Gene Simmons wants your pants sued off

KISS was doing so well. The main recognition KISS was getting among those under the age of 45 was either ignorance, ironic appreciation, resentment, or a possible Halloween costume for those with big tongues. Unfortunately, this perfect KISS equilibrium was thrown off on Monday when Gene Simmons was interviewed at billboard.biz. Most of the interview regarded his concert DVD's and his role on video websites (as if anyone cares), but he did take the time to give this response when asked about a possible KISS reunion:

The record industry is in such a mess. I called for what it was when college kids first started download music for free -- that they were crooks. I told every record label I spoke with that they just lit the fuse to their own bomb that was going to explode from under them and put them on the street.

There is nothing in me that wants to go in there and do new music. How are you going to deliver it? How are you going to get paid for it if people can just get it for free? I will be putting out a Gene Simmons box set called "Monster" -- a collection of 150 unreleased songs. KISS will have another box set of unreleased music in the next year.

The record industry doesn't have a f*cking clue how to make money. It's only their fault for letting foxes get into the henhouse and then wondering why there's no eggs or chickens. Every little college kid, every freshly-scrubbed little kid's face should have been sued off the face of the earth. They should have taken their houses and cars and nipped it right there in the beginning. Those kids are putting 100,000 to a million people out of work. How can you pick on them? They've got freckles. That's a crook. He may as well be wearing a bandit's mask.

Doesn't affect me. But imagine being a new band with dreams of getting on stage and putting out your own record. Forget it.

Apparently, this kid makes Gene Simmons lose sleep at night.

I guess Simmons thinks littering his comments with random insults and obscenities will make him seem more badass. And I guess if you're a forty-something gym teacher who dreams of having Gene Simmons as your colleague (this was possible once), it seems badass. But to anyone else, he's the rock star equivalent of your grandfather complaining about the Youtubes and yelling at kids to get off his lawn. Frankly, a world where KISS is unprofitable is a better world for us all.