Best frontman in a British rock band

I believe John Lennon’s 60’s band wasn’t too shabby either.

For me it has to be Freddie Mercury....

Paul Rogers would be in my top 10.

Derek Smalls. He rocks...

Rod Stewart in the Jeff Beck band and the Faces. The  Truth album showed him at his best, despite the recording.

Freddie - Queen 

Robert P - Led Zep

forget about about the UK - it’s hard to see anything past these two anywhere 

lyndon

Ian Astbury - The Cult

Alex Harvey - SAHB

lyndon posted:

Freddie - Queen 

Robert P - Led Zep

forget about about the UK - it’s hard to see anything past these two anywhere 

lyndon

 

Neither can compete with Tony Mcphee.

Vocalist, song writer, lyricist and virtuoso instrumentalist.

Lots of choices, all great in their own way.

Mick Jagger, Ian Anderson, Peter Gabriel, Roger Daltrey.

Mark Knopfler and Thom Yorke too.

Matt Bellamy as a contemporary best ??

Ian Gillan stands out for me, as a ‘frontman’ just pipping some of his contemoraries, but it is a close call.

sjbabbey posted:

I believe John Lennon’s 60’s band wasn’t too shabby either.

But if ever there was a great British rock band with no clear "frontman" wasn't it The Beatles?

On the other hand, while only occasionally contributing with instrumentation, Jagger, Plant and Daltry were clearly "frontmen".

In the 1960's you would have to say John Lennon even though his music does little for me his inluence has been great.

1970's is a bit harder as show men Jagger and Mercury were hard to beat but for me it has to be Roger Daltrey.

1980's is a close tye between between Morrisey and Robert Smith if they can be considered rock.

1990's Liam Gallagher.

2000's I have know idea.

It is funny because none of the above would be considered great vocalists like, Robert Plant, Rod Stewart or Paul Rodgers but they were all great front men and exclusively in their bands as solo artists they were all not so good.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Of course there where many, many more British solo artists who could be considered great frontmen of their own bands.

Bob the Builder posted:

In the 1960's you would have to say John Lennon even though his music does little for me his inluence has been great.

…

I wonder what Paul would say about this  

Concerning the 60’s one of the great frontmen of course was Ray Davies

and for 70’s Jeff Lynne cannot be overlooked (if ELO really is considered as rock band).

For me: Justin Sullivan - New Model Army 

Like many other music related threads the answers will vary a lot due to age and personal taste. As much as I can see why Freddie Mercury gets nominations, I just can’t stand his style. He was perfect in what he did, though.

joerand posted:

sjbabbey posted:

I believe John Lennon’s 60’s band wasn’t too shabby either.

But if ever there was a great British rock band with no clear "frontman" wasn't it The Beatles?

On the other hand, while only occasionally contributing with instrumentation, Jagger, Plant and Daltry were clearly "frontmen".

Hi Joe,

You make a good arguable point.

Certainly while all members were not equal, the Fabs were arguably a self contained unit. However, in my view at least in the early days John was most influential writing the majority of their original songs including those written for Ringo to sing and his was the dominant vocal on their early hits. Agreed that Paul (and to a lesser extent George) became much more influential later on but, at least for me, John was the band’s frontman /spokesperson.

To my mind a front-man is someone who commands the attention of his audience almost to the exclusion of the rest of the band (however important they are to the music). 

Jagger, Lynne & Mercury definitely, Plant & Daltery possibly, Lennon definitely not. 

My suggestions

Phil Lynott

Lemmy

and through gritted teeth

Bono

Morrissey. 

Definitely some tough choices. Not sure who I'd rank highest, probably Mercury, simply for taking that band places it probably would not have gone without him. Even guys like Ozzy, Bruce Dickinson, Brian Johnson, David Coverdale and Rob Halford, while maybe not high on this list, were definitely afterburners that took their bands to new levels.

^^ Since when has Bono been British?

Corry posted:

^^ Since when has Bono been British?

I suppose you could make the same contention here:

notnaim man posted:

Alex Harvey - SAHB

joerand posted:

Corry posted:

^^ Since when has Bono been British?

I suppose you could make the same contention here:

notnaim man posted:

Alex Harvey - SAHB

Alex Harvey was Scottish, which makes him British.

Best is a strange word, but I would argue that Mick Jagger would be a very dominating front man he is in a way The Rolling Stones