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
I do believe I saw KISS toilet paper
in Gene’s Family Jewells show
I knew it!
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…………..
Donald Trump says you’re fired
i have not weighed in on a kiss post in a while because most not all of the comments eventually turn idiotic pretty quickly , but here i go…… gene is 100% right , when you get to a certain age you figure out how life works and you either get it or you dont . gene gets it right for himself more than he gets it wrong .we all have to make our own way through life , and the principals gene adheres to would help anyone make a better life for him or herself. i will buy his book, but probably not another kiss ticket –
You are right. Which actually means, there are no new ideas in this book, you could as well look at the basic principles of the American Dream, that is about it. So why waste money on something that common sense? Because a rock star wrote it? Are these ideas more valid if he tells you so? Too many stars of all kinds of pop culture publish guidebooks today, when in the end they have nothing new to say that may grandma or your best friend could not have told you for free. It is yet another money making machine.
Love Gene, love Kiss, but I’ll pass on the whole “financial and branding genius/guru” thing. It just reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where the guy wanted to be called “The Maestro” at all times. I guess if you call yourself a marketing genius 24/7 after awhile people start to think “Ok I guess, he must be a marketing genius” and now that I think about it is probably EXACTLY what Gene wants and I just validated his whole point. Well played Mr. Simmons, well played!! As a side note, was ANYONE calling him a “financial genius” pre-96′? (sounds of crickets chirping while a tumbleweed floats by)
he’s not a marketing genius – never has been. The merchandising concepts Gene/KISS have done all these years have been done before by Col Tom Parker, with Elvis Presley’s career. It’s neither original nor ground-breaking.