“I still remember the fascination of hearing Sgt. Pepper for the first time. It's The Beatles — but they're pretending to be another band? It breaks all the rules”: Gene Simmons salutes the Fab Four

The Beatles' most famous album — perhaps the most famous album ever made — was released on 26 May, 1967.

And 58 years later, Kiss star Gene Simmons says he is still amazed by what the Fab Four created with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Simmons tells MusicRadar that he and Kiss co-founder Paul Stanley call Great Britain a “holy ground” for rock music.

“Paul and myself, being Anglophiles, we’ve always been fascinated by that small island,” he says.

“It is a small place. America is bigger than Europe, the land mass is bigger.

“You can fly five and a half hours from LA and not get to New York. In Europe, two or three hours and you're anywhere you want.

“But this little island somehow produced the most iconic bands, the most talented writers and singers of all time — The Beatles and the Stones and The Kinks and Queen and on and on and on and on. It’s just amazing.”

Simmons believes the cultural exchange between British and American rock is unbalanced.

“Name an American band that can even get close to the Stones, Beatles, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd,” he says. “Come on!

“And yes, America invented rock ’n' roll. But we gave you The Grateful Dead and you gave us Led Zeppelin!”

Simmons reserves the greatest admiration for The Beatles.

“In Britain you have the royals and all that,” he says, “But for me, The Beatles made it holy ground.

“I still remember the fascination of hearing Sgt. Pepper for the first time. It's The Beatles — but they're pretending to be another band?

“And then they introduce Billy Shears for the second song? And it's an amazing song, and heartfelt. [Sings the opening lines to With A Little Help From My Friends] ‘What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me?’

“I remember going, ‘What it this?’ It breaks all the rules.

"It was almost music hall stuff. And I was like, ‘What?!’”

With A Little Help From My Friends (Remastered 2009) - YouTube

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Simmons finishes with a little Beatles trivia — and a trip of the hat to Ringo Starr.

“Here's a statement of fact,” Simmons says. “When all of them went solo, and George Harrison came out with this enormous triple album, All Things Must Pass, it took me a year to just digest all that.

“But Ringo had more number one single hits in America than any of the other Beatles.

“That,” he says, “is crazy!”