Justin Tedaldi of the Examiner spoke with KISS frontman Gene Simmons about his latest book, Me, Inc.: Build an Army of One, Unleash Your Inner Rock God, Win in Life and Business (out October 21st) and other topics. Excerpts appear below.
Examiner: What was the inspiration for this book?
Simmons: Life, really. I’ll ask you this question and see if you can answer it. You went to high school, I presume.
Examiner: Sure did.
Simmons: What was the name of the class that prepared you for what you do now for a living?
Examiner: I don’t believe there was one.
Simmons: How about that? Because I didn’t have a class that prepared me for this or the restaurant business or the football business or being in a rock band or branding or the television business or the movie business or the corporate speaking things—none of it. There is no class for that. In essence, it whittles down—although I didn’t understand it in those days—you have an inferred fiduciary duty to yourself, to learn people skills, language skills, have the right thing, be at the right place, and at the right time. And surround yourself with people who are smarter, not stupider, than you are. And get rid of all losers in your life and make smart life decisions.
Like, don’t get married, guys. Different rules for girls. Don’t get married in your early twenties—you’re an idiot; you’re still full of c—. You haven’t made your fortune, and why would you want to take on mortgages, kids, and, well, divorce, because statistics say you will get divorced, and in certain households of certain ethnic and/or racial groups, 80% of households don’t have a father—they run out. And if you’re of a certain religious belief, you might have ten kids. Why would you do that? When each child could cost a million dollars by the time they graduate college. A million dollars! That’s pretax; that means two million dollars per child at the highest tax rate—the highest tax rate just earn more than 250,000 dollars.
So the book is sort of Cliff Notes of life and business, because life is business. And the thing that made me write the book is sort of my personal journey to learn what I learned, and then more importantly, how to implement that. In other words, how to use what I know, and how to make a lot more money. And I make a lot of money. Not just with a rock band.
Examiner: You penned a memorable back cover blurb for Joe Perry of Aerosmith’s new book, saying, “When I grow up, I want to be Joe Perry.” How did that come together, and why do you want to be Joe Perry?
Simmons: Well, he asked me to write that and I’m trying to make nice. Wouldn’t you say nice things if I asked you to write the foreword to my book?….My thing is really: I make a living, I don’t need to write this book, but I think it’s an important book to write.
Examiner: You wrote the first KISS memoir as a member of the group back in 2001 with KISS and Make-Up. Would you be interested in penning another memoir at some point?
Simmons: Sure. But…maybe I’ll wait until the day that KISS ends, which is not happening anytime soon. We have a KISS golf course and LA KISS the football team, and all kinds of KISS stuff. And we continue to tour the world and have a great time. I think the only reason to write another sort of memoir is gonna be at the end of the train ride, when we look back and say, “What a crazy trip this has been” kind of thing….
What I’m trying to do [with Me, Inc.] is not to be so full of myself, and just be willing to kick people in the nuts and say, “Look, this is really important; you’ve gotta cut the sh— out.” And we all need that; I do, too. You know, if I stuff another piece of cake in my mouth, Shannon walks over and says, “Hey! Get out of here; put that down, you know it’s not good for you.” We all need that. And in life and business and anything else.
Go to the Examiner to read the entire interview.
source: examiner.com
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58 Responses
As obnoxious as he may be, what he says about preparing for life is DEAD ON. Gene may be an a-hole, but he’s damn smart and very business savvy.
Gene is not an a-hole. That’s the hugest misconception about him that he feeds on and people buy into it. Gene does things his way because that’s the only way he’ll do things. He does things the way most of us would want to do things. He’s honest and blunt and gets killed for it. I’ll take his honesty any day over the crap most people, celebrity or not, spew on a daily basis. Nobody is going to agree with everything he says, myself included. But before 200 posts show up insulting him and blaming him for everything, tell me you wouldn’t do things the same way if you were him.
I’m certainly not disputing that I would do things differently (alright, I wouldn’t sell a casket with my band’s logo on it….). But you have to admit he *can* be incredibly insensitive and callous towards people. That’s the part of him I don’t like. I do admire his honesty as well. He just has a tendency to stick his foot in his mouth a lot.
Hey, on almost any given day, I’d trade places with him in a heartbeat. He can stare at computer screens all day and teach people how to use their mouse or whatever and I can jump on stage in front of 30,000 people every other night and have my choice of groupies at my beck and call. 🙂
You and I are in agreement DC.
The times I’ve talked with Gene over the years in person, he was always a great guy. Funny, kind, patient, kind of humble, actually. Not full of bravado. I don’t agree with every decision he’s made concerning Kiss, especially the fact that him and Paul are ruining the legacy and have been since 2001. However, I really don’t have a bad thing personally to say about him.
I agree with you. I’ve been a fan for 40 years. I was 13 when I got into KISS. Can’t stand what they are doing now but they are (were) the greatest band in the world. I myself am more of an ACE type guy. But I can say….Gene is genuine (no pun intended). I was lucky enough to attend his A HOLE album release party in NYC. He was doing a TV interview out in front of the club and saw me smoking and in the middle of the interview, pointed at me and said something about me being an idiot for smoking. He totally broke character to spout his belief, I assume to actually have an impact. I was a little embarrassed but have come to realize he is just a grateful guy who wants to make a difference. And he says what he believes. Gotta respect that. I Would still prefer to hang with ACE though.
Gene made an appearance on Fox News’ “Outnumbered” this past Friday. He was a guest with a panel of four other women. Gene gave his insights on the current state of government, Ebola and the place of men in the world. I don’t like Gene for how he treated Ace and Peter, but the guy knows how to sell something. He had the four women swooning, especially the lovely Andrea Tantaros. At the end of the program, Gene promoted his new book and announced some upcoming dates for Kiss and the Kiss Kruise. I hope comedian Craig Gass is on the Kruise and that Eddie can get him on the show to talk about his Gene Simmons stories. It is some of the funniest radio I have ever heard!
Agree DC. Gene is no idiot when it comes to business…..that being said I really didn’t need Gene to help me gain a decent bank account…….I just had a very honest and reliable sports agent who just happens to be a very good business attorney. By the way…there is a AMAZING article on ESPN about Kobe Bryant. If you read it and understand it then you can maybe equate it to Gene and Paul. It will really school everyone on how people don’t like working with people who have a serious issue in regards to “Creative Control”. The Sports Buisness is very brutal and it seems very clear to me that Gene and Paul have followed that type of policy in their business…..Extremely enlightening. Im most positive Eddie would quickly get it.
catchy title lol
gene’s right! i need Shannon to walk over to me.
Gene wasn’t financially stable until the 96 reunion and the realization he can never leave the Kiss makeup/brand ever again finally dawned on him and he has been squeezing on that teet ever since. He surely wasn’t considered a “business genius” before then. Business genius my ass….he wised up and has stuck to the formula and his tired schtick lines.
You’re right. He’s done s–t all until’96. Buying the rights to the dollar sign, helping create one of the most successful bands of all time, copying the Beatles’ ideas of marketing and branding, etc,etc. He helped create a brand that was so popular, that ‘schtick’ hasn’t changed in 40 years and it’s still working.
Gene couldn’t have said it better, well, he got followers like you doing this job for him …
Tell me where I’m wrong Mr Gunslinger. Oh please enlighten me. What facts can you bring to the table that are relevant as it relates to the money Gene has earned over the past 40 years. I suppose you’d want to read Peter Criss’ book on how to be successful in life and in business. You’ve yet to ever delight any of us with something intelligent in your mundane posts. So how about just one time, you avoid the one sentence generic shot and show me where I’m wrong.
You’re wrong DR. Word to the wise DR, start Kiss 14 rockin the nation as Ace is at Chillah: Support. Kiss Nation 2014: Support. Word up. DR, again you’re wrong. Come to think of it, you are always wrong. Chillah brother
I’m still waiting guitarslinger….
Actually, your so very “intelligent” remarks are not worth any kind of answer, oops, just did … go waste your time thinking you are the only intelligent person here, if you have nothing better to do.
Thanks for mustering up the courage to respond. I had my doubts about you. Please do not think that I believe I’m the only intelligent person here. I just know that I’m of superior intelligence compared to you. And once again, your lack of substance has proven my point. Keep on trolling fool. I’ll be ready until you change your name and hide.
“Superior intelligence”, now that of course makes it all fall into place, hey, thank you for this joke of the day, you know, one good joke a day keeps the doctor away … oh, now I know, you are Dr … how could I overlook this? By this logic you erased yourself, which I find to my liking. – Besides, no courage needed, but you obviously are very brave calling people names here instead of giving good arguments, very intelligent, very eloquent and very courageous. Now, why should I hide from someone who is as stupid as to actually say he is the more intelligent one not knowing who is behind the “name”? Are you a professor, of something else than putting yourself on a pedestal called ‘superior’? What kind of superior, superficial, superdaft, superfluous? Do you by any chance remember what Socrates said, clearly one of the really clever ones around: I know that I know nothing. Now it’s your turn to muster up your courage to try and top Socrates, haha … And: do we not all hide behind our “names” here? So what does DR stand for? What qualities does it hide? Dumb and rude? Daft and ridiculous? Dim-witted and risible? Enlighten me. No, come to think of it, better use your time here to post something interesting, we all know by now whose camp you are in.
Oh Guitarslinger, quoting Socrates like you knew it off the top of your head. I can google Socrates, or Plato, or Moses, or Ace Frehley or anyone you’d like just as you do. But I’ll keep it more real than you can. I know your on this site every 5 minutes. So the fact it takes you 3 days to respond to me lets me know your search engine is working overtime. But I’ll play your game just this one time and quote you Shakespeare, and I paraphrase for you…’the greatest gift is to see ourselves as others see us’. Because you my friend, look like an idiot.
You never fail to amaze me, you know my daily schedule better than I do, hell, now I am done for … haha, DR you have not answered what your “name” stands for or does it take you so long looking through an internet dictionary to find something decent?? Btw the Latin translation that I do remember of Socrates’ quote is Scio me nihil scire, now you have to do some research whether I translated it correctly and if you do, tell me the typical Latin grammatical structure employed here … So the difference between us is at least that I can quote those people (incl. Shakespeare, you do not need to paraphrase, it is actually blasphemy if someone like you paraphrases this great mind) because I studied them (it is called university, as far as I remember) and you will have to google, that is also why you think others like me would also have to google it, typical mistake of someone who thinks he is better than others when he cannot even IMAGINE that he is not because to able to image takes a certain amount of, oh there is the word again: intelligence. So if you are willing to fight this fight you are annoying me and others reading this because it is just circular reasoning with you, you will always just be against my posts just because they are mine. Boring fellow …