Kiss songs banned by Triple M: ‘We won’t play this dickhead’s music’

15 August 2014 · News

Gene Simmons tells depression sufferers: ‘F*** You! Kill Yourself’

Reacting to Simmons’ comments, Head of Triple M, Mike Fitzpatrick, has removed all Kiss tracks from Triple M’s nationwide playlist.

Fitzpatrick said on the Triple M website:

“Gene Simmons’ recent comments are misguided and insensitive. Depression and Suicide are not topics he should be using to further his notoriety or sell records. His desperation to use mental health issues to find relevancy in a modern age is sickening. I can only put it down to a brain fade on his part. The Triple M Network can’t and won’t be playing or supporting this dickhead’s music. I put the challenge out to other stations across Australia and North America to also drop any of this nudnik’s songs until such time as he reconsiders his thoughtless and insensitive position.”

 
According to the article on the website, the Kiss bassist “dismissed depression as a mental disorder in an article with Songfacts.com. One in eight Australian men experience depression and mental health issues have been particularly highlighted this week in the aftermath of Robin Williams’ tragic death.”

The specific comments about depression were made about former members of the Kiss band. When asked if he still gets along with the original band members, Simmons told songfacts:

“No, I don’t get along with anybody who’s a drug addict and has a dark cloud over their head and sees themselves as a victim. Drug addicts and alcoholics are always: “The world is a harsh place.” My mother was in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany. I don’t want to hear fuck all about “the world as a harsh place.” She gets up every day, smells the roses and loves life. And for a putz, 20-year-old kid to say, “I’m depressed, I live in Seattle.” Fuck you, then kill yourself.”

  Simmons has been labelled a hypocrite after he tweeted, ‘R.I.P. Robin Williams. A kind and generous man’, in the wake of the actor’s tragic death this week.

The article explaining the ban reminds the Triple M audience that “Australia has a tragically high suicide rate, with suicide killing three times more Australian males aged between 15 and 45 than all car accidents combined,” and refers readers who need assistance to Beyond Blue at www.beyondblue.org.au or 1300 22 4636.

With the songs now removed from the playlist, Triple M announcers will not have to mention the name of the band that is also the name of a rival station in Sydney.

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