Gene Simmons Believes Young Fans Killed Rock

Keavin Wiggins | 02-08-2021

KISS cofounder Gene Simmons has been declaring for years that "rock is dead" and in a new interview he shares his view that it is the younger generation of fans that killed it.

Gene was asked about his "rock is dead" claims during an interview with Q104.3 in New York and he said, "The culprits are the young fans. You killed the thing that you love. Because as soon as streaming came in, you took away a chance for the new great bands who are there in the shadows, who can't quit their day job because you can't make a dime putting your music out there, because when you download stuff, it's one-hundredth or one-thousandth of one penny.

"And so you've gotta have millions to millions, and even billions of downloads before you can make a few grand. And the fans have killed that thing. So, the business is dead, and that means that the next Beatles or the next whoever is never gonna get the chance that we did.

"We had record companies that gave us millions of dollars so we can make records and tour, and not worry about a nine-to-five. Because when you're worried about nine-to-five, you don't have the time to sit there and devote to your art, whatever that is." Watch the full interview below: