Gene Simmons

25 Classic Metal/Hardcore Photos from Louder Than Hell

If you've got a lot of time on your hands and a heart full of darkness, you'd be wise to check out Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal, out Tuesday on Harper Collins/It Books. The key word in that title is "Definitive." This is quite a weighty tome, over 600 pages across every twi ... More >>

The Oral History of NYC's Metal/Hardcore Crossover

Excerpted from the book Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal, published by It Books and available May 14 New York is a music mecca—the Brill Building, Broadway, street performers, subway buskers, the Metropolitan opera—but it's not known for its abundance of successful ... More >>

KISS Drummer Peter Criss Absolves Himself of All Responsibility

Playing the blame game in his new book, Makeup to Breakup

KISS and Morrissey: Together At Last

Last night I saw KISS and Morrissey perform live back to back shows. I came out the other side a changed man. A man who, because he'd just seen KISS and Morrissey back to back, questioned whether or not he even was one. I don't know anything anymore. Except this: I wanna Rock 'n' Roll all night, and ... More >>

Reviews of Wines From Famous Rock 'n' Roll Bands!

By Brian McManus Lately we've noticed a lot of bands have their own brands of wine, including Motörhead, Kiss, AC/DC, and Ratt. (Even Warrant has a wine. Warrant.) One of our friends at Wine Spectator magazine showed us the piece they wrote in April about this trend, and noted they were going to r ... More >>

100 & Single: Madonna's Chart Transformation Into A Classic-Rock Act

Whatever you thought of her performance at this year's Super Bowl, Madonna's halftime appearance had the desired effect: It drummed up awareness for her first album in four years, the longest recording gap of her career. When the Billboard 200 album chart is tallied in the middle of this week, Madg ... More >>

SOTC's March Madness: The Quintessential New York Musician Tournament

Sound of the City's monthlong tournament to determine the quintessential New York City musician (since 1955, the year of the Village Voice's founding) is taking over our site all March. The full schedule and results (as of March 23) below; you can also follow along with our bracket.

Gene Simmons Dubs Himself The Ultimate Judge Of Authenticity In Pop Music

Kiss bass player/reality-TV star/political gadfly Gene Simmons let his legendary tongue loose earlier this week during a press conference announcing his band's summer tour with Mötley Crüe. The two-headed bill, which will be at the PNC Bank Arts Center on September 21 and Jones Beach on September ... More >>

Neil Diamond (3) Matches Wits With Gene Simmons (14) In The Latest SOTC March Madness Matchup

The Round of 64 for Sound of the City's own version of March Madness—in which you, the Sound of the City voting public, help determine the quintessential New York musician—continues.We continue matching up the Queens combatants with a face-off between the No. 3 seed, Neil Diamond, and KI ... More >>

Did Whitney Houston Kill Herself?

Gene Simmons reportedly said so on CNBC, though I'm not sure how renowned an expert he is in forensics. And while Simmons meant he thinks Whitney literally offed herself in the tub, that other noted death pundit, Bill O'Reilly, feels Whitney simply wanted to extinguish herself in the long run.

Live: The Darkness Return, Bringing Glam And Sweat With Them

The Darkness Irving Plaza Saturday, February 4 Better than: Your ironic love of hair metal. There's a sea of white people two-fisting 24 oz. Bud Lights the size of Pringles cans and dudes in collared shirts amusing each other with their cartoonish falsettos. Sure, glam rock may not be as popular ... More >>

Like Gene Simmons's Tongue? Then Check Out Gabrielle Hamilton's at Prune, Dish No. 16

​You may remember the long long tongue of frontman Gene Simmons of Kiss -- who has since become a slatternly reality-show star. Rumors at the time suggested that he had had a cow tongue grafted onto his own. But take a minute to examine the splendid cow tongue currently being offered at Prune ... More >>

Live: LMFAO Cause Panda-Monium At Pier 36

​ LMFAO w/Swizz Beatz Pier 36 Thursday, August 11 Better than: Watching the new episode of Jersey Shore. It was a beautiful coincidence that LMFAO, holders of the No. 1 song on Billboard's Hot 100 for most of the summer of 2011, headlined the trade publication's end-of-summer blowout at Pier ... More >>

Limp Bizkit Lean Into The Backlash On Gold Cobra

​It's been a little over a decade since Limp Bizkit's Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water became the fastest-selling rock album of all time, a record that's at this point unlikely to be broken. Generally speaking, being a cultural phenomenon on that scale for even a fleeting mome ... More >>

Q&A: White Zombie's Sean Yseult On The Band's Early Lower East Side Days: "It Was The '80s, And We Hated Everything"

​White Zombie had rules. One: no solo albums under their own names. So Sean Yseult -- the bassist in the NYC punk-metal monolith, led by growling frontman Rob Zombie, that slowly evolved from mid-'80s CBGBs punks to the '90s alterna-metal titans of "Thunder Kiss '65" and "More Human Than Human ... More >>

All Gloss, No Dirt in Hugh Hefner

Live From Yesterday's Ted Leo Video Shoot at the Bell House

​ In the "top secret" filming location of Ted Leo's music video for "Bottled in Cork," I am waiting to choke a punk-rocking goon with my polka-dot ascot. Director Tom Scharpling sent a casting call two days prior, instructing fans to attend the shoot wearing nothing but their "finest theater- ... More >>

Latest in 'Gourmet' Post-Mortem: It Wasn't Just For the Finicky Elite

Since news hit of Gourmet's untimely demise, there's been plenty of sniping to go along with the mourning -- though the magazine's gone, charges of foodie elitism continue to fester, and will undoubtedly do so for a long while. But an article today in Salon argues that the magazine was for the "youn ... More >>

Blind Items About Raw Sex and Meth Habits!

Your guess is not as good as mine. But go ahead and try.

Live: Black Metal Legends Marduk Return to the U.S. After Eight Years, Drink Cow's Blood

photo by Ken PierceMarduk Marduk Gramercy Theater August 15, 2009 Black metal fans rejoiced (or whatever the black metal equivalent of rejoicing is) on Saturday night, as the legendary Swedish band Marduk returned to New York for their first performance here since 2001, preceded by a Friday night ... More >>

Ruth Reichl as Mickey Rourke, Amy Winehouse

Here we have a video produced by Gourmet's website, in which we imagine that Ruth Reichl is called upon to go out and review restaurants once more, but must come up with iron-clad disguises. Who knew Reichl could do such a spot-on Amy Winehouse impression? Her Mickey Rourke is shockingly good too ... More >>

Paul Rudd Going Nowhere—Except School—in Role Models

Smarter and bawdier than your average boys-to-men movie

Feeding the Beast: Midday Link Dump

Gene Simmons and the Whores He Admires

Kiss-and-makeup with Simmons; trophy-boy update; chats in the middle of the Maddin crowd

Yo La Tengo's Hanukkah Shows: What's Happened So Far

The American Music Awards: A Running Diary

Totally Use Your Illusion, Dude

Rap stars see how the other half lives

Axes of Fire

Guitar Hero fans attempt to look sexy while playing video games. Results are inconclusive.

Idols Friendly and Faux

My tour of modern Grease. Plus a celebulecture and a swashbuckled queen or two or three.

VH-1's Rock Honors: A Running Diary

Oral Pain Equals Aural Gain

Second life for a steel-bar-bending rocker and his muscles of love

1973

Tears of a Clown

Taylor Mac kicks off Queer@HERE Fest with drag novelty

Recovered Memories

Spring '04 on the Cheap

An arcade classic, updated for insatiable hardcore heads

Music

Two-Bedroom Apartment in New Building

Whiskers in the Dark

Mama's Got a Litterbox, Daddy Never Sleeps at Night

Music

Uncontrollable Urges

Music

New Kid on the Block

City Hall Has a New Boss. Wish It Were You?