She's fake, manufactured pop, rockers say in recent interview

Mar 22, 2012 15:36 GMT  ·  By

She must be accustomed by now to seeing her name in the headlines but, perhaps never before, has Rihanna been forced to hear such harsh things said about her – in a prestigious music magazine, no less.

In a recent interview with Billboard, announcing their joint tour, the rockers from KISS and Motley Crue lambasted Rihanna for being too pop, too manufactured, too fake, too bad.

Granted, not everybody likes Rihanna's music, but few have the kind of platform as these rockers were offered to speak their mind.

If you ask Gene Simmons, for instance, how he feels about the pop star's music and concerts, he'll tell you they're worthless, or even worse.

“The guys you see on stage are playing their instruments. No fake bull[expletive]. Leave that to the Rihanna, Shmianna and anyone who ends their name with an 'A',” Simmons says.

This is not the first time that Simmons picks on a popular artist and, in doing so, angers millions of fans from all over the world.

Back in June 2009, for instance, he caused quite a frenzy when he went on the record to say that Adam Lambert, the beloved American Idol star who is also openly gay, should “shut up” about his orientation because, frankly, no one cares about that.

However, where Rihanna is concerned, Simmons isn't the only one to think she's not really what one might call “an artist.”

“No disrespect to Rihanna, she’s a great singer, but we’re in a slump for some [expletive] that has some personality and appeal beyond a bunch of pop stuff that’s floating around out there,” Tommy Lee said in the same interview.

Rihanna hasn't yet responded to these very direct jabs but, knowing her and how she's handled similar situations in the past, she'll probably say everybody's entitled to their opinion – so who is she to tell them they're wrong.