In a new interview with American Songwriter, KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons talked about money, and what does it mean for him growing poor and being a millionaire.
“We’re not supposed to revel in our riches. But that’s bullsh*t,” Gene said. “That’s bullsh*t because everybody — if I walk around and I walk into a room and said I’m worth a couple hundred million dollars — or a billion, or whatever they say, I don’t keep track — people would go, ‘Listen to that guy, what an asshole!’
“But if I just won the lottery and didn’t work a day in my life for it, everybody goes, ‘Fantastic! You won a sh*tload of money and you didn’t work at all for it!’
“I’ve worked for every penny I got,” he continued. “I should be the one that should be able to say, ‘Look at all the money I got.’ But nope, can’t do that. So, I don’t know how to say this, but it’s better to be rich than poor. It is. You can create jobs if you’re rich. You can give money to philanthropy if you’re rich. A poor person never gave me a job. And the person who came up with the phrase, ‘Money is the root of all evil’ is a moron. Money is not the root of all evil. Lack of money is the root of all evil.
“The reason people hold up 7-Eleven is — they don’t have money,” Gene added. “Why would I ever hold up a 7-Eleven when I could just buy the block? The reason for crime is people don’t have enough money. One of the cures for lowering crime is — give people jobs, give them something to do so they can feed their families, so they don’t have to go out and steal. That’s the way out. And don’t get me started on drug addicts, that’s another thing. There are a lot of rich white boys who are on opioids and crack—that’s another story and I’m not qualified to comment.”
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