Gene Simmons say rock is dead, Foo Fighters take issue

After Gene Simmons declared that "rock was murdered" in a new interview, Foo Fighters have taken to social media to take issue with the Kiss singer.

Simmons, a man who has made many insightful and not at all stupid public statements in recent weeks, declared rock's demise in a new interview with Esquire.

"The death of rock was not a natural death," Simmons told the magazine. "Rock did not die of old age. It was murdered. Some brilliance, somewhere, was going to be expressed, and now it won't, because it's that much harder to earn a living playing and writing songs."

He added: "For performers who are also songwriters — the creators — for rock music, for soul, for the blues — it’s finally dead. Rock is finally dead. It’s very sad for new bands. My heart goes out to them. They just don’t have a chance.

"If you play guitar, it’s almost impossible. You’re better off not even learning how to play guitar or write songs, and just singing in the shower and auditioning for The X Factor. And I’m not slamming The X Factor, or pop singers. But where’s the next Bob Dylan? Where’s the next Beatles? Where are the songwriters? Where are the creators?”

Since these comments came out though, Foo Fighters have used their Twitter and Facebook accounts to express their disagreement. The band posted a link to the interview alongside the caption, "Not so fast, Mr. God of Thunder." 

Not so fast, Mr. God of Thunder...RT: @esquiremag Gene Simmons declares "rock is finally dead" http://t.co/1VTJ7y7jNM

The band, who are set to appear at the closing ceremony of London's Invictus Games on 14 September, recently dropped a strong hint that they're performing a surprise UK show alongside it, saying it would be "a shame to do just one show while we're in the UK."