Gene Simmons’ son, Nick Simmons interviewed his father for Esquire Magazine. Portions of the interview appears below.
Nick Simmons: You once said the music business isn’t dying — it’s dead. What would you say to young musicians and songwriters today trying to navigate this new terrain?
Gene Simmons: Don’t quit your day job is a good piece of advice. When I was coming up, it was not an insurmountable mountain. Once you had a record company on your side, they would fund you, and that also meant when you toured they would give you tour support. There was an entire industry to help the next Beatles, Stones, Prince, Hendrix, to prop them up and support them every step of the way. There are still record companies, and it does apply to pop, rap, and country to an extent. But for performers who are also songwriters — the creators — for rock music, for soul, for the blues — it’s finally dead.
Rock is finally dead.
I am so sad that the next 15-year-old kid in a garage someplace in Saint Paul, that plugs into his Marshall and wants to turn it up to ten, will not have anywhere near the same opportunity that I did. He will most likely, no matter what he does, fail miserably. There is no industry for that anymore. And who is the culprit? There’s always the changing tide of interests — music taste changes with each generation. To blame that is silly. That was always the exciting part, after all: “What’s next?” But there’s something else. The death of rock was not a natural death. Rock did not die of old age. It was murdered. And the real culprit is that kid’s 15-year-old next-door neighbor, probably a friend of his. Maybe even one of the bandmates he’s jamming with. The tragedy is that they seem to have no idea that they just killed their own opportunity — they killed the artists they would have loved. Some brilliance, somewhere, was going to be expressed, and now it won’t, because it’s that much harder to earn a living playing and writing songs. No one will pay you to do it.
The masses do not recognize file-sharing and downloading as stealing because there’s a copy left behind for you — it’s not that copy that’s the problem, it’s the other one that someone received but didn’t pay for. The problem is that nobody will pay you for the 10,000 hours you put in to create what you created. I can only imagine the frustration of all that work, and having no one value it enough to pay you for it.
It’s very sad for new bands. My heart goes out to them. They just don’t have a chance. If you play guitar, it’s almost impossible. You’re better off not even learning how to play guitar or write songs, and just singing in the shower and auditioning for The X Factor. And I’m not slamming The X Factor, or pop singers. But where’s the next Bob Dylan? Where’s the next Beatles? Where are the songwriters? Where are the creators? Many of them now have to work behind the scenes, to prop up pop acts and write their stuff for them.
Here’s a frightening thought: from 1958 to 1983, name 100 musical anythings that are iconic, that seem to last beyond their time.
NS: [How] does this bode for the industry of the future?
GS: There is no record industry, unfortunately. Not like there was. There are some terrific bands out there — Tame Impala, which you turned me on to, and so on. And during the ’60s and ’70s they would’ve become big, I’m convinced.
But, strangely, today, everything pales before Psy’s Gangnam Style. Look up the numbers on that song. He blows everyone else out of the water.
Read more at Esquire.
source: esquire.com
186 Responses
The political mothers didn’t help the cause for rock music ask Tipper Gore. They tried blameing heavy metal songs for kids killing themselves. Then culture pushed hip hop upon us. When deaths happened because of rap lyrics rap music didnt get banned. The populairity of heavy metal and hard rock hasn’t recovered since the grunge movement.
Its not our fault VH1 Classic keeps That Metal show on long hiatus. Guess the idiots only care about some basketball wives reality shows etc.
Lars was right all along and he had to eat a s–t cake for it! I saw it and backed him from the first time Napster left his mouth. Gene’s been out of his mind recently but he’s, sadly, spot on here. The truth hurts. All I can do is my part. I buy my music, with money, seek out new bands and try to support them where I can. A reminder of how important Eddie Trunk is to our cause. WE are the only ones that can keep Metal alive.
Wow gene actually says something right for once! There’s a shock! The death of rock is a giant conspiracy if you ask me. The industry wants kids to listen to trash which in turn pollutes their minds with garbage. Bottom line is, it’s all about the money and always has been! Materialism goes hand in hand with music these days………. Without that kind of music/materialism, certain people don’t make money. Rock is no longer a force in fashion or materialistic life. Money can not be made from it. Only the trash music on the radio today.
That and the music industry as a whole is collapsing. Say goodbye to rock because it’s dead. Lots of great bands out there not getting enough exposure. Really sad!