Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider has responded to KISS bassist Gene Simmons claim that rock is dead.
Snider writes via his Facebook:
Recently, my esteemed colleague, Gene Simmons of Kiss declared that “Rock ‘n’ Roll is finally dead.” Really?
While I have nothing but respect for Gene, he couldn’t be further off the mark. Yes, the rock ‘n’ roll “business model” that helped KISS (and my band for that matter) achieve fame and fortune is most certainly long dead and buried, but rock ‘n’ roll is alive and well and thriving on social media, in the streets, and in clubs and concert halls all over the world. And the bands playing it are more genuine and heartfelt than ever because they are in it for one reason: the love of rock ‘n’ roll.
Spend some time seeing and listening to these incredible young bands and their rabid fans and you will know that rock ‘n’ roll couldn’t be more alive. Yes, it’s not the same as it was for the first 50 years of rock’s existence, but the fire definitely still burns.
And it wasn’t some 15 year old kid in Saint Paul, Minnesota (to paraphrase Mr. Simmons) who killed the rock ‘n’ roll goose that laid the platinum egg…it was greedy, big city, record company moguls who made their own velvet noose to hang themselves with. It was they who took advantage of the consumer (and the artist for that matter) and drove them to use an alternative source of music presented to them.
For example, take the bill of goods the record industry sold the mainstream public when introducing the CD format. “We have to charge more for it, because it’s a new technology and there’s a cost to setting up the infrastructure to produce them.” The consumer believed them–it made sense–so they paid a $18.98 list price for a product they had been paying $7.99 list for previously. After all “you can’t break a CD with a hammer!” (Remember that?)
But when the infrastructure was in place and paid for in full, and the cost of producing a CD dropped to less than a dollar, did the record companies roll back the list price in kind? Not on your life. They weren’t about to do the right thing and cut their increased revenue stream. Those fat cats were enjoying their ill-gotten gains way too much.
So when the general public finally realized they were being had, and the opportunity arose for them to stick it to the man, what did they do? The same thing their Woodstock Nation, baby boomer parents had done when they had their chance…they stuck it and they stuck it good. Does anyone remember Abbey Hoffman’s “Steal this Book”, the massive selling, early 70’s hippy guide “focused on ways to fight the government, and against corporations in any way possible.” Multiply that by a googolplex.
Is it hard to make it rock ‘n’ roll? You bet. Always was, always will be. Will rockers make as much money as they did “back in the day”? Probably not. But that won’t stop them, and they’ll be motivated by a much more genuine love of the art, and great rock will continue to be produced, played and embraced by rock fans.
So in conclusion: Record company executives killed the old rock ‘n’ roll business model…and Rock ‘n’ Roll Ain’t Dead!
Dee Snider/ September 10th, 2014
43 Responses
As an old record store guy who was around when CDs were introduced, all I can say is Dee is so, so right. He could also have mentioned that the record companies paid half royalties to artists on CDs for years, claiming it was “experimental technology.” The labels pocketed the difference, of course.
I agree with Dee and hate Gene. If anything he so commercialized music that killed it in itself. He has his millions what does he care now he is in the 1% as he stated earlier. I wish someone would shut genes trap
Sorry Dee, Gene’s right. It’s dead. And it’s NEVER coming back to the degree of life it had in the 70s, 80’s. The answer’s simple and primarily political – it’s decline is parallel with the increasingly left-wing, near-socialist regime this country’s been going towards in the last 20 years.
Metal just isn’t cool anymore. It’s a joke. Metalheads are a joke. What I mean is: that’s how our society/culture sees it. It’s not actually true. I believe metal music and metal musicians are actually more sophisticated than pretty much everything else out there.
The problem is, metal music and it’s musicians is (barring some exceptions , of course) pretty much a WHITE MALE CONSERVATIVE thing through its lifespan.
There’s no way today’s society and culture will EVER give it its due. That’s why electronic, pop, and R & B artists dominate the charts instead of Rock.
Since when did metalheads ever care about what mainstream society and culture think we are a culture on our own sorry I agree with Dee.
Good point, but please understand that the mainstream is an accurate reflection on the thoughts and attitudes of young people today…and where they are headed. Rock lived because there was at least some reflection of it in the mainstream years ago…Now good luck if you hear a single guitar in ANY pop song.
Metal right-wing/ conservative, pop/mainstream left-wing? I always thought it was the other way around.
it used to be, back in the PMRC days, when Metal actually sold to the masses/mainstream.
Now, in this day and age, it’s actually reversed. At least that’s how I see it.
Bill you sound paranoid.
Paranoid? You mean ACCURATE. This is not so much a record company thing as it is a socio/political thing.
Is music not a reflection of the world we live in today, thoughts, attitudes, etc……thats what Bill and I are stating.
Bill – YOU ARE SPOT ON. You basically “mirror” my thoughts I left on the original Gene Simmons article.
Socio/politically we have changed as a nation in the last 15, 20, 25 years when rock last ruled the mainstream (my personal opinion on that aside – you can prob figure it out any way).. and those public attitudes were a natural rebellious spirit that we (most shockingly, the youth of America) DO NOT have as we did all those years before.
I love DEE & TS but what BILL AND I are stating is the SOLE reason that helps the “ROCK IS DEAD” theory…when our youth would rather resort to songs like “HAPPY” by Pharell Williams at a time when the WORLD IS WORSE THAN IT WAS IN THE LAST 30 YEARS….DON’T EXPECT ANOTHER “APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION” , ED.
Hey Dee, even U2 threw in the towel for their release coming down free…yes the record industry is on life support. $6 for the Sister’s ’84 LP on vinyl ’84…..anybody new release at Best Buy in ’14: $10. Wage has gone up. It sucked back then to buy. Look at a “new” band Alter Bridge with millionaires at each member…..they can tour for fun, the average new Joe Blow group is fighting worse than ever even with Facebook exposure instead of early 80’s 45rpm single or LP shipped to those in power or sold at a club.California Breed has to OPEN for Miles Kennedy n Creedy guys. Talk about hard for anybody. House Of Blues Sunset was a joke the last 5 years, no wonder they took the loot and imploded. Dee’s book is right up there with Tommy James’ and P.F. Sloan’s fer industry screw jobs, glad he spilled the beans. Every month I see some no-name group released on Columbia or Epic or Casablanca from ’78-’83 and wonder why the Sister, the tri-state area number one band had no deal.
Apple most probably paid (!!) U2 major dollar (7 digit at least I believe) to be able to advertise their own products and get people to buy from itunes, so no throwing in towels here at all, U2 as well as Apple will profit a lot from this new form of marketing.
I never, in my entire life, paid $19 for a CD, ever. The most expensive places were always the mall outlets, like Musicland or Sam Goody, but nobody in their right mind bought CD’s there anyways.
I don’t think $15 is much to spend for a CD with artwork, and I don’t understand the belief that CD’s were too expensive. I still play CD’s I bought 20 years ago. That’s a $15 well spent, in my book.
And Dee is wrong. CD sales didn’t plummet because, all of a sudden, Ricky and Suzy America realized they were “getting ripped off”, which they weren’t. There was no widespread altruistic belief that the masses were rising up to “stick it to the man”, or whatever. What a load of BS. File sharing allowed people to get thousands of music tracks for free. You know what the central belief to most of those people were? Free shit is good, and most young people/college students are poor, so Yay! That’s it.
Once the cat was out of the bag, Mp3 players became ubiquitous, CD sales dove because they weren’t cool anymore, and one could either download a bunch of free tracks from Napster, Limewire, Pirate Bay, and/or copy from friends.
I’ve had this argument before. I used to sit by my tape player and record songs off the radio on that one night a week the radio station would play rock/,metal. It’s where I first heard Metallica, circa 1985. The DJ would talk over the end and beginning of every damn song, and depending on the quality of the cassette, quality was crap. I still have a couple of those tapes. That’s a lot different than thousands of exact digital duplicates bouncing around the internet.
“But when the infrastructure was in place and paid for in full, and the cost of producing a CD dropped to less than a dollar, did the record companies roll back the list price in kind? Not on your life. They weren’t about to do the right thing and cut their increased revenue stream. Those fat cats were enjoying their ill-gotten gains way too much.”
Does Dee not know how capitalism and economics work? So, the cost of duplicating CD’s plummeted, whoop dee do. You could have put the price of CD’s at $5 and they still wouldn’t have sold. Nobody wanted them. Digital downloads, like iTunes, promoted the single, instead of the album. That’s great for a consumer, but such a shallow way to purchase music. I can’t tell you how many times I bought a release, liking only one song, then realizing how much I liked the others as they grew on me. Nobody does that anymore. Either you have a hit single in the first week, or you’re done.
When we taped the radio shows or the new vinyl album a friend had just brought in, we spent time on it, we discovered something, we experienced something, we felt something – I think that was a totally different experience than just doing a few clicks to download the same amount of tracks that would have taken us days to record or copy in the past. If it does not cost you anything (time, money, reputation, nerves) it will not be of value for you. So it is inevitable that young people do not attribute as much love and emotions to their music collection than we did.
Dee, I love and respect ya Buddy – but your band is a classic example of how dead rock n roll is. U2 offering free downloads of their new album. Twisted Sister putting out Christmas albums. Yes people still listen to RnR, but the industry is fried to a crisp and it ain’t coming back. There’s a huge difference between new/good rock bands coming out, and actually having record contracts and support. That part of the industry doesn’t exist anymore.