Who were the great frontmen of Rock?

[stui magpie]

With the recent passing of Lemmy from Motorhead and Stevie Wright, it made me start thinking about how we've been blessed to have come through the era from the 60's through to the 90's with some legendary front men.

NB. I use the term in this sense as non gender specific, I'm not using front person.

What makes a great frontman? Everyone is likely to have a slightly different opinion, but for mine it's not just about singing ability, it's more about presence, energy, charisma, showmanship. The ability to engage with a live audience.

Plenty come to mind from the past, but not many from the last decade or 2.

Some off the top of my head who I'd consider great frontmen:

Bon Scott
Doc Neeson
Freddy Mercury
Chrissie Amphlett
Mick Jagger
Ozzy Osbourne

Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden is pretty damn good, but not quite one of the greats, as is/was Jimmy Barnes IMO.

Axl Rose was pretty damn good but it was hard to say whether he or Slash was the actual frontman on stage.



Thoughts?

Who were some of the greats?
What made/makes them great?
Any contenders from the present day?

[Wokko]

I think embodying the genre they represent is important. Kurt Cobain WAS grunge for example, even though Eddie Vedder for is/was technically better in almost every way.

[Lazza]

Midnight Oil had a superb frontman in ‎Peter Garrett . Best ever I reckon.

[Mountains Magpie]

I've personally felt that Freddie Mercury was far and away the best frontman of all time. Charisma can't be acquired at any price. He had way more than anyone.

Notable mentions to Robert Plant, Ian Gillan and Paul Stanley.

And whilst he didn't front a band in the usual sense David Bowie has to be included in this thread.

Good thread idea Stui😀

RIP Lemmy

MM

[HAL]

What happened to way more than anyone ?

[stui magpie]

Cheers MM

I saw Bowie live at Kooyong back on the 80's. Even though he was in the sooks about sound level restrictions, he was bloody amazing.

And yeah Lazza, Garret was really good.

[think positive]

Saw kiss this year, Paul Stanley was still amazing.
Bon Scott, ac/dc still pretty good, but it's not the same, same as the Angels and doc Neeson .
Love love love jimmy Barnes!
Aussie rock can't go past uncanny men frontman Brian Mannix live performance.
Chrissy for the girls and of course Steve nicks, so unique

[Mountains Magpie]

Two more: Steve Tyler and David Lee Roth.

Bruce Dickinson is pretty bloody good too. Amazing energy for a bloke nudging 60.

MM

[stui magpie]

Yep. wee Bwian was a def frontman back in the day.
Jaggers US brother (Tyler) was up and about and David Lee Roth was a consummate showman.

Any takers for Dee Schneider from Twisted Sister?

[3.14159]

Joe Strummer, what a front man!
I was at their last ever show at Festival hall.
For 4 hours he held us in his hand as the Clash belted out hit after hit.
Started at 8 and finished (lights were turned on, the Clash were stihl playing) at 20 past midnight!
The best concert I've ever seen full stop exclamation mark.!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiSQIbNxjcU

Iggy Pop was/is a Legend (Capitol L)!
...but if he's not crawling around on razor-blades or slashing himself with a bottle he wasn't really trying and lets face it, he is the grand-father of punk rock and a grand-father swimming in blood and vomit is just gross!
... and then there's Bruce.
I love the man dearly and he can really work his crowd but (imo) the music suffers for all the lovey dovey fan shyte.
(he played Hanging rock a few years ago).

[5150]

David Lee Roth
Paul Stanley
Bret Michaels
Vince Neil
Joan Jett
Jon Bon Jovi
Steve Tyler
Freddy Mercury
Sabastian Bach
Ozzy Osbourne

[What'sinaname]

I'll add Brian Johnson. Had massive shoes to fill and has did so without disgracing the AC/DC name.

Also Bono, Anthony Keidis and Dave Grohl

[Mountains Magpie]

[HAL]

Studies show that 99%25 of people spell Hmm with 2 M's.

[3.14159]