Axl Rose : The greatest front man of all time

[robin2002]

Gotta disagree with you both there, Iggy is 10 times the frontman Axl was, he's 60 something now and still as energetic as even a young Axl, the stuff Iggy has done on stage in the way of making a show just fuckin' beggars belief, you can't seriously compare someone like Axl to Iggy, not on any day of the week, Axl doesn't have the nerve or the guts to be a frontman like Ig'.

I mean you guys go on about passion and intensity...all goes for a toss when someone chucks a bottle or something, doesn't it? Iggy fuckin' just tears through music, THATS passion, when people are pelting you with shit and you're egging them on and whirling like a dervish and dancing in this totally fuckin' deranged free and easy 8 yr old going mental way, when you roar your fuckin' lungs and perform with no regard for your personal safety or anything, when you're just trapped in the fucking music and possessed by it, THAT to me communicates passion, not Axl going through a bunch of set rote dance routines that he's been doing since forever, it's hard to convey passion through something so heavily designed and coregraphed looking.

Ig', today, as an older man than Axl, would blow him off any stage in the world...and a young Iggy? Fuckin' forget about it, Axl ain't worthy of mention in the same sentence.

Gotta agree with you bout Iggy, I seen him bout 10 years ago and he will probably go down as the best performer I have ever seen live, and he would of been in his late 50's at that time I guess. Yeah Axl is awesome blah blah, but no way is he as good a performer as Iggy (IMHO).

[Guest Len B'stard]

When I compare things like "Greatest of all time" at this or that, I always think of the person in their prime.

Which is sort of a cop out, isn't it? Limiting the parameters to accomodate for a serious drop off in whatever period.

Considering the rest of my post, I don't think it's a cop out. Like I said, people do the same thing when it comes to sports and what not.

I do, i think it's an awful cop out, it's like judging a boxer only on his victories.

No, to me it's like judging a boxer based on when he was in his prime. We see it differently obviously.

And thats not slightly ridiculous? If you become selective with any of this sort of judgement you basically re-configure reality and are lying to yourself. There'd be a lot more undefeated champions out there, thats for sure

Gotta disagree with you both there, Iggy is 10 times the frontman Axl was, he's 60 something now and still as energetic as even a young Axl, the stuff Iggy has done on stage in the way of making a show just fuckin' beggars belief, you can't seriously compare someone like Axl to Iggy, not on any day of the week, Axl doesn't have the nerve or the guts to be a frontman like Ig'.

I mean you guys go on about passion and intensity...all goes for a toss when someone chucks a bottle or something, doesn't it? Iggy fuckin' just tears through music, THATS passion, when people are pelting you with shit and you're egging them on and whirling like a dervish and dancing in this totally fuckin' deranged free and easy 8 yr old going mental way, when you roar your fuckin' lungs and perform with no regard for your personal safety or anything, when you're just trapped in the fucking music and possessed by it, THAT to me communicates passion, not Axl going through a bunch of set rote dance routines that he's been doing since forever, it's hard to convey passion through something so heavily designed and coregraphed looking.

Ig', today, as an older man than Axl, would blow him off any stage in the world...and a young Iggy? Fuckin' forget about it, Axl ain't worthy of mention in the same sentence.

Gotta agree with you bout Iggy, I seen him bout 10 years ago and he will probably go down as the best performer I have ever seen live, and he would of been in his late 50's at that time I guess. Yeah Axl is awesome blah blah, but no way is he as good a performer as Iggy (IMHO).

The tragedy of Iggy is the lack of video evidence of his early stooges performances...but what little is out there is fuckin' scary.

[sweetchild88]

Yes, I believe he is. In his prime, he was untouchable. The man has charisma like no other.

[RussTCB]

When I compare things like "Greatest of all time" at this or that, I always think of the person in their prime.

Which is sort of a cop out, isn't it? Limiting the parameters to accomodate for a serious drop off in whatever period.

Considering the rest of my post, I don't think it's a cop out. Like I said, people do the same thing when it comes to sports and what not.

I do, i think it's an awful cop out, it's like judging a boxer only on his victories.

No, to me it's like judging a boxer based on when he was in his prime. We see it differently obviously.

And thats not slightly ridiculous? If you become selective with any of this sort of judgement you basically re-configure reality and are lying to yourself. There'd be a lot more undefeated champions out there, thats for sure

Gotta disagree with you both there, Iggy is 10 times the frontman Axl was, he's 60 something now and still as energetic as even a young Axl, the stuff Iggy has done on stage in the way of making a show just fuckin' beggars belief, you can't seriously compare someone like Axl to Iggy, not on any day of the week, Axl doesn't have the nerve or the guts to be a frontman like Ig'.

I mean you guys go on about passion and intensity...all goes for a toss when someone chucks a bottle or something, doesn't it? Iggy fuckin' just tears through music, THATS passion, when people are pelting you with shit and you're egging them on and whirling like a dervish and dancing in this totally fuckin' deranged free and easy 8 yr old going mental way, when you roar your fuckin' lungs and perform with no regard for your personal safety or anything, when you're just trapped in the fucking music and possessed by it, THAT to me communicates passion, not Axl going through a bunch of set rote dance routines that he's been doing since forever, it's hard to convey passion through something so heavily designed and coregraphed looking.

Ig', today, as an older man than Axl, would blow him off any stage in the world...and a young Iggy? Fuckin' forget about it, Axl ain't worthy of mention in the same sentence.

Gotta agree with you bout Iggy, I seen him bout 10 years ago and he will probably go down as the best performer I have ever seen live, and he would of been in his late 50's at that time I guess. Yeah Axl is awesome blah blah, but no way is he as good a performer as Iggy (IMHO).

The tragedy of Iggy is the lack of video evidence of his early stooges performances...but what little is out there is fuckin' scary.

I'm not the one saying it's right. I'm saying it's what happens. People judge sports figures based on how they performed in the their prime all the time. I was saying that I do that when it comes to musicians and simply making the comparison.

[Guest NGOG]

With respect fella, i don't think crossing your mind is really the standard upon which these things are judged on. The proof is in the pudding though.

There is no scientific formula from which you can definitively determine "the greatest frontman of all man". It's a completely non-mathmatical debate. All you can do is express the frontman you percieve as being the greatest.

In my instance, it's Axl.

Edited February 7, 2014 by NGOG

[Guest Len B'stard]

Fair play. But seriously, Iggy, this guy who leapt into audiences, threw himself around like a rag doll, jumped off of fuckin' 15 foot high rigs, cut his body to ribbons, rolled around in broken glass and all this shit without even wincing, roared his fuckin' lungs out, flung his clothes off like he was in some dionysian orgy, Axl doesn't even compare to that intensity, really, Axls a bit of a tart, someone throws something onstage and he becomes some kinda fuckin' health and safety official like 'this could have hurt somebody people!' Pfft.

With respect fella, i don't think crossing your mind is really the standard upon which these things are judged on. The proof is in the pudding though.

There is no scientific formula from which you can definitely determine "the greatest frontman of all man". It's a completely non-mathmatical debate. All you can do is express the frontman you percieve as being the greatest.

In my instance, it's Axl.

OR...you can compare and contrast variables based on your assessment of the tenets of what it is to be a great or the greatest frontman or the generally accepted tenets of what it is to be a great frontman, stack em up and compare the individuals in question, it's by no means a definitive mathematical thing but it's the closest equivalent achieved through reasoning, just expressing your perception is like the death of debate, perception can be based on anything, things can be your favorite irrespective of their actual excellence in a given field and if you were to go by that, on a GnR forum, the entire thread is redundant.

[dalsh327]

Jagger pretty much was the role model for other frontmen to follow.

Bands have wanted the musicianship and songwriting cred of The Beatles mixed with the attitude of the Rolling Stones for the past 50 years.

I can think of countless great frontmen, but there's guys who could just stand there and sing that could have your attention. It's all winds up being parodied, and best Jagger imitator's been Fallon so far.

[Guest NGOG]

OR...you can compare and contrast variables based on your assessment of the tenets of what it is to be a great or the greatest frontman or the generally accepted tenets of what it is to be a great frontman

No, thanks.

Perhaps I'm being intellectually lazy, but music is an area where you will always have an infinite number of equally qualified candidates (at least in the mindset of the arguer). While I can put an elaborate case for Axl being the greatest frontman, I don't really feel any need to. I'm comfortable in my belief that he is. I don't feel any need to convert somebody to my position.

[Guest Len B'stard]

OR...you can compare and contrast variables based on your assessment of the tenets of what it is to be a great or the greatest frontman or the generally accepted tenets of what it is to be a great frontman

No, thanks.

Perhaps I'm being intellectually lazy, but music is an area where you will always have an infinite number of equally qualified candidates (at least in the mindset of the arguer). While I can put an elaborate case for Axl being the greatest frontman, I don't really feel any need to. I'm comfortable in my belief that he is. I don't feel any need to convert somebody to my position.

Fair enough, bit redundant but nevermind.

Edited February 7, 2014 by sugaraylen

[Facekicker]

The greatest frontman of all time is Mick Jagger, one of the top selling, literally created the fucking archetype, he's still going too, bigger and badder than all of his competition, he was the biggest wrong un out of em all too, arch-fucking shagger and drug taker and troublemaker, considered a seriously fucked up influence on society in his time, evoked the best most hardcore responses from his audience and he's better and more energetic now pushing 70 than 99.9% of his counterparts, there really is no competing with Mick on the frontman stakes, not even close, doesn't even bear assessment.

Mick dwarfs any and every other challenger for this title if we're talking specifically about the frontman thing. Also, Mick can actually dance, which is more than can be said for a lot of these other frontman that though can dance just go through their little routine of things that, you get the feeling, they just invented.

I've never really seen Axl work a crowd, as good as he was, i've never seen the crowd in the palm of his hand in the way i have with Mick, in the way where he can bring an entire arena to a hush...then BANG! It's masterful. ANd like many a good thing, most of it comes from James Brown.

This.

Axl might get another accolade. Most unstable frontman ever? Most erratic frontman ever? Most dangerous? But not greatest.

[Guest Len B'stard]

I've seen Mick hush a fuckin' audience down to a pin-drop during Midnight Rambler, slow everything right down to a point where it's like he's slowing time down, it's amazing. Jim Morrison was someone else who could do that, for sheer gob-open staring up at him watching every little flicker of movement of his body, thats fuckin' amazing. But Mick all day really, when you factor in all the shit, it's all about Mick. He is the frontman, he is what everyone is doing when they are being a frontman, Iggy has Mick elements, Morrison had Mick elements, Mick is the archetype.

[Sixes]

GG Allin is the best frontman ever

[Guest Len B'stard]

GG Allin is the best frontman ever

He might be a candidate actually although he misses a certain element that, oddly enough we've not discussed much about the frontman thing, a voice GG weren't a frontman, he was some kind of weird fuckin' Freudian spectacle, very little of what went on with GG had much to do with music, bless him

In terms of Axl though, in his defence, the voice is fucking shit-hot, now on THAT level, just purely as a singer, I'd rate him as one of the best in the rock band oeuvre, easily.

Edited February 7, 2014 by sugaraylen

[Riddick Bowe]

he's the greatest, no doubt about it. Makes me feel sad for the rest---

[Amir]

Mick doesn't have the volatility or the voice of Axl, though. When I saw the Stones, it was a decent gig (admittedly one of their lesser ones), and I was very impressed by Mick, but seeing Axl for me, at least in 2010 and at the Atlantic City gig in 2012, was like a religious experience. The first time I saw him standing above me on the stage at the Paris gig... Chills. Hell, I get chills just watching 30-odd secs of him on a shitty YouTube video:

No homo.

[Amir]

One of my favourite Axl performances:

[Guest Len B'stard]

Mick doesn't have the volatility or the voice of Axl, though.

Volatility could just as easily be a negative mark on Axls sheet though, a huge one in fact because that volatility has resulted in many-a narked off audience and thats sort of a death knell as far as being a frontman goes isn't it, getting on the audiences tits or worse, leaving them disgruntled and vowing never to go to one of your gigs again, thats sort of the polar opposite of what a good or great frontman wants to achieve, isn't it?

but seeing Axl for me, at least in 2010 and at the Atlantic City gig in 2012, was like a religious experience. The first time I saw him standing above me on the stage at the Paris gig... Chills. Hell, I get chills just watching 30-odd secs of him on a shitty YouTube video:

I saw em in Hammersmith in 2006 and i ended up leaving the gig cuz it was just naff. I left about 3 songs and an encore early, had been waiting for a coupla hours as is, all these people getting narked off and all i got was a big fireworks display and a lot of grandiosity which appeared to be trying to cover up for the fact that Axl weren't really up to it. I was right up front to and i think by being up front i kinda got my head around why it was so naff. The dancing looked like he was really having trouble with it, seemed very heavy and half-hearted with it, he never appears to look at anyone in the audience or notice them, like his eyes never noticed anyone, seemed all very stunted and...i dunno, to be honest just boring. I just left.

Now 80s and 90s Axl i could've watched all day long.

Edited February 7, 2014 by sugaraylen

[Facekicker]

I've seen Mick hush a fuckin' audience down to a pin-drop during Midnight Rambler, slow everything right down to a point where it's like he's slowing time down, it's amazing. Jim Morrison was someone else who could do that, for sheer gob-open staring up at him watching every little flicker of movement of his body, thats fuckin' amazing. But Mick all day really, when you factor in all the shit, it's all about Mick. He is the frontman, he is what everyone is doing when they are being a frontman, Iggy has Mick elements, Morrison had Mick elements, Mick is the archetype.

And Morrison would have been the first to admit that Jagger was the man. Hell when Jagger came to a Doors gig, Morrison got so nervous he put in a sub-par performance. Mick just being there threw him completely.

[wasted]

Definitely best frontman of all time.

Best singer maybe mercury.

But terms of mixing Jagger n Morrison Axl nailed it.

[Nosaj Thing]

He was the best frontman of all time up until 1993.

[Guest Len B'stard]

I've seen Mick hush a fuckin' audience down to a pin-drop during Midnight Rambler, slow everything right down to a point where it's like he's slowing time down, it's amazing. Jim Morrison was someone else who could do that, for sheer gob-open staring up at him watching every little flicker of movement of his body, thats fuckin' amazing. But Mick all day really, when you factor in all the shit, it's all about Mick. He is the frontman, he is what everyone is doing when they are being a frontman, Iggy has Mick elements, Morrison had Mick elements, Mick is the archetype.

And Morrison would have been the first to admit that Jagger was the man. Hell when Jagger came to a Doors gig, Morrison got so nervous he put in a sub-par performance. Mick just being there threw him completely.

David Johansen out of the NY Dolls is just a flat out copy of Mick. Steven Tyler ain't far off either. They even try for the look, don't they, the big fuckin' lips and pouting and preening and that, at least people like Morrison went somewhere original with it, most out there are total attempts at transplant.

[Amir]

This photo just makes me really sad:

"If you don't think I would've liked to have five 'Appetites' and been living like the Stones at the time, you're high."

the big fuckin' lips

Pretty sure Steven Tyler was born with those :

[Guest Len B'stard]

"If you don't think I would've liked to have five 'Appetites' and been living like the Stones at the time, you're high."

Few are chosen fella

[Loaded]

What makes one front man better than another? Serious question.
The success of the band? Musicianship? Stage Presence?

[Guest Len B'stard]

What makes one front man better than another? Serious question.

The success of the band? Musicianship? Stage Presence?

All of the above and more I guess, it's not like there's a gospel out about this shit. As many things as you can think of, dancing, presence, charisma, image, voice, vocal range, ability to work a crowd, ability to incite a crowd, hush em down, ability to engage people, ability to follow your fellow musicians on perhaps certain improvisational excursions and knowing when to come in on those and when to not, popularity, any number of things really.

This photo just makes me really sad:

"If you don't think I would've liked to have five 'Appetites' and been living like the Stones at the time, you're high."

the big fuckin' lips

Pretty sure Steven Tyler was born with those :

I didn't mean he made em out of play-dough you silly sod, i'm just saying that people with Mickesque attributes ended up in bands He just looks like an ugly square faced Mick with a Beatles tie on in that

Edited February 7, 2014 by sugaraylen