Why Gene Simmons Should Retire, According To Nikki Sixx

In today’s music scene, there are lots of great artists who have been making music for decades. Due to their love of music, many of them don’t consider retiring despite their age — such as Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Neil Young, David Gilmour, or Gene Simmons.

In some cases, these musicians lose their spirit, struggle with health issues, or cannot handle performing and touring schedules. For that reason, fans expect them to bid farewell to the music scene and retire. However, the reason Nikki Sixx believed Gene Simmons should retire was none of them.

Nikki Sixx Argued Gene Simmons should Retire After His Controversial Remarks

Gene Simmons is a talented artist, but he mostly makes headlines with his controversial remarks. Moreover, Simmons doesn’t hesitate to use his sharp tongue in his statements, making it inevitable for him to receive a public backlash. One of his most controversial remarks was about Prince’s death, and it caused him to receive a pretty negative response.

In a previous interview, Simmons described Prince’s death as ‘pathetic’ because the singer died of an accidental overdose. Although Simmons also praised Prince’s musical talents in his remarks, his ‘pathetic’ comment ended up causing a controversy. In an interview with FM99 WNOR in 2016, Nikki Sixx also revealed his thoughts on Simmons’ statements.

Nikki Sixx stated that no one in the rock music scene had respect for Gene Simmons anymore. Sixx then called Simmons a ‘bully’ who puts down Prince, an artist he doesn’t know anything about. Recalling that Simmons once argued depressed people should kill themselves, Sixx said Simmons should ‘call it a day.’

Following that, Nikki praised Prince’s music catalog and said the legacy he left behind has the utmost importance. Comparing Prince to KISS, Sixx claimed there is no comparison between them as Prince’s standards were high, and his music was never about money and ego.

As reported by Classic Rock, Nikki Sixx said the following:

 “We have no respect for Gene Simmons anymore – nobody in rock does. And I’m not going to sit back quietly and allow a bully to go out there and put down people he doesn’t know anything about. The last thing that Gene and I got into is he said that if people are depressed, they should kill themselves.

I think that Gene should call it a day and that we should look at this beautiful catalog of music that Prince has given us. And if you want to compare Prince to KISS… there’s no comparison. Prince has been an amazing artist. He’s kept his standard high over the years and was never just about money and ego – it was about music.”

Prince passed away on April 21, 2016, at the age of 57. After an autopsy report, it turned out that Prince died of an accidental fentanyl overdose — he tried to take the painkiller Vicodin but ended up taking fentanyl instead. Although Simmons later apologized for his remarks, he still offended many, especially Nikki Sixx.