The Ten Best Rock'N'Roll Frontmen
Who are the best rock'n'roll frontmen of all time? Not solo artists but real frontmen - men that actually front bands. We choose some of our favourites.
01. Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols
Yes he's not very cool anymore, but 30 years ago Johnny Rotten was the snarling, sneering photogenic face of punk rock. His natural ability to (often literally) wear a load of rubbish and still look breathtaking combined with a voice that immediately captured the dark sarcasm of his lyrics.
02. Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones
He may not have pioneered the hip swivelling, camp-as-a-row-of-tents frontmen approach (Little Richard and of course Esquerita got there 10 years earlier) but Jagger certainly made it his own. Mixing a voice that brings-to-mind the arrogance of grizzled old bluesmen, an off-stage reputation as a snobby twit and a dance resembling a chicken and Jagger is, for many, the ultimate frontman.
03. Jimi Hendrix of the Jimi Hendrix Experience
Hendrix's on-stage theatrics rarely overshadowed his immeasurable talent but it can't be denied that Hendrix was as much showman as he was musician. With a dress sense as good as his guitar playing, a reputation as something of a drugs dustbin and the ability to do with his guitar what Little Richard did with his vocals - Hendrix pretty much invented the rock'n'roll cliché. That so many have followed his path speaks volumes.
04. Marc Bolan of T Rex
Marc Bolan mixed the foppish persona of Mick Jagger with the voice and hair of Bob Dylan and the fashion of David Bowie when he helped to pioneer glam rock. Often dismissed as a tween pin-up, Bolan was in fact vital to reinforcing the ever-important teen divide in the early 1970s - making long hair, beards and flares the look of the establishment rather than the cosmic teenage rebels.
05. Iggy Pop of The Stooges
A true wildman of rock'n'roll, Iggy Pop (or James Newell Osterberg, Jr. as his mother knew him) took blues-inspired rock'n'roll to new levels in the late 1960s. After watching Jim Morrison (whose omission from this list is sure to be questioned) perform at the University of Michigan in 1967, Pop took his stage act to new extremes, rolling in glass, exposing himself and vomiting onstage. Without Pop, punk rock would not have developed as we know it.
06. Freddie Mercury of Queen
Freddie Mercury is another who aped Mick Jagger, although Mercury's performance was more outlandish in almost every way. His untrained voice was one of a kind, rolling from heavy rock baritone to soaring falsetto with ease, while image wise Liza Minnelli-inspired flamboyance was key.
07. Liam Gallagher of Oasis
Liam Gallagher is nothing but a frontman. His own songs are awful and his personality vacuous but when Liam Gallagher takes the stage something very silly and slightly magical happens. Forget his voice for a moment (which even the harshest critic couldn't deny is powerful and distinctive) when the man stands motionless on stage with a tambourine in his mouth, scowling at the audience you really can't take your eyes off him. You sort of hate him but you also kind of envy him. This is what a frontman is.
08. Bono of U2
Further proof that you don't need to like someone to recognise their talent as a frontman. Somehow, somehow, Bono has become even bigger than his band, meeting political leaders, making poverty history , editing The Independent for a day, saving the world. All the while he's managed to churn out the kind of atmospheric rock'n'roll that demands a theatrical frontman. He's even entered popular culture as a derisory term for an egotistical, overblown frontman. Johnny Borrell from Razorlight? He's a bit Bono isn't he.
09. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana
The classic doomed rock'n'roll frontman. Cobain was so punk rock that he killed himself because he didn't want to mislead fans into thinking he still found Nirvana fun. On top of that he wrote vicious, poetic lyrics and then screamed them unintelligibly over huge-sounding, pop-laced rock'n'roll. His legacy has ensured every year new waves of troubled young things rip their jeans and pick up a low slung guitar in his honour.
10. Joe Strummer of The Clash
Joe Strummer was a punk rocker with a heart a soul. While Johnny Rotten quickly became a cartoon anarchist, Strummer aimed for real revolution, showing his fans that rock'n'roll could be politically intellectual as well as nihilistically so. He also managed to inject blues, rockabilly, soul, folk and dub into The Clash's sound, all the while looking look Kenickie from Grease's cooler little brother.
Source: www.independent.co.uk
The Devendra Banhart remix of '(Get Off Your) High Horse Lady' and the Liam Gallagher-penned 'I Believe In All' and 'The Boy With The Blues' are now available to buy on iTunes.
