432: Gene Simmons—The Sun Never Sets on Planet Cool

Summary

Podcast Summary: Episode 432 – Gene Simmons—The Sun Never Sets on Planet Cool

The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe showcases an illuminating conversation with Gene Simmons, the iconic bassist and co-lead singer of the legendary rock band KISS. Released on April 17, 2025, this episode delves deep into Simmons' perspectives on ethics, work ethic, philanthropy, and his experiences navigating fame and business.

---

Introduction: Meeting a Legend [00:03 - 04:12]

Mike Rowe opens the episode by expressing his admiration for Gene Simmons, highlighting the unexpected opportunity to engage with a star far more famous than himself. He sets the stage by mentioning the diverse range of topics they will cover, from Jewish heritage to modern economic discussions.

"The pearls of wisdom just bounced across the table as they tumbled out of his mouth."
[00:03 – Mike Rowe]

Punctuality and Integrity: The Jewish Ethos [04:12 - 06:21]

The conversation shifts to the importance of punctuality and integrity. Simmons emphasizes these values as integral parts of his identity, rooted in his Jewish background. He introduces the concept of being a "mensch," a term signifying a person of integrity and honor.

"You have to imagine yourself on the other side. You don't want to be treated that way."
[05:24 – Gene Simmons]

"Mensch is a real German word. It means a gentleman. But for Jews, the added idea is you're a man."
[06:26 – Gene Simmons]

Immigration Stories: From Israel to America [23:18 - 31:30]

Simmons recounts his childhood immigration from Tirat Carmel, Israel, to the United States at the age of eight. He shares vivid memories of his first encounters with American culture, including his fascination with the Superman television show and the overwhelming experience of American supermarkets.

"When I saw Superman. We came on El Al Airlines propellers in those days. 1958."
[23:18 – Gene Simmons]

"I thought there was a guy inside the box, you know, talking."
[25:34 – Gene Simmons]

Work Ethic and Success: The Tightrope Metaphor [11:00 - 19:24]

Simmons and Rowe discuss the philosophy of work ethic and success. Using the metaphor of walking a tightrope without a safety net, Simmons illustrates the importance of mindset and resilience in achieving and maintaining success.

"Mindset is everything before. And if you have the mind, I can do this. I'm going to get to the other side."
[18:53 – Gene Simmons]

"The chances are mindset is everything before. And you go out there like a champion, more than likely you're gonna win."
[19:24 – Gene Simmons]

Music Industry Insights: Creativity and Commerce [43:32 - 58:48]

Delving into the music industry, Simmons discusses the influence of Jewish entrepreneurs in shaping Hollywood and pop culture. He shares insights into the evolution of music, the importance of creating a unique persona, and the balance between artistic creativity and commercial success.

"All of the movie studios, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Universal, were all created by Jews who lived within a 500 square mile area in Europe, Poland, Russia and all that stuff."
[70:11 – Gene Simmons]

"We didn't think we were convincing at it. So you have to create your own Persona, not costumes."
[43:32 – Gene Simmons]

Philanthropy: Giving Back with Purpose [57:45 - 58:48]

Simmons highlights his philanthropic efforts through organizations like Mending Kids International, which supports children in impoverished regions of Africa. He emphasizes sustainable aid, focusing on education and infrastructure to empower communities.

"MendingKids.org provides children who can't afford... 1400 kids in Zanzibar, in Zimbabwe."
[57:45 – Gene Simmons]

"We'll give you as much food as you can digest and do and you can take some food home."
[58:35 – Gene Simmons]

Economic Philosophy: Money and Society [48:21 - 65:49]

Discussing the role of money in society, Simmons challenges the notion that "money is the root of all evil." He argues that lack of money breeds challenges, and emphasizes the positive impact of business ventures in creating jobs and fostering economic growth.

"Money is the root of all evil. It's untrue. That's a lie. Lack of money is the root of all evil."
[48:21 – Gene Simmons]

"If my only motivation in life is making money... I create jobs. My money seeds the workforce and enables poor people to feed their families."
[48:48 – Gene Simmons]

Work Ethic in the Modern World [62:14 - 67:14]

The dialogue turns to contemporary views on work ethic. Simmons critiques the ideal of finding personal fulfillment solely through passion-driven work, asserting that many people work out of necessity to support their families.

"Most people... have a job they hate... they bring the money back. The idea that I have to be inspired. It's such bullshit."
[62:14 – Gene Simmons]

"Look. And then you die. That's all it is."
[67:14 – Gene Simmons]

Final Reflections: Reinvention and Perspective [74:21 - End]

In concluding remarks, Simmons reflects on the necessity of reinvention and maintaining a broad perspective. He touches upon the fleeting nature of fame and the importance of diversifying one's endeavors to sustain long-term success.

"Don't put your eggs in one basket. You could win big, but you can get wiped out."
[65:49 – Gene Simmons]

"Otherwise, we're just copies of our mothers and fathers. You get a clean slate and you can write whatever you want on it."
[74:21 – Gene Simmons]

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

1. On Integrity and Punctuality

   "You have to imagine yourself on the other side. You don't want to be treated that way."
   [05:24 – Gene Simmons]

2. On Being a Mensch

   "Mensch is a real German word. It means a gentleman. But for Jews, the added idea is you're a man."
   [06:26 – Gene Simmons]

3. On Money and Society

   "Money is the root of all evil. It's untrue. That's a lie. Lack of money is the root of all evil."
   [48:21 – Gene Simmons]

4. On Work Ethic

   "Most people... have a job they hate... The idea that I have to be inspired. It's such bullshit."
   [62:14 – Gene Simmons]

5. On Life’s Transience

   "Look. And then you die. That's all it is."
   [67:14 – Gene Simmons]

Conclusion

This episode offers a candid and comprehensive look into Gene Simmons' life philosophies and experiences. From emphasizing the importance of integrity and work ethic to discussing the broader economic impact of business ventures, Simmons provides valuable insights. His dedication to philanthropy and his thoughts on the fleeting nature of fame add depth to the conversation, making it a compelling listen for fans and newcomers alike.

---

Note: This summary focuses solely on the content provided and aims to present the discussion objectively. Any sensitive topics, particularly those relating to ethnicity or religion, are conveyed in the context of the conversation without endorsement or criticism.

Transcript

[Mike Rowe]

Hey, it's me, Mike Rowe. And I'm always delighted when people stop by who are far, far, far, far more famous than I. That is fair to say. Very fair to say. One of the founding members of a little rock band called Kiss was in the neighborhood and he braved the LA traffic, which was no easy thing to do. But he came in and he sat down and we began to chat. And the pearls of wisdom just bounced across the table as they tumbled out of his mouth. That guy knows a lot. And he's not afraid to tell you about it, right? A lot of fun facts in there. And one thing that he's very keen about is how many Jews there are in the world. We do great things. We did talk a lot about the Diaspora and the Jewish population. Of course. Gene Simmons is very, very Jewish and Israelite in every sense of the word, and eager to talk about it. And he does. Cause he's Gene Simmons. He's 75 years old. He's worth close to half a billion dollars. You wanna talk about crypto, you wanna talk about fine art, you wanna talk about the joy of music, you wanna talk about the Holocaust, whatever you wanna talk about, he sure can. He's been there and he's done it. And he's a guy that I've wanted to meet for a long, long time. And he didn't disappoint. You know, I mean, if you're not old enough to remember. Without overstating it, Kiss changed rock and roll, changed fashion, changed music. It changed everything. Yeah, I remember. Let's see. This would have been 1975. They had formed, the band had. And they were playing, but no one knew of them yet. There was no KISS army yet. Right, right. But you know what? There was. There were billboards in Manhattan, and up and down the east coast, black billboards with those big white letters that said kiss. That very distinctive font with the, you know, straight S's. Yeah, something very German, a little bit. But no one knew what it meant. No one knew they were a band. It was just. Why am I seeing the word Kiss? What am I supposed to do? Is this a command? Is it a suggestion? What is it? Keep it simple, stupid. It's that, too. Now, others have said, nights in the service of Satan, which is not true. No, but it does come up in the conversation. Because, frankly, everything else does. What's the title of this episode? I love the quote he gave me. It's called the Sun Never Sets on Planet Cool. Which was his response when I said, dude, why don't you take off those sunglasses, which he never does. He's Gene Simmons. He can say whatever he wants. And believe me, we're about to prove it. Right after this. If you haven't noticed, there's a lot of uncertainty out there right now. Stock market tariffs, embargoes, dogs and cats living together. People are freaked out. But guess what? In spite of all the uncertainty, 76% of employers are planning to expand their headcount for 20, 25. 76%. That's according to ZipRecruiter. And that translates into a lot of time to spent hiring. If you're among the 76% looking to hire people this year, you ought to know about Zip Intro. This is the best and latest way to post a job today and talk to qualified candidates tomorrow. Zip Intro does most of the work for you, so you save time. And right now you can try Zip Intro for [e-mail] row all you do is pick a time and zip intro sets up a series of back to back video calls. Then you can choose who you want to meet. There's no faster way, no more efficient way, no easier way to connect with great people than Zip Intro. Go to ZipRecruiter.com ro to try Zip info for free. That's ZipRecruiter.com ro To try Zip Intro. Post a job today, talk to qualified candidates tomorrow. ZipRecruiter.com roll an hour, 40 minutes from Malibu. Seriously?

[Gene Simmons]

Oh, yeah. 1:45. Yeah.

[Mike Rowe]

What? And?

[Gene Simmons]

Well, PCH is closed. If I took PCH 40 minutes. You got all the way around Ventura highway to Oxnard, then Cummer or Canaan Dune, and then I've got another half. Cause I live at the very end.

[Mike Rowe]

Well, I'm so glad you came. But we were. You're. You're 45 minutes late. Right. And I know how I feel. This. It doesn't happen to me a lot.

[Gene Simmons]

Doesn't happen to me.

[Mike Rowe]

What? What happens in your brain, chemically and to your person. You drove yourself too, right?

[Gene Simmons]

Oh, yeah. I haven't. I've never had an assistant or anything. I wipe my own ass.

[Mike Rowe]

I love that. I love that. Do you alternate hands when wiping? Yeah. Like you ever mix it up?

[Gene Simmons]

A little bit. Depends how much there is. If it's a big scoop, I'll use both. Like an earth mover.

[Mike Rowe]

Friends. Look, I. I apologize in advance. I don't know where we're headed with this. The question I'm trying to get at though, is for a man who values promptness, just like for me, it's the five stages of grief. When I'm running that late for an appointment, it. It literally makes me crazy.

[Gene Simmons]

You have to care because you have to imagine you on the other side. You don't want to be treated that way. And why would you treat somebody else that way? It's an old Jewish idea. Do unto others as they. Yeah, sorry, that's. We came up with that first.

[Mike Rowe]

Yeah.

[Gene Simmons]

And it's respect. And when you're poor, you're afraid of repercussions. If I'm late, I'm going to get fired.

[Mike Rowe]

Right?

[Gene Simmons]

Ergo, E, R, G, O. I won't make any money. And what follows is I won't be able to have a roof over my head, feed my family and eat. So there are repercussions. The question is, are you a mensch? Are you a man? And when you don't depend on the money, when you've got enough, because there's no such thing, will you ethically, morally show up on time because you care? That's the way I feel about it.

[Mike Rowe]

What's the etymology of mensch? Is it abbreviated for something?

[Gene Simmons]

It's German.

[Mike Rowe]

It's a German word.

[Gene Simmons]

I can speak well enough. Hochdeutsch, which is proper high German. And mensch is a real German word. It means a gentleman. But for Jews, the added idea is you're a man. In those days, everything was about men. A man, if he says something, you gotta take him for his word. Anybody that doesn't is not a mensch.

[Mike Rowe]

Right, right. So back in a time when a handshake meant a thing similar. Yeah, right.

[Gene Simmons]

By the way, sometimes they'd spit.

[Mike Rowe]

Where'd that come from?

[Gene Simmons]

Western? In America, it came from the West. Not in Europe. In fact, in Europe, good luck is you spit on the head of your child.

[Mike Rowe]

Hey, come on. Really.

[Gene Simmons]

I'm a hand to God.

[Mike Rowe]

Well, what about cutting? And the blood? The Indian thing?

[Gene Simmons]

Yeah. We are of one blood. And as a matter of fact, if you're curious where Indian names came from, it's really a fascinating American Indian. It's a fascinating idea. There's an old chief, you know, Howling Wolf, who's dying. And the young buck, you know, who's gonna become the Indian chief, gets in front of the Howling Wolf before you pass with the great spirits. I know what to do. And I'm going to. I promise I'm going to protect, you know. I just want to know one thing. How do we name our children? Of what? Because they don't have mom and dad. How did you get howling wolf. He goes, well, when we are born, what we see around. They saw a howling wolf when I was born, and therefore I'm howling wolf. Does that answer your question? Two dogs.

[Mike Rowe]

Chuck. Did you see it? Yeah, I did. I saw it. I mean, did you see where he was going?

[Gene Simmons]

Oh, I. I saw it very.

[Mike Rowe]

He. I. I didn't. I didn't. He got halfway through it and I realized, oh, man, it's going to be a joke. It's going to be. To circle back your. Your amount of wealth and taste, You've done pretty well for yourself.

[Gene Simmons]

Wealth is relative.

[Mike Rowe]

Not really. Well, I. I suppose it.

[Gene Simmons]

I suppose everything's relative enough around Bezos or Elon. You're. You're speck of dandruff.

[Mike Rowe]

You're.

[Gene Simmons]

You're.

[Mike Rowe]

You're measly. 400 million next to Elon's 400 billion.

[Gene Simmons]

I never said I'm worth 400 million.

[Mike Rowe]

No, but Wikipedia does, and they can't be wrong.

[Gene Simmons]

Oh, of course not.

[Mike Rowe]

But here. Here's my question.

[Gene Simmons]

Yeah.

[Mike Rowe]

You get up. You're 75 years old.

[Gene Simmons]

Yep.

[Mike Rowe]

You suffer through an hour, 45 minutes of traffic to come here. You don't know me. I mean, maybe you know of me.

[Gene Simmons]

Sure, I do.

[Mike Rowe]

Maybe you follow my entire. I have no idea. But I know that a lot of people, if they imagine themselves in your position, with your life.

[Gene Simmons]

Yeah.

[Mike Rowe]

What are you doing, man? Why are you out in the world? Why are you on podcasts? Why are you still. Why are you still out there?

[Gene Simmons]

I'm busier and work now more than ever. I have a Gene Simmons band, a labor of love. We're doing an American tour starting April.

[Mike Rowe]

Really?

[Gene Simmons]

Yeah. The Gene Simmons band starts all across America. We show up with guitar picks, and that's it. Everything is just bare bones the way we started, the old fashioned way.

[Mike Rowe]

No guitars, just the picks.

[Gene Simmons]

No, I'm sorry. Somebody carries the guitar.

[Mike Rowe]

Four dudes walk on stage with nothing but picks. I'm gonna demand a refund.

[Gene Simmons]

The idea being that the amplifiers. Yes, I have that too. The amplifiers and the drums and everything are provided for us. They fly us in, or we drive and then we play. You should go to genesimmons.com to find all the dates.

[Mike Rowe]

We're there right now, I think.

[Gene Simmons]

Go to shopgeensimmons.com. he's scrolling too fast for me, but what am I gonna do? Keep going down. Keep going down. No, that's up. The other way. There you go. So you go to shopgeensimmons.com. i own the Moneybag logo. I own the Bitcoin. See all those logos? I own all the trademark to all of them, including the Euro. The pound sign. Yes, I do.

[Mike Rowe]

You're not answering my question, man.

[Gene Simmons]

I never touched her.

[Mike Rowe]

Why? Muscle memory. Reflex. Why? Yes, why are you still.

[Gene Simmons]

We have restaurant chains, Rock and Bruce, Two of them at lax. Across America, a film company. Simmons, Abramson. I'm sorry. Simmons, Hamilton. The first one is Deep Water with Sir Ben Kingsley and. Oh, yeah, big stuff.

[Mike Rowe]

You're in business with Ben Kingsley? That Ben Kingsley?

[Gene Simmons]

Yes, Sir Ben Kingsley.

[Mike Rowe]

Oh, I'm sorry.

[Gene Simmons]

Renee Harlan, directing. And the second ones with Bella Thorne and Mel Gibson, they come one right after the other. But while you're alive. Look, you're running a race because life, in essence, is a race. And, you know, we're young, we don't care. We don't know what it's about. And you just cruise, aren't you like I am? As you see the finish line, don't you speed up?

[Mike Rowe]

Sure.

[Gene Simmons]

I'm 75. How many years more do I have left? I don't know. A year, 10 years, 20, 30. Whatever it is, I get up every day earlier this morning I was up at. So help me God, on my children, I was up 5am yeah.

[Mike Rowe]

On purpose?

[Gene Simmons]

No, just my eyes. I can't wait to get started. Read, you know, be a sponge.

[Mike Rowe]

So the notion. Like, the notion of retirement, does it even mean anything?

[Gene Simmons]

No, it's a. Somebody made up 64 as retirement age. In Greece, it used to be 54, and then when the government tried to move it up to 60, because that doesn't make financial sense, they started burning tires on the streets. I don't. I want. Well, what do you want to do with your life? Do nothing. I want to retire. And do what? You get up after you poop and wipe. Not everybody wipes.

[Mike Rowe]

Not everybody gets up before they do that either.

[Gene Simmons]

Yeah. What are you going to do the rest of the day? There's eating. Yeah. And what? Smelling. The. The grass and the lawn and everything. No, you got to do something. I want to be able to see. The Pharaohs were not good guys. They enslaved people. They tortured people. But they had the same will to live that winners do.

[Mike Rowe]

But is the will to live. I mean, I think that's instinctual achievement, not just living. That's different. That's different.

[Gene Simmons]

That's right.

[Mike Rowe]

Work ethic is different.

[Gene Simmons]

Yes.

[Mike Rowe]

Right. Than the will to live. Yes, The. The will to work. The desire to work.

[Gene Simmons]

Yes.

[Mike Rowe]

The. The compunction to drag your 75 year old bag of bones into your car and drive yourself over here to talk about whatever it is we're going to talk about. Is it, is it curiosity? Like, are you still, like, are you.

[Gene Simmons]

A curious person about everything? I admire all kinds of people that do things that I can't do, and I want to find out why I'm not doing it or not doing it as well.

[Mike Rowe]

For example, who do you admire? Who you've never met?

[Gene Simmons]

Oh, anybody. Elon Bezos. You know, these guys started with nothing. Elon especially came from South Africa, not a happy home, had a brother and so on, and they moved to Canada. And somewhere along the line, scientists like to call it singularity or something. Some flicker went off and then nothing was going to stop the guy. But I mean, nothing. Bezos also started off with nothing and just had this kind of notion about this idea of this Amazon thing, go to someplace. I mean, it's really a simple idea when you think about it. And all the big movements in technology and inventions and so on were started by individuals, not corporate entities, not governments. Alexander Graham Bell. Mr. So and so, come in here and Edison with his team, inventing things. Just individuals who have this scratch that they can't. This itch that they can't scratch this thing, and they're never satisfied.

[Mike Rowe]

But don't you. I mean, look, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I saw a biography on KISS years ago, and I, I think you and, and Paul both were trying to explain the Singularity in, in terms of the moment where somebody said, okay, we're going to call ourselves kiss. We're going to wear makeup. Yep, Right. And like, that wasn't, I mean, that came from some other place.

[Gene Simmons]

Some other place because there was nothing. We didn't have a resume, no experience, no nothing. We knew somehow, you know, you may not know what it is, but you know it when you see it and feel it. And it's difficult to teach that kind of thing. I used to be a sixth grade teacher, and the thing that I tried to teach most is about trusting your gut, this thing. And so if you see a kid in school doodling, put away your pencil. I'm going, no, as long as you can do your work and you're doodling, I'm going to give you paperwork. Don't stop the mind from wandering. It's this kind, like, you know, we're born and we're like the ping pongs in a ping pong machine. No, no, let them. Don't do this kind of straight Line thing. Because when you take a look at the most successful people, it was not a linear line. You know, one of the popes was in Hitler Youth and from there, you know, advanced and so on, became a pope. And Schwarzenegger came from Austria, where his parents were Nazis and couldn't speak a word of English and had this thought about, I'm going to build up my body and that's going to be my way out of this small world because I have bigger ideas about life. And he became the world's most. Whatever it is, muscle guy, Mr. Olympic, many times over, and then became the governor of California.

[Mike Rowe]

And he's not done.

[Gene Simmons]

The fifth largest economy on planet Earth, ahead of Italy and England.

[Mike Rowe]

Well, maybe not right now at this particular second, but it's up there for sure. This seems a stupid question probably because obviously music was.

[Gene Simmons]

I don't think there is such a thing when you think about it.

[Mike Rowe]

Oh. See how you feel maybe a half hour from now.

[Gene Simmons]

Okay.

[Mike Rowe]

Music seems to be your way out in the way that working out was Arnold's way out. But. But it could have been magic. It could have been painting.

[Gene Simmons]

I would have succeeded in anything I wanted to.

[Mike Rowe]

Do you believe that?

[Gene Simmons]

Oh, there's no question about it.

[Mike Rowe]

Tell me why. Well, where's that certainty come from?

[Gene Simmons]

I think it's worth noting that the tightrope walker and all champions do this. They work. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna win. You know, you gotta hype yourself up. You can't wait for somebody to hype you up. You gotta. I'm gonna do this. You know, in football, sometimes you get the Gipper. Okay, let's get out there and show them. And you're depending on somebody else. If you are your own Gipper, as they say, and can hype yourself up, you're actually contributing greatly to your success. So if you're going to walk a tightrope and your mindset is everything, including the will to live, doctors haven't figured that one out yet. If you don't have the will to live, you're going to die fast. You live. You got to live. It releases the right endorphins, whatever that's called. But you're about to walk a tightrope and you start thinking thoughts like, ah, there's a pretty good chance. Makes no sense. I'm probably going to fall off in the middle. You just contributed to your downfall. The chances are mindset is everything before. And if you have the mind, I can do this. I'm going to get to the other Side, because I've got stuff to do, and I got this, and I got. There's no. And you go out there like a champion, more than likely you're gonna win.

[Mike Rowe]

Permission to complicate the metaphor just a little?

[Gene Simmons]

Meta 5 inflation.

[Mike Rowe]

Okay, I like the tightrope, but is there a safety net or no?

[Gene Simmons]

No, the safety net is you're gonna fail at that, and you're gonna fail miserably, but you don't die. And what doesn't kill you makes you strong. So you can fail at something, try something else.

[Mike Rowe]

But that's what the safety net is. If you fail and fall and there's a safety net, the consequence of falling.

[Gene Simmons]

Is failing means nothing.

[Mike Rowe]

That's right. There's no. So in a world where there's no consequence to failure, does failure even have a definition?

[Gene Simmons]

Well, the reason you have a huge advantage in America is because you cannot fail if you don't have any money, if you're homeless, God forbid and all that, there are places that'll take you in and provide bed, clothing, food. Food and shelter, churches, Salvation army, you can get by. And you can wash dishes and slowly work your way up in capitalism. And if you succeed and you get the rug pulled out from under you and there's no money left and all that stuff, you can declare legally chapter 7 and chapter 11 and start all over again.

[Mike Rowe]

Have you ever done that? Have you ever.

[Gene Simmons]

No, I would never do that. Because you're shortchanging the people who gave you their money to invest. I couldn't do that.

[Mike Rowe]

You came over here with your mom when you were what, six, seven years old?

[Gene Simmons]

When I was 56. No, I was. I was eight. Actually, I was eight before I was nine.

[Mike Rowe]

And here I was thinking you were something different, something special. Eight leads to nine. You're with your mom. Your old man had left. So it's just the two of you.

[Gene Simmons]

He. He got up and walked out one day. You know, sadly, it is more common than not. In one of the books I wrote called Me Inc. The statistics are horrific and shaming men in the Hispanic, but especially in the African American community. 75% of African American women who have children, whether they're married or not, have no father figure at home. And then you wonder why the kids turn out badly in the Caucasian, something. It's like 55%. Of course you got lost children.

[Mike Rowe]

How should we think about men who walk out on their families? Dumb. You ever wonder why that free phone promotion that the big guys are always offering comes with pages of fine print? I'LL tell you why. It's because free phones require you to sign up for four lines and pay all kinds of activation fees plus all sorts of other gotchas along the way. By the time the dust settles, you've paid for your free phone three times over. Don't fall for it. PureTalk is my wireless company and they don't play those games. Their offer is really simple. With a qualifying plan of just 35 bucks a month, you can get the brand new Samsung Galaxy A26 for free. No hidden fees, no strings attached. This phone comes with gorilla glass that is virtually indestructible and and next generation camera lenses that give you beautiful wide angle, easy to take photos. Your monthly fee of just $35 includes unlimited talk, unlimited text, international roaming in over 50 countries and 15 gigs of data along with a mobile hotspot on America's most dependable 5G network. And best of all, no fine print, no contracts and a money back guarantee. Go to puretalk.com roe claim your free Samsung Galaxy phone with a qualifying plan of 35 bucks a month at PureTalk.com ro dependable and affordable wireless by Americans for [e-mail] rock.

[Gene Simmons]

Well, the law should hold them accountable. Whether it's an accident of birth or not. You've got an innocent child and whether it's an absent dad or not, you've got to at least financially provide.

[Mike Rowe]

When did you fall in love with America?

[Gene Simmons]

When I saw Superman. We came on El Al Airlines propellers in those days. 1958. Maybe it was 1858, I'm not sure.

[Mike Rowe]

Don't they go buying a bomb?

[Gene Simmons]

And all I remember is my mother saying we're just going one stop. I had no idea I was throwing up the whole time. I remember this, throwing up, eating a cracker or something and then falling asleep, then getting up, throwing up. And we landed and I remember seeing a billboard. Now you got to remember when you come from Israel, you have no idea about Christianity or anything else. You never heard of that. As an 8 year old kid all we saw were the Israelis, the Jews and some Arabs who walked down the street. That's all you knew? There's no television. I never heard of television. We didn't have a radio.

[Mike Rowe]

This is in Haifa.

[Gene Simmons]

In Haifa. We are in Tirata Carmel, which is the village of Carmel. The biblical Carmel. Same one. I lived right at the foot with my mother. Yeah. And I was introduced at about eight and a half, little more to television. And I remember thinking, I promise you this is real. I thought there was we were at our Uncle George's house and he was successful. Of course he's Jewish. And we went. Statistics bear it out. If you have a problem with that, just check the statistics I've got. It doesn't lie.

[Mike Rowe]

I mean, the proper pronunciation of your given name is Chaim, Okay?

[Gene Simmons]

Which, you know, when you hear Jews or other people say l'chaim, which means to life, you're actually saying, to life. That's the toast. That is the only toast Jews do, which is ultimately, invariably. And other big words like gymnasium. That's all there is. Everything else is just smoke and mirrors. If you're alive, you have the gift of everything, and then it's what you do with it. So I went to my Uncle George's house with my mother. It's her brother. And I remember walking in and there was a man on television, black and white. And you can see a close up of his head. And I thought there was a guy in the box. Like in those days, a television set was a long piece of furniture. On one side was booze on the other side. So it was like six feet long. And I thought there was a guy inside the box, you know, talking. I didn't know what he was saying. I didn't speak English.

[Mike Rowe]

Right.

[Gene Simmons]

And then we went to my Uncle Larry's house. My Uncle George, her brother was a prosthetologist. He made bridges, teeth and balls for those that had problems. Yes, he made prosthetic. Prosthetic balls.

[Mike Rowe]

Prosthetic testicles, yes.

[Gene Simmons]

And my first job was carrying around paper bags full of artificial testicles. Yes. That's fantastic.

[Mike Rowe]

What a job that is.

[Gene Simmons]

I made $20 a week and I couldn't believe. Yes.

[Mike Rowe]

I swear, I thought you were gonna say you worked for tips, but that's another joke. Seriously, what is the name of that job? What was that? The ball carrying job called a delivery boy.

[Gene Simmons]

I don't know. I mean, I learned a bagman. Very good. And he. I had to learn how to subways and how to. I didn't know anything. I couldn't speak English. But I wanted to say that.

[Mike Rowe]

I'm sorry, man, I just. I'm just so taken by balls. I don't know. I mean, have you told that story before? Is this a thing that you talk about in your many, many interviews? Because I just don't.

[Gene Simmons]

Might have once said it like, there's.

[Mike Rowe]

A time in Gene Simmons life where he's getting paid to transport prosthetic testicles.

[Gene Simmons]

Testicles? Yeah.

[Mike Rowe]

I mean, with the sirens in the background, the testicles Free.

[Gene Simmons]

There's no extra charge for the programming.

[Mike Rowe]

I just think this.

[Gene Simmons]

The effects. God, is.

[Mike Rowe]

This is extraordinary. Chuck, we have to make sure this is cut into the open somehow or another.

[Gene Simmons]

I'm with you. All right, So I go to my Uncle Larry's house. Her other brother, who's a huge successful baker.

[Mike Rowe]

Now he has his testicles.

[Gene Simmons]

No, that's Uncle George, who's the dental prosthetologist.

[Mike Rowe]

Okay.

[Gene Simmons]

This guy had a huge bakery business. So I gained a lot of weight because when the glad bags came out, the plastic garbage things, which I'd never seen before, used to come every weekend. It would be filled with Danish, and of course, I gorged everything. But I remember walking in and the first thing I saw on the way in, it was the kitchen. I don't know why it was there. And my Aunt Magda opened the kitchen door and there was a refrigerator. We never had a refrigerator. It was like a. And there was a piece of ice in it. And you couldn't keep milk or anything because the iceman would come and give you a piece of ice. There was nothing to plug in. In Israel, the outhouse literally was a hole outside. I know this all sounds like you're making it up.

[Mike Rowe]

No, no, no. I just got to reign you a little bit because we were just in the States looking at a piece of furniture with a TV in the middle, and there was a Superman in there. And then we got sidetracked with the testicular delivery system and now I'm back in Haifa with a piece of ice in the freezer. It's difficult.

[Gene Simmons]

My problem is I love the sound of my own voice. Really. So she opens the refrigerator door and I see more food than I've ever seen. And I'm attracted to the color red. And it's Schmuckers. Yes, it was back then.

[Mike Rowe]

With a name like Schmuckers, it has to be good. That was Mason Adams, by the way, who did that voiceover.

[Gene Simmons]

Yes. And it was with. God. What was the bald guy on NBC every morning? Fred Willard. No, Fred Willard. Who was the first Ronald McDonald.

[Mike Rowe]

No kidding.

[Gene Simmons]

This is what I'm here for.

[Mike Rowe]

Wow.

[Gene Simmons]

I. All kinds of stuff. I'm an only child, so I have a lot of time. I actually read the Encyclopedia Britannica from COVID to cover, and they.

[Mike Rowe]

So in what language?

[Gene Simmons]

English.

[Mike Rowe]

Okay.

[Gene Simmons]

Teaching myself how to read and write.

[Mike Rowe]

That's how you learn English? Reading?

[Gene Simmons]

No, it's by reading comic books.

[Mike Rowe]

Now we're getting back to Superman, and it's all going to come together. Keep going.

[Gene Simmons]

So I happened to walk by. There was another tv. But, you know, I was like, a double take. And there's a guy flying in the sky with, like, a towel, a red cape or something on his back. And I never. Not only had I never seen or heard anything like that, I never imagined a human being being able to fly through the air without propellers or anything, just by himself. What kind of a place is this? And right outside my Aunt Magda's house, they lived on a suburban street. Well, there were paved roads. We didn't have paved roads. And there were cars going both ways. There were hardly any. There were just donkeys doing. It was like another planet.

[Mike Rowe]

It's magical. So there's unlimited food. There's a whole new.

[Gene Simmons]

Not only unlimited food. I went to the first supermarket within a week. Somebody had to walk me across the street because I was afraid to death. You know, all these car. I didn't know about green light, red light. And you walk into, like, a city of food. The food went higher, like avenues and boulevards of food. More food than you could ever imagine, with colors and pictures of what was inside of it. It was insane. And once I saw Superman, I go, yeah, I come from the promised land, but there's something going on here. This is the place.

[Mike Rowe]

So the notion of being able to appreciate this country. And you've said this to me before, but it's worth repeating. So much of it is made easier if you come from a place where the roads.

[Gene Simmons]

Your perspective. Your perspective. If, you know, if you're born in America over a few generations, I think of it as everybody's got a mirror. And perspective means the closer you are to the mirror, the less you actually see of your face. Eventually, all you see are your two eyes. Pull back a little bit more, you can see your nose. Perspective is if you've been poor and had that empty belly feeling and people are trying to kill you or hate you, the perspective is very clear because you've got a. This is what the rest of the world is, this country, no matter what. If you're black, white, you know, no matter what, the rest of the world hates each other. There's still racism and hatred in this country, but there's a. The. I didn't know it at the time. The Constitution and Bill of Rights and all that. Despite man's tendency for evil, this wonderful idea of the Constitution and the amendments and so on, keep pulling us back to a more civilized area. I've always been. You know, you had Nixon and everything. Then you had Barack Obama Barack Obama went out there. Now we have Mr. You know, Mr.

[Mike Rowe]

Trump, you can say it. Yeah.

[Gene Simmons]

Who I knew before he became a political ally. And he's neither, he's neither a Democrat. His closest friends were Bill and Hillary that came to his wedding. So don't kid yourself about that.

[Mike Rowe]

Well, I've heard you say this before and full disclosure, I said it myself. We had a movie out last July and I made a point of saying it was called something to stand for and it was unapologetically patriotic. But I made a point of saying, look, this is not. I didn't write it for my friends on the right or the left. I wrote it for Americans. And so it seems an increasingly skinnier cohort these days to find people who first and foremost identify as the A word. Right. Instead of the R word or the D word. But that seems to be a thing that might be worth getting back to.

[Gene Simmons]

When you, if you study history, whatever the political divide is in this country, it's nothing. Go back to when Lincoln became the president and you will see the hatred of brother against brother that resulted in the Civil War.

[Mike Rowe]

Now, that was the situation at the border for real. That was a real border problem. But you're right.

[Gene Simmons]

But if you go back, there are all kinds of shenanigans. If you study the Founding fathers, the blackmail and the stuff that went on between them, there were a lot of problems.

[Mike Rowe]

Oh, and the media. I mean, the muck raking in the press and.

[Gene Simmons]

That's an old word. Yeah, that's right. And they used to do that before there were rules about slander and all this stuff. We're doing great, trust me. The unemployment's going down. You may not agree with the politics of something. Where else are you going to go? If there's a strike in France, you cannot fire anybody. If there's a strike in France, they will stop trying traffic in Paris and burn tires and shut the city down. Now, there's no place like with the scars and the problems. The problem with America is not the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. The problem is people. There are some people that tend to veer towards darkness and some not. That's always going to be part of it. And we have to keep fighting to despite the fact. Look, take a look at currency. A quarter, a 25 cent piece, it is widely recognized or a dollar is widely recognized around the world. But those two sides have nothing to do with each other. They don't look alike. If you try to put one image next to the other, they don't look alike at all, but they both lay claim to. In other words, the person you completely disagree with on politics, economy and everything. It's their America too.

[Mike Rowe]

And that's the beauty of a coin. It has two sides.

[Gene Simmons]

Sure.

[Mike Rowe]

There's an obverse and a reverse. And how boring would it be? I'm gonna flip a coin and their heads on both sides. Well, no, nobody would ever flip the coin. I wanna go back to Superman for a minute. Cause as you were telling me about.

[Gene Simmons]

That, by the way.

[Mike Rowe]

Yeah.

[Gene Simmons]

Created by Jews, all superheroes, all of them. Superman, Batman, Fantastic Fours that were created by Jews. The Superman mythos mythology is the Moses mythology created by two Jews from Cleveland. As it happened. They mentioned the idea being that your home planet, Krypton, and they have Hebrew names. Jor El, Kal Elal. Those are Hebrew names. Yeah. They're. Of course, they're foreigners. And so their planet is in danger, so they have to escape, just like the pogroms of Europe. And the Jews were always running because there was danger in the home planet. So they sent the child in a manger. You can see him leaning back like a biblical thing. Why would you go through space covered in a little blanket and everything? Just like Moses going down the thing. And so when Kal El, his given name is Kryptonian, lands in Earth, what happens? Two Gentiles, mother and father adopt him. Dress British, think Yiddish. That's exactly what happened with Moses. So the story goes. And by the way, historians are beginning to feel more and more like it happened.

[Mike Rowe]

Are we talking about Moses bulrushes? Aaron, that whole.

[Gene Simmons]

And his stuttering brother?

[Mike Rowe]

Yeah.

[Gene Simmons]

Let my people go. That wasn't Moses. That was his brother. Because Moses spoke with a stutter and a lisp. Let my people go. No, it was Aaron who said all those things.

[Mike Rowe]

It doesn't have the same snap to.

[Gene Simmons]

It, but that's what happened. Moses goes down the river and he gets a foster mother. Yeah, it's dress British, think Yiddish.

[Mike Rowe]

Well, what I'm thinking is that there you are, you know, eight and a half years old, you see this Superman and he's in costume, but he has a secret identity. Yes.

[Gene Simmons]

Just like Jews, we change our names. You think I'm Greek? Sure, that's fine with me. Think I'm Italian. From the. Of course I am. It's fine. I have no problem with any of that. Gene Simmons. That's not my given name.

[Mike Rowe]

It's Chaim.

[Gene Simmons]

Yeah, but that doesn't work.

[Mike Rowe]

Yeah, yeah. It's hard to chant.

[Gene Simmons]

Yeah. So you have to Recognize the shortcomings, financially speaking, because everybody.

[Mike Rowe]

Was it Gene Simmons the music guy or Gene Simmons the famous actress?

[Gene Simmons]

It just came. There was no stream of conscience.

[Mike Rowe]

Wow. Yeah, fascinating. But what I'm getting at, man, is that you've got this giant impact of the man of Steel, who changed his name, who flies through the piece of furniture, right? And he's in a costume. And then just a few years later, your name has changed. You're in a costume, you're elevating on stage. You're like, are you just channeling your version of Superman this whole time?

[Gene Simmons]

I didn't think of it initially, but clearly I didn't look or sound or.

[Mike Rowe]

Walk like Clark Kent.

[Gene Simmons]

No, no. Like. Well, when I saw the Beatles, that changed my life. Because all of a sudden you saw people that looked different and I did. Not that I was black or Hispanic or anything, but I didn't look like I came from Sweden, as an example. But you saw these little guys, you know, sort of feminine by American standards. Because Americans are bigger people. They had better food. Classic English breakfast is beans on toast. I'm not making it up. Heinz, beans on toast. Because in World War II they couldn't afford meat. Let's see you learn all kinds of things with Mr. Simmons.

[Mike Rowe]

I'm a broken record on this. I admit it, and I make no apology for it. We need to close the skills gap in this country and we need to do it yesterday. And if you don't believe me, consider the simple fact that the people who build America's nuclear powered submarines need to hire 140,000 tradespeople. That's 140,000. That's an extraordinary amount of opportunity out there, just waiting for anyone who wants to learn a skill that's in demand and start a career with some actual purpose behind it. These aren't jobs. These are incredibly stable careers that offer strong pay and constant advancement. See the opportunities for [e-mail] Additive Manufacturing, CNC Machining, Metrology, Welding, pipe fitting, electrical. The site does a great job of presenting the monumental mission at hand and spelling out all the opportunities currently available. That's buildsubmarines.com this is where all the hiring is happening, and you really need to see it to get a sense of just how much opportunity is out there. Buildsubmarines.com come on and build a submarine. Why don't you build a submarine? That's buildsubmarines.com that just triggered something too. When you talk about the Beatles as slight, almost effeminate. There was a Rock and roll band in New York around the same time as you guys showed up. And they were doing the sort of. The glam rock New York Dolls. The Dolls. Now those guys were petite. Yeah, you guys looked like a bunch of linebackers, but you were doing the same kind of.

[Gene Simmons]

It was called the glitter movement. And it was a special time in New York because at night people would go to work in offices and at night they'd all dress up and go to hundreds of bars. There were all kinds of bands. It was the time, the beginning of David Bowie and Lou Reed and that kind of thing.

[Mike Rowe]

And a kind of androgyny, right?

[Gene Simmons]

Yeah. It was okay to wear girls clothes even though you were straight. And, you know, it was a very exciting period. So we couldn't do the New York doll thing. Right now I'm 6:2 and about £250. I can't do that thing. No, not, you know, I mean, I'm okay with it, but a football player in a tutu is not very convincing. No one wants to see my apologize. My apologies to all you football players who like dressing up in tutus. I support you.

[Mike Rowe]

It's big country. To each his own. Let your freak fly.

[Gene Simmons]

Do whatever you want. But we didn't think we were convincing at it. So you had to create your own Persona, not costumes. And what I mean by Persona is if I would have worn red lipstick and put a star on my eye, I wouldn't be convincing because that's not. So it's not who I am. I don't. Whereas Paul, much more flamboyant, you know, that way, and had better hair and fluffy and all that stuff and moved that way on stage. Not me. I moved more like Godzilla. And so you have to be clear. And both Ace and Peter, the original guys, veered towards what they felt comfortable with. I mean, in Halloween, if you go to one of these places that have all kinds of costumes, you might tend to pick out a costume.

[Mike Rowe]

You'll gravitate.

[Gene Simmons]

You'll gravitate towards something you feel comfortable with.

[Mike Rowe]

And you were the demon.

[Gene Simmons]

We didn't think of it that way. When I put it on, I thought about Lon Chaney Sr. Who I was always a big fan of. Born Creighton Tull Sr. Whose parents were deaf mutes. So he had to learn how to communicate. Perfect. For silent films. He invented and created the makeup man. Not putting on makeup, but, you know, putting in plastic tubing in his nose for Phantom of the Opera.

[Mike Rowe]

Phantom of the Opera. He was like that whole unmasking yes.

[Gene Simmons]

Mary Philbin, who was the. Oh, I'll tell you more than Todd Browning was the director and all that. So I remember that scene where that happened. There were shadows, and I remember the shadows on the face scared the bejesus out of me. So I did a version of the Shadows on My Face. And I must have seen an image of London After Midnight, a Lon Chaney film that has yet to be found. A print of it is lost, but there was a photo of it where Chaney's got a top hat and he's got, like, bat wings as a kind of a night vampire before Dracula came out. And in the back of my mind, I went, yeah, bat. Yeah, that. You know, you take bits and pieces of your DNA, your stuff that you grow up with, and you put it together and what you get, you know, people think is original, but it's not. They're bits and pieces of stuff.

[Mike Rowe]

This was. I mean, for the younger cohort listening out there, it. It really is difficult to describe just how. How bananas it was. And like, there was no. The only thing I can think of is the New York Dolls that were kind of out there, but they failed. You didn't.

[Gene Simmons]

Oh, within. Within a year and a half of forming, before the Internet, before voicemail, you still had to go to a phone booth on the street to put in a dime and then a quarter. But first a dime. In those days, yeah, to make a phone call. And at a house, you had a rotary. There were no buttons. Beep, beep, beep. Digital was not. In fact, when we first started, it was, you know, like Plymouth 4, 5000. It was pl. Even letters, the first two letters. And people say, what are you talking about? Yeah, Greenhouse 4 or 5000. And that was a phone call. Then it became 2, 1, 2. When more and more people. Before then it was just the five numbers, six numbers. Anyway, one of those before the area codes. And so within a year and a half, we're headlining anaheim Stadium in LA with bands that had been around 15, 20 years before us opening the show. And we came out January, February of 74, within a few years. Where the Gallup Poll. Biggest band in the world three years in a row. 77, 78, 79. The second most popular band was the Beatles. And then they were displaced by the Bee Gees and Led Zeppelin. And before anybody did this, we had questionnaires and fun stuff in our albums. Where you from? What do you do? And you could order T shirts, belt buckles, all that by putting these little envelopes, colorful things. You check off what you wanted. You put in either $5 or $10 or 5, 10 all in fives. And you look at clothes and you mail it. And before there were bad people at post offices who opened your mail. We got millions of bucks through the mail of people wanting. And we had four warehouses in LA that worked 24 hours a day mailing T shirts and everything to fans around the world.

[Mike Rowe]

I've always wanted to ask you because I've seen the reality show and you know, I've obviously was a fan over the years, but this. There's always a line between art and commerce, and I don't think there is. No, no. I mean the whole starving artist trope, the famous painters who never got paid and never cared.

[Gene Simmons]

Well, you don't know if they never cared. I've never heard of anybody who wins the lottery and is sad.

[Mike Rowe]

True. But I know a lot of people, whether they mean it or not, who will talk about the filthy lucre and who can't quite square the business of success.

[Gene Simmons]

Yeah, but that's one of the big lies of humanity. Money is the root of all evil. It's. It's untrue. That's a lie. Lack of money is the root of all evil. If you don't have any money, you might consider holding up a 711 for $14.95.

[Mike Rowe]

Or perhaps the love of money is the root of all evil.

[Gene Simmons]

It is not.

[Mike Rowe]

Okay, so money's not the root, not the love money.

[Gene Simmons]

And I can prove it to you.

[Mike Rowe]

All right, hit me.

[Gene Simmons]

If my only motivation in life is making money and if I never make give a penny to a poor person or a charity or anything, I'm still improving life on earth and I'll tell you why. I want my yachts, I want my mansions and all that stuff. I create jobs. My money seeds the workforce and enables poor people to feed their families and do that. Even if I'm an asshole and never give to charity, a poor person never gave me a job.

[Mike Rowe]

Speaking of which, am I just. Is this like a. Just an artifact? Did I dream it up? Or did you release an album called.

[Gene Simmons]

Of course my album was called.

[Mike Rowe]

God, that. That's one of the greatest words in the. In the lexicon. I mean, have you ever really like broken it down, like to think about.

[Gene Simmons]

What that is supposed to be, an insult and all? I don't have a problem with it. I don't have a problem with anybody calling me anything. I really don't. I know that. I do. Good. I know that my mom's okay with me. And that's all the validation I need. I remember walking into.

[Mike Rowe]

Wait, wait, wait. Why did you call the. Why was the album called Asshole?

[Gene Simmons]

There was a song on it called Asshole. It goes, you're an asshole. You're an asshole. Maybe I'm an asshole, too, is the punchline of the chorus. And I thought, yeah. And I was going to tell you the story of why I wanted to call it Asshole. When I walked into Interscope Records, I was co managing a band with Paul called Crown of Thorns. I came up with that name and created a band. So we got them a deal and Jimmy Iovine walks in and says, I want you to listen to a thing. It's by a new artist I just signed. His name is Tupac. And I'm saying, is he African or something? No, no, he's like, from LA or New York. Oh, great. And it's just a black cover. And it says, for my N word. And I thought it was a joke. I thought he was saying, oh, what are you gonna call the album? He goes, no, no, it's gonna be called that. I'm saying, you're using the N word. He goes, yeah. And I'm going, why are you doing that? He says, well, because he's comfortable with that. So the most vile thing you could call an African American is the N word. They take possession of it and use it themselves. So what's one of the worst things you can say? I am asshole.

[Mike Rowe]

Great.

[Gene Simmons]

Let's call the album Asshole.

[Mike Rowe]

How'd it sell?

[Gene Simmons]

I didn't do great. But it was. But it was a time when the entire record industry was changing. But I'll tell you what happened with the album, okay? Bob Dylan and I wrote a song there. Came over and we wrote a few songs. Frank Zappa, last song he wrote. Co wrote with me.

[Mike Rowe]

Hell of a guitar player, by the way.

[Gene Simmons]

Unlike anybody out there.

[Mike Rowe]

I've never heard the like of it.

[Gene Simmons]

Nobody ever.

[Mike Rowe]

Garage tapes. Yeah. Amazing.

[Gene Simmons]

But by the way, Zappa was a failure. Did not succeed. Never had gold records and platinum records.

[Mike Rowe]

Why?

[Gene Simmons]

The music didn't connect with people.

[Mike Rowe]

I thought you were gonna say asshole.

[Gene Simmons]

It's eclectic.

[Mike Rowe]

That was. I tossed it right to you.

[Gene Simmons]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Rowe]

All you had to do was say no.

[Gene Simmons]

He was. He was actually a good. Very bright.

[Mike Rowe]

Oh, his. His testimony in Congress. I would really suggest people go watch that. I mean, he took a principled stand at a difficult time and a very hard time.

[Gene Simmons]

Popular time.

[Mike Rowe]

Not a popular time.

[Gene Simmons]

PMRC and censorship and all that.

[Mike Rowe]

Yep, that was the tipper Gore days, right?

[Gene Simmons]

Yeah.

[Mike Rowe]

Where were you when all that was happening?

[Gene Simmons]

Oh, I was right in front of the TV set. By the way, Mr. Gore's wife was named Tipper. If that's not a stripper name, I don't know what is. Do not cast who among you is without sin kind of a thing. Your wife's name is Tipper?

[Mike Rowe]

Yeah.

[Gene Simmons]

Oh, I'm sure. By the way, she's a loving mother. Faithful.

[Mike Rowe]

I'm sure she is. It's like you might be a redneck if you might be a stripper if.

[Gene Simmons]

I didn't say that.

[Mike Rowe]

I'm not.

[Gene Simmons]

Just.

[Mike Rowe]

I don't know.

[Gene Simmons]

Yeah. Good luck. Hey, laissez faire. Live and let live. Whatever you want to do, as long as you don't affect anybody else. But we survived that. We survived McCarthyism, we survived the blacklist, we survived all of it. And what doesn't kill you? We're not going to have another blacklist. Nope. People are going to try to do that. There's always somebody who's going to push back on it.

[Mike Rowe]

What?

[Gene Simmons]

You must have a few shows of material on this.

[Mike Rowe]

We have. Literally, I mean, none of this is usable, obviously. We have so much good stuff, it's embarrassing. You got somewhere to be? When do you have to go?

[Gene Simmons]

Trying to make a buck.

[Mike Rowe]

You want me to lend you a few?

[Gene Simmons]

I can spot you never a lender or borrower be.

[Mike Rowe]

Do you believe that?

[Gene Simmons]

No. Borrow all the time. Oh, sure.

[Mike Rowe]

Do you?

[Gene Simmons]

Debt is great because you can write it off. Oh, no, no. You've got to have assets because they want assets against it. But debt is good, depending on how much, especially depending on where the Fed is. So I borrowed tens of millions when I was paying 1.1 interest, 1.1%. I'd play that game all day because do I think I can make more than 1.1% on the money I borrowed every day? Are you kidding? Even if I put it into a savings account, they pay me more. That's pre tax because I can write off my 1.1%.

[Mike Rowe]

So you're at this point? You just mentioned it in passing, but you're a crypto guy.

[Gene Simmons]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Rowe]

You're in the space.

[Gene Simmons]

I bought millions when bitcoin was about 10,900. But I had an advantage because Tyler Winklevoss, one of the two brothers, you know who started that? They didn't start it. They promoted it very, very early. Satoshi, that guy who. Nobody seems to know who he is.

[Mike Rowe]

Who is that guy?

[Gene Simmons]

So I bought millions at 10,900 well, we're about nine. We're in the 90s now. It was 105,000. And I firmly believe my opinion. Do your own research. Oh, within 12 months, it'll be at 150 to 200,000, because there are very few hedges against inflation. Every day, the dollar that you have buys you less and less. And we're printing money left and right. We're sending it to Ukraine, which I support. You do this, you want more money, they just print more because it's no longer based on gold. What's your hedge against inflation? What do you do? Put your cash in a mattress? So there's real estate, but, you know, real estate goes up and down as well. Look what happened to the Palisades and California and all that.

[Mike Rowe]

It's why it took you an hour and 40 to get here. It's still chaos.

[Gene Simmons]

Pacific goes sideways, closed to get to here. Otherwise, I would have been here in 40 minutes. So you've got to. If you've got money to spare and you are blessed if that happens, what are you going to do with your money? Don't put it into a savings account because the bank will give you 2, 3, 4%. You got to pay tax on that. And they'll loan it out for more than that. They're making money on your money. Don't put it into a savings account. Mutual funds are good.

[Mike Rowe]

Sure, I get it, but you said something earlier and you kind of glossed over it, and I just want to make sure. I understand. It's a. The business of making a bunch of money is good for the economy, irrespective of whether you give any of the money.

[Gene Simmons]

Yeah, you could be an asshole. Never give a penny, and you're still creating jobs.

[Mike Rowe]

But just so people understand. Oh, tell me. I mean, I don't want you to pat yourself on the back too hard, but your genuine attitudes toward philanthropy. What are you doing with all this excess? Geltefroyken?

[Gene Simmons]

Well, I don't tug on people's shirt sleeves or anything, but. And you can go online and find out. MendingKids.org provides children who can't afford, you know, because they're poor operations that they sorely need. So I contribute millions. I've got 1400 kids in Zanzibar, in Zimbabwe. And you can look it up and.

[Mike Rowe]

They will find it.

[Gene Simmons]

Gene Simmons.

[Mike Rowe]

Mendingkids.org Mending. Well, there you go.

[Gene Simmons]

Yeah, it breaks your heart, but can you go to Gene Simmons? Supports children in Africa. 1400s, 1400 kids. Yeah. The idea is very simple. We'll give you as much food as you can digest and do and you can take some food home. But you can't have nothing unless you come to school. If you come to school, you get food. And in Africa, in the worst areas where there's no infrastructure and everything. There you go.

[Mike Rowe]

Zambia AI loves you.

[Gene Simmons]

You should go to the images. Go on top. Yeah, there you go.

[Mike Rowe]

Look at you without sunglasses. What happened there?

[Gene Simmons]

Well, I wear it most of the time because the sun never sets on Planet Cool.

[Mike Rowe]

So there's your title.

[Gene Simmons]

These children, you're not taught that education is the way out of poverty. It's the only chance you've got really, because where there's no infrastructure, you can't speak any other language, you speak an African dialect, you, you have no job skills, you're going to starve. So I try to help, including. There was a young child who had aspirations, she must have been 14, of wanting to go to university to become a doctor because she wanted to come back to her village and treat the females, to teach them not to have sex with these males who didn't care because AIDS is. The numbers are off the charts. These guys would just have sex and then run off. So you have single mothers with children and they have AIDS. I saw a 14 year old mother carrying her child on her back and they both were AIDS sufferers. Yeah. So she wanted to go to university and get a degree and come back and be a teacher and a healer. I said all you have to do is do well in high school and all that. I'll pay for your entire. I'll fly you to whichever university you want to go to as long as you come back. Also, I stopped giving out Christmas gifts for anybody. Everybody used to give out hundreds and hundreds ties people don't wear and. Yeah, sure, all that stuff. And so in people's names I contribute to kiefer.org or heifer.org and what they are are two micro banks connected to large banks that loan money to single mothers in Africa and other places loan the money interest free so that these single mothers can dig a hole in the ground and get a well or buy a cow. That changes the entire economy. You can have milk and you know, they literally bleed the cow and drink the milk and it's actually a source of protein and all this kind of stuff in Africa, we can't imagine it, but that's what they do.

[Mike Rowe]

Wait a minute, they drink the milk or they drink the blood with both? Yeah, well, I think it's.

[Gene Simmons]

I mean, but once they make Enough money, they have to give the money back, no interest, and then the money gets loaned out again.

[Mike Rowe]

That's my point. You're always going to look at the. You're going to look at consequences because that's who you are. And you're going to look at it through a lens of a kind of commerce, because commerce is consequential as well. So your philanthropy comes with certain conditions. And I only make the point because on a much smaller level, my foundation will give away a few million bucks this week in work ethic scholarships. And, you know, I get a lot of pushback on it because I don't want to help people who don't share my fundamental view of the world. And I'm not sure if that makes me what that makes me, but I get. Because I get to choose. That's what I want to do. And that's what I want to ask you as we start to land the plane here, like maybe about work ethic.

[Gene Simmons]

Yeah.

[Mike Rowe]

And what that really. What's it mean to you? What's it meant to you?

[Gene Simmons]

Well, to have a job. We, you know, I've heard people marching. You know, I have a right to have a job. No, bitch, you don't. If you have a job, it's a blessing. You don't have a right to have. You don't have a right to have health care. You don't have the right to have a job. You have the right to have a big fat mouth and freedom of press. There's nothing in the Constitution or anything that says you have the right to have a job. And healthcare. No, you have to earn money. And the fact that there are. I know the healthcare people are just going to go nuts. Well, in Norway, they have health. I know there are 12 people that live there. We have 330 million. We're already $36 trillion in debt. Big number, not counting the 10, 20 or 25 million illegal immigrants in America that are either a positive or a drain on the economy. It's just everything. It's like dominoes. Everything affects everything else. And you can always hold up a crying child. I know. I was one of them. And make any point you like. And you're an asshole if you don't agree with my point of view. See, there's a baby crying. You can make any point you want. So I don't believe. I don't suffer fools lightly. If you don't see, there are people, a lot of them, who are looking for jobs. And I'm much more interested in people who are Looking to work. The love of labor itself is what it is. And most people, you have to understand this. Most people on the face of the planet, if they're blessed to have a job, have a job they hate. The only reason they're working at the job is it gives them money at the end of the week which supports their family. And so they bring the money back. And their children have what to eat. This idea that I have to be inspired. It's such bullshit. That's the Beverly Hills Blues. You know how that goes. Ba ba da da My limo is late I got the Beverly Hills Blues it's all bullshit. This. I can't do something if I don't believe in it. No, no. The roads you travel on and the buildings you live in, they're built, worked on by people who hate their jobs, but bless the money that they get at the end of the week so they can survive.

[Mike Rowe]

How do you think about work ethic in your industry? Like you mentioned Bob Dylan.

[Gene Simmons]

He's out there all the time.

[Mike Rowe]

Yeah, yeah.

[Gene Simmons]

Sorry. It was a. I sneezed.

[Mike Rowe]

I mean, I know I gotta let you go soon, but I just have to ask, what's right and wrong with music today?

[Gene Simmons]

Well, fame is fleeting. Anybody will tell you that. You can mention big acts that had number one records. And the public is fickle. Everybody Wang Chung tonight. That was the number one record.

[Mike Rowe]

Right? Right.

[Gene Simmons]

So fame is fleeting. And never put all your eggs in one basket. If you go to Las Vegas and you play what is it? Where you put the. I never gamble. Yeah, Roulette. What are you gonna do? Do? Put all the money on one thing or spread the risk.

[Mike Rowe]

Diversify your portfolio.

[Gene Simmons]

That's it.

[Mike Rowe]

Diversify. Risk.

[Gene Simmons]

Don't put your eggs in one basket. You could win big, but you can get wiped out. I don't know about you, but I don't like losing at all. I prefer to win a little than lose anything.

[Mike Rowe]

I think that's smart. But I think the genius part of your career is that you still surprise people. I saw you in a movie, Chuck. Can you find it? It was Reagan.

[Gene Simmons]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Rowe]

It's in Reagan you're singing. Yeah, in Reagan. What was the song?

[Gene Simmons]

Stormy weather Da da da There's a sun up in the sky Stormy weather.

[Mike Rowe]

Now how the heck does that happen? Who approaches you?

[Gene Simmons]

The producer called me and he said, are you a fan of Reagan? I said, yes. He was one of the better presidents in America. And really happy to have been asked by the Stylistics. Remember the Stylistics? Oh, sure. Tons of hits. I'm on the new record. I sing lead. Yes, I do. You betcha. That's coming out. I think it just came out. And Shania Twain's on it. Ronnie Wood, Billy Gibbons, lots of cool stuff.

[Mike Rowe]

That's terrific, man.

[Gene Simmons]

Yeah. I'm the luckiest bastard who ever walked upright.

[Mike Rowe]

Well, look, you worked hard, you diversified. You took chances when it made sense to take them.

[Gene Simmons]

Yeah.

[Mike Rowe]

You've been generous with your time. You're still curious. Yeah.

[Gene Simmons]

Look. And then you die. That's all it is.

[Mike Rowe]

And then you die.

[Gene Simmons]

That's it. But they're gonna have to drag me kicking and screaming because unless and if you really enjoy life, then end it then. Then get out of the way. There are so many other people, you know, who will fight like hell to stay alive. You either appreciate it or not. I know there's mental illness and all. Okay, I get it. I never understood. I was unkind without really meaning to be. In the early years, I remember watching TV shows and movies where there's a guy on top of a tall building threatening to jump before I understood anything. I go, shut the up. Just jump. What are you waiting for? An audience? Who are you? If you want to die, then jump. And I had to be educated. No, you don't understand. He's got a mental problem. But I still don't understand, by the way, if you are suicidal, why it has to be a public event?

[Mike Rowe]

There is a bit of the narcissistic in there.

[Gene Simmons]

I'm not qualified. I don't understand it because I'm suspiciously a happy go, lucky guy. Every day, nothing bothers me. My health. Never had an operation. Hardly ever get sick. Got a little wheezy kind of thing. But I don't stay in bed.

[Mike Rowe]

Never smoked, never drank, no drugs.

[Gene Simmons]

The other thing, kids, is if you don't smoke or drink or get high, then you can get to be 75 and hold your hand in front of your face and it won't do that. Yes. See what happens.

[Mike Rowe]

But this is my shooting hand.

[Gene Simmons]

Shooting hand.

[C]

Remember?

[Mike Rowe]

From Blazing Saddles, the Waco Kid. Yeah.

[Gene Simmons]

That was very good.

[Mike Rowe]

Thank you.

[Gene Simmons]

Helmed, written and directed by JU they're everywhere. Hey. It is so suspicious that all of American pop culture except glorious and amazing the music that we listen to. Pop culture is black music. All the variations thereof, except parts of country music, which came from Irish jigs and so on and so forth. But predominantly jazz, blues, rock. It's black music, right?

[Mike Rowe]

Uniquely American.

[Gene Simmons]

Uniquely American by the least qualified people, the least educated. Former slaves who could barely play Their instruments and just came up with this amazing thing. Now everything else in pop culture is Jews. All the movie studios.

[Mike Rowe]

Now you're whispering every single one. An hour in and you're whispering Jews.

[Gene Simmons]

Because they came from Judea or the Hebrews because they came from Hebron. All of the movie studios, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Universal, were all created by Jews who lived within a 500 square mile area in Europe, Poland, Russia and all that stuff. Didn't know each other. Came to America, settled in New York. One made fox fur coats, fox, which became 20th century fox. All he did was buy fox tails and everything from Canada and took pre existing coats and put one in one together. And fox coats, one and one equals three. That's how he made his money. The guys that old nickelodeons and everything in New York and they all came and settled within a 15 square mile area. Didn't know each other. Mayer, all these guys, Goldwyn, who was originally Goldfish was his original name. He stole his last name, Wynn, from the Selwyn brothers when they had a deal together. And they created mgm, Metro, Goldwyn, Mayer and Paramount, Universal. All created by Jews. The beauty of the Jewish Hollywood system, Hollywood is Jewish. Created by them, is they didn't make Jewish movies. They were clear there's only 14 million Jews on the entire planet today. They understood and respected the idea. Let's make King of Kings. Let's make Christian movies and stuff. And don't put lead characters with names like Ira. Hey, Moishe, what are you gonna do? Nope. This is gonna be for the people who actually buy the tickets.

[Mike Rowe]

Well, since you brought it up. Is that what your music was all about? Was it for the. Were you writing to satisfy what you believe the audience wanted?

[Gene Simmons]

Absolutely.

[Mike Rowe]

What did you want, though?

[Gene Simmons]

Well, I was also fascinated by. I was an Anglophile. I loved what the English did with American black music. The Beatles covered Motown. They covered, you know, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry and all that. It's black music, but they did it their way. But I liked what the English did with American pop music and all that stuff. Including the heavy stuff. Led Zeppelin, Jimmy, who became a friend. Jimmy Page had to pay off some of the blues guys because he would literally, he admitted, ripped off the. You know, all those licks. Yeah, not that one in particular, but something very close. But the other thing is that in the music industry, the record labels were Jewish. Sun Records, Sam Phillips, they were Jews. They loved black music. You Ain't Nothing but a Hound Dog. Written by two Jews from New York. Lieber Stoller, they hated Jewish music. Broadway they loved black music. So these two Jews from New York, Lieber and Stoller, are sitting around having a deli sandwich, pastrami, give me a little more pickle and everything. You ain't nothing but a hound dog crying all the time. Yeah. And they. That's what happens later. So that's the magic that the Brill Building with all these writers. Neil Sadaka was one of the writers. They were writing songs for the other people and the goyim. That's not a negative. It simply means it's not like the Christian or Islamic heathen, which is. Or infidel, which looks down on it. A gentile simply says they're not Jewish.

[Mike Rowe]

Yeah. Well, I guess in the end, it's a story of reinvention. Every single thing we've talked about, we all should be.

[Gene Simmons]

Otherwise, we're just copies of our mothers and fathers. You know, as we're born. You get a clean slate and you can write whatever you want on it.

[Mike Rowe]

Well, you have filled up your slate with some pretty interesting stuff, brother.

[Gene Simmons]

So far, so good.

[Mike Rowe]

Final thoughts on Asshole. It's such a great insult because fundamentally, I'm a word guy. If you just look at the word fundamentally, it's a whole. You're calling somebody a hole. And a hole, by definition is an empty space. Except for those.

[Gene Simmons]

Mine's always full.

[Mike Rowe]

Except for those occasions when it's filled with crap.

[Gene Simmons]

By the way, scientific fact. Do you know why? Shit, as it comes out is tapered at the end.

[Mike Rowe]

Oh, well, if it weren't, the hole would go.

[Gene Simmons]

Your ass would slam shut. Yes.

[Mike Rowe]

Okay with that, folks. It's the way Gene Simmons heard it. Thank you for slogging through traffic. I think we learned a lot and, well, heck, I'll never forget it.

[Gene Simmons]

Heck, That's a word that hasn't been used in 40 years.

[Mike Rowe]

But Jew?

[Gene Simmons]

No.

[Mike Rowe]

All right, I'm out. Thank you, man. It's terrific. If you're done, please subscribe. Leave some stars, ideally five. Five lousy little star.

[C]

From ancient Rome to where you'd like to roam. T Bubbles network is there because T Mobile helps keep you connected from the heart of Portland to right where you are on America's largest 5G network. Switch now keep your phone and T Mobile will pay it off up to $800 per line via prepaid card. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com KeepAndSwitch up to four lines of your virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days qualifying unlock device credit service support in 90 plus days device and eligible carrier and timely redemption required card has no cash access and expires in six months.

[D]

Marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now, and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements, or run a pre produced ad like this one across thousands of shows. To reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with Libsyn ads, go to Libsynads.com that's L I B S Y N ads.com today.