06 September 2005

Gene Simmons is a moron...

I heard something very laughable today on the radio driving into work. Well, I heard several funny things on the way to work, but one that struck me as especially funny was the story folks were carrying about how Gene Simmons of KISS fame was decrying how the talent pool in the music business has gone way down hill, and especially in the rap music business. He went on to state how you didn’t need any talent to be a rapper at all. Here is a link of what he was saying:

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/interviews/gene_simmons_its_not_about_music_its_about_charisma.html

It’s also funny to me that a man who has no talent whatsoever, and is more famous for having a long tongue, and wearing make-up is saying this. I mean, have you listened to KISS’ music ever? It’s so non-challenging and formulaic that it’s borderline pathetic. KISS has been a band with a gimmick ever since they started. Their gimmick was the make-up and the costumes. Essentially, they’re just a stripped down version of Gwar, who is actually more musical than KISS by the way ( www.gwar.net ). KISS made their millions on playing bad music, and wearing make-up, and having people wonder what they looked like under the make-up. They haven’t had a good album in I don’t know how many years. They were so pathetic when they took off their make-up, that eventually, they put it back on, and went back out on the road playing the same old songs that made them famous, and gave up their new stuff. This is in the form of The Rolling Stones, and other famous rock acts that have sucked over the last 20 years, but people are still willing to shell out $50 or more per person to go and see them because they’re known as rock gods (for some reason, not because of their music). KISS needs to hang it up, and get off the road. They suck. They’ve always sucked, and they always will. There is really no other way to put it than that. Gene Simmons and his ilk are so egotistical that they believe that the world revolves around them. I’d love to meet the guy and laugh in his face. I’m sure he would be aghast that someone would do something like that to HIM. I guess, just in general, I have a problem with how we view celebrity in this country, and in the world in particular. I just don’t understand, personally, why people get all goo goo over someone famous coming across their path. Maybe it’s the New Englander in me, or maybe because I’ve seen my fair share of famous people, but have rarely been impressed by any of them. There are of course people who bring a certain charisma to their fame, and have a certain presence, but for the most part, the common pop celebrities don’t have it. Gene Simmons, and the other members of his band, they don’t have it. They don’t have it at all.

Why is it anyway, that the people who have the money to get “things”, are always the people who will get the free stuff? Take for instance the schwag bags that they have at awards ceremonies that they give out to celebrities when they show up. Some of the things in those gift bags are worth immense amounts of money. Instead of lavishing celebrities with free stuff that they don’t need, and can afford on their own, why don’t they donate the money they were going to spend on these self absorbed folks to some charitable foundation? That’s what I’d do if I had an awards ceremony. It could be like that Seinfeld episode where George didn’t want to shell out money for office Christmas gifts, and instead gave everyone cards saying that he donated money to “The Human Fund” in the name of the person he was supposed to be giving a gift to. But instead, in this case, the awards people could actually give money to a charitable organization. Any celebrity who came out and said something negative about that, would be painted an even bigger asshole than he or she already is. It’s all upside for the awards people. For instance, I heard that this weekend Beyonce Knowles had her birthday party with 1000 of her “closest” friends. Among her gifts were a 2.5 million dollar ring (a freakin’ ring people!!), and a 650,000 dollar watch. That’s some bling. And some stupid bling to say the least. Would you actually wear something that expensive? I doubt it. And damn isn’t that self centered. I suppose though, if you’ve got it, and want to spend it, far be it from me to tell you what to spend it on, but I’m pretty sure I could think of a few other things to do with 2.5 million dollars, and buying a ring wouldn’t be very high on the list of things to do with that amount of money. I can tell you that. I have heard though, that in the past, certain celebrities like Keanu Reeves, when presented with extravagant gifts, and high dollar gifts, he’s sold them off, and given what money he’s gotten from those things to some sort of charitable organization. Now that’s being a pretty nice guy. And even though he doesn’t have very much acting ability, he seems like a stand up guy. We need MORE celebrities like that I think. But then, if they were all like that, I wouldn’t have anything to gripe about. So maybe it’s better that celebrities suck at life so much.

A note about the Republican spin machine. It appears that it is in full swing. Instead of taking responsibility for responding slow to the Katrina disaster in the deep South, they’ve decided to attack the cities, and the leadership of the cities that have been very outspoken in their criticism of the Bush administration. You’ve got to love Karl Rove. When someone says something bad about you, make sure you attack them as soon as possible, even if they’re right. By the time the attackee’s respond, it’s too late, the credibility gap is there. This continues even with the hurricane tragedy. Just once, I’d like to see the Bush administration step up and say, yes, we messed up, and here’s what we’re going to do to fix it. Instead though, we get, “The Mayor of NO is responsible for not getting all of the people out.” And so on and so forth. Then again, I’d have to believe that Bush actually believes that he has never been wrong, and that he hasn’t made any mistakes. Easy to do when there are people all around you telling you what you’re doing is absolutely right, absolutely correct… I hate yes men and women.

6 Comments:

At 7:35 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Remember, Dante reserved the 8th Ditch of hell for false flatterers.

 
At 2:47 PM, Blogger The Peach said...

I'll take Kiss over GWAR any day. Of course, Gene Simmons is an ass. I'll give you that much. Kiss does have some catchy tunes, though. I bet you could find several that you like if you just listened.

 
At 2:49 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gwar is more of a joke then Kiss

 
At 2:55 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well it appears you're an idiot not only on the musical front but on politics as well. Yeah it was all the federal government's fault that Nagin and the state of Louisiana failed their citizens. You're obviously bitter and incredibly uptight as are most left wingers such as yourself. Try decaff.

 
At 2:33 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

so you don't like Gene Simmons & KISS.
You can't deny the band's influence.
you may not like Gene or KISS, but there are millions who do.

 
At 11:12 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If Kiss is still going on for 35 years than why do you have such a biased opinion over them? Sure what you think is what you have to say, and are so arrogant that you dont take time and actually listen to the music. They have made a major impact on many levels and have brought new ideas to the generations today and to come. You might think that Gene Simmons isn't your cup of tea in a person, but your taste in music is obviously pretty shitty too and a shittier person to take the time to say such false things of Kiss and Gene Simmons' impact of the history of rock and how it has evolved. If it wasn't for them we'd probably be listening to something of no intelegence at all. If you can't figure out the different ways of how they have used their gifts of putting a single together, than you need to find something better to do than talk a bunch of shit.

 

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