Gene Simmons proud of KISS empire

The veteran musician can't understand why some bands refuse to endorse products and with his own group putting their name to over 3,000 different ventures, he believes they have properly embraced the spirit of the "music business". 

Speaking on Absolute Classic Rock, he said: "The KISS empire really has become that, and it's unfortunate that a lot of bands have neglected to take care of it, because what we do is actually call it 'the music business', it's not called 'music', and intrinsically we understood that at the beginning. 

"So, the KISS empire stretches over 3,000 licensed products, everything from condoms to caskets; we'll get you coming and we'll get you going. The KISS golf course is debuting in Las Vegas in a month. 

"Across the street from the Hard Rock, and the KISS coffee houses are now a new franchise, and you can't imagine, there's a KISS Hello Kitty deal that launched in 90 countries just now, back to school items, bed sheets and all that. 

"Now I'll grant you that a lot of bands may have a problem with that, I'm proud to do that, I want the next generation of kids starting at three years old to say, 'Mommy, I want KISS'." 

The 'Rock and Roll All Nite' band value their loyal fans so much they got 3,000 of The KISS Army together and took them on a cruise through the Bahamas - and Gene doesn't think a group can ever undervalue their supporters.