KISS frontman Gene Simmons spoke with Us Weekly and blamed the decline of the music business on the consumers.
Simmons said (via blabbermouth.net), “”By and large, new artists will never have the chance that we got, because record companies would give us millions of dollars — once we got successful — as an advance, non-recoupable, with a royalty system and all that. And so we didn’t have to work day jobs. Now if you’re a new band, you can’t make a living because all the freckle-faced college kids — who, by the way, hate me — because what I’m saying is it’s robbery. You’re robbing by downloading and filesharing that music. It doesn’t affect me; our band came before, when it was a real business. But the new artists, you’re breaking my heart. It’s like new babies being born without being able to have food. You’re taking food from their mouths so they have to go work for a living and not have enough time for their art.”
Who killed the music business? The fans did,” he continued. “Not a foreign power, not aliens; the fans killed it. And who do I blame? The record companies for not suing that first putz who dared break into the henhouse and steal some eggs and a chicken for free. As soon as you let that first fox into that henhouse to take some eggs without paying for it, the rest of the foxes come along. Likewise, cockroaches — you allow one into the kitchen, you squash that first one, the rest of ’em are gonna go, ‘Uh-oh, we’ve gotta watch out.’
So, Pandora’s box has been opened. There are hundreds of millions of fans around the world that are trained [in their minds] not to pay for music. So what does that do for new bands? It kills them. When you take away the value of something, it becomes by definition worthless.
Imagine being a farmer, and you sell eggs and chickens — that’s what you do. And that first little cute fox comes in and steals an egg. And the farmer is gonna try to shoot the fox, ’cause, ‘Hey, you’re stealing my living.’ And the wife says, ‘Don’t [shoot the fox]. It’s so cute.’ That cute little fox takes the egg back to where all the foxes are: ‘Hey, we’ve got a sucker over here. Let’s go get some chickens and eggs.’ Before you know it, there are no chickens; no eggs’ the farmer’s out of business; the trucks that drove the farmer’s stuff to market are out of business ’cause they don’t have stuff; the supermarkets that sold the stuff are out of business. Everybody’s out of business because that first putz, that first little hole in the Titanic sank the whole ship.”
24 Responses
I’m listening to the album now.Just got it today through Amazon. First new album that I bought, that was not at my old record store which close down end July.
I will give my thoughts later, but just here to say, that in the 80s if you asked me who my favorite band was, it was Kiss. From their 70s stuff thru the 80s and into the 90s and reunion Maiden, and Priest, were close seconds. I was thrilled when they made Psycho Circus. Then, they replaced original members, and continued on making only few albums, but only playing the old makeup era, with no new albums, and just playing what they think people want to hear. That’s when my favorite band became Maiden, with hairline distance to second, Priest, because they made new music and they never gave up on creating new music.
So, if it’s progy, well at least it’s new and not some attempt to say “rock is dead” and not make new music.
Before my CD copy came I listened on Amazon music, but I’m not judging until I listen to it properly on CD, with decent headphones. Three songs in, and I like it, so far the packaging is good, and the artwork is amazing. Also, this is my favorite album cover so far, next to “Piece Of Mind.” Kiss’ “Destroyer” and the first Black Sabbath album.
All I can say is that I love Maiden, and I respect their decision to broaden their horizons, it is still metal to me. It still sounds like Maiden, just like “Firepower” sounds like Priest. If we expect live in the past, then rock will die. So, up the Iorns! Hail to the Metal God (Halford), as my daughter Kate would say, with Devil horns. Metal Rules!
Hi Charles,
Thank you for your feedback. I asked Lucas, my 19 year old German pal from Patreon if I could copy and paste bis thoughts, and he gave the green light, so here they are:
“Hi I heard the whole Album now and well, obviously it’s not like the worst album in human history and it definitely has some good moments, but I personally just don’t like it overall. It feels just so recycled and typical 2000s maiden to me… Some melodies and Rythms are so damn stereotype Iron Maiden that it becomes almost comedic ^^ just my opinion
Let’s do an Iron Maiden ranking the albums!
1. Killers
2. Iron Maiden
3. Piece Of Mind
4. Number The The Beast
5. Powerslave
6. Somewhere In Time
7. SSoaSS
8. No Prayer For The Dying
9. Fear Of The Dark
10. Dance Of Death
11. Brave New World
12 The X Factor
13. Virtual XI
14. A Matter Of Life And Death
15. The Final Frontier
16. Book Of Souls
17. Senjutsu
Lol I did not expect that outcome
Let’s do the same for Priest
(0. Unleashed in The East)
1. Sin After Sin
2. Sad Wings Of Destiny
3. Stained Class
4. Rocka Rolla
5. Killing Machine
6. Point Of Entry (contrarian opinion)
7. Screaming For Venegance
8. Defenders Of The Faith
9. British Steel
10. Painkiller
11. Firepower
12 Redeemer Of Souls
13. Angel Of Retribution
14 Turbo
15. Nostradamus”
So, interesting to read the perspective from someone DECADES younger.
I listened to the new Maiden last night. I need to give it a few more listens before rendering a more in-depth opinion. From what I’ve heard so far, there’s a couple new twists in a few songs. But overall it’s prog and kind of sounds like the same stuff rehashed since Brave New World. Gotta say after the first listen I’m a tad disappointed. But my opinion may change.