Gene Simmons Reveals KISS’ Main Goal And Mentality
An era is coming to an end. The iconic rock band KISS, which has dominated the scene for 50 years, meets its fans for the last time with the End of the Road World Tour. Gene Simmons, the legendary bassist of the band, revealed in his last appearance with AXS TV what KISS‘s vision and mentality have been during this 5-decade period.
KISS‘ primary goal has always been to give the audience a stage performance they have not witnessed before, and they fulfilled this goal entirely. Even at the beginning of the band’s formation, they gained international fame by the mid-70s with their unique stage performances.
Although KISS has changed the line-up many times until today, the core group reunited in 1996. The Alive/Worldwide tour, also known as the reunion tour, was the band’s highest-grossing tour, with 143.7 Million grosses.
On the other hand, during his last appearance with AXS TV, Gene Simmons was asked how KISS was able to reach so many audiences even though it wasn’t dominating the music charts.
“We decided not to play the game,” he said. “The game of pop groups was to try to figure out those saccharine sweet melodies and choruses that had to do with love and heartbreak and so on, that mom and dad listening to the radio during the day time would find appealing.
“The philosophy was to put together an entire statement, a body of work if you will, as opposed to one song.”
In the continuation of his words, Simmons explains how it makes him feel to be on stage.
“My favourite moment continues to be getting up on that stage, which as far as I’m concerned is holy ground. It’s electric church. What we do is unequalled.
“In fact, we introduce ourselves with, ‘You wanted the best, you got the best, the hottest band in the world — Kiss.'”
Gene Simmons reveals KISS’ on-stage mentality
Being one of the best-performing bands of all time is not a title that can only be achieved with talent. Dedication and mentality are one of the basic steps to achieving this title. According to Simmons, this mentality was a self-imposed task of KISS.
“It is a self-imposed mandate that, even if you hate the band and the music and think it’s silly, if you come to our show you will walk out and say, ‘That’s the best show I’ve ever seen in my life,'” he continued.
“The four guys that put the band together 40 years ago…basically the self-imposed mandate was, ‘Let’s put together the band we never saw on stage. Let’s kick ’em in the nuts, let’s give ’em something they’ve never seen before’.”
As we mentioned earlier, KISS meets its audience for the last time with its farewell tour, The End Of The Road. The band will continue the tour with the South American leg in April; you can reach the upcoming dates here.
