Gene Simmons Disrespects Led Zeppelin Member

Gene Simmons recently argued that Michael Anthony’s playing skills are underrated. He went on to admit that he couldn’t remember “anything” John Paul Jones played because of the way his bass sounded.

Gene Simmons opens up on John Paul Jones

It might seem like Simmons recognized a kindred spirit in Anthony that fateful night at The Starwood Club when Van Halen blew him away and made the KISS bassist put a lot of effort into signing them.

Anthony’s bass playing is more intricate than it might seemth ough Simmons told Bass Player in an interview that the younger bassist “never got a lot of attention”. However, Anthony’s playing was impressive and he felt the name him among the six players who helped shape his sound, saying:

“Michael Anthony from Van Halen never got a lot of attention – but he’s really good. I remember being impressed with him when I produced that first Van Halen demo.”

“Of course, with a band like that, there’s a lot of room because Eddie is doing his part, especially live. They basically played live at Electric Lady Studios, and Michael – I didn’t tell him to – but he was using an Ampeg, which I also used early on.”

Simmons recalled being particularly impressed by the interplay between Anthony and Eddie Van Halen and he labeled it a fox chase:

“There was that sound, that approach, where Eddie would have a riff, but Michael is playing around it. It’s like people trying to chase a fox and get it in the trap, which is much more interesting to me than walking a straight line where you know where it’s going.”

In Simmons’ list, Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones gets an honorary mention. However, the KISS bassist says he doesn’t remember a single JPJ tune:

“John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin was also terrific, but you can’t really hear what he’s playing. The tone is sort of lower, and a muffled kind of R&B bass playing. I can’t really recall in my mind anything John Paul Jones played.”

Last month, Simmons said that his KISS bandmate Paul Stanley didn’t see the potential in Van Halen the way he did, noting how there was some pushback from The Starchild about the idea of signing the young hard rock trailblazers:

“Paul [Stanley] knew stuff I didn’t know. I knew stuff he didn’t know. He should have taken my advice and signed Van Halen. I found that band. I couldn’t convince Paul or the rest of the guys in the band or the management. They just said, ‘What are you talking about?’ I said, ‘In a year or two, this is going to be the biggest band.’”