.1%

  • He's Absolutely Horrible

    Votes: 191 38.9%

  • No Opinion

    Votes: 77 15.7%
  • Total voters
    491
  • Poll closed .
#61
Ric5 said:
Gene simmons is a circus performer ... an actor ... Kiss puts on a blood spitting fire breathing show in full costume ... the music is completely secondary to the show ...

If KISS tried to make it on the music alone they probably would have failed.

Gene is not in any right an impressive bass player.
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Who gives a crap?
 
#64
His playing fits his songs. But I don't think he's a very GOOD bass player. For him to pretend to do a bass solo (see ) is just unnecessary. He knows he isn't great, he's said it before, so why act like it on stage like this?
And his tone is bad too IMO.

I can say his singing works, no complaints there.

His show is amusing.

As for his personality...
 
#65
JimmyM said:
There's a reason why producers like Bob Ezrin and Eddie Kramer wanted to work with KISS...yeah, the money was good, but those guys had plenty of money and didn't need to work with what was considered a joke band.
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Good point. It should be noted Eddie produced Kiss' first demo in 1973. Eddie wanted to produce their first album in 1974. So here's the guy who was one of the driving forces behind Hendrix, yet he wants to work with a simpleton unknown band like Kiss. Obviously Eddie knew something as there was little money in it for Eddie at the time.
 
#67
DavePlaysBass said:
I grew up listening to Kiss. Years after getting my first Kiss album (1978), I started playing bass (1984). I quickly realized that Kiss songs were a hell of lot more interesting on the bass than Van Halen or AC DC. His parts fit the songs and were at times interesting (Cold Gin, Detroit Rock City). I don't get why there seems to be a lot of resentment towards him. Maybe the success?
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I don't like Gene Simmons. I think that he plays up that he's a pretty pathetic excuse for a human being. For the same reason there's "heels" in pro-wrestling.

I do, however, think Gene was/is a fine bass player. He had all kinds of cool lines, his lines worked well in context with the songs, and he was/is able to sing in conjunction with playing and playing in that ridiculous costume.

Why all the resentment? I think there's an element of people that need to be "serious" about their approach to the instrument. That music is somehow "serious business." A lot of music critics piled on the Stones for saying "it's only rock 'n roll" and missed the "but I like it." Gene is a clown- for everything about his appearance (which was damn cool to a 3rd grader like me in 1977), his public attitude towards women, his blatantly "excessively rich guy" image and his constant marketing of the KISS image. People that are "serious" shouldn't be displaying that- and if you do you can't be "serious."

My favorite bass player is McCartney. One of my favorite bass lines is "Silly Love Songs." One day I was listening to KISS' "Strutter," and I noticed a similarity in the pattern and function of the bass line in "Strutter" and "SLS." I thought it's a nice homage to steal something from one of McCartney's most recognized bass lines. Until I realized that "Strutter" came out two years before "SLS." What if it were the case that McCartney found inspiration in the "Strutter" bass line? Whoa.

As it sits- Gene could be the most amazing bass player in the universe- he could display all kinds of technical and tactical proficiency, pull off the most amazing fretboard magic that has ever been witnessed, write the incontrovertibly "best" songs in the history of music- and because of who he is, what he looks like and the crap that comes out of his mouth- there'll be legions of people saying "meh" about him.
 
#68
I never thought too highly of him as a bassist, but he IS a marketing genius.

He also sat in with us at our Halloween gig. :eek:

DSCN0109.jpg
 
#69
The entertainment company I worked for had us study Kiss as a marketing company.

We basically were thrown into "boot camp" watching this stuff until we got to the point where we realized that playing like Jaco didn't sell as well as looking up, smiling.. acknowledging the crowd etc.

I've never paid attention to him playing bass..

Masterful work turning Japaneese cartoon characters into millions.
 
#71
Kiss songs were the first songs I learned on both guitar and bass. Feel like they were my first teachers so I have a lot of respect for how they influenced me as a kid. I actually liked the basslines in Kiss songs too, thought they had a lot of simplicity and character - almost like a heavier Paul McArtney kind of thing. I was disappointed however when word started getting out about other people being hired to record his parts. Made me qustion how much he actually did, and more importantly to me, how much he actually wrote.

I don't youtube surf all that often, but I was watching some cool bass stuff last night and it was incredibly amusing after watching some really impressive and musical solos to come across this. I wasn't sure if it was one of those overdubbed shredder solos or if it were for real. :) :) Enjoy:

 
#72
JimmyM said:
There's a reason why producers like Bob Ezrin and Eddie Kramer wanted to work with KISS...yeah, the money was good, but those guys had plenty of money and didn't need to work with what was considered a joke band.
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From Mix Magazine ("Eddie Kramer Never Stops". Oct 1, 2003 12:00 PM, By Blair Jackson)

I remember going in the studio and cutting their demo: a 4-track at Electric Lady. I still have the original quarter-inch. They went off and did their touring and got their record deal. I didn't actually do an album with them until the live album [Kiss Alive]. When I got the phone call from Neil Bogart, who was the head of Casablanca, asking if I wanted to do the live record with Kiss, I had a tape on my desk from Tom Scholz and Boston and I listened to it, and I thought it was tremendous. I called Tom back and I said, “Tom, this record is great, man, put it out the way it is. I can't add anything to it.” So I did the Kiss record. I wanted the challenge of working with a band that was leaping around, bombs exploding. How do you make that sound good? They're out of tune, they're out of time…
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Anyway, I was the biggest Kiss fan in my town when I was a teenager. I grew up watching their Budokan concert from the "Rock & Roll Over" tour countless times and really felt a true devotion for those guys. I hated them when they decided to adopt that glam image after taking the makeup off, but anyway I'm still a loyal buyer of all their audio releases (with the exception of unnecessary compilations). Gene Simmons isn't a virtuoso bassist, but he created really cool songs with really cool basslines and sang them as well! Just watch this (Before it's taken down for copyright infringement). I think it's proof enough that Gene is a competent musician (Add the fact that it's his own composition).

On a side note, I think the big screw-up by Gene in this video is extremely funny. :D (It's not just about forgetting the lyrics. You must know the classic Kiss repertoire to get it)
 
#74
I think it depends on the music you are into. As a jazz fan you propably won't be interested in a cool show, music is all that counts. The 70s and 80s were absolutely about show concerning rock music. So Gene is a "child" of that spirit. Today you could not start a carrere that big like Kiss with another mask. Many tried, only a few (f.e. Manson) did. But also he will never be as big as Kiss.
I grew up listening to Rock and Metal. I started to play bass and discovered quickly that there is more than a Kiss song. But that doesn't mean (to me) that a good old Kiss song wouldn't be magic!
Today I don't listen to new rock music in special and even love some good jazz. But watching Miller f.e. for me is boring. He is a cool player but I miss the show. Going to a concert spending lots of money for a ticket means that I want to SEE something! But again this might be because of the world that you are / were into. Lots of good players can't show up, they look so boring on stage and so is the band's show. I personally like a good show better than looking on the band like in an opera.
And I hate a band were I can say..: oh no, another jazzbass player! Rock n Roll! :-)

p.s.: sorry for my crap english, at least I tried! ;-)
 

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