Gene Simmons is a really smart dude, but he's got it wrong. What is dead is the cultural event that rock used to be, not rock itself. It used to be impossible for a big rock band to come to your town without everyone knowing about it. Now hugely popular bands can come and go without being a blip in the community or the culture. I think that's what Simmons is mourning. And to be fair, I can see a definition of rock that deems the size, the excess, the event-ness essential. I miss it, too.
But you know, that's just the byproduct of technology and the wider range of genres and styles available to us. I miss that going to the movies isn't an event anymore and that people are happier to have a lesser experience at home. But I know that makes me look like an old man yelling at clouds, and that's what Simmons looks like, too.
Besides, if rock is dead, somebody forgot to tell The Hold Steady.
