Ian Anderson, lead singer of Jethro Tull.
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Geoff Tate
Best rock singer and most valuable because no one would have heard of Queensryche without his stunning vocals. |
Grace Slick - Jefferson Airplane
Robert Manuel - The Band
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Janis Joplin
Would Big Brother & The Holding Co. ever have sold so many albums without Janis? I believe that Janis was an exceptionally valuable lead vocals for their success.
There are so many other examples. For the sake of this thread, though, I'll just leave it to this one. |
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Freddie Mercury 1975-1981. |
mcslipp
While I might agree that Van Halen had more good songs with David Lee Roth than with Sammy, I think their two best songs are Dreams and Right Now (with Jump a close third), both with Sammy. Also, Roth is not really a good singer and he's the Jim Carrey of rock stars (overdoes everything).
roberjerman
Kiss sucks.
I think Freddie was the best front man ever and to me, that made him the most valuable. |
Maybe we should do this like the pros and break it down by year. So many worthy candidates! How many years can we cover?
For my David Byrne vote I would designate that from 1977-1985. A pretty good run! |
IMO you need to break this down into two categories. First would be as the “front man” and second would be actual vocal talent. Front man you have to go with David Lee Roth
vocal talent is more difficult as they all use so many effects even I could sound good. I do like Geoff Tate Queensryche and Jack Russell Great White.
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The Don of the West Coast
-Don Henley. |
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Lemmy
Ozzy
Ronnie James Dio
David Lee Roth
Jim Morrison
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Jack Bruce of Cream! Grace Slick and Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane! |
Gene Simmons of Kiss! Stick out that tongue! |
Brian Johnson...filled big shoes
Axl Rose...
Jim Morrison...
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James Hetfield of Metallica! |
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Thomas Gabriel Warrior (Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Triptykon). Swiss black metal! |
Richard Thompson, Gary Brooker (Procul Harum) and Chris Youlden (Savoy Brown). |
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Ian Gillan of Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. Plus the Gillan Band! A real trooper! |
We have to give Ronnie James Dio his recognition. RIP Mr.Dio. |
No...Benjamin Orr of The Cars. ; )
Seriously though...singer of their best songs...and many only know of Ocasek...or even think Ocasek sings those too.
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The Talking Heads were very quirky and unique in their day in addition to being a great band and ultimately were very successful commercially as well. David Byrne was the very unique X factor that made them stick out from other bands of the day and that so many other tried to emulate. Hence my vote for him. |
The Smiths are on my list of groups I need to listen to more. |
I’m a Gillan fan and he helped get DP to their highest place but DP fared well with other singers over the years. |
Ian Gillan of Deep Purple
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Annie Haslam made Renaissance successful. |
Nobody is mentioning the women.
What was Steeleye Span without Maddy Prior?
Fairport Convention without Sandy Denny?
The Pretenders without Chrissie Hynde?
Quarterflash without Rindy Ross?
This being a (de facto) male-only nerd forum, I suggest we remember how many riddles are solved by simply imagining that the hypothetical "doctor" is a woman.
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It’s true lead singers are key to a group’s success.
The MVP though plays a key role in elevating that group above others in other words the value can be measured by overall success. So a guy like Mick Jagger would qualify in that they are a very successful band. What if the singer was not Mick? Mick is not a great singer. Would the stones have been better off with a better singer? Probably not because Mick also played a major role on writing their songs. So an MVP despite not being a great technical singer. In fact I often think the Stones would be better served live with a better singer because Mick’s live performances though entertaining have often been very ragged and inconsistent vocally IMHO. |
Hi, map.
Morrissey was the lead singer of The Smiths.
The Smiths simply would not be The Smiths without Morrissey, no substitute.
No Morrissey, no Smiths.
He also wrote or co wrote their songs.
Unique voice, unique lyrics, unique sound.
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Every rock band whose overall sound is essentially defined by their lead vocalist. The list is endless. |
Chris Cornell , Eddie Vedder, Delores ORiordan Dennis Deyoung
Rod Stewart, Eric Burdon,SRV, Just to name several greats others on this page have already been mentioned . |
Need to familiarize with The Smiths.
Why Morrissey? |
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I like the lesser known votes. Gives me something new to check into. |
Keith Lancaster - Acappella |
When the singer is also the main songwriter that ups his stock a lot I would say. The winner probably has to wear both hats largely in their group. |
Talking HEads and David Byrne hit teh scene in ~ 1977 or so. Such a unique style! Think of all teh New Wave acts that followed and sounded kinda like him and Talking Heads but failed to take it any further really. Mostly interchangeable with a few exceptions. |
Not Peter Gabriel.......Phil Collins replaced him and the rest is history.
Disclaimer: I am a BIG Peter Gabriel fan. |
Jerry Garcia...No way they become what they did without Jerry. |
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