AUTHOR: Peter Anthony TITLE: We will rock you DATE: 10/20/2006 ----- BODY:

In the UK last year I watched a reality program called Gene Simmons' “Rock School”. The bad boy of Kiss tries to turn children of a prim British boarding school into a heavy rock band. Gene does this at Christ's Hospital, a 450 year-old boarding school outside London. There, the students wear uniforms, march in procession, and study classical music. Gene is surprisingly thought provoking in his philosophy. Two things in particular stood out for me. The first is Gene says that 90% of being a rock star is attitude and only 10% musical ability. All rock stars are very individual. “It’s about finding out who you are” says Gene. ". He chose Josh as the lead singer because he was an outcaste, and because the losers need to reinvent themselves to survive. “The more of an outcaste you are the more of a reinvention needs to take place” Gene says. The second thing I liked is the sense of certainty he was teaching to the children. His favorite song is "We will rock you". He stresses that it wasn’t titled "We might rock you, or "We could potentially rock you.” And he said that sense of certainty is what helps the band and the song work for people.

--------