31 replies to this topic

[Aris007]

Recently there was an article all over the Net on who is the best frontman of all times. The article wrote that thousands of people vote that Liam Gallagher is the greatest frontman ever walked on Earth. I really don't agree with this one so I started this thread to read some opinions on "Who is the best frontman ever?".

[Vauxhall]

Of those I've seen, Bruce Springsteen by a country mile.

Of those I haven't, Freddie Mercury and Mick Jagger are usually thrown around in these sort of things. Can't agree with Liam Gallagher for one moment.

[Loomis]

Ian Brown. Followed probably by Morrissey.

[elizabeth]

John Lennon, Eric Burdon, Mick Jagger, Brian Wilson. Oh, and Pete Townshend!

[dinovelvet]

Recently there was an article all over the Net on who is the best frontman of all times. The article wrote that thousands of people vote that Liam Gallagher is the greatest frontman ever walked on Earth.

I'm going to take a wild guess that this vote was taken in Britain

In conclusion, Mike Patton.

[stromberg]

Bruce Springsteen, Frank Zappa and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy.

[Vauxhall]

For those interested, the vote was from Q Magazine and the Top 20 was as follows:

1. Liam Gallagher
2. Bono
3. Freddie Mercury
4. Damon Albarn
5. Chris Martin
6. Matt Bellamy
7. Jim Morrison
8. Bob Marley
9. Paul McCartney
10. John Lennon
11. Robbie Williams
12. Debbie Harry
13. Mick Jagger
14. Morrissey
15. Johnny Rotten
16. James Brown
17. Bruce Springsteen
18. Robert Plant
19. Tom Meighan
20. Joe Strummer

[stromberg]

Definitely a UK poll

[Sark2.0]

I refuse to give any credence to a list of frontmen that doesn't include Bon Scott.

[Aris007]

Wow! This list sucks man! Though I'm a huge U2 fan I wouldn't put Bono over Freddie and Mick Jagger lower than Robbie Williams? No!

[Scottlee]

James Dean Bradfield!

[Sark2.0]

Also, Johnny Rotten and Joe Strummer are on the list, but not Iggy Pop ???

[sharpshooter]

Paul in front of John?

Now there is a talking point!

[Turn]

Sorry, but I've never even heard of Damon Albarn, Matt Bellamy or Tom Meighan. James Brown isn't so much a front man since he was mostly a solo artist. I know he had a large band behind him, but were they even well known like the E Street Band, whose members were names themselves?

I don't know that much about Chris Martin and Coldplay, but what I do know is they seem rather bland compared with who isn't on the list. How about Lou Reed when he was with the Velvet Underground? Jerry Garcia? Jimi Hendrix?

[Cruiserweight]

So they have both Debbie Harry & Johnny Rotten who both came out of the NY/UK 70's punk scene but not Joey Ramone or David Byrne who are not only from the same scene as Harry & Rotten but in my opinion are also much more diverse & talented then them.If I haven't made who my favorite frontman is clear then watch this video.Heck,watch it anyway.

[DaveBond21]

I immediately thought of Freddie Mercury, but I should point out that when Liam Gallagher sings (in Rock n Roll Star) "You're not down with who I am, look at you now, you're all in my hands tonight", then I agree with him. Again and again, yes, you have got us in the palm of your hands.

[Ambler]

You've got to be intelligent and educated to be a great frontman, which eliminates 90% of the names already suggested.

I nominate Peter Gabriel.

[Loomis]

You've got to be intelligent and educated to be a great frontman

How come? (Assuming you're being serious.) I'd argue the opposite. For me, rock music ought to be a tool of revenge for academic failures. Certainly, if Liam Gallagher had done well at school, he wouldn't be able to convincingly sing a great lyric like "Damn my education/Can't find the words to say/All of the things caught in my mind."

But you've got me wondering: who are the most intelligent and educated frontmen of all time? Morrissey is intelligent (highly) but not "educated" (in the sense that he did not undergo higher education). Chris Martin has a degree (I think), but I confess I've never been bowled over by his brand of braininess. You can take the boy out of the shrill and uninformed student union debating club....

I'm an old man and stopped listening to new bands in 1995 or thereabouts. Modern music makes me feel like a High Court judge, having to ask questions like "Who is Jay-Zed?" Given the expansion of higher education in Britain since the mid-1990s, are we now in an era when the people who make the cover of the NME all tend to have MAs?

[Aris007]

You've got to be intelligent and educated to be a great frontman

How come? (Assuming you're being serious.) I'd argue the opposite. For me, rock music ought to be a tool of revenge for academic failures. Certainly, if Liam Gallagher had done well at school, he wouldn't be able to convincingly sing a great lyric like "Damn my education/Can't find the words to say/All of the things caught in my mind."

But you've got me wondering: who are the most intelligent and educated frontmen of all time? Morrissey is intelligent (highly) but not "educated" (in the sense that he did not undergo higher education). Chris Martin has a degree (I think), but I confess I've never been bowled over by his brand of braininess. You can take the boy out of the shrill and uninformed student union debating club....

I'm an old man and stopped listening to new bands in 1995 or thereabouts. Modern music makes me feel like a High Court judge, having to ask questions like "Who is Jay-Zed?" Given the expansion of higher education in Britain since the mid-1990s, are we now in an era when the people who make the cover of the NME all tend to have MAs?

I completely agree with Loomis. Being a rock star doesn't mean you have to finish college or get a degree. And that's not only related to rock music, but to pop, hip-hop and so. Especially in rock n' roll you have to be yourself, be free, sing and play your instrument as good as you can and when it comes to frontmen transfer your energy to the audience. That's what makes a frontman big. Jagger, Bono, Mercury, Hendrix, Morisson, Stig neither or them that higly educated, but they were boys that loved music and decided to form bands or go solo. That's the story!

Oh, and by the way that's why Jagger is a damn legend. Look at the energy he has and he's reached 67.

[Ambler]

You've got to be intelligent and educated to be a great frontman

How come? (Assuming you're being serious.)

Tongue in cheek as ever. Intelligence helps, but so does athleticism, youth and many other qualities.

Though. for the record. Jagger did get into the LSE and that was in an age when the top British universities didn't let in everybody.

[Salomé]

For those interested, the vote was from Q Magazine and the Top 20 was as follows:

1. Liam Gallagher
2. Bono
3. Freddie Mercury
4. Damon Albarn
5. Chris Martin
6. Matt Bellamy
7. Jim Morrison
8. Bob Marley
9. Paul McCartney
10. John Lennon
11. Robbie Williams
12. Debbie Harry
13. Mick Jagger
14. Morrissey
15. Johnny Rotten
16. James Brown
17. Bruce Springsteen
18. Robert Plant
19. Tom Meighan
20. Joe Strummer

Oh dear...

[Vauxhall]

Though. for the record. Jagger did get into the LSE and that was in an age when the top British universities didn't let in everybody.

I initially read that as "Jagger did get into LSD". Presumably that came later.

I think there is a strong argument to be made for intelligence being a virtue as a frontman however I also think an inherently outgoing personality is necessary to be the most natural of performers. There are several newer bands coming through who have the benefit of writing catchy hooks, etc but just don’t have the stage presence, confidence and arrogance of their peers - the key personality trait of the best frontmen, in my opinion.

[coco1997]

John Lennon, Eric Burdon, Mick Jagger, Brian Wilson. Oh, and Pete Townshend!

While Brian was no doubt one of the greatest musical geniuses of all time, I wouldn't define him as a "frontman." Despite the fact that he was the brains and soul behind the Beach Boys, he was essentially a recluse who suffered from what I assumed was social anxiety disorder and hated being in the spotlight.

[jrcjohnny99]

Everybody has their own opinion on this one; but having seen over 2,000 different bands in the last 30 years, including just about every major band out there, I'm going to throw out a quick top 25.
(I've based this purely on how exciting/captivating/charismatic they are live, nothing to do with songwriting skills)

1. Mick Jagger (the first true 'frontman'; just about everybody who has come since has copied Mick greatly)
2. Bruce Springsteen
3. Steven Tyler
4. Freddie Mercury
5. Robert Plant
6. Axl Rose
7. Bono
8. Tim Booth
9. Roger Daltrey
10. David Bowie
11. Billie Jo Armstrong
12. Liam Gallagher
13. David Bowie
14. Brett Anderson
15. Joe Strummer
16. Bruce Dickinson
17. Mike Scott
18. Eddie Vedder
19. Paul McCartney
20. Stevie Nicks
21. Damon Albarn
22. Jim Kerr
23. Tim Burgess
24. Chris Robinson
25. Iggy Pop

I havent included anyone that I have never seen live; not sure you can really judge someone unless you've seen them personally

[Janus Assassin]

My favs are Jim Morrison, Robert Plant and Tom Delonge from Blink 182.

[coco1997]

Frankly I'm shocked that Otis Redding is on no one's list.

[Aris007]

You've got to be intelligent and educated to be a great frontman

How come? (Assuming you're being serious.)

Tongue in cheek as ever. Intelligence helps, but so does athleticism, youth and many other qualities.

Though. for the record. Jagger did get into the LSE and that was in an age when the top British universities didn't let in everybody.

Well I think that a frontman doesn't need that educated, but he has to hold his own opinion about what's going on around him. This doesn't need a high level of education!

[SPECTRE ASSASSIN]

I wish I were alive back then to see Jim Morrison in concert. He would of had the chance of becoming the greatest frontman ever but rock stardom wasn't in his blood; he had that aura of charisma about him (I don't get how you have to be educated to a great frontman but Morrison did reportedly have an I.Q of 149 and graduated from UCLA film school). My vote goes to Mick Jagger because he's been around the game for so many years and is still revelant (and alive) with Freddie Mercury a close second.

[Captain Tightpants]

Josh Homme.

I saw him live during the Austrailan leg of Them Crooked Vultures' first world tour, and I have never seen anything like it. It was a sell-out crowd of five thousand, and he had ever last person going at it for two hours. It's as if he's playing Chicken against the audience, with the first one to back off being the loser. I've since seen him in videos of performances three times the size and he doesn't back off. He tries to out-do the crowd and the crowd tries to out-do him. He might look very intimidating and smoke and swear and drink and hurl abuse at people who interrupt his show, but I saw him after the show talking to people from the audience. He doesn't talk about his life as a rock star at all - he's more interested in who his fans are and how they came to be at the show. Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones are apparently the same, but I didn't see them.

[Attempting Re-entry]

Q's list is predictably laughable.

For me,

1) Bruce Springsteen
2) James Brown
3) Elvis Presley
4) Morrissey

Those four tower over anyone else.