KISS' Gene Simmons doesn't see Foo Fighters or Oasis as rock legends

7 November 2020, 14:00

Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, KISS' Gene Simmons and former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher. Picture: 1. Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy 2. Per Ole Hagen/Redferns/Getty 3. David Wolff - Patrick/Redferns)/Getty

The KISS rocker praised the 90s-formed bands, but revealed why he believes they haven't made legendary status.

Gene Simmons doesn't believe that Foo Fighters or Oasis are legendary rock stars.

The KISS bassist and co-frontman, who is known for his exceptionally long tongue, hasn't managed to bite it when it comes to the state of rock and bands who have come after him.

As reported by Ultimate Guitar, speaking on The Dennis Miller Option, the Rock And Roll All Nite rocker declared: "Let's just be clear; we love Oasis - in fact, Liam [Gallagher] named one of his kids after me, if truth be told. There's Lennon and there's Gene; Gene's named after me, and Lennon was named after John Lennon.

"But the real answer is that if you walk down the streets to the masses and you said 'Oasis', I don't know if a 35- or 40-year-old is going to know what that is. Universal stardom is - whether you like it or not, whether you never heard a song, everybody knows Elvis or The Beatles."

Listen to their full interview here:

The Dennis Miller Option E173: Gene Simmons Remembers Eddie Van Halen, Michael Crichton and More

Simmons' interesting comments came after he pondered how rock and roll has changed in the digital age and how he struggles to think of a band who are the next Beatles.

"Before the digital world - no cell phones, no MTV, no social media, when bands played their instruments live on stage - no backing tracks, no nothing. It was a more honest time as far as I'm concerned."

"There was so much talent then, and all these people were writing their own types of songs. There was no style - you'd have Yes existing at the same time with The Doors and Led Zeppelin, and they sounded nothing like each other."

He added: "But somebody pointed out something, and it's very profound, I think. From 1958 until 1988 - that's 30 years, kids - name a hundred of the iconic legendaries. Well, we had Elvis, you got The Beatles and The Stones and Jimi Hendrix, and you go on and on and on...

"And you can even go to more modern bands who all came out of there - KISS, yeah, I don't care - AC/DC, Metallica, U2... Even in disco - you had Madonna... Motown, all this amazing music. From 1988 until today, which is more than 30 years, who's the new Beatles?"