Let it go, man.
Gene Simmons has once again declared war on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, not over who’s in, but who he believes doesn’t belong.
The Kiss bassist, inducted in 2014, used the LegendsNLeaders podcast to lambast the institution for honouring hip-hop acts like N.W.A and Grandmaster Flash.
“It doesn’t speak my language,” Simmons said. “I don’t come from the ghetto. Hip-hop does not belong in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, nor does opera.”
He dismissed rap as “spoken-word art” and demanded to know when Led Zeppelin would enter a Hip-Hop Hall of Fame.
Ice Cube, whose N.W.A was inducted in 2015, previously countered that rap embodies the same rebellious spirit. “It’s a piece of rock & roll,” Cube told Rolling Stone.
Simmons also declared rock dead, claiming no true stars have emerged since 1988. He suggested Dave Grohl walks unnoticed and insisted more people would recognise Mötley Crüe than Radiohead.
Meanwhile, Kiss remains on hiatus, and Simmons recently sparked fresh backlash by claiming Peter Criss didn’t write ‘Beth,’ a charge the drummer vehemently denied.
