“If you go down the street and ask the general person, ‘Who’s Johnny Marr?’ they won’t know who you’re talking about”: Gene Simmons weighs in on The Smiths’ potential reunion
Kiss bassist Gene Simmons has weighed in on the potential reunion of The Smiths, and the role of guitarist Johnny Marr in it all.
Speaking in a new interview with Forbes, Simmons comments on the speculation surrounding a potential Smiths comeback as well as concerns about Marr’s involvement.
“Get rid of the guitar player and get somebody else. Nobody cares. They just want to hear the songs,” he says. “If you go down the street and ask the general person, ‘Who’s Johnny Marr?’ they won’t know who you’re talking about.”
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“[Hypothetically], saying no to $100 million dollars would be lunacy. What other job would pay you that!? Unless you’re willing to break your back and play football or something…”
The discussion follows the recent reveal by Morrissey last month that Marr had turned down a “lucrative offer” from AEG Entertainment Group for a 2025 reunion tour. The frontman claimed that he had said yes to the offer, which would’ve seen The Smiths tour “throughout 2025”.
Elsewhere in the chat, Simmons also addresses the broader issues surrounding Morrissey’s battles with his label and his outspoken views.
Reflecting on Morrissey’s claims that his album Bonfire Of The Teenagers is being held back due to political reasons, Simmons says, “Morrissey and I have exchanged pleasantries. He’s a great artist, terrific. It’s funny to look at a gift horse in the mouth. We’re all alive, and every artist and every human being has a right to express their opinion. ‘Here’s my opinion on that. I think you should be angry’—or not. And that’s his opinion.”
“I happen to agree with it. By the way. ‘Wokeism’ intentionally means well, but there’s a lot of garbage and bullshit involved with it and basically browbeating anybody who doesn’t agree with you, you know, like a baker who doesn’t want to make a cake because religiously he doesn’t agree with your lifestyle. At what point do your individual rights stop and you have to bow down to somebody else’s thing? Democracy is a messy thing.”
“I say more power to [Morrissey] for speaking up,” he continues. “And by the way, if you want to take advantage of capitalism, which is to have a record company give you money, you can’t blame him.”
The post “If you go down the street and ask the general person, ‘Who’s Johnny Marr?’ they won’t know who you’re talking about”: Gene Simmons weighs in on The Smiths’ potential reunion appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
