Annie Reuter of Radio.com reports:
Gene Simmons of KISS has some heated words for drug addicts and people dealing with depression in a new interview with Songfacts.com.
When asked if he keeps in touch with the original players of KISS he answered with a resounding “no.”
Why’s that? Simple: they’re either drug addicts or just downers.
“I don’t get along with anybody who’s a drug addict and has a dark cloud over their head and sees themselves as a victim,” Simmons said. “Drug addicts and alcoholics are always: ‘The world is a harsh place.’ My mother was in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany. I don’t want to hear f–k all about ‘the world as a harsh place.’ She gets up every day, smells the roses and loves life.
And for a putz, 20-year-old kid to say, ‘I’m depressed, I live in Seattle.’ F–k you, then kill yourself.”
He added “I never understand, because I always call them on their bluff. I’m the guy who says ‘Jump!’ when there’s a guy on top of a building who says, ‘That’s it, I can’t take it anymore, I’m going to jump.’ Are you kidding? Why are you announcing it? Shut the f–k up, have some dignity and jump! You’ve got the crowd.”
While Simmons said KISS has new songs ready, there are no plans to record anytime soon. But, there is one artist he’d love to record with in the future: Lady Gaga.
“I think Lady Gaga is the only new rock star, although she’s not a rocker,” he said. “I would like her to throw away all the disco stuff and get a band. Don’t use tapes, come out with a real live band and guitars. She’s a bona fide musical artist. She did a duet with Tony Bennett, real great pipes. She can sit at a piano all by herself. She’s a legitimate artist. A lot of the other pop divas who are really talented are not artists.”
Simmons said KISS and Gaga tried to collaborate on their last record but both were too busy.
“We got close. She got busy, we got busy. We would have done it.”
additional source: radio.com
245 Responses
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I am stunned by anyone defending Gene’s comments. I know nothing of drug abuse but I lived through a clinical depressive episode for almost a year. What caused it I will never know as I am happily married with 3 children and financial stability. I do know that it was the worst thing I have EVER experienced and wanted to die Thankfully I received excellent treatment at the hands of someone that didn’t tell me to just “jump”.Unless you have had depression you will have NO IDEA how terrible it is.People commit suicide because they can’t deal with the pain of living. Anyone who doesn’t have sympathy for this is a pathetic excuse for a human.
That’s it have a psych degree depression is chemical imbalance that the person can’t controll. Gene is a stupid piece of s##t here’s my kiss army card I’m done with em I could care less about a new album or kiss going on forever with different people. Kiss my a## I’ ll just get Ace’s new album.
Ditto
sent this to genesimmons.com
Dear Gene,
Please clarify your position on those of us who are depressed, or more accurately, being treated for clinical depression.
I doubt you even know what it’s like to be Clinically Depressed. It is a legitimate condition – I know, because *I have it*.
Should I take your advice and jump off a ledge? Should I shoot myself? Let me tell you a little bit of what this condition put me through before I finally got the strength to get help:
I have been living with and receiving ongoing treatment for Clinical Depression since 2008 when I finally snapped from the pressure of trying to “keep it together” while the world around me got more and more difficult to cope with. I had had it for *years* before I was finally diagnosed with it and I was only diagnosed with it because I finally hit rock bottom. Depression is a wicked thing that only others who have dealt with it can understand. Depression isn’t a lifestyle choice like being an asshole is.
“Depression makes you feel the NEED to die”
That is *exactly* the feeling I wrestled with for *years*. I even felt the The Universe was punishing me for being born. I wanted to die, not because I didn’t want to deal with life anymore, but because I was *positive* that my death would bring about all manner of changes for the better for everyone I loved that would be left behind. I never attempted suicide; If I was going to die it was going to be by doing something noble, like saving someone else from a fire, an angry bear – anything. And those opportunities never arose and so I kept living and waiting and suffering while that opportunity to check out with dignity and the knowledge that I helped save a life eluded me. And I waited and suffered and hated myself more and more. I actually called 9-1-1 on myself hoping that they would stick a needle in my butt, toss me in a padded room with nice cozy wrap-around pajamas and forget about me while I lived the rest of my life in a medicated fog. Instead
I was interviewed, given a prescription for Prozac and referred to a Psychiatrist and a Psychologist for therapy…. I had to walk home on top of it…so much for my master plan of living in the sanitarium!
I learned what my triggers were, I learned how to detect when a trigger was tripped by how I felt and how to ride out the wave, or redirect the energy somewhere else. There are so many people who have not had been fortunate enough to be in a position where they are diagnosed and given the tools they need to recognize and cope with the issues, and they turn to the the things that shut that chaos out (drugs, booze,sex, money-making) and help them feel better about themselves. I am very lucky.
Depression isn’t just “I feel terrible and I want to die”.
It’s also ” I feel awful and in pain and I think I’m going to find some selfish abusive asshole to share this pain with and show them what helpless and scared truly is” I know there were times if I had been properly motivated, there would be people lying in bloody heaps in my wake if Depression Rage had kicked in…but luckily, most of my episodes were retreat and hide with my self-loathing.
And all of this was and is due to a chemical imbalance in my brain exacerbated by outside stimulus.
I am very glad that you Mother survived the concentration camps and has shown an upbeat and uplifting sense of vitality in spite of the horrors she saw.
It’s not for you to brag about it though, or wave it in the face of others – especially those who are suffering from Mental Illness!
I don’t feel motivated by your “My Mom survived The Holocaust, what have *you* done lately!?” line of thought I feel sick that you can use the suffering of millions to promote your attitude.
How many people who survived The Holocaust ended up committing suicide?
According to this article, survivors are 3 times as likely to attempt suicide! here’s a direct quote from the article; “We’ve learned that religious people in Auschwitz and other camps made formal applications to rabbis in the camps seeking permission to commit suicide.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/study-holocaust-survivors-3-times-more-likely-to-attempt-suicide-1.166386
There’s only two things you are good at Mr Simmons; 1) Playing in a band 2) Making money. I suggest you stick to those two since you are coming perilously close to losing a whole lot of fans who struggle with Depression and who also have spent money they really couldn’t spare buying your CD’s and merchandise (and concert tickets) because they believed in the magic! The magic you seem very intent on killing!.
Good Luck!
Patrick
Great letter Patrick. Very well put together and very thoughtful. I think the Demon will see things your way. Keep fighting the battle.
The article concerning holocaust survivors committing suicide actually bolsters Gene’s statement. His defiance has even more credibility. But goodness Patrick you make a loose interpretation of Gene’s statement, as do alot of you, and your very vivid thoughts of hurting others, and it’s this aimless aggression, you don’t even have a specific target, just some random “selfish abusive a-hole, ” is kind of alarming. Or is it Gene? And you sent this to him? He’s probably in his back yard with his shot gun right now. Patrick actually lays out the pathological human condition that our culture breeds now pretty nicely. I understand how you got there Patrick, and it isn’t your fault, but life isn’t bad, it’s good. Just walk outside and feel the air hit you in the face, really experience that…..that’s what life really is, it isn’t all this other shit. It isn’t, as Sartre said, “Hell is other people.” It’s only when others throw their two bits in that life sucks, but life itself, is not the problem.
I find your “loose interpretation” remark hilarious, since Gene, himself likes to interpret things loosely and then turn around and claim those things to be written in stone as The Law of Gene.
You know nothing about Clinical Depression,clown. Let’s hope you never find out. You wouldn’t be going on and on about pathological human condition bred by culture blah-blah-blah if the Depression Monster had ever visited you. And there’s only one way to truly understand it, and that’s to have it.
Patrick,
I commend you for being so brutally honest, and putting yourself in such a vulnerable, by sharing your experiences. I wish you nothing but health and happiness going forward.
All my best,
Dana from ET.com 🙂
Patrick, I understand that when you are depressed the world gets very confining, and when things are going good, the world is wide open. Believe it or not, you aren’t the only one dealing with life. This world chews people up and spits them out, so yes, it breeds pathology. I deal with depression differently than you, and I would even suggest that your severe depression is a side effect of some great thinking that is inside you.
…and what does Gene’s interpretations have to do with yours?
Patrick, forgive me, but you did post that, so all I am saying is that the world is messed up, and you have an adverse reaction, so, then, perhaps it is you that is normal and not these people that take to it like a fish to water?
why isn’t Bozo at the circus instead of showing support to this creep in which we need less of? I hate to think Gene can be anybody to be looked up to now. He should be ashamed
You have not a single clue about that which you speak, clown.
Let it go.
This is my last post on the matter.
DR….did Ace and Peter go to your house and take a dump on your front lawn? : )
C’mon Clown. I think you’re smarter than that to go there.
I know. I think I’ll go listen to my Survivor records. Jimi Jamison, Jim Peterik, …these guys freaking rule.
Actually, he’s not. He pretends to be.
Well said Patrick
Hats off and a salute to Patrick very well put and yes I am now done with being a fan of this jerk.
I saw Lady GaGa last night…she’s the real deal in any format of music. Hey Charlie put Monster on then Ace’s latest….you’ll be depressed.
May be I’ll just listen to the new overkill album caus I gotta reason to live