( CNN ) -- Add Gene Simmons to the list of people pulling the plug on rock ' n ' roll . In an interview with Esquire conducted by his son , Nick , legendary rocker and KISS frontman Simmons said that -- thanks to a crumbling business model , including `` file-sharing and downloading '' by fans who believe they `` were entitled to have something for free '' -- `` rock is finally dead . '' `` I am so sad that the next 15-year-old kid in a garage someplace in St. Paul , that plugs into his Marshall and wants to turn it up to 10 , will not have anywhere near the same opportunity that I did , '' Simmons said . `` He will most likely , no matter what he does , fail miserably . '' Simmons blamed a lack of industry support , piracy and a lack of appreciation for `` the creators . '' `` It 's very sad for new bands . ... They just do n't have a chance , '' he said . `` You 're better off not even learning how to play guitar or write songs . '' Today 's songwriters and creators are more likely to work behind the scenes than practicing and testing their material out on stage , he added . `` The death of rock was not a natural death . Rock did not die of old age . It was murdered , '' he said . Simmons , of course , is far from the first to lament the decline of rock . In 1972 , the Who sang `` Rock is dead , they say '' in `` Long Live Rock , '' a finger in the eye to those who believed the music was n't what it was a few years earlier . In 2009 , guitarist and `` Underground Garage '' host Steven Van Zandt gave a speech at SXSW , `` A Crisis of Craft , '' that observed that one reason nobody 's buying records is `` because they suck . '' In blogs and on Twitter , reaction was largely negative to Simmons ' statements . `` Business models for the music industry will come and go . But rock will never die , '' wrote Bill Brenner . `` So What 's This About Rock Finally Being Dead ? I Beg to Disagree , Gene Simmons , '' was the headline of a column by Alan Cross on `` A Journal of Musical Things . '' And the Foo Fighters were probably the pithiest . `` Not so fast , Mr. God of Thunder , '' the Dave Grohl-led band tweeted . Simmons , however , does n't think there 's much future in the genre . `` It 's clear that longevity is practically dead , and new artists that stand the test of time ... are so rare as to almost be nonexistent , '' he said .
Gene Simmons asserts that `` rock is dead '' in Esquire interview . It did n't have to happen , he adds : `` It was murdered '' The Who declared rock dead in 1972 . Blogs , Twitter come to rock 's defense .