GENE SIMMONS Doubles Down On His Bold Claim That Rock Is Dead: “Who Are The New BEATLES?”

Kiss legendary bassist and vocalist Gene Simmons has reignited the age-old debate: is rock and roll dead? Speaking on The Zak Kuhn Show, Simmons unapologetically reaffirmed his controversial stance, pointing to cultural shifts and the waning recognition of rock legends among younger generations as evidence of the genre’s diminished status.

“It is,” Simmons stated bluntly when asked if rock is still dead (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “People don’t understand how I can say that when we all have our favorite songs and we love our favorite bands — you and I and everybody else. But what I mean is that… Let’s play a game; I’ve done this before. From 1958 until 1988, that’s 30 years. 30 years. So what came during that period? Well, we had Elvis Presley, we had The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, all that, Pink Floyd… the solo artists, David Bowie, and just music that lasts forever, we’d like to think. In the disco world, you had Madonna, more heavy guitars, you had — Oh God — AC/DC and everybody else, Aerosmith, and on and on. And you had Motown at the same time. You had Prince. It was a very, very rich musical menu. It could go up and down. You had prog bands, you had Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant, and you had the heavy bands, Led Zeppelin, and so on.” He continued, contrasting that vibrant era with the last few decades. “From 1988 until today, it’s something like almost 40 years… Who are the new Beatles?”

When host Zak Kuhn suggested Nirvana as a possible answer, Simmons pushed back: “Stop. We are blinded. I’m a major fan. If you walked down the street and asked a 20-year-old, ‘Who’s the bass player in Nirvana?’ they wouldn’t know what you’re talking about. Or, ‘Can you sing a Nirvana song?’ No, no. The Beatles and, to a slightly lesser extent, The Stones and Elvis, everybody knew The Beatles. If you hated rock music, you knew about them. By the way, I’m delusional enough to believe some market reports about how the Kiss faces are the most recognized faces on the planet. And I’ve tried this before. You walk down the street, and randomly ask people, ‘Who’s on Mount Rushmore?’ They’ll say, ‘Uh, Elvis.’ They won’t get it, but they know those four faces anywhere you go. They may hate the band, but you can’t deny that. So Nirvana, is one of my favorite bands. If you ask somebody who’s 20 or something, there’s a generation gap, ‘Name a song,’ they wouldn’t be able to tell you. ‘Who’s the bass player?’ No idea.”

Simmons shared a story about his son encountering someone wearing a Rolling Stones shirt who had no idea it represented a band, let alone the iconic Mick Jagger: “By the way, I know that because one of the other samples is my son, who’s no longer that age when he was a little bit over 20. He saw a cute girl — he’s telling me the story — he saw a cute girl, so he’s trying to open up the conversation, and she’s wearing a Rolling Stones t-shirt that’s got the tongue on it, and on top of the t-shirt it actually says, ‘The Rolling Stones.’ And he walks up, and his first line is, ‘Oh, so you’re a fan, huh?’ And she says something like, ‘Yeah. Of what?’ And Nick, my son, says, ‘You know, The Stones.’ She goes, ‘The Stones?’ He goes, ‘Yeah, The Rolling Stones.’ She goes, ‘The Rolling Stones? What’s that? A band?’ Nick says, ‘Are you kidding? You’re wearing their t-shirt.’ And he was telling me she looked down — upside down, I guess because it’s facing him]— and she goes, ‘Oh, oh, I just like the shirt. I just like the T-shirt.”

“And Nick said, ‘You must know The Rolling Stones. You know ‘Satisfaction’.’ [hums riff] ‘Nope. Never heard it.’ He went through a few other songs. Never heard those songs. And he said, ‘You’ve never heard of Mick Jagger?’ And she said, ‘Mick Jagger? Oh yeah, yeah. I heard…’ What I’m about to tell you, my hand to God, is true. No exaggeration. She goes, ‘Mick Jagger. Oh, yeah, the serial killer.’ Anything you think is commonplace that the masses know, they don’t. Very few things everybody knows,” Simmons added.

Simmons also dismissed comparisons to modern rock bands like Pearl Jam or Foo Fighters as inheritors of The Beatles’ legacy. While he expressed admiration for these acts, he emphasized their limited recognition outside dedicated fan circles: “Of course, I love Foo Fighters. I love those bands. Mike McCready told me he was growing up with those Kiss records. In fact, one of his solos … he took note for note from Ace Frehley. But that’s not my point. My point is if you randomly walk down the street and you ask the first young person you meet, a 20-year-old, and you say, ‘Name me anybody in Pearl Jam, good luck with that. ‘Name me or tell me a song. Hum a song.’ They can’t.”

Expanding his argument, Simmons pointed to the broader cultural ubiquity of figures like Snoop Dogg, who transcends music through media presence: “You and I are blinded because we’re very close to it. So here’s something the rest of the world knows, but we don’t. Who’s the prime minister of England? Tell me who the prime minister of France is. Tell me who the prime minister of Canada is. And by the way, next to Pearl Jam and Nirvana, strangely, Dave Grohl has become far more popular. They may know Dave because he’s done TV commercials and sort of rubbed shoulders with people outside of guitars and concerts. That’s how you get to be iconic. So if I say, Snoop Dogg, everybody knows who that is, but if you mention other rappers who might actually be bigger rap stars — M.C. Criminal or whatever; I just made that up — the masses wouldn’t have any idea. It’s because Snoop plays in media — he had a TV show with Martha Stewart and that kind of thing. So the masses have no idea who’s in Phish, one of my favorite bands, or Pearl Jam. They wouldn’t have a clue unless you’re a fan.”

Yet, Simmons’ central thesis revolved around fame as a barometer of relevance. Circling back to Kiss’ enduring cultural impact, he noted: “Not everybody loves Jesus either. That’s not the point. Fame itself is the ultimate reward. Everybody’s not gonna like you, but they know you. We have a photographer who’s been with us for — I don’t know — 40 or 50 years, and he’s done everybody — The Stones and Zeppelin, everybody. And he’s a real music aficionado. He collects posters and stuff. He hates The Beatles, always has — can’t stand listening to them — but he knows who they are: John, Paul, George, Ringo. You know who Jesus is. Not everybody likes him. Even the people that hate the idea of it, they’ve heard of the name and they know who he is. Fame is the ultimate reward.”

Whether or not one agrees with Simmons’ assertion that rock is dead, his argument speaks to a broader cultural shift. Music genres now compete in a fragmented landscape dominated by short-lived trends and multimedia personalities. The question remains: does the legacy of rock lie in its ability to remain timeless, or is it truly fading into obscurity?