Kiss icon Gene Simmons has offered a detailed and passionate tribute to The Beatles, declaring them undoubtedly superior to any musical act of the last two centuries. During a recent appearance on The School Of Greatness podcast, when asked to name the world’s greatest musicians, Simmons focused exclusively on the Fab Four, analyzing the “undeniable” genius of their songwriting.
“Well, clearly The Beatles are above and beyond anything that anybody’s seen in music over, oh, 200 years — easily. Not since the Renaissance,” Simmons stated emphatically (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). He marveled at their origin story, noting they came from Liverpool, “a pool filled with liver… where nothing ever happened,” with “no experience, no resume, no nothing,” and yet changed the world in just seven years.
Simmons dissected the band’s songwriting craft, which he described as “perfect.” He contrasted their directness with other classic rock hits. “[The Rolling Stones’] ‘Satisfaction’ is one of the great songs… It takes about 40 seconds to get to the first [chorus]… [Cream‘s] ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’. It takes about 50 seconds,” he explained. “The Beatles. ‘I just wrote a new song.’ ‘What is it called?’ ‘It’s called ‘Help’.’ ‘How’s it go?’ It goes like this: [sings] ‘Help. I need somebody. Help.’ Not even an introduction, nothing.”
He continued this analysis with several other examples. “‘Got another one for you.’ ‘What is it called?’ ‘It’s called ‘Yesterday’.’ ‘How’s it go?’ It goes like this: [sings] ‘Yesterday.’ ‘I got another one for you. It’s called ‘Michelle’.’ ‘How’s it go?’ [Sings] ‘Michelle…'”
Simmons expressed particular admiration for the structure of “Hey, Jude,” pointing out, “Not only does it be begin with ‘Hey, Jude’, the word ‘Hey’ is before the music. [Sings] ‘Hey, Jude’, and then the chords come in. Those are what’s called perfect songs… Who writes songs like that? It’s undeniable, their writing.” He also pointed to their early musical sophistication, noting that the final chord in “She Loves You” is a “minor ninth… almost like a jazz chord — unheard of in rock music.”
He singled out Paul McCartney for special praise. “[Paul] McCartney, especially, by far is the most successful songwriter in all of recorded history,” Simmons said, citing that over a thousand different artists have recorded just the song “Yesterday.”
Reflecting on his own first encounter with the band, Simmons recalled in a previous interview with SPIN magazine that seeing them on television as a child was “like a religious event, like a singularity.” “I wasn’t a musician. I was just a kid,” he said. “Turn on the TV, and The Beatles came out: ‘She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah.’ I’m going, ‘What is that? What accent is that?’ And they look like girls, and they’re small human beings with silly haircuts.”
