Gene Simmons is blaming the failings of the music industry for the reason Kiss has not delivered any new music in a decade. Simmons has his head up his own arse.
Simmons said this week that Kiss will never make another album because there is no money anymore in selling records. Why doesn't he just come out with the truth and say "I'm a fat, rich, lazy bastard who doesn't want to work too hard anymore".Here's what he has to say. "There's no new Kiss material because there is no record industry. Any band who tries to do new material is trying to climb a slippery mountain."
"Every day record companies are folding. It'd be nice to have new Kiss songs, but what's the business model? Do you just put songs on the Internet for free? Then what?"
Don't bullshit the fans Gene. Real artists create from inspiration. This whole "I'm a fat, rich, rock star who won't go into a studio unless you pay me," doesn't cut it.
Look at The Eagles, for instance. They made one of the greatest albums of their career in 'Long Road Out Of Eden' and released it independently. In between 'drinks', they still managed to release seven new songs, via 'Hell Freezes Over', the greatest hits and the live DVD.
Look at McCartney. His outside-the-square thinking gave the fans 'Memory Almost Full' via the unconventional distribution model of a coffee chain.
Kiss has, without a doubt, the loyalist fan base of any group known to man. They do not need a major record label to release any new music. Emailing the fanbase would clock them instant platinum. The lack of new music for Kiss has nothing to do with a sick music industry.
Would it be so hard to record two new songs for each greatest hits album or is the greatest hits album, to quote your friend Paul Stanley, only about "selling the same songs in a different order".
How about a new song for each tour? At least then you have an excuse for another live DVD.
The last Kiss album was 'Psycho Circus' in 1998. The title track was a great song. You only need one of those every one or two years and the fans would be happy.
Don't blame the record industry, Gene. That's like trying to justify Iraq. (Oh, yeah. I forgot, you do that too).
