Gene Simmons says the rock business is dead


I saw an interview last week on Axis T.V. The interviewer was Dan Rather and he was talking to Gene Simmons of Kiss. Gene said the "Rock business is in the coffin and the nails are in"

Do you think the rock business is dead? Or is Gene just being his dramatic self?
taters
Re: large scale theatrical shows and Kiss

It's tough to recall who started the whole production intensive rock show thing. I remember that a bunch of prog bands were doing the full-blown production well before Kiss came along (+/-1973 IIRC). Yes, ELP, and a few others were doing that in 1970ish. I saw Genesis in 1971 and they already were employing costume changes, lighting effects, flash pots, etc. Kiss may well have commercially exploited that approach on a mass scale earlier than most and tip your hat to them for that. However, the approach was already well established before they came along.
Kiss had to compensate for their pitiful musical content with all those distractions.
There's something of a progression from Screaming Jay Hawkins to Arthur Brown to Genesis, Bowie and Alice Cooper. Not sure who or what predated Screaming Jay, if anyone, in the use of props. Arthur, of course, set his headpiece on fire, which was nifty.
Kiss and Cooper both captured audiences with a "shock and awe" approach that incorporated gimmicks and visual tricks. Although on first listen maybe not a revelation, but Coopers' band was highly musical with above average musical chops. Kiss was more of a phenomenon, as musical ability was not as advanced. Still, hard not to like "Do u love me", " King of the night time world", etc.
Genius?
Hahahahagagahahahahaha. 
Bet he had to tell someone that.  

Kiss sucked. They still suck. They will always suck.