Jeff Giles | Ultimate Classic Rock
Sammy Hagar and Gene Simmons never met a microphone they couldn’t use, and they’re proving it all over again with a pair of brand new radio ventures.
As previously reported, the ever-entrepreneurial Hagar is hosting a new weekly radio show he’s called Sammy Hagar’s Top Rock Countdown, which finds him counting down “lists of his favorite party songs, comeback albums, unsung heroes or best tunes from a specific year or decade.” The show has already started airing, and you can find affiliates — and listen to the first episode — at Hagar’s official site.
Top Rock Countdown begins during a typically busy time for Hagar, who’s also prepping a new reality TV show while promoting a new live album, At Your Service, with his latest band the Circle.
Simmons, meanwhile, can be heard on a recent installment of the BBC Radio 2 series I Love It Loud, which is now online and offers the Kiss co-founder an opportunity to pay tribute to bands that inspired him as well as those that he sees as musical compatriots.
“I’m flattered that BBC Radio 2 has given me the chance to play the music that I love dearly, that I continue to play over and over again, that I introduce young people to,” Simmons says in a statement. “I’ll never forget when my son, Nick, first heard ‘Boys Are Back in Town’ by Thin Lizzy, he went, ‘What’s that?’ And then I played him Queen, and goes, ‘What’s that?’ and that music continues to attracts new ears generation after generation, which is why it’s classic — classic rock.”
Here’s hoping Hagar eventually invites Simmons to be a guest on Top Rock Countdown, where the duo can recount Hagar’s infamous stint as an opening act for Kiss in 1977 — when, as he later recounted during an interview with MTV, he reacted to the crowd booing by dropping his pants and smashing a guitar. “I still can’t believe I did that to a Stratocaster. That guitar would probably be worth $200,000 today,” he admitted. “It’s funny now, but at the time, when you’re faced with that kind of rejection, it can be heartbreaking.”