Dee Snider has given his opinion on who he believes is the best frontman in rock music- and it’s not Robert Plant.
The singer, known for his work with TWISTED SISTER and his appearances on reality TV shows such as America’s Got Talent, took to Twitter to commemorate what would’ve been the late drummer Cozy Powell‘s 75th birthday. In a series of tweets, Snider explained why LED ZEPPELIN frontman Plant isn’t a frontman in the same vein as David Lee Roth or Freddie Mercury.
After Dee called Powell a “rock god” in an post, another Twitter user quickly pointed to the iconic introduction of RAINBOW‘s song “Stargazer” as evidence for the drummer’s brilliance.
Dee wrote: “How amazing was Cozy Powell? Listen to the 1st 11 seconds of this Rainbow song & you will know… Then listen to the rest of ‘Stargazer’ with the incomparable Ronnie Dio on vocals & you will know why many consider it to be the greatest metal song ever!”
Another fan asserted that Dio was only surpassed by QUEEN‘s Freddie Mercury when it comes to rock music frontmen. Dee then discussed how “singer” and “frontman” are two different roles:
“You are confusing singing with performing,” Dee wrote back. There is a huge difference between a great frontman & a great singer.
“Ronnie was one of the greatest singers of all time, but as a frontman, he pretty much just stood on stage & sang. Freddie was an amazing singer AND frontman.”
After another fan noted that Robert Plant should be the “quintessential frontman” on this list, Dee commented that while he respected Plant‘s singing skills, he found his work as a frontman to be lacking.
“I’m a HUGE Plant fan vocally…but he showed me nothing as a performer,” Snider wrote. “Looked amazing, great hair…stood on stage with one hand raised and sang his a*s off. Not a frontman in my opinion. And FYI many great frontmen are not great singers.”
He then later added: “I toured with him. (beat ya) He is one of my vocal heroes, but… My frontmen are all over the stage and interact with the crowd. Showmen. Think David Lee Roth, Paul Stanley, Mick Jagger, Freddy Mercury, Axl Rose…the list goes on.”
