Gene Simmons recently claimed that nobody aged 20 or younger could name a single song from rock legends Nirvana or Pearl Jam.
Simmons made these comments in a recent interview, where he once again insisted that rock is dead.
Speaking on The Zak Kuhn Show, Simmons claimed that between 1958 and 1988, the world saw the likes of Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, David Bowie, Prince, and Led Zeppelin among others.
From there, Simmons wondered: "And from 1988 until today, it's something like almost 40 years, certainly 35 years, who are the new Beatles?".
It was at this point that Simmons claimed that people under the age of 20 would not have heard about bands like Nirvana or Pearl Jam.
"Stop. We are blinded. I'm a major fan. If you walked down the street and asked a 20-year-old, 'Who's the bass player in Nirvana?', they wouldn't know what you're talking about", Simmons said.
"Or, 'Can you sing a Nirvana song?' No, no. The Beatles and, to slightly lesser extent, The Stones and Elvis... everybody knew The Beatles. If you hated rock music, you knew about them".
On Pearl Jam, he added: "My point is if you randomly walk down the street and you ask the first young person you meet, a 20-year-old, and you say, 'Name me anybody in Pearl Jam,' good luck with that. 'Name me or tell me a song. Hum a song.' They [can't]".
"The masses have no idea who's in Phish one of my favourite bands, or Pearl Jam. They wouldn't have a clue, unless you're a fan".
Check out the interview for yourselves below. You will be best advised to fast forward 45 minutes into the interview for the interesting bit of this chat.
Gene Simmons also announced that he would play a run of solo shows next year. More on this from Nova here.
