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And Finally
Gene reckons he could be the uber-judge on X or Idol
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 24 November 2010
Gene Simmons has been rambling on about ‘X-Factor’ style shows, and reckons, perhaps unsurprisingly, he’d be the best guy in the world to judge on one of these programmes. So much so, if he was on board all other judges could be dispensed with.
He told the Daily Star: “I think I could be the sole judge on ‘The X-Factor’, I’m more qualified than anybody on the show. Nobody on that show has written songs, then been on stage, or had record companies and managed Liza Minnelli. Nobody can shine my shoes”.
That said, he’s not as critical of Simon Cowell and the ‘X’ machine as other rock stars have been of late, admitting the Cowell-meister “is the only one on television that tells the truth. Everybody is nice, but that’s not how life is. Life is: ‘You suck, get off the stage’. Realistic is good”.
But he does agree with other recent Cowell critics that many of rock’s greatest artists would never have made it on ‘X’ or ‘Idol’ type shows, partly because they are really singing competitions, and being a rock star isn’t just about singing. He concluded: “Imagine if Jimi Hendrix or Mick Jagger or Robert Plant came out. I wouldn’t make it, and neither would they. We’re peculiar and that’s what makes stars interesting, not the fact that you can sing well. Broadway and pop is the place where people really sing correctly”.
