Gene Simmons may think rock is dead, but Ringo Starr believes it's doing just fine.

Starr weighed in on the subject during a recent interview with NME, shrugging that he's "never believed" the periodic claims of rock's demise and adding, "The saving grace for me -- I have to admit I'm not a big fan of the boy bands dancing and that stuff -- but the thing that saves me is there's always bands out there. There's always bands playing somewhere, and they come through in the end."

That isn't just idle chatter, either. Asked to pontificate about the future, Starr namechecked at least one current band that makes him feel like the heart of rock 'n' roll is still beating. "I think people wanna see people playing and singing. Earlier on I heard Kasabian doing a BBC thing. They're a great band. They played like the rest of us -- pubs, clubs, and now they're the festival band. So I've always felt 'the band' will come through."

And ultimately, Starr says, the bands that do come through will do so because they're playing music for all the right reasons. "I'm always touring. I love to play -- that's why I do this," he concluded. "A lot of the bands wanna do it to be famous. But I wanna do it to play. That was all my dream was about, and then we became famous."

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