Melissa Locker | Time
Chelsea Lauren
KISS rocker Gene Simmons talks about his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — and why it’s a mixed blessing
TIME talked to Gene Simmons about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, celebrating 40 years as a band and what they owe their fans.
TIME: You’ve been in KISS as long as, or longer, than many of your fans have been alive. How does it feel to soundtrack so many generations?
Gene Simmons: Well, it doesn’t suck. There’s no substitute for hard work. There just isn’t. You can sugar coat it however you want, but there’s not. But not everyone has the same DNA — not everyone is designed to run marathons, most people don’t finish the race. Many people in rock bands are very dysfunctional — they don’t have their heads screwed on right. They don’t understand that, but for the grace of God, you’d be asking the next person in line, ‘Would you like some fries with that?’ When you forget that and start to believe that — in the patois of the street — you’re ‘all that,’ it’s not long before you move back into your mother’s basement.
What are some of the other lessons you’ve learned in doing this for over 40 years?
The idea that you have to experience something in order to know if it’s bad for you is the biggest load of bullshit that I’ve ever heard. We all know that a bullet isn’t good for you — you don’t have to be shot to know that. It’s nonsense! Drugs and alcohol are not even unique, they are such a cliché. You’re kidding — you’re going to ruin your life for the same old, same old? Really? The original guys in the band started a band 40 years ago. The original lineup lasted seven years and, you know, there have been ten different lineups. We’ve survived ten different lineups.
That’s been in the news a lot lately due to your upcoming induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
It’s such a boring conversation. People forget that it applies to almost every single band these days: AC/DC, The Stones, Metallica, Iron Maiden. Some bands don’t even have their original lead singers! It’s tough to keep a band together! Cain and Abel didn’t do so well, either, and they were brothers.
True. KISS is one of the few bands to have not performed at the induction ceremony…
Why should we? We’ve been around longer than the Hall of Fame has been around, by about 20 years. We started before this organization was even a thought. We appreciate getting the award, but they are going to only honor the first seven years of the band — Ace, Peter, Paul and myself, and that’s fine. We appreciate that. Then they said, ‘We have an HBO special and we want you to close the show and make it big,’ and all that stuff. And we said, ‘Okay, and you’re also going to be honoring Tommy and Eric who have been in the band longer than Ace and Peter, right?’ They said, ‘No, no, actually we’re not.’ We said, ‘Wait a minute, you have the Grateful Dead, and you inducted all 25 or so members, plus a lyricist who was never even in the band. Metallica had a bass player who, I think, was never even on a record. The Chili Peppers had 8 or 9 members in. And you’re not going to honor ours?’ So, we are certainly not going to be playing there. You either honor all or none.
Right, but it’s disappointing to the fans.
The Hall of Fame award is important, because it is important to the fans, but otherwise it means nothing to me. It’s a political organization made up of ten guys. A few of them are good guys, but I know for a fact that some members voted to keep Deep Purple and the Dave Clark Five and great rock bands out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and get Run DMC and other hip hop acts into the Hall of Fame.
And you don’t think that’s acceptable?
I’m not finished. I want to start a movement. I want to get Aerosmith and AC/DC into the Hip Hop Hall of Fame. Does that make sense?
Sure, Aerosmith did have that massive crossover hit with Run DMC.
You’re picking at straws. That’s not the issue. The issue is that it’s a rock band. What would it be doing in a Hip Hop Hall of Fame? You have Madonna and Blondie and all kinds of bands that belong in something else —the Disco Hall of Fame, maybe — and the hip hop artists can certainly get their due, but they are not rock and roll. First of all, because they’re spoken word records! They are welcome to run their organization anyway they like, but it’s clearly not open to the public. It’s a political organization and whatever those guys like, they self-validate, but KISS has never looked over its shoulder to see who liked us and who doesn’t. Not everyone liked Jesus, either.
How have you kept fans interested over the last 40 years?
There may be something intrinsic in the DNA of the band —we put on the makeup and the platform heels and we are forever young. It’s very flattering, though, to have new fans. Most rock bands have a built-in obsolescence factor. There are a few other bands that have been around for 40 years and I don’t want to see their faces, I’d rather just listen to their music. We start our 40th anniversary tour this summer with Def Leppard and we dare every 20-something band out there to step up on that stage with us.