Dee Snider said that Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant is one hell of a singer but “not a frontman”, and explained why these two terms aren’t synonyms.
The subject arose as Dee took to Twitter to commemorate what would’ve been the late drummer Cozy Powell’s (Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Jeff Beck, and many more) 75th birthday on December 29, 2022.
After Dee called Powell a “rock god” in a commemorative post, another Twitter user brought up the intro to Rainbow’s iconic “Stargazer” as an example of the drummer’s greatness.
The ex-Twisted Sister frontman replied:
“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!”
At the mention of Ronnie James Dio, another fan argued that the late singer was the second-best frontman in rock history only to Queen’s Freddie Mercury.
Seeing this, Dee went on to argue that “singer” and “frontman” aren’t the same thing:
“You are confusing singing with performing.
“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 chimed in that Robert Plant should be on that list as the “quintessential frontman”, Dee said that while he admired Plant’s singing, he found Plant’s work as “frontman” underwhelming:
“I’m a HUGE Plant fan vocally…but he showed me nothing as a performer. 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.”
1 comment
Dee Snider always said if it weren’t for Queen, Twisted Sister would have not existed….