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Gene Simmons - What a tool.

G

Greasyman

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 10, 2008
41
3
Chicago
That guy is so incredibly arrogant that it almost seemes like a put-on, but I doubt that it is because he's so consistantly like that. Anyone who saw him on The Apprentice or interviewed by Jimmy Kimmel this week knows what I'm talking about. There's also an interview he did with public radio's Terry Gross in which he was so rude and full of himself that they actually reran it because of public demand, people just had to hear it. It's classic.

The guy is so convinced of his own perfection he almost seems insane, he's that removed from reality. And what's he have to be so proud of? Being the bass player for a hack band of third rate musicians playing recycled licks for a bunch of 14 year olds. Hey, that one guy has a star on his face! And that other guy looks like a kitty-cat! Wow! How do they come up with that stuff?! These guys are insane!!!
 
Greasyman said:
There's also an interview he did with public radio's Terry Gross in which he was so rude and full of himself that they actually reran it because of public demand, people just had to hear it. It's classic.
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The classic line from that interview is when he asks her since she's willing to welcome him with open arms if she'll also welcome him with open legs. Mind you, this was when they were still exchanging salutations, so the interview didn't get off to the best start and went downhill from there!
 
Most of that is an act by the way, Im sure he doesn't act like that in private.
 
MacNut said:
Most of that is an act by the way, Im sure he doesn't act like that in private.
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I don't think so, he's always like that and what would he have to gain by being so unpleasant, it's not as if the image of the band demands it. Alice Cooper was outrageous on stage and he was a nice guy off stage and they were huge.

Years ago when they first got really big a friend of mine worked behind the scenes at some job at a venue they played at and I remember him telling me one of the guys in Kiss went out of his way to be an incredible ******. He didn't say who and I wouldn't have known one name from another at that time but I'd be willing to bet it was Simmons.
 
Greasyman said:
Being the bass player for a hack band of third rate musicians playing recycled licks for a bunch of 14 year olds. Hey, that one guy has a star on his face! And that other guy looks like a kitty-cat! Wow! How do they come up with that stuff?! These guys are insane!!!
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:rolleyes:

Are you freaking serious?? Kiss is one of the best rock and roll bands of ALL-TIME, and was responsible for shaping the future of rock and roll and has influenced the sound of hundreds upon hundreds of bands. Get a clue.


Oh, and guess what. Gene Simmons, as pompous as he may be (and he's got every right..he's slept with over 2,000 women) is SOLELY responsible for Van Halen. He discovered them playing in some dirt club somewhere.
 
Greasyman said:
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Aw. I liked the mean spirited Kiss-dissing. "Insipid crap", priceless. :)
In 1977 Gene Simmons, from Kiss, saw Van Halen and financed their first demo tape, flying the band to the Electric Lady Studios, New York City to record "House of Pain" and "Runnin' With the Devil". Eddie disliked the demo, because he was not using his own equipment and had to overdub guitar parts. Simmons wanted to change the band's name to "Daddy Longlegs" and had designed cover art (a daddy longlegs wearing a top hat), but the band stuck with Van Halen. Simmons then opted out of further involvement.
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That's funny. You can just feel the ego baking off of him, even in a Wikipedia entry.

~ CB
 
Kiss dressed WAY too hardcore for what they actually put out. Only one real 'hard' song (Love it Loud), but too many b*tch songs (Love gun, I Was Made for Loving You, etc..)

Just my $.02
 
Cleverboy said:
Aw. I liked the mean spirited Kiss-dissing. "Insipid crap", priceless. :)

~ CB
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That's why I deleted that, it was too mean and I know I wouldn't want someone insulting bands I liked just for the sake of being a smartass.

I'll give Kiss this much, for a bunch of guys of very average talent they did really well. That's actually more of an achievement in a way than if they were really talented - virtuosos almost can't help but achieve some success, but Kiss made it despite the fact that there were thousands of bands that were as good, if not better, than them. That took some doing. I'm sure that Simmons tremedous self-confidence had quite a bit to do with their success. I still think he's a total dick though.
 
He's always been like that. 1979 interview Part 1 and Part 2

Early Kiss wasn't half bad... She. But I agree, they are not first rate musicians.

But the guy did have Balls. Note the difference in this 1974 interview and the 1979 one. Here, he didn't care about public image. By 1979, he knew he had to cater to mom, etc, but couldn't change the act (vomiting blood, etc.)

The thing about Gene is that he was able to turn Kiss into this enormous marketing juggernaut, like he had the whole vision in his head. The rest of the band had little to do with that, it was all Gene. I don't know if you are old enough to remember Kiss in the mid 70s, but it was amazing how BIG they were. It was like Star Wars.
 
Greasyman said:
That's actually more of an achievement in a way than if they were really talented - virtuosos almost can't help but achieve some success, but Kiss made it despite the fact that there were thousands of bands that were as good, if not better, than them.
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I'm especially stung by the virtuosos that don't make it. Witness the sad tale behind the name of the album "Scene of the Crime" and the delayed fame of one Bette Lavette. Makes her song "Then the money came" that much more powerful to listen to. I think this world is populated by stars that owe their fame more to happenstance than to talent. So, maybe not so much an achievement as it is a phenomena... which I'd readily celebrate and tip my hat to. I sware I think I wanted one of their action figures as a kid (cringe).

~ CB
 
omg. you can't be very old to think that Kiss is 'a hack band playing recycled licks for 14 year olds'! are you nuts? they may not be the best musicians (ace frehley's frequent absence from recording albums is a true testament of that fact), but they have made more money than you probably ever will (assuming you aren't a rockstar or self-made millionaire). And how gives a crap anyway? how many bands today are filled with crappy musicians? If anything, I would bet more bands in this day and age than the old days, are filled with 'hack' musicians and are only big b/c of marketing.

Kiss is one of the first bands to become famous b/c of marketing ie. the star and kitty kats on faces. The long tongue, the blood..the flames. Whether or not you like them, anyone will half a brain recognizes that. I may be wrong, but they were one of the first bands, along with the Partridge Family, to have dolls. Yes...dolls! Odd, but how many people bought them!?

I have to laugh at another poster's moronic comment that they were dressed too hardcore for their music. have you..um...actually listened? they've got some great tunes. classics!

As for the Apprentice...you are bang on. I was watching it and couldn't believe the idiocy. There's no way he should have brought in the 2 people he did. that other chick should have been gone without a doubt. The bummer is that Simmons brought some controversy or potential for it and now, besides Omerosa, it might be boring.

Cheers,
Keebler
 
All I know about Gene Simmons consists of what I learned from an infamous interview he did with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air. He seemed liked a real *******, even though I only got to hear about ten minutes of the interview.

Alice Cooper, on the other hand, seems like a really nice fellow.
 
ham_man said:
Alice Cooper, on the other hand, seems like a really nice fellow.
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Yes, he made for a good episode of Family Guy too.
ham_man said:
All I know about Gene Simmons consists of what I learned from an infamous interview he did with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air. He seemed liked a real *******, even though I only got to hear about ten minutes of the interview.
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LOL. I was listening to that from the link. Man... he really GOT to her! Maybe I'm a jerk too, but he pretty much was just answering her questions and she got annoyed with his answers. His answers were REALLY really egomaniacal and uncouth, but she kept sounding like he was as defensive as she was getting. I was kind of surprised by some of the prejudices she showed because she hated his attitude so much. I think it may have been the "gentile mouth" comment at the beginning that got her tweeked. There's an interesting article on her here:
http://www.frugalfun.com/terrygross.html
In her early days with the show, Gross "thought if I just asked the right questions, they would realize I was right." Now, a guest with whom she disagrees is a challenge. "I can try to figure out--if I disagree--why do they believe what they think? I want to cut beneath the euphemisms that people use to make very ugly political ideas nicer."
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Her earlier swipes at Simmons didn't seem to ring very true, and she did better when she stuck to the questions she wanted to hear, instead of being horrified at the questions she asked, but didn't like the answers to. The worst that he did was make about 3 or 4 references to examples that used her gender and a hypothetical and 2 or 3 disparaging remarks abou NPR. At first I thought he was hitting on her, but at another point I realized that he was too egotistical to be demonstrating anything but his autopilot.

I get the impression that she wanted to make it very clear, on record, as part of the interview, what she thought of his attitude... instead of letting it speak for itself. Gross always gets complimented on asking very interesting questions, but I sometimes wonder about her outtakes, when the interview starts to become more about HER than her interviewee. She interviewed Denzel Washington recently, and I could almost tell that some of her questions came across as a bit presumptive to him, and that his religious rant at one point wasn't really anything she wanted to hear (although it was a perfectly valid answer from him). Often times an interview can say a lot about the interviewer as much as it does the subject.

~ CB
 
I don't know if he's a tool, but he's definitely an unabashed businessman and entertainer. He's also probably sick of hearing the same old Q's after 30 years and gets flippant w/it. I mean, Gene Simmons is on NPR and being asked about what he uses to take off his stage make-up? Seriously?


Lethal
 
LethalWolfe said:
I don't know if he's a tool, but he's definitely an unabashed businessman and entertainer. He's also probably sick of hearing the same old Q's after 30 years and gets flippant w/it. I mean, Gene Simmons is on NPR and being asked about what he uses to take off his stage make-up? Seriously?


Lethal
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I know. What could he possibly use, except a blowtorch?
 
LethalWolfe said:
I don't know if he's a tool, but he's definitely an unabashed businessman and entertainer. He's also probably sick of hearing the same old Q's after 30 years and gets flippant w/it. I mean, Gene Simmons is on NPR and being asked about what he uses to take off his stage make-up? Seriously?


Lethal
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I'm sure she heard the answers many times over....I guess she thought he used a wire brush these days oh well at least he didn't use the tongue.



Bless
 
Yep ... it is the women.

Have women toss themselves at you, and sleep with as many women as he did ... and see if you turn out half as bad as him. ;)
 
Wild-Bill said:
:rolleyes:

Are you freaking serious?? Kiss is one of the best rock and roll bands of ALL-TIME, and was responsible for shaping the future of rock and roll and has influenced the sound of hundreds upon hundreds of bands. Get a clue.
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I always thought Led Zeppelin and Judist Priest were responsible for changing rock. Kiss maybe started what is known as glam rock but they didn't create a sound.
 
Glam rock predated Kiss by many years; mostly by David Bowie and Marc Bolan amongst others. There's nothing that Kiss have done that marks them out as pioneers in anything, except hype over substance...
 
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