GENE SIMMONS Lists 13 Favourite Albums; GUNS N' ROSES' Appetite For Destruction "Had An Honesty That Rock N' Roll Had Been Missing"

KISS legend Gene Simmons recently spoke with TheQuietus.com and listed his 13 favourite albums. A excerpt from the list is available below:

Guns N’ Roses – Appetite For Destruction

Simmons: “The thing about that record is that it had an honesty that rock & roll had been missing. The 80s were a terrible time when guitars didn’t sound like guitars and there were drum machines, but then all of a sudden here comes this group, Guns N’ Roses who plug in their guitars and just didn’t mess around with any fancy stuff. And the songs were undeniable! ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ is an undeniable song in the same way that ‘Satisfaction’ has that great riff with the lyrics on top of it. Great lyrics, great imagery, and as soon as you heard that high-pitched voice that harkened back to a Robert Plant-ish approach to singing, which hadn’t been heard in quite a while… Well, it still works today. That’s got to be coming up to 30 years old, but you put that on today if it was a brand new band, I would say, ‘Who’s that?’ That intro is almost symphonic, and it just defined the band. You hear that song, and then the rest of the album follows through.”

“‘Welcome To The Jungle’ is head, hands and feet above the other material. Bands have a few songs that just stand up, you know? You think Thin Lizzy, you think ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’. You think the Stones, you think ‘Satisfaction’. You think Led Zeppelin, you think ‘Stairway To Heaven’. There are just certain songs that, either because of the melody or lyric or the sound of the song, intrinsically say, “This is what that is”. The only band who doesn’t have that thing, just because they have so many god damn good songs, is The Beatles.”

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Prior to their show at Japan’s Tokyo Dome on March 3rd, KISS performed and “Ultimate Experience – VIP” acoustic set for fans at soundcheck. The set included a cover of “You Shook Me”, previously covered by Led Zeppelin, and originally by Muddy Waters, as well as takes on The Beatles classics, “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” and “If I Fell”. Check out footage from the performance below.

Acoustic setlist:

“Comin’ Home”
“Christine Sixteen”
“Hard Luck Woman”<<br /> “If I Fell” (The Beatles)
“You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” (The Beatles)
“Calling Dr. Love”
“Sukiyaki” (Kyu Sakamoto)
“Got To Choose”
“You Shook Me” (Led Zeppelin)
“Beth”