Kiss’ Gene Simmons Takes Shot At EDM Calling It “Boop Boop” Music

In a recent interview, Gene Simmons aimed at EDM and its DJs. He argued dance music (that’s what we call it, Gene) requires far less musical skill than traditional songwriting and band performance, implying it creatively lazy in structure and execution. He mocks it as simple, repetitive button-pressing (“boop boop” music) rather than real composition, contrasting it with the complexity of writing memorable songs with melody, structure, and lyrical craft.

Gene says EDM doesn’t produce timeless music, noting that no garage bands are covering EDM songs. No tribute bands are covering Skrillex or Calvin Harris, and no cultural legacy of reinterpretation; the way rock, pop, and classic songwriting traditions have. While he says he enjoys EDM for its energy and crowd experience, he ultimately frames it as entertainment-driven rather than artistically deep or musically demanding. There are some funny bits in the interview about how he views the crowd experience:

“I love the passion and the fans taking cr**k and sticking it up their a**, whatever they do.”

Why Gene Is Wrong

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I think Gene is looking at the music from a surface level. There is no shortage of timeless tracks from Avicii’s anthems ‘Levels’ and ‘Wake Me Up’ to Swedish House Mafia’s ‘Don’t You Worry Child’ to Daft Punk’s ‘One More Time’. There are plenty of harder club tracks that will be remembered, including Skrillex’s ‘Bangarang’, Martin Garrix’s ‘Animals’, and Benny Benassi’s’ Satisfaction’. The list could go on and on…

Gene is probably also unfamiliar with the plethora of sub-genres in dance music (Drum & Bass, UK Garage, Dubstep, etc.) that break the “lazy” structure and execution he refers to. While the DJing portion of the experience isn’t demanding on the artist, there are countless hours of producing and preparing that lead up to being on stage.

As far as tribute bands go, well, obviously, no bands will be playing EDM…but we do know an Orchestra that does. The Symphony of Unity has long transformed iconic electronic tracks into powerful symphonic experiences. On top of this, plenty of lower-tier DJs are still playing all the timeless classics, making sure the next generation knows what started it all.

Gene missed the ball on this one.