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
Clear Channel Radio, or regular radio has become boring and no one plays good new rock n roll anymore…..Only in the good ol USA , rock , by most people is dead, but its all b.s…. everywhere else except the Usa, are still die hard metal heads. you have bands like, iron maiden, dragonforce, deep purple, malmsteen, guns, arctic monkeys,dream theater, all these bands and artist are selling out or playing to thousands and thousands of people every where in the world.. .. no rock is not dead, regular fm radio has died, but the music keeps going and going…
Our world would be in DESPAIR If we would live our lives according to gene what a CLOWN
People are forgetting a few things. It’s not just “file sharing” (which isn’t really done as much on the level it was at the heights of Napster and TPB), but all the other forms of entertainment that people partake in that make NOT want to even leave their house.
Big screen HD tv’s, HiDef content, home theater systems, THE INTERNET, computers, phones, the gobs of concert footage available on the interwebz, iPads, etc… Many people have no desire to even go to rock shows anymore. That’s where good bands are birthed, not on a laptop, but in someones garage, then at some local gig, then some bigger gigs. That’s what’s missing. There’s no development. You have to be a damn superstar right out of the gate.
All the American Idol realty like tv only make it worse. Pop music, and Pop country music is crammed down our throats. Where are bands? I’m sure there’s some out there, but where’s the next RS, Zep, Kiss, Van Halen, Metallica…heck, I’ll even throw in Pearl Jam, STP and Alice in Chains.
It’s just so disappointing.
Thank goodness for That Metal Show and Eddie Trunk.
Since I don’t have much time to listen to podcasts, it would be cool to have a “new artist” section on your website where you picked a new band now and then to promote.
Rock is not dead…There are some really great bands out their.. Ex..Shinedown,Rival sons,wolfmother.
How are those bands doing ?
Actually todd rival sons are making new music like mad men and sell out most of their shows.
IMHO “rock” has been silent, not dead, but silent for quite awhile. even the last two Kiss cd’s sales haven’t been great sellers. And if you really want to dig deeper Ace’s Space Invader is really a huge success by today’s standards for just 1 person, Ace himself basically doing this cd by himself. Another note is that all of these cd’s including a Sonic Boom, Anomaly, Monster, Space Invader and many more can basically be listened to on YouTube. Why buy these albums when they are basically FREE to listen to on the Internet. Now the real way to say “rock is finally dead” is by concert ticket sales. Kid Rock played Syracuse a few weeks ago….over 18,000 actual PAID ticket sales….no co-headliner. And I will stop there because the Kiss/Def Leppard ticket sales are very iffy in regards to actual ticket sales & the thousand of give always…aka Darien Lake, NY……and many many more.
About a thousand tickets are given away for every show, Groupon tickets are available for every single show, Live Nation had every single show at every single shed on sale the first week of July for $20 Lawn seats. once again , KISS have a very successful tour and those that their continued success bothers make up their own facts on the internet.
I agree Todd. Thanks.
Hahahahahahahahahaha!!! Did you REALLY just post that?? Embarrassing…