Gene Simmons is no fan of reality talent shows — principally because he’s not sure any of the 20th century’s best-known pop stars would have succeeded in one.
“There’s nothing wrong with The Voice or any other competition shows,” he says in a new interview, “but it’s really all a fantasy. Why? Because if Gene Simmons or Mick Jagger, or Jimi Hendrix or Bob Dylan or Madonna — you know, the biggest artists who have walked and still walk the face of the Earth — got up there and tried to sing an Adele song or something, they would fail.”
Those success stories, he asserts, aren’t constructed from the nuts and bolts of good singing, but from something else. “They just sort of hit on something,” Simmons says. “Take Mick Jagger. There’s nobody better for what he does within the Stones. But would I have him in Crosby Stills and Nash harmonies? Probably not.”
And so, who else to fix this latent issue? Who else to recognize the personality, magnetism and star power than one Gene Simmons? These are things, he says, that aren’t measured on most of the current reality talent shows. So, he’ll have his own.
Sierra Engine Television and the Kiss star announced a new series titled Coliseum at the MIPCOM TV and entertainment event in Cannes, France. Contestants, they say, will be challenged to form bands then create “an unforgettable act,” meaning presentation will play a more prominent role than raw singing talent.
