Gene Simmons sees Kiss mirrored in ‘Star Wars’, but is he talking out of his arse?
Thanks to the make-up, Kiss look like something that has fallen to Earth from outer space, to the extent that they wouldn’t look out of place in a Star Wars film. Gene Simmons attests that that’s not where the comparisons end.
Of course, while the band will be the first to admit that the make-up looks pretty cool, and certainly helped when it came to marketing and making countless pieces of merchandise, they will also assert that the sellability of the look isn’t what drove them to it. The make-up and the characters behind them, according to Kiss, were a direct result of pining to be reminiscent of bands from the 1960s, both in their unified look and creative freedom. With a look that couldn’t exist in any other ‘70s band (the caking-up would never have suited John Lydon), Kiss took advantage of the fact that there was no mistaking who they were.
This look received criticism from a lot of different people in the musical world. While the band may be adamant that they had good intentions behind their image, other artists lean further towards the idea that their eccentric make-up was a cover-up for an apparent lack of depth and originality. The aforementioned sharp-tongued punk rocker, John Lydon, never shied from making his venomous comments about the band known.
“There’s a lot [of artists] that are selling you an image that’s false, deliberately fake, and deliberately commercial,” said the self-confessed anarchist and anti-christ, “I’ve met the Kiss lads. They’re all right. You know, [but] without the makeup, there ain’t much going on.”
This point of view is understandable, but it’s always something that the Kiss members rejected, especially the band’s most opinionated (and some would argue unpleasant) member, Gene Simmons. He has always attested that while their look makes them memorable, it’s their music which has contributed towards the empire that the band have built the most. It’s not an unfair comment, as fireworks and gimmicks can take you so far, but you don’t persistently sell out stadiums for decades without having some half-decent bangers backing you up.
Simmons also attests that the band couldn’t have cemented a legacy like they have done without every aspect of them working. It’s the music, the look, the stage presence, the merch, all of it culminates in a bid to make something much bigger than just a rock band, but an empire. How big an empire? Well, if you were to ask Simmons, he would say it’s one big enough to rival Darth Vader and co, as he likened his band to the magnitude of Star Wars.
“I feel like George Lucas, where you helped create this thing that becomes not just movies and stuff, but a culture,” he said, “Like, when you go to ComicCon or Star Wars conventions, people dress up and it’s how you look, how you walk, how you talk. We created a culture with Kiss. And after Lucas sold to Disney, that doesn’t mean it goes away. You can see the vestiges, the conventions and the TV shows that continue on. And we intend on keeping Kiss going, but simply not as a touring band, and that comes out of pride.”
Is this a fair comparison? Sure, people dress like Kiss when they go to their concerts, but can the band really compare themselves to Star Wars? No, not really, at least not as far as commercial success is concerned. Don’t get me wrong, I can see where Simmons is coming from, highlighting this apparent similitude, but the idea that these two things exist in tandem with one another is a stretch, even by this long-tongued rockstar’s standards.
