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
Please stop posting KISS related info unless it is relative to music,you are steadily cheapening this website and all things good about Eddie.
I wish there was a way to inject this guy with the gene of addiction that has been proven to be present in family lineage. I love how people who don’t have it think it’s so easy to just say no. It is a lifelong fight. His kids must be scared shit to ever f up. They probably never will, but I’d love for him to speak like this to his own son if he ever did. I used to idolize this guy. Now he just seems like a self centered, callous old man. Yes, his mother survived a concentration camp. Then managed to come to America and do well for herself obviously WITHOUT the burden of addiction. Then YOU Gene made her life even better. Of course she loves life. I really don’t get the analogy. But it seems in Genes world everything should be compared to his life in some way. Damn, I’m glad I liked ACE more.
He just makes it harder and harder to enjoy even the classic Kiss. Cheers Gene, you’re an ass.
Gene is a f#cking ignorant scumbag! This a$$hat has no idea what depression and substance abuse really is! It’s a disease! Instead this old fake wanna be Donald trump thinks it’s the 1920s and ignores studies done on these issues for years! This mentality is disastrous and makes this issue WORSE! And what’s with this losers obsession with lady gaga? She sucks and is unoriginal! Sometimes I think that darth vader helmet on his head somehow limits his brain function.
Nobody ever wants to die. I’ve suffered from clinical depression since i was 15, I’m 45 now. Depression makes you feel the NEED to die. Like everyone who knows you will be better off, not just without you, but with you dead. If you let depression get ahold of you, it will convince you of this. The problem is a lot of people don’t realize what they’re suffering from. If you break your leg, the pain will tell your brain something is wrong. But what if your mind is damaged? What tells it? People need support and help, not to be told “Go ahead and die.” Only by God’s grace, love and mercy am I still here.
God bless you Robert,
I wish modern medicine could find better solutions. The brain is such a complex organ. I know in my loved ones case, he sustained a horrible concussion after being hit by a car as a teenager. He told me he never felt the same after that accident. I have no doubt that, in his particular case, that this correlated to his depression. I am convinced that he sustained a brain injury from that collision.
D 🙂
This happened to a friend of mine a few weeks ago. He fell and got a concussion…then slipped into a depression. They wanted him to take medication to help with the depression but he didn’t want to take anything. Now…he is gone. They are going to have his brain examined to see if they can find a link with the concussion…whatever the cause, if it wasn’t for the depression he would still be here.
Michael
Michael,
Thank you for sharing that and I am incredibly sorry for your loss. Obviously, I can relate to what you are going through.
I begged the person I loved to get a brain scan as well. He refused. However, he did take medication briefly, but the side effects only made the symptoms worse. I wish they were able to study his brain as well. I am convinced that in some cases of depression and suicide, brain trauma was involved at some point in the person’s life.
D 🙂
I hear you Robert. I’ll be 45 next month and have suffered from major depression and suicidal ideation for over 30 years. I think about killing myself every single day! People with a mindset like Gene’s have no way to relate to people like us and their lack of empathy is evident.
One time I was driving down Hollywood Blvd. and saw a big commotion going on down the street. I got out of my car and saw that a homeless man had climbed up a billboard sign and was threatening to jump. Many people in the crowd were laughing at him and yelling, “Jump!” I could not believe it! No one cared who this homeless person was or what his issues were, they just wanted to see blood! I was further horrified watching a boy who couldn’t have been more than 4 or 5 years old jumping up and down and yelling, “Jump,” at the top of his lungs! His family members were right there with him giving him full approval. It was so sad to see.
“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.