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#1 Frontman of all time

#141
Just to be clear, my post was pro-James Brown and Prince, definitely not anti-George Clinton! In fact, George Clinton is one of my musical heroes. Some of the earlier posts questioned the qualifications of artists like JB and Prince as frontmen, so I put in my $0.02.
 
#142
FilterFunk said:
Just to be clear, my post was pro-James Brown and Prince, definitely not anti-George Clinton! In fact, George Clinton is one of my musical heroes. Some of the earlier posts questioned the qualifications of artists like JB and Prince as frontmen, so I put in my $0.02.
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...understood. George has been the frontman/face of P-Funk since its inception. Parliament was a vocal group at Motown in the 60's. and he's still standing on the verge of gettin' it on.
if you were to draw a straight line from James Brown to Prince, P-Funk would be right in the middle of it. As Dr. Funkenstein once pronounced..."let's take it to the stage" :eyebrow:
 
#143
Spoonman462 said:
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This.

Trent Reznor is a monster live.

I'd nominate Freddie Mercury, Perry Farrell, and Zack de la Rocha as well.

[edit]and how could I forget Bruce Dickinson![/edit]

-Dash
 
#144
Phil Anselmo of Down/Pantera/Superjoint/etc. - on stage he's in total control of the band and the crowd (and himself, now that he's sober). Off stage he's always been cool as hell to talk to. Just his style and range, lyrics, and attitude on top of the success of every band he's ever been in, makes him a personal favorite.

Waylon Jennings is actually a very close second followed by Jerry Cantrell/Layne Staley.
 
#148
ClaytonMUSE said:
I recently read an article in a magazine where Liam Gallagher of Oasis was crowned greatest frontman of all time, I don't really agree (He should be somewhere very high up though).

My favorite frontman has got to be Matt Bellamy of Muse, who is your number #1 Frontman, and what would you say makes a good one? :bassist:
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For greatest "FRONT" man I am going with George Clinton.. he can't sing, did not write most of the music, doesn't look good
BUT is recognised world wide and has been out there for over 40 years! He put one of the greatests music teams BEHIND him and he gets almost all of the credit and cash!.

:hiding:
 
#149
jarrhead said:
My favorite is definitely Tommy Rogers. I love BTBAM for so many reasons. They are great musicians, I love watching them, they are just as good and usually better live than on album, they love their fans, they're really nice, and they know how to fire up a crowd like no other.
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I liked him, until he picked Muse over Radiohead in an interview. :spit:

I ****ing hate Matt Bellamy.

Thom Yorke is my favorite musician of all time.
 
#155
I think there is a huge difference between a frontman who is essentially performing a role in front of an audience and a frontman who involves the audience. The former includes many mentioned here, in my opinion...Jim Morrison, Axl Rose, Jimi Hendrix, even James Brown, Alice Cooper, Ozzy, etc., could make the show conform to the audience reaction, but in my opinion a real frontman would get the audience involved. The best I have seen have been relative unknowns; Bobby Rush, Ann Peebles, chitlin circuit performers. The best British, and one of the best of alltime, IMHO, would be Steve Marriott. FWIW
 
#156
Steve Marriott puts out some of my very favorite jams; most notably Humble Pie, but Small Faces were cool too. The only visual memory I have of him (as a frontman) was a live concert on t.v. somewhere in the early '70s. That performance and other live recordings I have in my collection, do seem to portray him as an active participant in the audience.
 
#158
My picks, in more or less order:

Rockers: Elvis Presley (in the 1950s, before his movie era, he simply defined this job); Robert Plant (what a voice); Jerry Lee Lewis (E-N-E-R-G-Y; if anyone put it out like James Brown, Jerry Lee did); David Coverdale (his voice was so great that it made up for shortcomings elsewhere); Roger Daltrey; Stephen Tyler; Ronnie Van Zant; Gregg Allman (best voice that we may ever have); Ian Gillan; DLR; Chuck Berry; Mick Jagger; Rod Stewart.

R&B: Marvin Gaye; Al Green; James Brown; Sam Cooke; Gregg Allman; Prince; Bobby Bland; Robert Palmer.

I was not so impressed with Freddy Mercury--too campy for my taste, wobbly tenor; same with Elton on the camp, and a thin voice, although in the early years he was awesome. Paul Stanley of Kiss falls into this same group as over the top. There is a fine line between showmanship and over the top, at least for me....DLR sometimes gets a little to close to the edge as well.

Steve Marriott was a good call, too, although he doesn't crack my list. Humble Pie was awesome....and Lawrence Welk could sure wield a baton.
 

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