Gene Simmons Proclaims Rock N Roll Is Dead: "It Was Murdered"

Interesting choice of words.

Never one to bite his tongue (HA!), KISS member Gene Simmons is declaring in a new interview with 'Esquire' magazine that "rock is finally dead". Not only that though, he's saying it was "murdered".

Gene sat down for an interview with his son Nick, and the pair chatted about the state of the music industry, and Simmons never holds back.

This is what he had to say:

"The death of rock was not a natural death. Rock did not die of old age. It was murdered," 

"It's very sad for new bands. My heart goes out to them. They just don't have a chance. If you play guitar, it's almost impossible,"

"You're better off not even learning how to play guitar or write songs, and just singing in the shower and auditioning for The X Factor. And I'm not slamming The X Factor, or pop singers. But where's the next Bob Dylan? Where's the next Beatles? Where are the songwriters? Where are the creators? Many of them now have to work behind the scenes, to prop up pop acts and write their stuff for them."

"The craft is gone, and that is what technology, in part, has brought us," Simmons said. "What is the next Dark Side of the Moon? Now that the record industry barely exists, they wouldn't have a chance to make something like that. There is a reason that, along with the usual top-40 juggernauts, some of the biggest touring bands are half old people, like me."

"My sense is that file sharing started in predominantly white, middle- and upper-middle-class young people who were native-born, who felt they were entitled to have something for free, because that's what they were used to. If you believe in capitalism — and I'm a firm believer in free-market capitalism — then that other model is chaos. It destroys the structure." 

"I find that many of the more patriotic people are immigrants."

While mentioning that he believes the pinnacle of music came between 1958 and 1983, he states that two bands have carried on the spirit of that era:

Nirvana, and shockingly Tame Impala who he admits Nick turned him onto.

Following Gene's admission however, Dave Grohl and the guys of the Foo Fighters posted his story to their Facebook page saying: "Not so fast Mr. God of Thunder.....". 

Foo Fighters new album "Sonic Highways" will be released November 10th.

What do you guys think of what Gene had to say? Is he right? Or just a jaded old man?