Gene Simmons on Why KISS Succeeded Where Other Bands Failed | The Big Interview
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Gene Simmons talks with Dan Rather on why the band @KISS has thrived despite not having many top ten singles, why he believes hard work trumps creative inspiration any day, and more on The Big Interview!
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#genesimmons #kiss
I can tell you why. It is because when they first toured, people were shocked by the BIG sound and stage presence they put out. Simply put, they blew unsuspecting people right out of their seats.
Totally correct 👍
Yes and it didn’t come without initial criticism. He recalled (in very early days) looking out and seeing people laughing hysterically.
Gene is hard working and intelligent. He has a point- stay busy. As a part-time cartoonist, I get inspiration. If I lose it, I move onto another cartoon. If I get called to a task not related to art, I put the pencils and sketchbook away until the next time I have "spare time." I've had enough luck to keep going with this hobby for almost 30 years!
Gene Simmons is an exceptional businessman and promoter with a really strong work ethic. He's no song writer and not much of a musician. They made gazillions through merchandizing and naming rights.
Hard work beats talent, when talent doesn't work hard.
Always loved how Gene would talk to just about any reporter who asked. You do not see that these days. Everybody thinks their shit don't stink.
Why does everyone have to analyze everything. They are still to this day one hell of a band. They entertain you and that's why they have sold out shows. Good music,great musicians, and really nice guys.
As for the reason they're successful I don't buy that BS that they didn't want to write hits. The simple fact of the matter is that they couldn't. They simply did not have the talent to write catchy melodies that translated to a lot of people. But as far as having an act that kids loved, they were the bomb! It was a brilliant gimmick. And they had a great work ethic. And that's that.
That's not true. KISS have more top 40 hits then you think. Now it did dry up after the 80s were over, but they were capable.
What? They did not have the talent to write catchy melodies? Are you serious?
"Detroit Rock City", "I Was Made For Loving You", "God of Thunder", "Creatures of the Night", "Tears Are Falling", "Unholy", "Lick It Up", "Heaven's on Fire", "Forever", "A Reason To Live", "Psycho Circus", "Christine Sixteen", "Black Diamond", etc. Please tell me you are joking.
@@LastSunrise1981 Detroit is great but the only other song that was a hit was I Was Made For Loving You and it's pretty cheesy. Even Gene admits that.
@@NelsonMontana1234
I will disagree with Gene on I Was Made For Loving You. The cheesy disco element is what makes it memorable.
I heard that when Ace had a hit with New York groove, Kiss decided to release a disco song called I was made for Lovin’ You
🎼🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
I will be a Kiss fan for as long they keep playing Detroit Rock city on the radio. Long live Kiss.😊
To win the game, you have to know the rules of the game, and you have to play better than anyone else.
Yeah sure...But Gene said something totally oposite here about this "game" and how to win..Just sayin 😅
Hey gene KISS has left its mark on history that's for sure my favorite KISS song (I love it loud ) but you know these one hit wonder bands have also made there mark like (Timbuk 3 - The future so bright i gotta wear shades) and Dan Rather I never knew you had so many rock and roll connections. as for putting in the hard work. "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary" (Vince Lombardi)
Gene Simmons saying everybody wang chung tonite made my day.
Initially? Mystique plain and simple. No other band looked like them on any level. The mystery of who they were under the make up was intriguing to the target listeners… kids teens and young adults. When that solidified they were off to the races…. Until the inner band drama kicked in and the make up came off. Then the mystique gone . They were just another band. The diehards stuck around , but for all intent and purposes “the thrill was gone”…. Which led to plummeting record sales , lackluster concert attendance etc etc . The reunion brought that back but imo that was just for nostalgia sake. Then the drama kicked back in then adios
And they also produced some cool music, memorable tunes that stood the test of time but they were definitely no Beatles.
Love the Fro-over!
"G_d gave rock n roll to everyone!"
Gene was not born in the U.S., so he never seems to take anything for granted.
kiss made it through sheer will and hard work. they decided to do something unique. early 70s nyc, the glam, shock rock, female look was in. kiss wanted to combine rock and theatrics. alice cooper was doing it. they went to see his show to get ideas. peter criss said what if we were 4 alice coopers? it took them time to develop what they became, the whole package. their live show created the buzz and shocked fans. the rest is histroy.
I hear IT every day
Thanks for These Song ❤❤
Anyone who has amassed years or even decades of activity in any creative endeavour can analyse and remodel their achievements in retrospect. Led Zeppelin purposely avoided the search for chart hits in favour of album sales, it was a great idea that made more profit for bands and labels in the 1970's. I believe Simmons has copied their modus operandi and made it look as though it was a cunning plan to suit his reply to this question. KISS were a great live act that fed on on the masses of American working-class audiences desire to escape mundanity through beers, partying and Rock n Roll. They wouldn't have made it through to mega stardom if they had formed in later years. Above all, timing was a major role in KISS' success.. the 1970's was ideal for them.
It s sad and a very emotion show at the end i wish you Gene and Paul all the best in your life everry day god bless you ❤❤
"We decided not to play the game. The game of pop groups was to try to figure out those saccharine sweet melodies and choruses that had to do with love, heartbreak and so on. So that Mom and Dad listening to radio during the day time would find appealing."
...Beth is calling Gene...Beth is calling.
Peter Criss wrote that long before he was in Kiss.
@@isaiahmarquez9717 True. But the band signed off on it and thus they "played the game".
@@D_Tuned And it's probably still their biggest single.
Kiss 💋 is by far one of the best if not best Rock band imo,they were able stay relevant from the 70s-present day and they are even huge outside of Music 🎶 even making film 🎞 with Scooby-Doo
I'm sorry but I don't think that they been relevant since the 70s. Just about all the 80's stuff was really garbage. For me. Since the 90s they have been on a fair well tour of their music of the 70s. Had to go back to makeup. 4 guys just met at the perfect time in time . That's why kiss made it big .
Do you know the year 1987
IT IS so good for me ❤❤
Oh they played the game, cmon Gene... Uh All Night says hi!
With my Favorit Song crazy night?
Michigan got it!
Cool wig, bro.
IKR, where's his makeup and high heels?
This is Paul Stanley’s band.
Why have Gene Simmons started to do the metal sign with his hand?
good work ethic...do the work..the rest will take care of itself...
🙂
🤩🤟😎👊
All the money in the world and still can't fix that hair!
Right; Elton John did it; he could too 🤣
When Peter left then Ace after that to me kiss was overrated I'm the only songs I liked by them really was with Ace and Peter
I remember when I was a Kiss fan and then I grew up and discovered vastly better sounding bands, They are an embarrassment now adays.
They're kind of a cartoon. Almost a parody of themselves.
Take off the sunglasses Gene. Dan doesn't want to look at himself during the interview. We all know you're not the best looking guy ..lol
Just a circus show with just slightly below average songs.
F gene Simmons lover of jab
Yes, that was quite a deception.
Hes old hes 1 jump away from a heart attack🤣of course he became a jab lover it was surprising to me too with all the shit he says i was surprised
Gene?
It's all about the show. They knew how to get and keep an audience. Musically, they are mediocre at best.
Gene’s a much better promoter & salesman than the musician & rock star legend that’s in his own mind!!
Handful of mediocre songs and actually made fortune in his countless licensing & merchandise deals😂
I believe Gene would agree you are spot on correct,
Paul Stanley is a better bassist than Gene. He had to be when Gene was trying to become a Hollywood star and not spending much time in the studio with KISS.
I never watched this video but he must be talking about a time that really no one knows about like in the mid to late 80's because there's no way he could be talking about the 70s, Kiss was way over shadowed by too many great bands with way more talent than what Kiss possessed. Kiss was a teenybopper bubble gum band at best.
KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid😂
I knew no one one who took KISS seriously. It was more like the circus coming to town. I can't even recall anyone I knew owning as KISS record.
But I admire Gene's financial acumen.
He also slept with one of my exes and her photo was surely in his legendary book of Polaroids. She refused to say a bad word about him.
@@TheBent139
Exactly! because I always thought of the band KISS as pretenders the way they dressed up in those ridiculous outfits and put all that goofy makeup on like they were trying to get attention. So it was more about the image and not there instrumental talent and that's exactly why they did it because they knew they couldn't compete with the great bands back then. I guarantee you they wouldn't have hardly any fans and they would have been practically unknown if they didn't do all that get up on stage because they're music couldn't sell it alone. Now Alice Cooper was a different story because they didn't go overboard on the makeup and outfits and it was really only the singer Vince in the band doing it except in concert they did all the theatrics but they musically backed it up I think.
They have sold nearly 80 million records, so somebody liked them...
@@chrisreidy439
Most of those sales came in the 80's I believe when a lot of even the older great bands themselves dumbed themselves down musically in order to fit the times for the mainstream media like when MTV came out and the hint to that was the very first video on MTV called "Video killed the Radio Star". The crowd Kiss targeted in the 70's were little kids not the older crowd who were listening to the progressive rock bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, The Who, The Beatles, King Crimson, Emerson Lake and Palmer and Rush etc.... Kiss knew they couldn't match-up talent-wise with those bands and that's why they tried to sell a persona with those crazy outfits to make up for the lack of talent they didn't have and so they knew they could get an advantage by targeting the younger crowd who didn't understand more complex smarter music and is more than likely the reason why they sold a lot and nowadays they still sell because most people love simple crap I mean just look at everything that's out now. The reason why the other bands I talked about still sell is because they still have a big reputation.
@@LewDanLascivious8276... quote: "The crowd KISS targeted in the '70s were little kids..."
I respectfully disagree with that statement.
There were thirty songs on the first three albums (ten songs each).
Of those, seven were about prostitutes; eighteen were about sex in general; four were about alcohol or partying; one was about anal sex; one was about a doomed pedophilic relationship between a senior citizen and a teenager.
Definitely NOT songs targeted towards children. Hahaha
Overrated is a good word Gene….
Here's a guy talking about being real as he & the band hide behind all that makeup & theatrics. And what about the sickening sweet saccharin ballad Beth, which is what a lot of kiss fans thought. I'm not knocking Kiss, I like the band & I thought Beth was a very good ballad & displayed a more sensitive, creative side of the band. I always say don't knock things you yourself are guilty of doing, that's all. And please Kiss fans don't send me scathing emails in defense of Kiss, because I could care less what you think. I won't even read them, they'll be automatically deleted.
Apparently for the same reason that many pop artists have succeeded. The music sucks and there's gimmicks and clowns.
Kiss succedeed? A band with lots of songs with no more than 4 minutes ...designed for radio and no number one ...only Beth got to #6 ??lots of 80s Glam Metal bandas slammed Kiss !!Bon Jovi etc ..Jerk Simmons led no rock legacy , no great songs , he isnt in the 40 Best players. Contrary to AC DC and QUEEN .... ?? rock is dead ,why do You insist on playing ...if only pop fans buy albums and rock fans don't ..then why dont You play pop? ..You once did in disco era.....please go retire Yourself and enjoy your money gotten with selling Kiss toys and your work on discovering bands.
WHERE IS KISS ON THE GREATEST BAND LIST?? 20... 30...40...LOW...
A body of working man's ethics including Ladies Room, Christine Sixteen, Love Gun, Hard Luck Women, Come On And Love Me, Strutter, She...
Yeah, diverse.
Overdubbing on "live" records. Miming for decades.
All off the back of a clever gimmick.
The greatest rock 'n' roll swindle.
The working man's swindle.
They did alright for themselves, even if you didn't like them...
مجنون
His hair, or wig, oof.