While rock legends are to be respected, it’s probably time we stop excusing their outdated opinions – especially when it comes to Gene Simmons.
The KISS bassist and co-lead singer (alongside Paul Stanley) angered music lovers when he spoke out against rap and hip-hop stars being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
‘The fact that, for instance, Iron Maiden is not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame when they can sell out stadiums, and Grandmaster Flash is,’ he criticised on LegendsNLeaders.
Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five were the first rap group ever to be inducted in 2007, almost 30 years after the first honourees.
The 68-year-old artist is credited with creating the hugely influential quick mix theory as well as inventing the slipmat, opening up a new world of possibilities for DJs.
However, in Simmons’ eyes, since he cannot ‘sell out stadiums’, he is not worthy of joining the Hall of Fame.
‘It’s not my music,’ Simmons, 76, continued. ‘I don’t come from the ghetto. It doesn’t speak my language.
‘I said in print many times: Hip-hop does not belong in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, nor does opera, symphony orchestras … it’s called the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.’
He discussed his previous clash with Ice Cube on the matter, who said it was the ‘spirit of rock and roll’ not the literal genre.
Simmons added: ‘OK, fine … I just want to know when Led Zeppelin’s gonna be in the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame. Music has labels, because it describes an approach.’
While nobody was arguing over whether Led Zeppelin should be honoured or not, many felt his view amounted to little more than ‘racism’.
‘It’s wild when white artists are directly influenced by Black musicians and still manage to be racist,’ said activist Ola Ojewumi.
‘Gene Simmons and KISS took their entire image from Patti LaBelle’s rock group, LaBelle. KISS’s manager saw LaBelle’s costumes and asked the designer to create similar outfits.’
LaBelle was a glam rock Black all-female group known for their bold space age outfits and breakout hit Lady Marmalade. They’ve never been nominated.
An overwhelming number of people pointed out that rock and hip-hop have always gone hand in hand, with rock and roll drawing from African American blues music.
‘Gene Simmons might wanna go do some research as to who started rock and roll since it’s Black History Month,’ quipped B_Rabbit843.
They added: ‘Also, hip-hop has been around for over 50 years. Cut the bs already.’
The term ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ goes back to the 1920s, when rhythm and blues began to blend with swing and country, with a healthy dose of rebellion.
Fuelled by independence and a burning post-World War II teenage angst, that characteristic heavy guitar-led sound was born.
Rocket 88 is widely considered the first ever rock and roll song, recorded by Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm, with Little Richard also an early adopter.
While the sound has developed since then and spawned plenty of sub-genres, rock is more of a cousin to hip hop (which also has origins in blues) than Simmons’ credits.
Rock Hall CEO Greg Harris defended the inclusion of rap in their ranks when Eminem was inducted in 2022, saying: ‘It is as hard-hitting and straight ahead as any metal song.
‘It’s a chest punch with a message and with a power and with a rhythm and with a band.’
His comments echoed those of Ice Cube, who was inducted in 2016 with N.W.A. The rapper said: ‘It’s a spirit that’s been going on since the blues, jazz, bebop, soul, rock n’ roll, R&B, heavy metal, punk rock and, yes, hip-hop.
‘Rock n’ roll is not conforming to the people who came before you, but creating your own path in music and life. That is rock n’ roll and that is us.’
Despite Simmons’ complaints, the committee has actually faced criticism that their view of worthy artists is far too narrow.
Courtney Love pointed out in 2023 that only 8.48% of all inductees were women, branding it ‘sexist gate-keeping’ mixed with ‘purposeful ignorance and hostility’.
‘You can write the Rock Hall off as a “boomer tomb” and argue that it is building a totem to its own irrelevance,’ she wrote. ‘Why should we care who is in and who is not?
‘But as scornful as its inductions have been, the Rock Hall is a bulwark against erasure, which every female artist faces, whether they long for the honour or want to spit on it. It is still game recognising game, history made and marked.’
She raised the fact that Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who is considered the godmother of rock ‘n’ roll, was not inducted until 2018 as an ‘early musical influence’.
However, Simmons isn’t alone in his belief that the Hall of Fame should be reserved strictly for rock artists.
Judas Priest’s guitarist since 2011, Richie Faulkner, called it ‘a total joke’ in 2020 when his bandmates were passed over. They were inducted two years later.
‘These institutions are founded on what these guys helped create, and to not be included is a total joke,’ he shared. ‘If you wanna call it the rock hall, then you should start with a healthy foundation of rock (in all its forms) to build on.’
Clearly, 2020 – which saw The Notorious B.I.G., The Doobie Brothers, Nine Inch Nails, T. Rex, and Depeche Mode inducted – was a tough one for old school rockers as Black Sabbath drummer Vinny Appice said the Hall of Fame ‘sucks’.
He declared: ‘It’s supposed to be rock ‘n’ roll, and there’s people in there that’s not rock ‘n’ roll one bit. And just the way they do business — it took them that long to put Black Sabbath in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? Black Sabbath started all this heavy stuff.’
Plenty of fans commented in support of Simmons’, declaring ‘he’s right’, with artists such as Iron Maiden, Motorhead, and Motley Crue all yet to be inducted.
The Hall of Fame actually has multiple categories for recognition: performers, early influences, musical excellence and non-performers, known as the Ahmet Ertegun Award.
Artists are not eligible until 25 years after their first record was released. They are then nominated, and 1,000 ‘rock experts’ vote on who should be inducted.
Each year, there are up to seven new inductees; surely, within those ranks, there’s space to honour more than one version of rock.
Nominees such as twice-suggested Mariah Carey usually ruffle feathers for purists but there is actually no rule that states the artist must be a rocker.
While that genre is preferred, the only stipulation is that they are influential in music and deserve to be recognised as part of the cultural history.
It’s likely that as our understanding of culturally important music widens, the Hall of Fame may have to adapt their name or start secondary awards for all genres.
There are already country, jazz and blues halls, but realistically, if you start dividing up too much, even metal-leaning KISS may wind up finding themselves ineligible.
As X user Becca said: ‘Every year we hear the same complaint from ageing rock artists like Gene Simmons, who is a member of a band that built its entire image around stage costumes directly inspired by Labelle’s fashion, even going so far as to hire the same designer to create similar outfits for the group.
‘Gene needs to get over this because Hip Hop artists will continue to be inducted going forward.’
Two decades on from Grandmaster Flash’s induction, it might be time to admit Simmons’ views and those like his just hint at an underlying bias that was never really about the sanctity of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the first place.
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