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| lshap |
 Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 8:29 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4246
Location: Montreal
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| On the topic of best front-men from a couple of days ago, you can't make a list of the greatest without including Sting. For the purposes of this debate we're talking only his Police years, of course. |
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| Jynx |
| Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 9:03 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 750
Location: Nowheresville
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For the purposes of this debate we're talking only his Police years, of course.
Did he do anything after his Police years? I mean besides meditate and practice that sex thingy.
Never did like Sting, even with the Police, but I think GITM is a terrific piece of vinyl.
I always stray from the crowd though, I didn't like The Rolling Stones, The Greatful Dead, Pink Floyd or The Who either. And I loathe Dylan. |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 9:54 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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Top of the head list of front-men (I’ve excluded women and solo performers – I know Iggy played in front of a band, but that doesn’t make him the front-man of a collabrative group):
Jagger – whatever you think of him, there is no denying that he changed the face of rock ‘n’ roll.
Strummer – I have never ever seen a more committed performer. If you never managed to see him live, I recommend you watch Rude Boy if only for the live footage.
Mark Smith of The Fall and Howard Devoto of The Buzzcocks and Magazine (specifically included to boost my punk credentials).
Morrisey – unique
Ian Curtis – an obvious choice, but…
Jarvis Cocker – perhaps a trifle fey for American tastes, but a great, animated performer. He could have been the love child of Iggy Pop and Karen Carpenter. Unfortunately, best remembered for trying to rugby tackle Michael Jackson, in suffer the little children mode, during a live performance at the Brits. .
Marc Bolan
Michael Stipe – I admit it, I like REM. There, I said it. Shall I get my coat now?
Liam Howett – The Prodigy . Firestarter and Smakc Up My Bitch were pure rock ‘n’ roll. Early on the scene as usual, the first time I saw them was when Firestarter went straight to number one in the UK charts. The video was awesome. I was totally put-off, appalled and fascinated. Here was the first act in a decade to send parents scurrying for the remote. Fucking marvellous.
Anthony Kiedas
I was just moving on the Richard Ashcroft and Liam Gallagher and Damian Albarn, the contrasting faces of Brit Pop, but decided I had already moved out of the top echelon. |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 10:00 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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| Did I forget to mention Axl? |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 10:28 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8250
Location: Salt Lake City
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my list of frontmen:
Jagger - just for the pure fact that at 60, he's still got that stage persona that has never changed.
Sting - Police days and during the first two solo albums. Lately, he's becoming a Phil Collins-like character, almost to the point of selling out, but not quite there yet... Phil still holds a commanding lead in the "sellout for whatever" title
Axl - pre-1992. Anything since, it's just not the same.
Scott Weiland - sober performances... any smack-induced performances, it's not Scott... it's his evil life-trashing friend.
Roger Daltrey - Can't deny his stage presence and how he commands the mike and his audience. Even with reports from their current tour, he's got a way of keeping the attention of the crowd. He only need to keep better control of the mike in his advancing age.
Dave Gahan - if this guy ever leaves Depeche Mode, the band is pretty much over and you can kiss any decent live show goodbye. Having seen DM many, many times in the last 18 years, Dave's got the front man down pat. And age doesn't seem to be affecting him just yet.
I'm sure I've forgotten a few, but that's off the top of my head for now.
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 10:34 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4246
Location: Montreal
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Michael Stipe and REM have got to have the most boring collection of songs of any band with a recording contract. My brother loves them, I love my brother, and, therefore, should logically love REM. I just can't.
Pam -- Sting wrote a few beautiful solo tunes post-band but the quality of his writing is so damned erratic I can't honestly defend him on that stage of his career.
And, hey -- I'm also not a huge Stones fan. I'd say Bono is a better front-man than Mick any day, and U2 is a more consistent, more powerful and more talented version of the Stones. U2's been around for over 20 years, plenty of time for what I believe is a valid lifetime comparison. |
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| Jynx |
| Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 10:35 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 750
Location: Nowheresville
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I do dig Anthony K. and I think Annie Lennox did some good work after leaving her shaded buddy.
I like REM too, (but I also like Everclear, Maroon 5, The Gin Blossoms (recently reunited and coming to NOWHERESVILLE!!!, Evanescence, Nickelback, Hoobastank) and I wouldn't bob-n-weave about it.
I'm not a front runner, but I think there is some great music being put out. I also love my old music and have kept my albums.
The Doors, Bad Company, Frampton, Black Sabbath, Led Zepplin, The Ramones and (snicker, snort) The Partridge Family and my Donny Osmond collection.
To each his own.
Jagger did change the face of rock & roll, but I don't think he did it totally on his own. And I agree Joe Strummer was a one-of-kind. |
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"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass ... and I'm all out of bubblegum." |
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| shannon |
| Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 10:42 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 1628
Location: NC
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How can the Gin Blossoms reunite? I thought their singer died right as their first album dropped.
Best frontmen additions: Chuck D., Eddie Vedder, Lou Reed. |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 10:52 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8250
Location: Salt Lake City
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Goddammit!! I knew I forgot one..
Bono.... holly shit. how could I have forgtten him. Thanks for the brain jog, lorne.
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| shannon |
| Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 10:58 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: NC
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I used to like Bono back in the Achtung/Zooropa/Pop days (too young to remember anything before then), but now I cringe when I see him. He's just a guilty of the Creed-Christ posing as anybody. It's annoying. Most Self-Righteous Man Ever. That don't mean that All That You Can't Leave Behind ain't friggin' gorgeous, however. (Don't mean it ain't a little stale and adult-contemporary-generic-sounding at times, either.)
Anyways, as you can tell, I'm conflicted about the U2. |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 11:00 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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I was trying to avoid just thinking of bands I like and listing the front men. I wanted to limit my choice to those who had an edge. I’ll concede Bono and perhaps Jim Morrison, though even three decades on, I can’t decide whether, for me, the Doors were a great band.
I too like Depeche Mode, a gawky bunch of Essex mummy’s boys, who courtesy of some cheap synthesisers and Vince Clark’s ear for a good tune found themselves propelled to the top of the charts. Despite the subsequent problems with heroin, their penchant for leather and their dark and layered music, I will always see them as a bunch of fresh faced, bemused teenagers, playing, “I Just Can’t Get Enough” on Top Of The Pops on a distant Thursday night. |
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| shannon |
| Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 11:07 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 1628
Location: NC
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| And how anyone can prefer U2 to REM is beyond me. I mean, REM, creators of Automatic For the People, one of the most beautiful albums of all time, originators of alternative rock music, a band without whom the term "jangle pop" wouldn't exist, one of the most enigmatic frontmen you'll find. Come on. REM rank up there with The Beatles and The Clash and The Velvets, bands whom it's impossible not to name when writing The History of Rock n' Roll. It literally pains me to see them unfairly shat on only because their last two albums haven't been up-to-par. (Triple bogies, actually.) |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 11:30 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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Robert Quine - RIP
one of the unsung rock and roll guitar innovators. Played with the Voidoids,
Tom Verlaine and many many others. A vital part of the CBGB's rock scene of the '70s. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 11:39 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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PUNK ROCK GUITARIST FOUND DEAD
Punk rock guitarist ROBERT QUINE has been found dead in NEW YORK.
According to close friend Rick Kelly, who discovered 61 year-old Quine's body last Saturday (June 5), the musician died of a heroin overdose in his New York apartment. He had been despondent over the recent death of his wife, Billboard reports.
Born in Akron, Ohio, Quine was a huge fan of The Velvet Underground, whose music he recorded obsessively while living in San Francisco. He moved to New York in 1971 and became the lead guitarist for bassist Richard Hell's group The Voidoids, with whom he recorded two albums.
During the Eighties, Quine recorded and toured frequently with Lou Reed and played on saxophonist/composer John Zorn's best-known albums. Quine also made guest appearances on Tom Waits' 'Rain Dogs' (1985) and Marianne Faithfull's 'Strange Weather' (1987). In 1989, he began a long association with Matthew Sweet, and also worked regularly with Lloyd Cole.
In 2001, Universal released a three-CD box of Quine's live 1969 recordings of The Velvet Underground, 'The Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes'.
"Robert Quine was a magnificent guitar player - an original and innovative tyro of the vintage beast," Lou Reed said in a statement. "He was an extraordinary mixture of taste, intelligence and rock'n'roll abilities coupled with major technique and a scholar's memory for every decent guitar lick ever played under the musical son. He made tapes for me for which I am eternally grateful - tapes of the juiciest parts of solos from players long gone." |
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| Jynx |
| Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 11:56 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 750
Location: Nowheresville
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Robin Wilson is the lead vocalist with Jesse Venezuela as a sturdy back up singer for Gin Blossoms. You're thinking of Doug Hopkins who was the guitarist and wrote many of their songs.
He off'd himself in 1993, long after he been exiled from the band.
Frontmen:
Robert Plant
Geddy Lee
David Coverdale
Ozzy Osbourne
Steve Perry
Bon Scott |
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"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass ... and I'm all out of bubblegum." |
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