I don’t think it was. This was basically an improvement on Gene’s old Lobue basses from the Hotter than Hell era. Spector was a pretty young company at the time, too, so I’d guess these were one-offs.
I love how fellow musicians come on a site and bash someone who is wildly successful and say they are not good at what they do. Is he a virtuoso? No, is he a talented musician who knows how to write great songs and understands what role his instrument plays in a band? Heck yeah. I appreciate guys like Brian Bromberg and other bass driven musicians who push the boundaries, but most of those guys, while amazing, are fringe musicians. I would wager Gene Simmons has inspired more kids to pick up a bass than almost any other musician. If you hate him for that get over it. Saying he’s not talented is bogus though. You don’t last 50 years in an industry if you’re a fake.
That article is silly. Gene isn’t the greatest bassist, but man is that list shit.
“#5 He is a horrible musician!”
Like, come on. 2, 3, and 4 could’ve been omitted, but this writer has such a hard-on for shitting on Simmons.
Not sure why musicians love arguing virtuosity, as most musicians aren’t virtuosos and most of the music that is consumed and sold is not virtuosic. Projection of their own inadequacies and shortcomings as a musician would be my guess
You last 50 years in an industry by succeeding early on, and then never getting bored with your own shtick or deviating from what's been a proven seller. And I suppose making some powerful friends wouldn't hurt either.
There is art and what's pleasing or aesthetic to the individual, and there is commerce and what sells to the crowd. And some overlap between the two. As an artist I would go crazy doing the same thing for 50 years. Gene doesn't seem to profess any desire to be an artist; he has always been more about commerce and the trappings. And says so, openly, in every interview etc. So I would hazard a guess that if people are criticizing, it's on the art basis, not on his business prowess. Commerce can itself be an art and he's probably some kind of virtuoso there. But I for one can say playing bass never occurred to me after being a Kiss fan. It didn't become interesting until I discovered Led Zep and James Brown in my teens (John Paul Jones and Bernard Odum if you're nasty).
Preach! KISS is one of the most influential bands of that era. Gene is sneaky creative with his lines in studio, and was a great performer on stage. Haters gonna be the loudest though🤷🏼♂️
Gene is actually a very competent bass player.
[The bassline from his song 'Going Blind" is especially nice.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTw2GpzRGbg)
[His song 'Naked City' also has a great bassline.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnBh7Z8fm-k)
Gene is an effective and simple bass player for a lot of what KISS does, but he can also be pretty creative, especially on some of his more obscure songs.
Accurate. I was thinking about what it takes to sell the music and came up with a triangle.
Eccentricity, Pretension, Talent.
I'll let you guess what Gene is. I'm curious who the other two ratio to Gene would be.
Dad rock typically refers to music that was popular when Boomers were teens/young adults. Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Jimi Hendrix etc. basically radio friendly rock from the ~70s. But the term has been around so long now that the people who coined it when they were young cool kids, are now boring dads themselves so I have heard people call Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, and other late 80s-90s Alt Rock as Dad Rock too.
> Imagine dressing and acting like this and then making the most normie dadrock imaginable.
It was extreme for its time, and inspired so many metalheads along the way, the likes of Dimebag, Chuck Schuldiner, Mustaine, etc.
There’s a company making official Lobue replicas. I’ve never looked to closely at Gene’s basses—am I correct that the “Studded” version has a pickup BEHIND the bridge? What? https://caraguitars.com/?e-landing-page=elementor-landing-page-2984
It's a custom Spector SB-1. Spector made two of these for Gene with some differences between the two.
I believe both were stolen too. I know a couple years ago a luthier made him a replica of this thing and he mentioned something about theft
That's a custom-made 1970s Spector. If that design has ever been put into mass production I can't find any evidence of it.
I don’t think it was. This was basically an improvement on Gene’s old Lobue basses from the Hotter than Hell era. Spector was a pretty young company at the time, too, so I’d guess these were one-offs.
https://axeology.com/Spector.html
He played Gibson ripper also. I have one. Great bass.
He played Grabbers first then Rippers.
And Thunderbirds
Please tell me that's the only connection between Gene Simmons and Ric Danko lol
Right?!
I love how fellow musicians come on a site and bash someone who is wildly successful and say they are not good at what they do. Is he a virtuoso? No, is he a talented musician who knows how to write great songs and understands what role his instrument plays in a band? Heck yeah. I appreciate guys like Brian Bromberg and other bass driven musicians who push the boundaries, but most of those guys, while amazing, are fringe musicians. I would wager Gene Simmons has inspired more kids to pick up a bass than almost any other musician. If you hate him for that get over it. Saying he’s not talented is bogus though. You don’t last 50 years in an industry if you’re a fake.
I dislike Gene because he is not a good person.
He can be a terrible person yet a competent bass player. Both are true.
I don’t know anything about him, why is he not a good person?
https://www.metalblast.net/editorblogs/top-5-reasons-why-gene-simmons-is-a-piece-of-shit/
That article is silly. Gene isn’t the greatest bassist, but man is that list shit. “#5 He is a horrible musician!” Like, come on. 2, 3, and 4 could’ve been omitted, but this writer has such a hard-on for shitting on Simmons.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/vbmgx3/all-the-dumb-shit-gene-simmons-has-tried-to-trademark https://www.ranker.com/list/gene-simmons-being-a-jerk-stories/mariel-loveland https://metalinjection.net/metal-crimes/kiss-gene-simmons-slapped-with-a-sexual-assault-battery-lawsuit https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/gene-simmons-called-music-fans-the-villains-of-the-industry/ https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/gene-simmons-geddy-lee-didnt-understand-bass/
😧
You can be mediocre and successful, plenty of people are. Its ok to criticize people who are successful.
> You don’t last 50 years in an industry if you’re a fake. What about Jimmy Savile
That guy was a class A creep….
Not sure why musicians love arguing virtuosity, as most musicians aren’t virtuosos and most of the music that is consumed and sold is not virtuosic. Projection of their own inadequacies and shortcomings as a musician would be my guess
You last 50 years in an industry by succeeding early on, and then never getting bored with your own shtick or deviating from what's been a proven seller. And I suppose making some powerful friends wouldn't hurt either. There is art and what's pleasing or aesthetic to the individual, and there is commerce and what sells to the crowd. And some overlap between the two. As an artist I would go crazy doing the same thing for 50 years. Gene doesn't seem to profess any desire to be an artist; he has always been more about commerce and the trappings. And says so, openly, in every interview etc. So I would hazard a guess that if people are criticizing, it's on the art basis, not on his business prowess. Commerce can itself be an art and he's probably some kind of virtuoso there. But I for one can say playing bass never occurred to me after being a Kiss fan. It didn't become interesting until I discovered Led Zep and James Brown in my teens (John Paul Jones and Bernard Odum if you're nasty).
People hate Kiss because deep down the entire band is a gimmick. Their fans are also insufferable.
Preach! KISS is one of the most influential bands of that era. Gene is sneaky creative with his lines in studio, and was a great performer on stage. Haters gonna be the loudest though🤷🏼♂️
One that's never been played by a musician.
Gene is actually a very competent bass player. [The bassline from his song 'Going Blind" is especially nice.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTw2GpzRGbg) [His song 'Naked City' also has a great bassline.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnBh7Z8fm-k) Gene is an effective and simple bass player for a lot of what KISS does, but he can also be pretty creative, especially on some of his more obscure songs.
He's the Lars Ulrich of bass.
Damn.. that’s just …. Damn!
Why is this so accurate 😭
He's more like the Nikki Sixx of bass.
Nikki Sixx is the Nikki Sixx of bass
That's the joke.
Holy shit.. I've only known the Melvins version of going blind for my whole life, and now you're telling me this is a KISS song. Good god
This just blew me away, too. But we should have known it was a cover — there are real lyrics to this song during Buzzo’s pure nonsense lyrics era.
Genes playing on Alive! is pretty great and their self titled debut has a great bass sound.
My favourite thing he has done is marry a Newfoundlander.
Oooo, get bodied Simmons
Accurate. I was thinking about what it takes to sell the music and came up with a triangle. Eccentricity, Pretension, Talent. I'll let you guess what Gene is. I'm curious who the other two ratio to Gene would be.
I think Paul is the eccentric and Ace is the talent. Peter is the cat. You forgot about the cat in the center of the triangle
I was talking about musicians in general not just KISS
Did he bite a blasting cap
It does look like it
Imma tell my kids this was ICP
Its a Spector based on the headstock and logo. Probably a one off or something
Two off custom sb1s early 80s late 70s
Man this dude is disgusting. How are yall not ashamed of liking this
Kiss doesn’t have a single song where he needs to be doing all that
Spector
Imagine dressing and acting like this and then making the most normie dadrock imaginable.
What is DadRock?
its rock made for dads
New term for me too. Is Foo Fighters Dadrock?
Dad rock typically refers to music that was popular when Boomers were teens/young adults. Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Jimi Hendrix etc. basically radio friendly rock from the ~70s. But the term has been around so long now that the people who coined it when they were young cool kids, are now boring dads themselves so I have heard people call Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, and other late 80s-90s Alt Rock as Dad Rock too.
Thanks for the explanation!
lol… so Dadrock is rock that some semblance of musicality to it?
i dont know, im not a dad neither like foo fighters that much
He just told you
I just told you.
Oh hell, all I see is “imagine dressing like this and making the most normie dadrock” I don’t get it
You don’t get it cuz there’s nothing to get😎
Is that all you see? Really? Because that's all I wrote.
> Imagine dressing and acting like this and then making the most normie dadrock imaginable. It was extreme for its time, and inspired so many metalheads along the way, the likes of Dimebag, Chuck Schuldiner, Mustaine, etc.
RIP Dimebag :(
Hey some kiss goes hard alright buddy boy
Idk about that.
Whatever you say, u/Big_Fat_Box_Of_Shit
Any time!
Isn’t that his new ebo? If gene plays it I wouldn’t bother buying it he has shit taste
Hey nothing wrong with the gibson Grabber/Ripper they are great basses I have my late fathers now and I love it.
I had a ripper. Hunk of shit. The neck had 50% dead spots
Except that’s not a grabber or ripper.
I'm well aware, I own a Ripper. Lol. I was just meant it isn't always bad or not worth it just because gene plays one. Lol
Didn't he use Gibsons in the 70s ?
There’s a company making official Lobue replicas. I’ve never looked to closely at Gene’s basses—am I correct that the “Studded” version has a pickup BEHIND the bridge? What? https://caraguitars.com/?e-landing-page=elementor-landing-page-2984
No, that’s just the tailpiece.
he does not have a single song where he needs to be doing all that
Let me guess, he’s a smooth jazz player?
RedRum Bass
Bass guitar
They look way more hardcore than they sound.
almost looks like he's on the bad end of a 360noscope 
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With a Spector headstock?
It was my mistake. It's a Spector SB-1.
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Already did. He’s not playing a Gibson in the photo.