Gene Simmons blames PIRACY..."ROCK IS DEAD..."

"The masses do not recognize file-sharing and downloading as stealing because there's a copy left behind for you — it's not that copy that's the problem, it's the other one that someone received but didn't pay for. The problem is that nobody will pay you for the 10,000 hours you put in to create what you created. I can only imagine the frustration of all that work, and having no one value it enough to pay you for it..."

So says GENE SIMMONS.

It's something he's been saying for years. As has Prince. As have many who have remained silent in public because rock "fans" are such sadistic animals they "GET" anyone who is "ruining the fun." (Let's remember that the first thing that happens if a rock star goes after piracy...is his website gets hacked, and the music is spitefully spread even more.)

Like the assassination of Julius Caesar, you might not be able to officially declare which knife dealt the fatal blow, but PIRACY is way up on the lethal list. After all, PIRACY is what killed the record stores and destroyed the record labels. These existed until "The Blogfather" and Zinfuck and other assholes came along, and Pirate Bay and the torrents thumbed their noses at copyWRONG.

More:

The entire interview is on the ESQUIRE website...because magazines are dying, and they are trying desperately to find that elusive "new paradigm," which in this case is "give it away and hope to make money with banner ads and click-throughs."

Sure, it's an irony that GENE SIMMONS, fronting one of the world's worst rock bands, is the one to complain. KISS and its arena rock bullshit have just added to the problem of boring, boring music being done to death by formula. In that way, KISS is no worse than BON JOVI or BRUUUUUUCE or any of the many bands that took a good idea and flogged it to death with a dozen sound-alike albums...or maybe just four or five before disbanding.

I can only add that "ADD" is a problem, too. Kids have an attention deficit disorder. They tire of a band or an artist after one or two albums. So, goodbye Dido, K.T. Tunstall, and others who seemed to have an interesting sound and a future. Unless that artist can be ridiculous (Viley Virus comes to mind) and do anything and everything to stay a cinder in the public eye...it's over. There's too much competition from social media, video games, movies, TV, streaming, sports...and ALL music styles are very tired.

Anybody do anything really new in classical music after the 19th Century? Anyone improve on the jazz of Miles Davis or the country music of George Jones? Isn't everyone tired of rap shit, and vocoder nonsense? Is it possible for anyone to come up with even a shitty ballad like "I Will Always Love You?" How often does ANYONE come up with a catchy song that crosses all demographic groups? "Happy" by that fucking hat-wearing idiot Pharrell?

GENE SIMMONS is RIGHT. ROCK IS DEAD...MUSIC in general, is DEAD.