Gene Simmons sure thinks so, but how accurate is he?
By Rachel Walz
Gene Simmons, bassist and co-lead singer of KISS, was recently a guest on “The Zak Kuhn Show” podcast, where he proclaimed that “rock is dead.” He argued that rock no longer has a major influencing artist that drives other bands, such as The Beatles. When Kuhn argued for Nirvana as a major influence, Simmons dismissed it, saying that most people wouldn’t be able to name the bass player (Krist Novoselic, for the record) or sing a Nirvana song.
On one hand, it’s not hard to see where Simmons is coming from. Rock is no longer the dominant musical force that it was from the late ’50s to the early ’90s. Many popular and influential bands such as The Beatles, Nirvana, Van Halen, The Sex Pistols, and Motörhead have retired or disbanded for all variety of reasons: death, health concerns, contract disputes, anger at bandmates, drug problems, or just plain boredom with the project. David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, Freddie Mercury and many others have passed away. Other bands are hanging by a thread. Megadeth’s band leader Dave Mustaine is showing signs of vocal strain. Brian Johnson of AC/DC had to temporarily pass the microphone to Axl Rose on their “Rock or Bust” tour in 2016. And Simmons is correct in that no new band has truly come across as the torchbearer for the genre.
But that hardly means that rock is dead. In fact, while rock is no longer the mainstream choice, it thrives in its own niche of fans. Not all the classics are gone just yet. Judas Priest’s first album Rocka Rolla just turned 50 this year, the same year that the band released their newest album Invincible Shield. The Rolling Stones, despite being a 60-year strong band, just put out a new album last year and toured this year. While the time that these bands have left may be limited, they’re still beloved enough to sell concert tickets, albums, and merchandise. Some artists have collaborated with more modern singers to stay relevant, such as Ozzy Osbourne’s collaboration with Post Malone on “Take What You Want.” Metallica experienced a resurgence in popularity when “Master of Puppets” was played by Eddie Munson in a pivotal scene of Stranger Things.
This is also ignoring the wave of newer rock bands that have continued to find audiences. Ghost, for example, is a rather popular band that thrives on theatrics and commercialism, just like KISS did. Knocked Loose recently performed on Jimmy Kimmel, and Gojira performed at the Paris Olympics. Even Michigan’s Greta Van Fleet is gaining a bit of a niche. Heavy metal alone still maintains a huge world audience, with bands across all corners of the globe infusing heavy metal with their own culture: New Zealand’s Maori band Alien Weaponry, Mongolia’s The HU, India’s Bloodywood, Botswana’s Crackdust and Skinflint, and the Brazilian metal scene helmed by metal legends Sepultura.
Also, metal and punk always thrived in the underground. Commercial ‘glam’ bands like KISS generally weren’t striving to innovate with their music; they were out there to look cool or pretty and sell merchandise. Not to say anything is wrong with being a fan of glam metal, but while Gene Simmons was trying to sell KISS Kaskets, KISS Kondoms, and KISS Krunch cereal, metalheads were trading demo tapes and punks were making and trading zines. In other words, KISS was about the money, but metal and punk were about the music.
Is rock dead? Absolutely not. Gene Simmons values himself higher than most rock fans probably would. Rock fans will continue to listen to and support their favorite bands as long as possible, and new bands will rise to make new music, even if it never reaches the heights it once held. As long as there is rock to be listened to, there will be rock fans. In the immortal words of metal icon Ronnie James Dio, “Long Live Rock and Roll.”
