'Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins -- Gene Simmons is an Idiot ... Cobain and Winehouse Are Icons

Gene Simmons disputing Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse's icon status is nuts ... so says Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who tells us it doesn't matter how many albums both made.

In case you missed it, Gene told Team Rock Radio this month that Cobain and Winehouse were only considered icons because they died young ... not because of their music.

But Hawkins -- whose been in Foo with Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl for years -- was fired up about the topic ... telling TMZ Gene's opinion is "nonsense."