Greatest Front Man (or Woman) of All Time

Lol but seriously though, what's really sad is that the marketing of NKOTB in 89/90 was probably the closest thing to Beatlemania in terms of merchandise. Not sure if the boys from Boston got screwed on that deal like the Boys from Liverpool did. Even in the more recent years of Hanna Montana, Justin Beiber, NSync etc. None of them come close to the monster of merchandising that was New Kids On The Block. I'll give them that much.

 

Spice Girls had massive amounts of merch - maybe more than NKOTB.

But you're right that there was obs and gobs of NKOTB merch out there. I actually had a New Kids card game that I bought as a joke - and it was surprisingly fun!

 

1) Mick Jagger
2) David Lee Roth
3) Freddy Mercury
4) Jim Morrison
5) Steven Tyler

 

Elvis Presley.

 

Doc from the Angels. Search YouTube Marseilles 1979. Iggy Pop, Jagger, Joey Ramone, Johnny Rotten, David Johansen, DLR, Ozzy, AxL.......

 

Yeah Spice Girls were massive, but in my experiences it just was the stupidest stuff with NKOTB that I remember beyond the backpacks, bed sets, jackets, lunch boxes, board games and posters. Those New Kids buttons with individual faces of each member with their names, the lipstick and lip gloss and brim hats with the cloth piece that wrapped around it that read New Kids On The Block.

 

Disagree on vocal chops not being relevant. A great singer will command the stage in a way that a mediocre one will not. For me, Freddie was the unbeatable combination of incredible singer and energetic showman. For me it's not even close - he's the greatest front man of all time.

 

There's a problem here of definition and category. Frontman vs. solo artist. Rock vs. Soul or Pop.
Anyways, it's James Brown.

 

I didn't say that vocal chops were irrelevant. I did say technical musicianship was 'pretty irrelevant' but I wasn't referring to vocal abilities.

And I think David Lee Roth was a great singer at one time.

 

Unlike Freddy Mercury, Mike Love and Jagger can dance well. I'll give a slight edge to Mike Love.

 

We're so pretty oh so pretty...

 

I put DLR way up there - a great master at working the crowd and a great voice (that's voice - yes, his vocal range is limited). Freddie, though, had it all.

 

David Byron by far.

 

She'll do for me as the best I reckon. No one else could have gotten away with virtually everything he did. Live Aid being the jewel in the crown with a captive, GLOBAL audience. No one else could command THAT kind of praise for a performance.

 

Howlin' Wolf


Ian Anderson and Roger Daltrey were the best I ever saw...


... Iggy Pop and this guy woulda been entertaining:

 

George Clinton, given the ridiculous constraints being imposed that disallow anyone from an "X and the Ys" band, like Brown or Springsteen. Cause GC brings the best out of everyone on stage with him, which is the most important thing a front man can do.

But Mercury could sneak into the top thousand on account of my not being able to name 999 other bands with a dedicated lead singer that don't have an "X and the Ys" name. Heck, I'd place him after Bono and Morrison, and I hate U2 and The Doors apart from a few songs each, but you gotta at least give it up to them for those few songs.

 

Jagger can't dance at all, let alone well. Unless looking like a demented chicken having spasms is considered dancing.

Unlike Freddie Mercury, it wasn't Mick that stole the show at Live Aid.

 

Only discovered the Angels in the last couple of years, but when I did I pretty much saw in him the same influences that you did. Definitely Mick, Iggy and Rotten. I also thought if you were looking to cast someone other than Geldof in The Wall, Doc would've been an interesting choice.

 

I now officially despise the term "frontman". I didn't mind it so much when it was used about Steve Winwood in the SDG, but now when I see it in a thread title I know it will be used to describe all the screechers I spent my youth trying to escape from.

 

HANDSOME DICK MANITOBA.

 

Alex Harvey should at least be a part of this discussion

 

No particular order:

Freddie Mercury
Mick Jagger
Johnny Rotten (when with the Sex Pistols)
John Lydon (when with PiL)

 

Freddie Mercury
second place is anyone's guess.

 

Wow, Doc in the Wall, that is an amazing observation! Oh, speaking of Aussie bands, Angry Anderson of Rose Tattoo, and of course Bon Scott makes the cut! Oui oui!