Gene Simmons: ‘Artists shouldn't give a f*** if they’re on Rolling Stone magazine’s 200 Greatest Singers Of All Time’ list’
Gene Simmons says entertainers shouldn’t “give a f***” if they are on Rolling Stone magazine’s ‘200 Greatest Singers Of All Time’ list.
The KISS singer, 73, branded the new league table – updated from the publication’s 2008 version –“skewed” after he and Celine Dion were among the performers left out of the rankings.
He told TMZ: “It’s skewed – but you have to consider who’s popular and who’s not, but if you really think about it, how good somebody sings may be part and parcel of what they do.
“For instance, you have Jimi Hendrix – would he make it on ‘American Idol’? “What about Bob Dylan? Would he make it on ‘American Idol’? How well you sing is not the most important thing – do you have style? (is the most important thing.)”
Gene also poured scorn on the way magazine lists are turned out, adding: “Somebody sits in a back room and they decide this – nobody asked me.
“I don’t give a f***, really. (Other singers) shouldn’t (care either.)
“If you’ve got success... accolades and all that... you get that at a concert when fans come up.
“To be in a poll by a magazine (produced) in a back room, I don’t know much that means.”
The list has caused outcry since it was published on New Year’s day, with Celine Dion fans in uproar she wasn’t included.
Aretha Franklin was voted No1 on the list, followed by Whitney Houston, Sam Cooke, Billie Holiday and Mariah Carey, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Beyoncé, Otis Reeding and Al Green.
Little Richard and John Lennon were in eleventh and twelfth places, followed by Patsy Cline, Freddie Mercury, Bob Dylan, Prince, Elvis Presley, Celia Cruz, Frank Sinatra and Marvin Gaye.
