Seems like KISS frontman Gene Simmons is no fan of reality show competitions where judges coddle contestants rather than being honest.
“You can’t sugarcoat s–t, pardon me. You can mentor anyone you like, but it’s a waste of time if they don’t have the goods intrinsically,” Simmons told The Hollywood Reporter at MIPCOM where he’s launching his new reality format Coliseum from Sierra/Engine Television.
Simmons is putting his own spin on the TV competition show genre by getting tough on contestants. Why? Because the music industry, like life itself, is cutthroat.
“Your qualification for being on this show is you can sing in the shower? Is that it, without paying any dues or writing songs or any stagecraft?” he questioned. Coliseum sees Simmons, who recently entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, challenging contestants to form rock bands with a winning musical voice and performance.
The KISS bassist will motivate evolving acts before they perform in front of an audience. “We want to open the trap doors of life and get tough. There will be heartbreak, and people are going to cry and their dreams will be shattered, just like in real life,” he said.
Simmons understands what leads singing competition show judges to nurture talent, rather than offer harsh and honest evaluations. “TV shows are fantasy because they’re selling soap suds. It’s family entertainment, it’s primetime, the kids are there, and they [broadcasters] don’t want to get too realistic,” he said.
But Coliseum will prize image over voice when judging talent. “We want to create superstars, not just singers that get record deals,” Simmons said. The other twist is that Coliseum will mix and match artists that contend on the show to find the perfect musical act.
source: hollywoodreporter.com
121 Responses
Some people who comment on this site would tell Gene he was wrong if he said the sun would come up in the morning! Gene is absolutely correct in his assessment of the current crop of reality shows that tries to find the next music “superstar”. Simon Cowell was the only one that told these people the truth, and American Idol has SUCKED ever since he left. But, when Gene actually says it, he sucks! Gene has seen it all, lived thru it all, and came out the other end as a SUPERSTAR!! He is a businessman, and knows what it takes to produce a product that folks will pay MONEY for. That is the bottom line. And, by the way, MONSTER totally rocked!
Uhm has he ever produced any band that has sold more than .. 1000 copies? Not really. And to be perfectly honest, I don’t think KISS sells that much merchandise either. Besides, isn’t he contradicting himself a bit? Finding the next Superstar will be impossible, because according to Gene Rock is dead (or the Rock business)……
But hey, Good luck Gene …
Monster is an absolute heap of steaming sh,t. I bought the deluxe version, listened to it in complete disgust, then threw it in the CD collection. I went back, giving it another shot a few weeks later. It is just a terrible album. Anybody that says its good is forcing themselves to believe it. If it didnt say KISS on it, you would have dismissed it immediately. As a fan with every KISS album, it pains me to say it, but that album is just pure crap.
I’m with you on this. When AI lowered the age limit, Simon Cowell was going to look like a bully for being critical of performances of those kids like he had in the past. It was a no win situation, he left and the show has sucked ever since. This may be the first thing to come out of Gene’s mouth in years that I would agree with.
Gene is an idiot that destroyed kiss. He and paul need to retire and kiss needs to stop. Kiss died in 1978 and came back again in 1996 only to die once again in 2002. Nobody takes kiss seriously anymore thanks to gene & pauls money grubbing ways! This band has put out 2 decent albums since love gun! Ace is the only one still putting out good music these days. Get over this cover band nostalgia act kiss zombies! This band has been a joke for years which is sad. Enjoy the horrible reality shows and pauls shreaking voice kiss zombies! You enabled this catastrophe with your blind support of this forparation called kiss! Real kiss fans no longer support this sham band ran by two d-bags!
I would say it ended after Lick it up but Amen to everything else you said !
No, Gene is a genius that created KISS.
Kiss was a creation of four people, none of them could have done it on their own.
“Shrieking” is a very accurate description of Paul’s voice in my opinion. He makes Gene sound good.
Gene actually always sounded good, he failed as a songwriter many times in the 80s and 90s, but his voice has always been much more rock’n roll than Paul’s. At least to my mind …
I’m sure there’s a reason you call yourself the fudge man.
Gotta love the Internet. Everyone’s a critic and we all have opinions. That’s fine, but I’m sure 90% of the people slamming these guys have never been in a band, never recorded a record and never dealt with the industry. So what are we left with. F-in’ opinions. And we all have them, you’re no one special. I love how it seems that people seem to get off ragging on other people. There are so many bands I don’t like, yet I sometimes read the story, learn a little something, yet have no desire to post anything negative about them. I’m sorry….I just don’t get all the negative s–t. It just seems so petty and useless. I do however love when people post wrong titles of songs they supposedly hate. Hammer it home boys…lol.
I think the comments are great, be it good or bad. Some of you guys are pretty funny. Much better than reading business news, global news, general depressing shit… PS, f gene
Well said…it’s a few on this site that think by slamming Gene and Paul they are supporting Eddie Trunk…when in fact, Eddie himself doesn’t seem to like such negative banter. Freakin losers, get a life…
I do recall Gene’s daughter, Sophie, tried out for a reality competition (singing) recently.
While she had a decent voice, I am sure the judges knew who she was and received special treatment.
She did move to the next round….not sure what happened to her after that.
For the record, I love “Love is a Slap in the Face” – its catchy tune.
Yes, you’re right genesraccoonwig (lol), it was for Simon Cowell’s show, The X Factor.
As for her singing, from what I remember, she was mediocre at best, especially when compared to some of the female contestants that have been on America Idol (Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson) or even The Voice.
I agree she got special treatment because of who she was, had that been someone else, Cowell would have ripped her to shreds.
Maybe, Simmons should have a show called “Nepotism: What Really Matters for Successful Careers.” Unfortunately, that is “reality.”
Dana from ET.com 🙂
Well said 🙂
Thank you.
Your name cracks me up everytime-LOL!
D 🙂
Gene’s hair cracks me up all the time.
Already had that one Dana. Rock the Cradle on VH-1 back in 2008. Featured the offspring of Dee Snyder, Joe Walsh, Eddie Money and more.
Thanks Lorne,
I guess, in that case, the nepotism didn’t help? LOL!
D 🙂
Busted Dana…AMERICAN IDOL FAN ARE WE?? Lol
Not at all George 😉 , but I do give that Karaoke show credit for having some contestants that can actually sing and have real talent. Additionally, I readily admitted on this site that I was glad Caleb Johnson won, and that I think he had a great voice.
Take it up with Priest, who was actually on the show, and is my favorite band. If it meant they educated some naive kids to look into their back catalog and download a few of their songs instead of more Taylor Swift or Justin Beiber, than more power to Priest.
D 🙂
I hate all reality shows, especially the karaoke shows like American Idol. My girlfriend watches all of them and it drives me out of the living room, sometimes out of the house. But if Gene does a show like that, he’s such an arrogant bastard who doesn’t give a s—t what people think about him and says whatever he wants without caring what anyone thinks or whether it’s stupid or not that it may be good thing for once. I’d love it if he ripped into someone trying out to be an instant rock star and tells them that they suck and they should give up on music and just get a 9-5 job and then personally kicks them off the show right then and there. I’d love to see him do that just because it would he hilarious. I’d love to see someone sing their heart out on some awful pop song and then watch Gene say something that makes them run off stage crying. That’d teach those little douches. He could get other big mouth smartasses like him to be judges, like Ted Nugent and Sebastian Bach. And it’d serve a double purpose because Sebastian probably could use the work. A show like that would be such a train wreck that it would at least be funny.
You don’t get laid very much do ya ????
Depends what’s on tv and how much fun I make of the shows my girl watches (LOL!!!) If she finds out about this website I’m really “screwed”.