WEBVTT - Gene Simmons 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:15.956 Pushkin. 0:00:20.196 --> 0:00:23.116 Gene Simmons is known for his theatrics, and man, did 0:00:23.116 --> 0:00:25.636 I get a concentrated dose of that in this episode. 0:00:25.956 --> 0:00:28.636 Jean's the co founder, basis and frontman of Kiss Salama 0:00:28.676 --> 0:00:32.836 Paul Stanley and built an outrageous, maybe obnoxious persona dubbed 0:00:32.916 --> 0:00:36.196 the Demon. Now seventy six years old and retired from touring, 0:00:36.316 --> 0:00:38.996 he's finding new ways to keep Kiss fans known as 0:00:39.036 --> 0:00:42.396 the Kiss Army, engaged, including a three day event this 0:00:42.476 --> 0:00:46.716 November called the Kiss Cruise Landlocked in Vegas. I'd arranged 0:00:46.716 --> 0:00:48.356 for an hour interview with Jeane, like I did with 0:00:48.396 --> 0:00:50.716 Paul Stanley a few months ago, to talk about the 0:00:50.756 --> 0:00:53.796 event and Kiss lore. I was excited to pick his 0:00:53.836 --> 0:00:56.716 brain since he has an almost encyclopedic memory for a 0:00:56.756 --> 0:00:59.476 certain era of music. But things got off to a 0:00:59.556 --> 0:01:01.316 rough start, stayed rocky. 0:01:01.196 --> 0:01:01.756 And an end. 0:01:02.196 --> 0:01:05.236 This may be the strangest interview I've ever done. We 0:01:05.276 --> 0:01:07.476 only talked for about thirty minutes, but it's still worth 0:01:07.516 --> 0:01:09.716 running to me because it is a pretty good inside 0:01:09.756 --> 0:01:12.676 I think into the man they called the Demon, Gene Simmons. 0:01:15.436 --> 0:01:24.916 This is broken record, real musicians, real conversations. Here's my 0:01:24.996 --> 0:01:27.036 conversation with Gene Simmons. 0:01:28.196 --> 0:01:29.556 Can you hear me? Oh? 0:01:29.636 --> 0:01:35.116 I hear you loud and clear? Sound great? Okay, docent 0:01:35.196 --> 0:01:43.556 tones of Gene Simmons amazing. Wow, i'minating for my own passage. 0:01:44.076 --> 0:01:47.796 Are you in la? Oh? I'm straight. I'm so sorry. 0:01:51.396 --> 0:01:55.916 We just met. We already want to know, so where 0:01:55.916 --> 0:01:56.516 ready to live? 0:01:57.636 --> 0:01:59.916 We're off to the best start I could imagine. This 0:01:59.636 --> 0:02:05.556 is This is perfect man, great to meet you. 0:02:05.676 --> 0:02:08.276 Thank you, and thanks for trusting for the event. You 0:02:08.356 --> 0:02:11.476 look great, Thank you, Thank you. You look much better. 0:02:11.556 --> 0:02:19.156 But would suspect you would always you know, I saw. 0:02:18.956 --> 0:02:25.196 You by the way, speaking of potato chips. Unfortunately, my apologies. 0:02:25.236 --> 0:02:27.796 We're going to have to cut it shorter than i'd 0:02:27.876 --> 0:02:31.836 like to go because I got the stink of from 0:02:32.156 --> 0:02:35.076 one of the guys just says I've got a lawyer 0:02:35.156 --> 0:02:37.276 conference thing, So I'll shut up so you can do 0:02:37.316 --> 0:02:39.756 the talk. Okay, sounds good. 0:02:41.116 --> 0:02:45.676 You know, I saw you recently talking about Ozzie's death 0:02:45.716 --> 0:02:50.876 and being quite verclempt about about it, as many people are. 0:02:52.556 --> 0:02:54.156 But I was I was thinking you. 0:02:54.156 --> 0:02:59.596 You guys obviously must have first met on opening for Sabbath, right, Yeah. 0:02:59.396 --> 0:03:03.196 We were both trying to make our mark, you know, 0:03:03.436 --> 0:03:07.516 And we came a little bit later than Sabbath, a 0:03:07.596 --> 0:03:11.396 year or two after, so they were starting to make 0:03:11.436 --> 0:03:14.116 some headway, but we were still in the two three 0:03:14.196 --> 0:03:20.236 thousand seater level you know of in the end, you know, 0:03:20.276 --> 0:03:25.476 a long time ago, before digital, before anything, you had amplifiers. 0:03:25.476 --> 0:03:28.276 You had a chord that connected to your guitar and 0:03:28.356 --> 0:03:32.236 you plugged it into the amplifier. There's no ear, no 0:03:32.396 --> 0:03:36.796 auto correct nor nothing. You're not just meeting potatoes. And 0:03:37.196 --> 0:03:42.836 since neither Sabbath nor Kiss wrote singles, you had to 0:03:42.876 --> 0:03:44.996 get in the back of the station wagon, go from 0:03:44.996 --> 0:03:48.276 one city to the other and take your case to 0:03:48.356 --> 0:03:51.556 the people. So in a lot of ways, it was 0:03:51.556 --> 0:03:53.596 a much more honest time. 0:03:53.756 --> 0:03:53.956 You know. 0:03:54.036 --> 0:03:58.156 The bands that became big bands became big bands because 0:03:58.236 --> 0:04:00.516 the fans liked what they heard and what they saw. 0:04:03.956 --> 0:04:08.316 When you say neither Sabbath nor Kiss wrote singles, what 0:04:08.356 --> 0:04:08.956 do you mean by that? 0:04:11.476 --> 0:04:14.196 Well, if we took a look at the lyric, our 0:04:14.276 --> 0:04:17.796 first quote single was called Nothing to Lose. I happened 0:04:17.836 --> 0:04:23.636 to write it before I had a baby. I tried 0:04:23.756 --> 0:04:28.396 every way. She didn't want to do it, but she 0:04:28.476 --> 0:04:31.916 did anyway. I thought about the back door and it 0:04:31.996 --> 0:04:40.756 was about you know, the six from the backside, but 0:04:41.396 --> 0:04:42.836 radio didn't pick up on it. 0:04:43.356 --> 0:04:44.796 But that's what it was about. 0:04:45.916 --> 0:04:53.996 And you know, Sabbath came on sort of more darker, perhaps, 0:04:54.196 --> 0:05:00.516 but even we dabbled me as a demon and gout 0:05:00.556 --> 0:05:03.236 of thunder and all that. Later on, I did some 0:05:03.556 --> 0:05:10.956 darker stuff, unholy stuff like that, but until I was 0:05:10.996 --> 0:05:14.516 made for loving you, I mean rock and roll All 0:05:14.636 --> 0:05:19.316 Night was a single but not really a hit, so 0:05:19.436 --> 0:05:25.116 we tended to write about chasing skirt and enjoying life. 0:05:25.956 --> 0:05:28.596 We didn't write a song about how cold? How could 0:05:28.596 --> 0:05:31.996 I you know, how could I live without you? You know, 0:05:32.076 --> 0:05:36.036 all those songs that are directed at chicks. In fact, 0:05:36.076 --> 0:05:40.356 even Best, which was a big hit, Best, I hear 0:05:40.396 --> 0:05:43.356 you calling, but I can't come home right now because 0:05:43.436 --> 0:05:45.716 me and the boys are playing all night. In other words, 0:05:45.796 --> 0:05:50.356 what's more important me or the band? Actually bitch the band? 0:05:53.236 --> 0:05:53.476 You know. 0:05:53.836 --> 0:05:57.636 It brings up a point I was curious about, which is, 0:05:59.956 --> 0:06:05.956 you know, I feel like your songwriting is so is 0:06:06.076 --> 0:06:08.476 unique in the sense if you mentioned nothing to lose, 0:06:08.556 --> 0:06:11.556 But if you think about I mean, some of your 0:06:11.636 --> 0:06:15.716 later songs seem not better, but they seem almost that 0:06:15.796 --> 0:06:19.116 you knew who you were and what you wanted to say. 0:06:19.436 --> 0:06:23.716 Your writing became almost more direct and clear. From my perspective. 0:06:23.796 --> 0:06:25.956 Could be wrong, I'm happy to be wrong. Then some 0:06:25.996 --> 0:06:27.916 of the mid career kiss songs or even some of 0:06:27.956 --> 0:06:31.996 the songs from like say Monster, sound like fully flatted, 0:06:31.996 --> 0:06:35.316 like this is, you know, Gene Simmons, the demon of Kiss. 0:06:35.356 --> 0:06:36.796 Well, I don't know if you feel that way. I 0:06:36.836 --> 0:06:41.316 will say that all of us, going back to I mean, 0:06:41.356 --> 0:06:44.276 the Brits really started writing their own songs, even though 0:06:44.316 --> 0:06:48.636 Sam Cook wrote his songs and Chuck Berry, but predominantly 0:06:49.316 --> 0:06:55.396 you have the brill building filled with my people, Labor 0:06:55.516 --> 0:06:58.516 Stoler and all that, who wrote all the hit songs. 0:06:58.276 --> 0:07:00.876 You ain't nothing about. How about now, these are not. 0:07:01.876 --> 0:07:06.196 African Americans who wrote They were Jews who wrote all 0:07:06.236 --> 0:07:10.156 this you know on broad with all the sort of 0:07:10.276 --> 0:07:16.036 blues tinged new Et, nonbud Hound, Libre Stoller to New York. 0:07:16.116 --> 0:07:20.196 Jews wrote that because they loved black music, So artists 0:07:20.236 --> 0:07:26.556 of the previous time, previous generations, lined up. They came 0:07:26.596 --> 0:07:29.876 to the studio and they were given the music that 0:07:30.036 --> 0:07:33.716 somebody else wrote. They had hits written for them, specifically 0:07:33.756 --> 0:07:37.276 by other writers and the Monkeys is probably the pre 0:07:37.396 --> 0:07:39.956 eminent example. You show up in the studio and you 0:07:40.036 --> 0:07:43.556 have great writers, Boys, Boys and Heart, Neil Diamond. You know, 0:07:43.636 --> 0:07:47.756 all the best writers would write hit songs for them. 0:07:48.676 --> 0:07:54.116 But when the Beatles came along, it changed everything. These 0:07:54.156 --> 0:07:57.916 guys started writing and performing their own songs, playing all 0:07:57.916 --> 0:08:00.836 the instruments. As opposed to the Temptations, one of my 0:08:00.876 --> 0:08:05.076 favorite bands, didn't play instruments. They just sang and you know, 0:08:05.196 --> 0:08:10.036 did stage movements. They had full bands, and the Beatles 0:08:10.036 --> 0:08:14.196 were fully contained. They play their own instruments, wrote their 0:08:14.236 --> 0:08:17.876 own songs, and in a lot of ways, crafted and 0:08:18.596 --> 0:08:22.516 designed their own you know. It's like a sculptor who's 0:08:22.516 --> 0:08:26.516 got a big block of rock. He's got, you know, 0:08:27.076 --> 0:08:29.636 a hammer and a chisel, and you know, kind of 0:08:30.036 --> 0:08:32.516 bangs his way through it and finds the form that 0:08:33.116 --> 0:08:35.476 he sees in his mind. But I want to say 0:08:35.516 --> 0:08:42.236 that all of us, Henrik Optega whoever, and of course 0:08:42.236 --> 0:08:46.316 they are much higher life form, are self taught. Nobody 0:08:46.356 --> 0:08:51.236 studied music theory. Nobody to this day who's popular can 0:08:51.316 --> 0:08:56.116 read or write music. Nobody's trained in music theory. 0:08:56.196 --> 0:08:56.516 Nothing. 0:08:56.596 --> 0:09:00.756 We're just you know, deaf and dumb, just bumbling through 0:09:01.196 --> 0:09:06.476 a forest of musical notes and trying to find that 0:09:06.556 --> 0:09:14.396 thing that you know appeals to us, versus real songwriters 0:09:14.916 --> 0:09:20.716 who knew exactly how to craft a hit song. Max Martin, 0:09:20.836 --> 0:09:24.836 you know, the more modern who wrote Britney Spears, Christine Naguilar, 0:09:24.916 --> 0:09:26.756 all that stuff. He sits there, Okay, what kind of 0:09:27.356 --> 0:09:29.956 and they craft, you know, this kind of song. The 0:09:29.996 --> 0:09:33.956 rest of us are just bumbling our way through it. 0:09:32.916 --> 0:09:39.756 It's actually quite an interesting enigma of how we get 0:09:39.836 --> 0:09:44.276 from I didn't know how to play a chord, teaching 0:09:44.316 --> 0:09:48.596 myself that first chord, and then I'm talking about all 0:09:48.596 --> 0:09:51.436 of us figuring out how to write songs because nobody 0:09:51.436 --> 0:09:53.596 sat down and said, okay, here's how you write a song. 0:09:55.116 --> 0:09:58.236 We'll be back with more from Jean Simmons after the break. 0:10:01.956 --> 0:10:03.276 For you. 0:10:03.276 --> 0:10:05.956 You know, you go from playing that first chord to 0:10:07.036 --> 0:10:10.556 writing that first crap songs nothing to lose and co 0:10:10.676 --> 0:10:13.916 writing some stuff obviously with Paul strutters your song. But 0:10:13.956 --> 0:10:16.076 then you know, you bring it to Paul, he adds 0:10:16.076 --> 0:10:19.276 some stuff one hundred thousand years. But then and then 0:10:19.316 --> 0:10:21.116 you move along and it's like, you know, you mentioned 0:10:21.316 --> 0:10:27.596 holy unholy Domino love it loud, young and wasted. Uh, 0:10:27.756 --> 0:10:30.436 you know Russian Roulette even or The Devil Is Me 0:10:30.596 --> 0:10:32.996 like these are songs like we're now getting much later even. 0:10:34.236 --> 0:10:37.956 You absolutely not only did you figure out songwriting, but 0:10:38.036 --> 0:10:40.516 it seems as if over the arc of your career 0:10:41.276 --> 0:10:43.796 you didn't lose it where some people maybe did. You 0:10:44.076 --> 0:10:46.996 maintained it, perhaps even got better, would be my estimation. 0:10:48.156 --> 0:10:50.796 What then, have you learned about songwriting? And obviously all 0:10:50.796 --> 0:10:53.596 into it, you intuited it along the way, but you must've. 0:10:53.476 --> 0:10:56.636 Learned songwriting is a trip where you never get there, 0:10:57.836 --> 0:11:00.196 definitely do. I mean I know Elton well, and all 0:11:00.236 --> 0:11:06.276 of a sudden you know great songwriters and they're always uh. 0:11:06.596 --> 0:11:09.276 I mean Elton must have written hundreds of songs, three 0:11:09.356 --> 0:11:14.996 hundred maybe maybe more. You're never there. You're always looking 0:11:15.076 --> 0:11:19.956 for that thing. And maybe that's the magic of that thing. 0:11:20.116 --> 0:11:20.636 I don't care. 0:11:20.676 --> 0:11:24.476 If you went through the Renaissance Mozart, Beethoven, Might you 0:11:24.476 --> 0:11:28.516 know Rockman and off Hide and Chopin, all those guys 0:11:28.756 --> 0:11:34.436 they kept writing searching for that elusive butterfly. Bob lind 0:11:35.476 --> 0:11:41.676 you might wake up some morning before your time. Elusive 0:11:41.756 --> 0:11:46.876 Butterfly a smash hit which barely had any rhyme in 0:11:46.916 --> 0:11:51.036 the In the verses, you might wake up some morning 0:11:51.436 --> 0:11:56.196 to the sound all of a sudden so blowing in 0:11:56.276 --> 0:12:04.316 the wind. There's no rhyme. The words just flowed nicely. 0:12:05.876 --> 0:12:07.796 So watching. Hey. 0:12:07.836 --> 0:12:11.476 Look, I come from a time when you had more 0:12:11.556 --> 0:12:15.956 serious songs. You had ballads, you had blues, you had 0:12:16.036 --> 0:12:21.036 country rockabilly. Country artists were having hits right down the middle, 0:12:21.396 --> 0:12:25.836 and you had novelty songs. And the first rap so 0:12:26.076 --> 0:12:30.916 I ever heard was well, even before Wild Thing, which 0:12:31.276 --> 0:12:36.556 don't kids yourself is spoken word goes like this wild Thing, 0:12:37.356 --> 0:12:40.916 you make my hearts. There's no melody, it's just the 0:12:40.996 --> 0:12:43.236 chords and background. In a lot of ways it's rap. 0:12:43.516 --> 0:12:47.596 But before then we had a song by number one 0:12:47.756 --> 0:12:49.276 Napoleon the fourteenth. 0:12:49.676 --> 0:12:51.316 Yeah, yeah, it goes like. 0:12:51.236 --> 0:12:57.836 This, They're coming to take me a work, They're coming 0:12:57.876 --> 0:13:01.516 to take me away out to the funny farm, and 0:13:01.556 --> 0:13:04.036 the guy talks for you know. It's about a guy 0:13:04.076 --> 0:13:07.316 who's crazy, I guess, and they're coming to take him away. 0:13:07.396 --> 0:13:10.756 That's it totally. On the cover, there's a guy with 0:13:10.796 --> 0:13:13.716 a Napoleonic hat with his hand and his thing, and 0:13:13.756 --> 0:13:17.196 that was it. And then there was Dicky Goodman, who 0:13:17.236 --> 0:13:23.036 would string together pieces of hit songs. This isn't before sampling, 0:13:23.116 --> 0:13:26.196 because it was sampling. They'd take eight miles high by 0:13:26.236 --> 0:13:28.996 the birds and you know, wild thing and so little 0:13:28.996 --> 0:13:31.876 snippets and he'd craft the story, Well, there's a flying 0:13:31.916 --> 0:13:33.676 saucer landing over there. 0:13:33.756 --> 0:13:35.036 I wonder where it came from. 0:13:34.916 --> 0:13:40.036 Eight miles Uh, well, it can't be, you know, my goodness, 0:13:40.116 --> 0:13:44.916 it looks like a big fish coming out of the water. Bump, 0:13:44.996 --> 0:13:48.636 bump ump. In fact, one of his hits was Mister Jaws, 0:13:49.316 --> 0:13:51.756 about a guy going fishing who catches a big thing 0:13:52.156 --> 0:13:57.036 and they string together hits, some big hits. 0:13:57.076 --> 0:13:57.916 So what chan. 0:14:01.076 --> 0:14:05.956 Well, the larger point is that you have, though you 0:14:05.996 --> 0:14:08.436 did not go to school to study music, you clearly 0:14:08.476 --> 0:14:12.436 have an incredible ear for music, have an incredible given. 0:14:13.716 --> 0:14:17.716 Incredible incredible is overused. 0:14:17.836 --> 0:14:23.596 There's a wonderful movie called Amadaeus about Salieri, who was 0:14:23.676 --> 0:14:30.716 the King's composer, did operas and stuff, and well well 0:14:30.756 --> 0:14:37.236 known historically as a you know, fine melody craftsman during 0:14:37.276 --> 0:14:42.396 the Renaissance. And he was a childhood friend somewhat of 0:14:42.436 --> 0:14:46.236 Mozart who was a little bit younger, and he was 0:14:46.636 --> 0:14:50.356 tortured his entire life by how Mozart would sit down 0:14:51.676 --> 0:14:56.476 and he would write full pieces, full symphonies and operas 0:14:56.516 --> 0:15:01.876 and everything like as if he's just putting it down 0:15:01.916 --> 0:15:04.556 because it had already been written. The rest of us, 0:15:04.676 --> 0:15:07.356 poor mortals. You know, you take a piece from here, now, 0:15:07.356 --> 0:15:09.596 I got to fix this. Then you go back to it. 0:15:09.676 --> 0:15:10.916 You know, it's like. 0:15:11.116 --> 0:15:15.556 It's like even even da Vinci would paid something. Now 0:15:15.596 --> 0:15:17.236 I don't like that. Then he's got to go back 0:15:17.276 --> 0:15:19.316 and do that thing. Nope, not most are to go 0:15:19.796 --> 0:15:22.036 from right to left. And when he was done, that 0:15:22.196 --> 0:15:25.796 was that was you know, some something happens that is 0:15:25.836 --> 0:15:32.716 a prodigy. That's the word incredible. And Beethoven was actually deaf. 0:15:33.396 --> 0:15:41.236 He wrote music in his mind, and he had wrote 0:15:41.276 --> 0:15:47.716 the entire symphonic arrangement, every single notation, the bassoons and 0:15:47.756 --> 0:15:50.996 the you know, what every instrument was doing is a 0:15:51.036 --> 0:15:55.476 countermlley and everything in his mind. He never heard any 0:15:55.516 --> 0:16:00.396 of the compositions he wrote. That's incredible. Wow. I would 0:16:00.396 --> 0:16:04.396 almost argue it's miraculous more than incredible. Okay, these these 0:16:04.396 --> 0:16:07.396 are semantics, But I'm not anti semantics. 0:16:09.956 --> 0:16:11.556 I'm pleased to hear that. I mean, no, but it's 0:16:11.796 --> 0:16:15.236 your point. I mean that is, that's clearly a gift. 0:16:15.476 --> 0:16:17.516 There's no explanation for it. 0:16:17.516 --> 0:16:18.236 It just is. 0:16:18.556 --> 0:16:22.396 You know, it's like an idiot savant. There was a 0:16:22.436 --> 0:16:26.556 wonderful movie called Rainman, and I was at the studio 0:16:27.836 --> 0:16:30.836 liaising with some guys and developing my own stuff as 0:16:31.116 --> 0:16:35.036 Rainman was being developed into a movie basically about I 0:16:35.076 --> 0:16:38.116 don't want to use the term, but an idiot who 0:16:38.196 --> 0:16:40.636 in life didn't know where. 0:16:40.436 --> 0:16:41.556 He was going, bumbling. 0:16:41.596 --> 0:16:44.316 He would cross the street and not pay attention to 0:16:44.396 --> 0:16:48.876 red light, green light and stuff. But the first hint 0:16:48.996 --> 0:16:52.956 that there's something else going on happened when he was 0:16:52.996 --> 0:16:56.996 in a restaurant and he went over to reach for 0:16:57.036 --> 0:17:01.236 a toothpick, and the toothpick holder fell off the table 0:17:01.276 --> 0:17:03.556 and all these toothpicks were, you know, on the floor, 0:17:04.116 --> 0:17:08.516 Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman, And when they were walking out 0:17:08.516 --> 0:17:12.356 of the restaurant, Cruise tells Hoffmann's character, don't worry about it. 0:17:12.756 --> 0:17:16.116 You know those toothpacks, you know, it's fine. I'm sure 0:17:16.116 --> 0:17:19.076 you put all that in. They said, yes, two hundred 0:17:19.076 --> 0:17:19.756 and thirty seven. 0:17:20.116 --> 0:17:21.156 And Crusad what. 0:17:22.636 --> 0:17:25.396 Two hundred and thirty seven, Yeah, two hundred and thirty seven. 0:17:25.476 --> 0:17:27.596 I picked up when it was two hundred and thirty six, 0:17:27.876 --> 0:17:29.836 and when I put mine and it became two hundred 0:17:29.836 --> 0:17:32.276 and thirty seven because it was two hundred and thirty siven, 0:17:32.716 --> 0:17:34.916 are you talking about? So he went back in. How 0:17:34.956 --> 0:17:37.156 many toothakes were in there? He says, well, sir, let 0:17:37.236 --> 0:17:41.516 me count them. Two hundred and thirty seven. You and 0:17:41.756 --> 0:17:46.236 based on a real person, there was a idiot savant 0:17:46.276 --> 0:17:48.196 and they asked him, could. 0:17:48.116 --> 0:17:52.676 You name that that day? You know what day was? 0:17:52.836 --> 0:17:57.716 You know, July third, eighteen forty eight, Friday? Without thinking 0:17:57.756 --> 0:18:00.116 about it that people go and they check it. Sure 0:18:00.156 --> 0:18:04.156 enough it is. There's no explaining what that is. So 0:18:04.196 --> 0:18:07.916 an idiot savant is a genius in one area and 0:18:07.996 --> 0:18:10.396 helpless in others. I mean, the mystery of the brain. 0:18:10.916 --> 0:18:12.876 I don't know how we got off to this tangent, 0:18:12.956 --> 0:18:16.636 but as you can barely see, clearly see, I love 0:18:16.676 --> 0:18:19.116 the sound of my own voice. Well you were demure, Well, 0:18:19.116 --> 0:18:21.316 in fact, you're being a bit demure. I would say, 0:18:22.076 --> 0:18:25.196 that's a big word, like dramasium. I haven't met another 0:18:25.276 --> 0:18:28.916 human being in real life. I use that word, not 0:18:28.996 --> 0:18:31.796 the straight guys. Anyway, Well, we're on zoom. 0:18:31.876 --> 0:18:32.636 So not yet. 0:18:32.676 --> 0:18:34.596 You have still yet to meet someone in real life 0:18:34.596 --> 0:18:37.716 to use that who uses that word to you. But 0:18:37.796 --> 0:18:39.996 what I was saying is you have an incredible recall. 0:18:40.396 --> 0:18:43.156 And we could argue if it's incredible or just good 0:18:43.236 --> 0:18:44.316 or good. 0:18:44.876 --> 0:18:45.836 I have a good recall. 0:18:45.916 --> 0:18:50.036 It helps not to use drugs or alcohol or cigarettes. 0:18:50.116 --> 0:18:52.596 And that way I can put my hand in front 0:18:52.636 --> 0:18:56.076 of my face and it doesn't do this. I'm turning, 0:18:56.596 --> 0:19:01.876 turning seventy six in three weeks. You look incredible. I 0:19:01.916 --> 0:19:06.036 was saying that to myself, I said, self, looking good. 0:19:06.956 --> 0:19:08.916 But I mean you're talking about a song, songs like 0:19:08.956 --> 0:19:10.716 you know, I mean the Bob linds On it's what 0:19:10.836 --> 0:19:12.196 sixty five sixty six? 0:19:12.316 --> 0:19:15.156 So even is right? Yeah, so even if he. 0:19:16.956 --> 0:19:18.796 Even as a kid, though you proceed so long before 0:19:18.796 --> 0:19:20.876 you would have even gotten into could have gone well. 0:19:22.116 --> 0:19:25.436 But I had an advantage because I wasn't born in America, 0:19:26.436 --> 0:19:29.396 so everything was so vivid. You know, I came from Israel. 0:19:29.476 --> 0:19:32.276 I'm sure you can tell. I wasn't born in Sweden, 0:19:33.036 --> 0:19:37.476 and so I came here with my mother when I 0:19:37.636 --> 0:19:39.436 was eight. As a matter of fact, I was eight 0:19:39.516 --> 0:19:43.716 before I was nine. See what I did there eight 0:19:43.796 --> 0:19:47.076 before I was it's rain Man with the numbers, that's really. 0:19:46.996 --> 0:19:47.756 What the dumpers. 0:19:47.836 --> 0:19:51.716 And so one of the first music I heard was 0:19:51.796 --> 0:19:55.756 black music, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Little Richard. I was 0:19:55.916 --> 0:19:59.556 fortunate enough to know Little Richard and spent time with 0:19:59.676 --> 0:20:04.516 him and introduced my young son at that point to Richard, 0:20:04.636 --> 0:20:08.556 I said, you know, we went to see Richard play live, 0:20:09.356 --> 0:20:11.756 and I took my son because I wanted him to understand, 0:20:11.796 --> 0:20:13.756 you know what some of this stuff was on backstage, 0:20:13.916 --> 0:20:16.716 young man. You know, I I in rented rock and roll, 0:20:16.756 --> 0:20:18.716 you know all this stuff. I'm only three am. I 0:20:18.796 --> 0:20:19.716 don't know what's going on. 0:20:19.756 --> 0:20:21.236 You know, it was hilarious. 0:20:22.156 --> 0:20:26.516 Strangely, life is what happens to you while you're busy 0:20:26.596 --> 0:20:30.956 making your plans. And sadly, I seemed to be the 0:20:30.956 --> 0:20:35.436 only one of note on some level who did the 0:20:35.436 --> 0:20:41.556 eulogy for Chuck Berry's funeral. I was at the open casket, 0:20:41.636 --> 0:20:45.116 you know, where the whole family and friends and family 0:20:45.156 --> 0:20:49.156 were there in an auditorium and I was in the back. 0:20:49.236 --> 0:20:51.916 And the Barry family found out I was in the back, 0:20:51.956 --> 0:20:55.076 and there were no beending on McCartney, Keith Richards. They 0:20:55.076 --> 0:20:59.076 were not there. I don't know why, because without Chuck Berry, 0:20:59.076 --> 0:21:02.076 they wouldn't be the Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, you know, any 0:21:02.076 --> 0:21:06.116 of these guys that was the backbone. And I was 0:21:06.196 --> 0:21:08.676 just there out of respect and they came up, Would 0:21:08.676 --> 0:21:12.396 you step up and say a few words about Chuck 0:21:12.476 --> 0:21:16.676 As a matter of fact, you can google and smoogle 0:21:16.676 --> 0:21:20.436 it and all that button pushing stuff that tortures me. 0:21:21.996 --> 0:21:23.116 And I was. 0:21:23.436 --> 0:21:28.436 I became so overcome by emotion because when I first 0:21:28.476 --> 0:21:31.076 came here as an eight and a half year old 0:21:31.156 --> 0:21:34.556 kid with my mother and hearing that music and not 0:21:34.676 --> 0:21:37.996 understanding the words, I just, you know, felt the feelings. 0:21:40.276 --> 0:21:42.076 I didn't know what the words were, and I tried 0:21:42.076 --> 0:21:45.356 to maybe you know, I didn't know what I was saying, 0:21:45.756 --> 0:21:50.436 but the feeling of it made me move the way quote. 0:21:50.476 --> 0:21:56.716 White music didn't, you know, torn between two lovers. It 0:21:56.756 --> 0:21:59.956 doesn't make you want to Yeah, you know that feeling 0:22:00.036 --> 0:22:04.236 that's in the groin, under the belt buckle, that down there. 0:22:05.076 --> 0:22:07.356 White music just didn't do that. Da da da da 0:22:07.956 --> 0:22:11.556 da da da. Oh yeah, I'm feeling it dead. No, 0:22:11.676 --> 0:22:12.316 it doesn't. 0:22:12.676 --> 0:22:13.556 That's head stuff. 0:22:14.356 --> 0:22:17.876 Black music was all like down there kind of stuff, 0:22:18.236 --> 0:22:20.716 which is why you move your hips and your butt 0:22:20.796 --> 0:22:24.156 and do all that. That's the magic of black music. 0:22:24.276 --> 0:22:28.716 And again, nobody took music theory. It's all self taught, 0:22:29.156 --> 0:22:31.316 and it came from the heart and from the soul, 0:22:31.356 --> 0:22:36.276 and that's why that music continues to resonate. But American 0:22:36.436 --> 0:22:43.276 music really was founded on the backs of creative former 0:22:43.436 --> 0:22:48.116 slaves who could barely play guitar. And somehow these melodies 0:22:48.156 --> 0:22:52.156 came out of I mean, blues, jazz and then rock 0:22:52.196 --> 0:22:54.876 and roll and rap, all that came from black music. 0:22:56.236 --> 0:23:00.356 Yeah, most certainly, Well, Night's break and we'll be back 0:23:00.396 --> 0:23:08.556 with Gene Simmons. Some of the funkiest kiss songs of 0:23:08.676 --> 0:23:12.636 your song almost Human from love Gun. I mean, so 0:23:12.676 --> 0:23:16.476 that's a monster as a bass player, as a songwriter. 0:23:17.356 --> 0:23:20.156 You know, obviously beatles, I know are paramount for you, 0:23:20.276 --> 0:23:22.876 the Beatles, But there was there was that other layer, 0:23:22.916 --> 0:23:25.076 there was another there was something else you. 0:23:25.076 --> 0:23:29.476 Were I didn't I didn't have a uh. I didn't 0:23:29.476 --> 0:23:34.356 come from a genre because I first picked up a 0:23:34.396 --> 0:23:38.476 guitar and tried to strummer a few chords. Because it wasn't. 0:23:38.556 --> 0:23:44.916 I literally have never taken a lesson. I don't know why. 0:23:45.036 --> 0:23:46.756 The smart thing would have been to sit down with 0:23:46.836 --> 0:23:49.596 somebody who could play how do you play a sea chord? 0:23:49.636 --> 0:23:52.356 And so on and what does that mean? But I 0:23:52.756 --> 0:23:56.276 never did, and that goes all the way down to 0:23:58.116 --> 0:24:02.636 that e Van Halen, like all the best players taught themselves, 0:24:03.116 --> 0:24:07.596 and well, I didn't start playing bass. I started strumming 0:24:07.956 --> 0:24:12.956 those stupid songs My Uncle is a Raft and Stanley 0:24:13.036 --> 0:24:16.556 the Parrot, which became Strutter and all that. There's just 0:24:16.676 --> 0:24:20.476 strumming CG D and coming up with my own melodies 0:24:20.996 --> 0:24:24.156 and then hearing hit songs House of the Rising Son 0:24:24.236 --> 0:24:27.076 and so and trying to figure out what those chords 0:24:27.076 --> 0:24:30.036 were and of course getting it wrong. But then I'm going, well, 0:24:30.076 --> 0:24:32.236 wait a minute, I just these are my chords now, 0:24:32.916 --> 0:24:35.356 and I can do my own melodies. Here's a song 0:24:35.396 --> 0:24:38.156 called Spice Islands. I don't know where that came from. 0:24:38.196 --> 0:24:42.276 And making up melodies, but I didn't have a genre 0:24:42.316 --> 0:24:45.996 because I grew up on Chuck Berry, Little Richard, you know, 0:24:46.076 --> 0:24:48.756 black music. And then the Beatles hit, which was like 0:24:48.796 --> 0:24:50.436 a kick in the nuts. 0:24:50.476 --> 0:24:51.956 It was like, what is that? 0:24:52.396 --> 0:24:54.956 You know, she loves you? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, and then 0:24:54.956 --> 0:24:57.996 you get that harmony that minor nine, yeah, you know 0:24:58.076 --> 0:25:01.636 that thing with I never heard that in popular music 0:25:02.636 --> 0:25:05.476 to this day. It's not easy to do. It's easy 0:25:05.516 --> 0:25:11.676 to sing the root and then the you know, do 0:25:11.836 --> 0:25:15.756 re me? Do you know that kind of the triad thing, 0:25:15.796 --> 0:25:18.636 which sounds very nice, it sounds good, but that thing 0:25:18.796 --> 0:25:21.836 was like on another level when you started to hear 0:25:21.876 --> 0:25:27.116 those Beatles harmonies. So, you know, I digress. It is 0:25:27.236 --> 0:25:33.916 interesting that the most successful songwriters of all time, Paul 0:25:33.996 --> 0:25:38.356 McCartney single handedly, by the way, is the most successful 0:25:38.396 --> 0:25:42.276