Looking at Gene Simmons’ stage persona and his rebellious attire, one would probably think his personal playlist purely consists of heavy sounds. However, it seems like looks can be deceiving since he gave a varied list, including ABBA and Patsy Cline, while recently speaking to Goldmine. The bassist also named Led Zeppelin’s first album among his favorites before admitting that he initially thought Robert Plant was a ‘chick singer.’
“When I first heard ‘Communication Breakdown,’ I thought, ‘Oh, my God, this sounds like hell on four wheels,’” said Simmons. “I thought it was a chick singer. I didn’t know it was a guy. I had never heard of Robert Plant. I didn’t know anything. You turn it up and say, ‘Oh, what’s that? I want to hear that!’ The same thing happened to me when I first heard the Beatles. ‘What is that jangly sound, and what is that?’ You want to turn it up!”
Expressing his opinions on Led Zeppelin’s debut album, the musician continued, “That first Zeppelin record is undeniable. The fact that the band had one guitar player, one bass player, and drums and could sound like that live says a lot. Undeniable. But they were able to reproduce that live just with those guys — instead of the Beatles, you’d need musicians to do ‘Sgt. Pepper.’”
‘Led Zeppelin’ was a top 10 album in various countries following its release, featuring timeless classics ‘Dazed and Confused,’ ‘Good Times Bad Times,’ and ‘Communication Breakdown.’ Apparently, the latter impressed Gene Simmons a lot when he first heard it. However, the bassist knew nothing about Robert Plant, so he thought he was a she.
Other albums the Demon listed as his favorites had varying genres, as he mentioned Ray Charles’ ‘Greatest Hits,’ the Beatles’ ‘White Album,’ Jeff Beck Group’s ‘Truth/Beck-Ola,’ Dave Clark Five, ABBA, and Patsy Clark’s ‘Greatest Hits’ albums, the Who’s ‘Tommy,’ James Brown’s ‘20 All-Time Greatest Hits!’ and ultimately, the KISS album ‘Destroyer.’
