Cherise Johnson | Hip Hop DX

Bouer-Griffin

After Gene Simmons said that he’s looking forward to the death of Rap and complained about N.W.A being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year, the Kiss frontman now admits that he doesn’t really want Rap to die, The List reports.

In March, he told Rolling Stone that not only was he looking forward to Rap’s decline but that he was also hoping for the return of the melody and song.

“I didn’t mean that mean-spirited,” the Kiss vocalist now says. “I’ve got to watch my words. Of course I don’t want it to die. But it will. Rock dies, rap dies – doo-wop died. That Chuck Berry stuff is gone. Folk rock went. All things will pass. This idea that music will last forever is delusional.”

“I’ve been criticized for saying rock is dead but I stand by my words,” he continues. “From 1958 to 1988 we had Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The [Rolling] Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Queen. From 1988 until today, give me the new Beatles? It doesn’t work, does it? Pretty fucking pathetic. The boy band is alive and well. One Direction is a very big band. The pop stuff is good. You’ve got [Justin] Bieber and Beyoncé. But I don’t know how to tell anybody this, but it ain’t the Beatles. It doesn’t have the gravitas.”

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Blabbermouth

KISS frontman Paul Stanley has taken to Twitter to distance himself from comments that his bandmate, Gene Simmons, made about Prince.

Simmons made headlines earlier today when he told Newsweek about Prince‘s death: “His drugs killed him. What do you think, he died from a cold?”

Simmons added that he still holds Prince in high regard as a musician. “I think Prince was heads, hands and feet above all the rest of them,” he said. “I thought he left [Michael] Jackson in the dust. Prince was way beyond that. But how pathetic that he killed himself. Don’t kid yourself, that’s what he did. Slowly, I’ll grant you — but that’s what drugs and alcohol is: a slow death.”

After Gene‘s comments were picked up by various news organizations, Stanley tweeted: “Embarrassed by cold clueless statements re Prince‘s death. Without all the facts better to say nothing. My apologies.” He also added a link to the Newsweek article containing Gene‘s quotes.

Initial toxicology tests showed the painkiller Percocet was present in Prince‘s body at his time of death, but autopsy and toxicology results aren’t complete, and the artist’s cause of death remains unknown.

Jason Herndon

Podcast Rock City

Loudwire

Jody Havenot

Michael Brandvold