We'll Do It LIVE! — Gene Simmons

[0:00] of the people for the people by the people he won the election by millions i am a firm believer [0:08] that the wall should be built absolutely you don't want to persuade for what purpose this [0:14] idea of always agreeing with somebody is lunacy i can break bread with anybody other than nazis [0:19] i would stick my tongue out now but the floor is a little dirty hey i'm bill o'reilly and welcome [0:30] to another we'll do it live today this week we have a great guest his name is gene simmons you know him [0:39] even without the makeup he is the driving force behind kiss he is getting an award songwriters [0:47] award in manhattan songwriters hall of fame songwriters hall of fame award whatever it [0:53] you're getting it okay with paul stanley my partner you and i have a lot in common although nobody [1:00] would ever believe that we're human beings and we'll get into that well you are um and we'll get [1:05] into that but i wanted to open up with this uh i'm a big historic guy you know and uh you were born in [1:14] israel i don't look swiss do i no you were born in israel your mother yeah survived a death camp [1:23] in germany nazi germany yeah so i wrote about killing the ss i know a lot about this did you [1:32] growing up ever speak to your mother about what she went through she uh often most of the time [1:41] refused to talk about it because uh only later in retrospect i had the sense that she didn't want me [1:50] to go through the horrific uh life that she had because she saw her whole family wiped out uh and [2:00] by the way people often simplify history they think it's just the jewish holocaust that's not true [2:07] of course it's true but you had two million roman catholics two million gay folks the romani anybody [2:14] who didn't fit the master race thing were sent to the death camps even some germans who politically [2:20] objected there were fewer of them to hitler coming to power they were all wiped out starved beaten and [2:26] wiped out so your mom didn't want to talk about it no did you ever break her down to get a little [2:34] insight into it i finally uh there was a movie called sophie's choice with meryl streep and i finally [2:40] um understood actually what happened and it was almost the same thing my mother was 14 years of age [2:47] and the commandant same thing happened in the film ironically and strangely the commandant had his [2:56] family there you know they had kids and his wife was there and during the daytime they had as if [3:01] nothing was going on over the other side of the wall so they brought in the commandant's wife wanted her [3:08] makeup done and her hair done and everything and my mother at a young age went to frisure frisure [3:13] beauty school to learn how to do hair makeup and all that so my mother at 14 and some other [3:21] women who were starving to death were brought into the commandant's office and i can speak german [3:30] you know well enough and my mother was telling me in broken german because she learned how to speak [3:36] some german you had to and hungarian and hebrew because i was born in israel the story in this kind [3:43] of trifecta of languages about how the luck of god or whatever luck of the drug she was not sent [3:52] to the death camps and she survived what happened was that the commandant's wife said i like you know [3:59] that one and that one and that one and then the husband stepped up and said can you speak a little [4:05] german to the women in line and the first one said yes i can't he just waved her aside and she was [4:11] taken god knows where and my mother was close to the end of the line understood that maybe she [4:20] shouldn't let on that she spoke german so by the time it got to her she went uh you know i don't know [4:28] and she was picked and in retrospect my mother explained to me that maybe the fact that she looked [4:37] as if she didn't understand german is what he wanted because he didn't want any secrets or anything [4:42] to get back to sure you know didn't want to be overheard yes so she survived on the scraps that [4:48] were in the garbage and she told me breaks your heart to think of it that she'd take these little [4:54] scraps of half-eaten bread and all that and hide them you know under her clothing and wouldn't dare [5:01] tell anybody else in the barracks because you would get killed for those little bits of food [5:06] when your mom got to israel there was an emotional attachment there had to be because that was your [5:13] sanctuary yeah for jews all over the uh europe and who had gone through this horrific uh situation [5:20] does that alliance allegiance whatever word you want to use pertain to this day it does uh that [5:32] doesn't mean you agree with every political move governments make or that uh the course of history but [5:38] there are very few places people who've been subjugated to violence and stuff and it goes the [5:44] same with armenians if it wasn't for armenia you know where are they going to go the turks came in [5:50] and slaughtered a million of them and it's still not talked about today so there is such a thing as a [5:57] country or location that um defines itself by the nature of the folks so for history's sake and for [6:05] factual sake there are 67 muslim countries in the world 67 there's only one country in the world [6:13] smaller than rhode island which identifies as a jewish state however within the jewish state you've got 20 [6:21] percent of the population are arab non-jews and in the knesset which is the jewish israeli version of [6:29] congress you've got 20 representation by palestinian israelis who vote often against [6:35] the government mosques are right next to churches are right right next to temples you don't get killed [6:43] because of your religion and you know mostly it's a very democratic country once you cross the wall [6:49] to the other side chaos the shia will kill the sunni and forget about the wahhabists who are in [6:57] uh saudi arabia even within the same religion they will kill each other never mind the other [7:03] religions christians jews or i think you said say you do have some loyalty to israel um and that's [7:10] understandable when you hear in the united states horrible things yeah how do you react it's not the [7:22] first time uh there's anti-semitism there's uh there's racism and homophobic hatred there's all [7:32] kinds of hatred going around so i'm not here to wave the flag and say poor little me because in [7:38] relation to history this is nothing this is not world war ii where jews were being rounded up and [7:44] sent in cattle cars to be destroyed thank god there's a place called america where you've got [7:49] legal recourse somebody says something about you you can sue them it's called slander so you have [7:55] some legal recourse there i think the universities are doing themselves and america disservice by being [8:01] so subservient to wokeism it's okay to be aware that there are groups who feel marginalized i totally [8:10] understand that but when the educational system buckles its knees and starts serving a certain section [8:17] of society instead of being a freewheeling discussion of all different areas all different [8:23] faiths and so on so i think the university is coming as a former teacher myself of grade school [8:29] it's not the same school system i grew up do you know why this anti-semitism has taken root in some of [8:37] the uh nation's universities you have any theory about because i mean 10 years ago we didn't get this [8:44] but this progressive movement it ushered in israel as a fascist state jews are bad yeah if more [8:53] countries define themselves as fascist and had free elections and allowed people who the rest of the [9:00] world considers enemies to be part of the population and have every bit uh as many rights within the [9:07] population i don't know how you define it a fascist but i do think it's worth noting that before [9:14] during and after the october 7th massacre i hope people agree it was just a horrific event that [9:20] happened uh the israeli palestinians didn't go over the border to gaza in fact none of them left [9:26] israel they stayed israel they like the life there so people call america fascist all the time yeah but [9:34] we had anywhere from 20 to 30 million illegal immigrants what are they doing here well they want a better [9:40] life because the countries they come from propaganda i just wonder why it's taking place i mean what's [9:47] driving this even in new york city when you have a group of college professors who are trained in a [9:54] certain uh thing they come and they espouse their political points of views i think it is uh it's crazy [10:02] points of views i don't i don't buy it but i wouldn't mind it if there were opposing points of views [10:08] evenly split in the same university but i find the universities and by the way i think the government's [10:14] doing the right thing which is testing the legal system and suing them yeah if you think they're [10:19] violating or something yeah if they're violating the tone and the the uh the sense of what the [10:27] constitution is all about this free speech and then there's slander and hate speech and i do think [10:33] the professors in this country are doing themselves and their young students a favor by free speech [10:40] does not mean you're allowed to stand up in a movie theater and yell fire no that's incitement to riot [10:48] it's a different political and legal term free speech just says you know my opinion is but when [10:54] you hurl superlatives at people and say you're a pedophile you're once i say not you want you're a [11:00] pedophile that'll come out as a as a headline and say oh that was just my opinion but once it's out [11:06] there how do you subvert yeah yeah there's no how do you defend yourself so you and i have a common [11:12] upbringing which is ridiculous uh just because of our career paths so you're a teacher in spanish harlem [11:21] sixth grade right okay i was a high school teacher in uh a slum of miami opelaka and uh i never thought [11:31] that i would reach the heights that i've reached and i'm sure when you were oh i couldn't speak a [11:37] word of english i big accent uh i talk like this you know with a clipped uh i speak other languages as [11:44] well but with a clipped you know kind of sound which israelis do i want to say something about [11:50] patriotism if you don't mind i think we both agree on that it is sorely lacking when i was in sixth grade [11:58] and the flag was raised in class the children shut up put their hand over their hearts i pledge [12:07] allegiance to the flag and so on and so forth there was no such thing as sitting down or arguing or [12:14] burning flags when i was a kid and so i really believe america needs to get back to the sort of [12:23] basic idea that you can be an a-hole in this country and have the right to not love america of course [12:31] you can always leave if you don't like it but i'm not a love it or leave it kind of a guy you can [12:36] stay here not like it and try to change it from the inside but the idea that you think you have the [12:41] right to burn the flag after god knows how many americans went overseas and gave their life some [12:48] yeah and denigrate the system and some gave all right to protect your right to be an asshole and so [12:56] i think there's got to be some pullback not all the way because in the past women didn't vote and [13:03] black folks couldn't get the equal rights and so on and so forth but somewhere into civility [13:08] where the nuclear family is still what it's about and i don't care what you uh what your private life [13:16] is like or if you worship a rock or if you define yourself by different genders that's great [13:22] keep it to yourself i'm not interested okay would you like to debate bruce springsteen i'd love to [13:29] see that i've met i've met bruce uh on a number of occasions i don't think it matters and i'll tell [13:35] you why because he's so passionate about his point of view and there are people on the far left that's [13:41] okay that's right that's right and so i do have a point of view as a performer myself you get up on [13:46] stage it's the place for art i'm really not interested in famous people espousing their political [13:52] or beliefs i don't want to go to mark ruffalo and this actor and find out what his sense is of [13:58] our foreign policy and in the same way that i don't know what kylie jenner's political points of [14:04] views are and i really don't give to its i know but wouldn't it be instructive to see two opposite [14:10] points of view in the same industry two titans um who both came up working class right no question [14:18] about it and they arrived at different intellectual yeah but my point of view is coming from another [14:25] country and my mother was in a concentration camp but that's good though that's part of your [14:30] collective perspective is that whatever you think is wrong with this country as soon as you and i'm [14:37] not saying it shouldn't get better we should always strive to make this country better and better [14:40] but if you place this country next to any other country on the face of the planet no other country [14:47] has more illegal immigrants i'm an immigrant but we came in through the legal system but bruce not [14:53] buying that and that's his right and wouldn't you like to debate him about about what that he wants [14:58] to vote one way and i want to vote the other way well a collective experience i i understand it but i [15:04] just want to say this let's say we we arrive at a point where we talk about the current president [15:09] who i knew before he became political when he was just a citizen in these united states [15:15] you know in social areas clubs and whatever so you can argue and hate the president and you're [15:23] allowed to do that but you have to recognize the fact that of the people for the people by the people [15:28] means that the people have spoken he won the election by millions and the electoral college as [15:34] well end of story you don't like it you can wait until the next election and vote your conscience [15:40] and when i was growing up nobody ever asked me who did you vote for what do you mean who did you vote [15:46] for who are you and what business is it of yours who i vote for there used to be a curtain you went [15:52] behind it you pulled the curtain because it was nobody's business you vote your conscience leave [15:58] politics out of it when we sit around and break bread i can i can break bread with uh anybody and as [16:05] other than nazis who completely disagree well keep your feelings to yourself and your power is [16:11] the voting you're not in the business to persuade you don't want to persuade for what purpose well i [16:18] mean my business is persuasion and we're pretty successful with that because we're fact-based [16:25] um the other thing is in the music industry and i know a little bit about it um but not a lot [16:34] is the springsteen point of view very popular it is prevalent oh yeah i put that on the on the [16:44] performers not the audience i put that on the agents and the bookers and you have to think a [16:51] certain way to get in a club i'm i'm not sure if that's um accurate but i will say the lay of the [16:59] land i notice is mostly they are in the same way that if you go to california it is a blue state it's [17:06] mostly democrat and as you get to the major cities it's mostly progressive far-left uh democrats i mean [17:14] the runoff now in the democratic party are two uh people who i wouldn't vote for if you paid me for [17:20] is there on the other hand if you paid me enough i might consider well it's all about performance i [17:25] think uh steve should be the next governor well hilton uh has a one in five chance because the [17:32] democratic machine is very they'll prevent it i'm not beholding to any political point of view or [17:37] anything i'm about issues which is why i have friends from every area i do business with all kinds [17:44] of people if i only did business with people who are republicans and so on it wouldn't make financial [17:49] sense because people of all political beliefs do business so business is not what your political [17:57] beliefs are it's whether or not we can both have a win-win relationship so and you've done very well [18:02] in in in the music business but i don't know why it's not just musicians it's actors too and directors [18:11] and all of that i don't know why this monolith uh has developed in the entertainment industry it will [18:18] swing um the pendulum swings you think it's going to swing well there's no question because you've [18:23] seen how uh politics or you know sometimes the far left takes a hold and the and the pendulum goes this [18:30] way and sometimes republicans get into government and so on and so laws keep changing uh state to state [18:37] i still believe that the music industry and most of these people have over my 50-year career are not [18:44] informed i mean you know what you're talking about i think that's fair i think that's fair they're not [18:49] they don't know it's difficult to have a conversation with people who are passionate in their hearts they [18:55] don't know anything so how did you get along with bill maher i find him refreshing i got along i've known [19:00] him forever i get along with him fine but i don't want him blowing pot smoke in my face i don't i don't get [19:06] high either i never have right that's another thing well there you go laissez faire he does that in his private [19:13] life let you know it's like i don't i'm going to arrest him sure i want everybody to be cogent you [19:19] don't want to do that he wants to do that and you both get along proof of laissez faire but i find him [19:24] refreshing because he has no problem having dinner with the president and then afterwards getting on [19:29] the show and say i don't like what the president did over here great but people uh on both sides of [19:36] the fence i believe have gone to the extreme so that it's my my party says this is the you know the [19:43] way to do it if you don't go you know if you don't march along with exactly these things which [19:47] is why i'm much more a free thinker and closer to the center on certain areas i agree with either [19:53] party i am a firm believer that the wall should be built absolutely the previous pope was a nice man [19:59] and so on i respected him said that it's inhumane to have a wall between mexico and america except for [20:06] the fact that the vatican has a massive wall around it for the same reason that we should border security [20:13] you want to know who's coming into your border not that they shouldn't do it through the legal system [20:19] has the uh your freedom of uh intellectual thought cost you any work yeah you get there's such a thing [20:29] as being canceled where have you been yeah a little bit but when you you know i'm blessed i'm putting my [20:37] hands together when you get to a certain financial uh comfort zone it doesn't affect no but but it's [20:45] still offensive it's offensive right but i started uh may i speak plainly or do you have a may you you [20:52] absolutely should so i started a hashtag because you came out and warned me of course these are [20:58] semantics but i'm not anti-semantic bill you came out and said uh let's poopy words i don't i don't usually [21:04] say that except for the fact that a few decades ago i started a hashtag movement it's called hashtag [21:10] golf yourself and anybody can use it you're welcome out there because my life does not depend [21:17] on tugging on somebody's shirt sleeves to find out if it's okay to have my thoughts and my beliefs [21:23] be an individual don't be ordinary be extraordinary be an individual and if uh i didn't always agree with [21:30] my mother and i would give my life for my mother this idea of always agreeing with somebody is lunacy [21:36] sometimes they're wrong sometimes you just for for you can you tell us uh um how you got iced on occasion [21:46] there were maybe two or three uh shows where somebody asked me um on camera uh locally as i'm doing [21:54] interviews uh what do you think of the president and i said i don't have any problem getting the [22:00] kennedy center awards at all he's the president of these united states and he was legally voted into [22:05] power and if you don't like the man you can at least respect the presidency and this idea of just [22:11] banding about trump this and trump that no it's president trump just like a doctor i don't like my [22:16] doctor but he's a doctor doctor so and so and that was not a popular sentiment did anybody confront [22:24] yes i lost i lost those uh two or three shows but i was considering buying the business so it's a [22:30] different right i know you don't need the money to you no there's no such thing bill that's why you [22:35] get up every day and try to earn more i don't work for money okay well then give me the money you make [22:40] give it to you that's social you don't need it no i didn't no okay i'll take my money i'll give you [22:47] sweat equity for it we'll figure that out i don't want you would kiss on my front lawn are you kidding [22:51] oh yes you do because we can charge a lot of money for those people coming out to your front lawn [22:55] are you guys going to tour anymore no we sold kiss hook line and sinker to a wonderful company called [23:02] pop house you know they're a big company i know you got a movie in the works right i'm a producer so [23:07] i have a company uh called deep water that's in every movie theater with sir ben kingsley aaron [23:13] eckhart rennie harland directing but no more live shows for kiss i'm doing live shows with gene [23:20] simmons so i'm appearing with my solo band doing 40 cities we have a restaurant chain called rock and [23:26] brews two at lax 30 around the country there's a lot of stuff okay i'm trying to copy you i don't do [23:33] that uh you and i are just about the same age and i have to give you props no i'm older than you are a [23:39] few days but it's either you can't be a little pregnant you either are or you're not am i older than [23:44] you you're older than that's what i said but you uh are using your time on this planet use it or lose [23:52] it get up every day and pump that heart a lot of a lot of seniors just give up it's over but i think [23:57] they're missing the point if life is a journey or at least a race i'm sure everybody agrees when you see [24:04] that finish line coming towards you don't you speed up instead of slowing down if i see the finish line [24:10] i've only got two three a year you know you speed what are you going to do sit on your thumb and wait [24:15] to die a lot of people do that you know but you know and i don't they'll be sad they won't be able [24:20] to sleep at night they're hard they'll get heart troubles the best thing to do is keep pumping that [24:25] heart kiss a pretty girl eat a good meal sleep a good night sleeping and get up at the crack of dawn [24:30] the next day and just just keep moving i'm more ambitious and uh semi-possessed now than i ever was [24:38] and i'll be 77 in august what don't i know about the rock world so you gave 2830 live concerts you and [24:50] the boys it looks like it's fun yeah okay so most men and some women i will and then some they thems [25:03] whatever i'm kidding i really wish i could be a rock star i really wish i was out there it's a lot [25:10] of fun you can wear more makeup and higher heels than your mommy did so no downside yes there is the [25:18] downside and it all comes back to you you have a self-inferred fiduciary and otherwise duty to your [25:25] own self which is to say you're responsible you're the guardian of yourself so if you're namby pamby and [25:32] you have self-esteem you're going to get washed away by the tsunami because it is a tsunami when [25:38] fame hits you you get a lot of money and a lot of chicks get throw themselves in your face and all [25:45] over your and all that stuff fair weather friends and you can quite easily be balled over and start [25:53] to believe your own me did that happen to you no because my motivation has always been my mother [26:00] i didn't think i ever had the right to get high or drunk or smoke cigarettes because i didn't think [26:06] i had the right to break my mother's heart after she raised me by herself because my father ran out [26:13] on us when i was six years of age so all i had was my mother she went to work every day and sacrificed [26:19] all her life just so that her only son can grow up and break her heart no that's not going to fly [26:26] so it's because of my mother's wisdom and i say wisdom instead of education because my mother was [26:31] not educated she didn't she at sixth grade done so she couldn't tell you where timbuk2 or timbuk3 was [26:39] but she understood the value of life every day above ground is a good day that's wisdom that is a very [26:46] profound statement that your mother guided you into a responsible life that's it if it wasn't for my [26:53] mother i would have gone to into but there's another factor too you got here you got to america oh if [27:00] you get me started about that i i choke up and not because you're here or somebody else on the left [27:06] or right is here i don't care remember my hashtag we were about eight and a half i was and my mother [27:11] we're living in a one bedroom in williamsburg 99 south 9th street right off of bedford avenue [27:17] see that's what happens when you don't get high you remember all this stuff and i was going to yeshiva [27:23] which is religious jewish school to learn about there's no such thing as old testament it's called [27:28] the bible because 4 000 years before rabbi yesu ben yosef jesus was born there was a book called [27:34] the bible and then there was the new testament that's called the bible and the new testament at any [27:40] rate i'm sitting there and there's television and i'm watching this guy in a suit in a cape flying [27:47] through the air i'd never seen television and america i was so fascinated that people were big [27:52] and the sandwiches were big and people had cars and i just in israel we didn't have that there was no [27:58] infrastructure every night she my mother let me sit up with her because there was a few an hour or two [28:07] where we could be together because my mother worked until late seven eight o'clock at night i'd be doing my [28:12] homework about nine or ten i'd be finished and then television would go off the air at midnight and [28:19] there were only three channels nbc abc and so right before it went dark there was this noise people don't [28:27] know what that is you have to be our age the american flag would come over and start to billow yeah black [28:34] and there was even a jet signing off going yeah flying and go to the clouds and touch the face of [28:44] god you know this other thing but when the flag was going like this i remember at age eight and a half [28:50] looking over at my mother and looking up and she'd be crying you know very sure deep heartfelt cry and i [28:59] didn't understand what that was until and i'd start to talk to her and she'd watch uh until the very [29:08] end and then she'd turn the tv off wipe away and then put me to bed i didn't understand until many [29:16] years later that my mother was crying tears of joy that's gonna it chokes me up when i think about it [29:25] and my mother lived to be 94 years of age she was finally in a country where she could be free [29:35] jewish or catholic or anything she wanted and people wouldn't want to kill her just because of [29:40] that that flag represented something to my mother she never had in her life because europe was full [29:48] of hatred you walk outside and all kinds of people are just walking by each other my mother would always [29:54] talk about that and she'd stop off at you know uh iranian persian restaurants and have hummus and stuff [30:02] like that and eat soul food and so she just could uh you know the the great melting pot my mother was [30:08] the most patriotic american i ever met and americans should study how much my mother loved america because [30:15] every country has got its soft white underbelly but you can't touch this country and it's going to keep [30:21] getting it's going to get better and better and better because our country allowed her to fulfill [30:31] um her potential her potential if you're willing to work for it and do everything that's all i mean [30:37] look at me i couldn't speak a word 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[32:18] that in common now sounds like a law firm okay and but anyway you somehow and you're going to tell us i [32:27] hope had a vision of getting on stage no not quite differently no not quite when i was 12 years of age [32:39] i was aware that money it's not a romantic notion but that's the truth of life and i've written some [32:44] books about that me inc me incorporated be an army of one be your own business model you have a certain [32:52] amount of money you make a week you've got to balance your own budget and stuff you are the first [32:56] corporate and your llc you are the first entity you make a certain amount of money how much you spend [33:02] what are taxes and so on you learn the facts of life and then you sort of get other people in your [33:07] life and so on but when i was 12 years of age i was delivering newspapers and the lazy guy next door [33:14] who was drinking and getting high i said why don't you hang out i'll take over your route and i'll [33:19] give you half the money i'll do your you can just sit back and get nothing so i was making my thing and [33:25] in a week i was making 35 a week i said oh man look at all this money and i'd show my mother and she [33:32] goes that's my little man and so i understood that this capitalist free market economy was the route [33:41] the route or route of achieving anybody can achieve anything i know there's hatred and stuff but [33:49] through money and through hard work you can rise above whatever anybody has to say bad about you [33:54] i saved up 23 000 after tax which in those days uh big money in those days i lent my mother [34:03] 10 000 to put a 10 down payment on a house because in those days you put 10 you can buy a hundred [34:09] thousand dollar house well a hundred thousand dollar house in those days was a big three-room [34:14] house in long island that was a big thing and only in america the rest of the country so i only got the [34:21] bug for music when i came home sunday night and yes i worked six days a week sometimes seven i came in [34:28] sunday night and the ed sullivan program was on 75 million of them were watching ed sullivan when he [34:35] introduced all right let's say hello to the beatles i didn't know what that was i was having a tv dinner [34:41] in those days kids don't know what that is you take out a thing and you had peas and mashed potatoes and [34:47] a piece of meat hamburger or something and even a little dessert so my mother would place the my hard [34:53] working man and she'd warm up the tv dinner and put those cross-legged tables i don't know what that's [34:59] called and i'm eating peas which i hate because my mother's there so i've got to finish the peas [35:04] and the ed sullivan show goes on and i stopped eating because she loves you yeah and i was struck [35:11] scientists call it a singularity but the thing that hit me like a kick in the nuts was the camera swung [35:17] around and the girls in the audience were screeching like people were stepping on their feet [35:24] you know going out of their minds and i i had this epiphany which is a big word like gymnasium [35:30] i said man that's a good job you have that stuff and you can sing and play music and then the girls [35:38] won't hate you that wow i started being in bands right away i couldn't play an instrument and i [35:44] actually mimicked the english accent if he talk like that you know and they're saying oh you're not from [35:49] here no i'm not from here just because the english thing was popular and guess what girls liked it and [35:57] within a few years we got a record contract i learned how to write songs and within a year and [36:03] a half of the first kiss record being released without hit singles without album sales nothing [36:10] we're headlining anaheim stadium you had to have musical talent innately i mean one of the best great [36:17] greatest songwriters america's had i don't know about what's best and what's not we became popular [36:24] still doing very well now that pop house is with us what's good and what's bad i don't know but i'm [36:30] glad this is happening while i'm alive unfortunately a lot of the folks who meant something to the [36:37] masses had to die then after the fact but i'm trying to explore look i have a talent for writing books [36:45] yeah 20 number one bestsellers a record that's all um so you're a songwriter you guys kiss saw 100 [36:54] million albums yeah that's true when did you discover the talent um i was a little kid i must [37:01] have been uh 14 maybe and i started to learn basic chords c to g because i'd watch the i didn't have a [37:12] teacher or anything i was just watching the hands of people with my mother bought me a guitar and the [37:17] first songs are my uncle is a raft and he always keeps me floating he is so good to me just the [37:25] most idiotic songs you know but they were mine like anything the 10 000 step principle i'm sure [37:31] you're aware of it there's a book when you do something for 10 000 hours you'll tend to get pretty [37:37] good and that's just keep plugging away that by the way people don't understand the rules of success [37:44] just hit the nail on the head is not true not much happens when you hit the nail on the head it [37:51] doesn't go very far you got to keep hitting that nail many times before it goes all the way in and [37:56] makes impact you get a hit oh that's it i've made it no that's not you start to get nice ratings on fox [38:03] and stuff that's it i've made it no you got to come in next day every day grinding away most people [38:11] already know the medications they want they need they have been taking them for years if you're [38:18] stocking up for an emergency or just in case you know what you need there too if that's you i'm talking [38:28] about please check out all family pharmacy they really have built a better way simple go online fill [38:37] out a quick medical form they handle the rest licensed doctors review every order prescribe [38:43] if appropriate and ship directly to your door they've got more than 400 medications in one place [38:50] antibiotics antivirals everyday maintenance meds and more to keep your medicine cabinet stocked if [38:58] you're tired of the runaround to get prescriptions visit all family pharmacy dot com slash bill let them know [39:07] i sent you go to all family pharmacy dot com slash bill use code bill 10 to save 10 on your next order [39:18] the world feels increasingly unstable between global conflicts and skyrocketing debt smart investors are [39:28] ditching the dollar for hard assets like gold one uncertainty hits i trust american hartford gold to [39:36] protect my savings they make it simple and have physical gold and silver delivered to your door or [39:45] placed inside a tax advantaged ira their specialists can even help roll over your 401k tax free within a [39:56] plus better business bureau rating their record is unmatched so don't wait protect your wealth with [40:04] something real please call now tell them o'reilly sent you to receive up to twenty thousand dollars in [40:12] free silver with your first purchase eight six six five zero one fifty two zero one or text bill to six five [40:23] five three two eight six six five zero one fifty two oh one or text bill to six five five three two or click the [40:35] link in the video description the face paint was that your idea no nobody can lay claim to that in fact [40:46] we were on not far from here tennis 23rd street and within a year and a half we moved 10 blocks up to [40:52] playing madison square garden without hit records or anything and within another year we played three [40:57] nights sold out madison square garden scientists call it a singularity when you have the right thing [41:05] and nobody knows what that is until it works at the right place new york as opposed to riyadh where we [41:13] wouldn't have a chance in hell not because saudi isn't a great country but because it just wouldn't [41:18] resonate culturally you're new york the center of culture on the planet right right thing right place [41:25] right time you know in the early 70s when after women got the pill and the civil rights movement like [41:31] all these movements were happening so it was very free it was a free time and if we were born in the [41:37] time of you know the doo-wop we wouldn't get anywhere because people wouldn't understand [41:46] the me sticking my tongue out and everything by the way i would stick my tongue out now but the floor is a [41:52] little dirty otherwise i'll give you a little pregnant pause but who is responsible for the paint nobody in [41:59] the band there was a it just happened we're in a rat infested loft at tenny's 23rd street and i recall [42:08] as if it was yesterday one of us i don't know who said hey let's go to woolworth's a few blocks away [42:15] and buy clown makeup and put on makeup we went uh yeah we had no resume no expertise just threw it on [42:25] there yeah we just went there bought clown makeup called stein's clown white stein's clown black called [42:32] that paul stanley bought red lipstick god knows why and we bought uh two mirrors kind of long 15 bucks [42:43] all total and i was working i was the assistant to the director of the puerto rican interagency council [42:49] so i was making i don't know 20 grand a year that was a lot of money and because i could type 100 words [42:55] a minute i could do mimeographs or hexagraph hexagraph like all those machines so i was the [43:01] man in charge at any rate uh we bought the mirrors and we wound up in the loft putting makeup on and i [43:07] remember because the mirrors were leaning against the wall they would warp a bit so you as you got [43:15] closer the your chin would get bigger or your nose would get bigger and it was like a kind of a psycho [43:21] circus where like a twilight zone thing and as we were looking at each other putting [43:26] on the makeup everyone put on their own makeup design we went wow that looks cool like we were [43:33] first recognizing how special that was and strangely here we are almost 60 years afterwards i'm going to [43:41] give you the joke that i've said many times before we have literally something like 10 000 licensed [43:47] products everything from kiss condoms to kiss cassettes bill we'll get you coming and we'll get [43:52] and we'll get you going you are the ultimate capitalist that's for sure but the makeup thing [43:58] got you a lot of attention oh yeah because you had a myriad of groups trying to break out trying to do [44:04] different things and then there's this group and they like the consumer likes the product but now [44:13] is compelled to watch you because of the makeup and it and it became more than about hit songs it [44:20] became cultural what i mean by that is there were the you remember the gallup poll they used to [44:26] randomly yeah he used to randomly go out and ask americans all ages who's your favorite this what's [44:32] your favorite food and so on and for three years in a row 77 78 79 kiss was the number one band on [44:40] the planet yeah above the beatles stones bg's let's up and whoever everywhere in the world everywhere [44:47] africa it was and you everywhere and you couldn't figure out why because we didn't have hit singles [44:56] there was just something about the combination of the visuals the live show and those album songs you [45:02] bought the albums not the singles right because you wanted to be it was culture and you went to the [45:08] concerts not like stones concerts you went to the concerts looking and dressing up like your band [45:14] right and you went to see outrageous behavior yes which you provided in great quantity that's my job [45:22] bill okay we're going to uh take a break now and we're going to come back to our premium and [45:30] concierge members for killing time thank you uh guys on youtube for watching gene simmons who i thought was [45:39] extraordinary and we'll be back in a moment for our concierge and premium members on billoreilly.com