Dee Snider claims Robert Plant and Ronnie James Dio were not “great frontmen”
Former Twisted Sister frontman, Dee Snider, caused a debate on Twitter on December 30th when he expressed that he doesn’t consider Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and the late Ronnie James Dio as great frontman.
Per Heavy Consequence, Snider maintained that whilst he loves both vocalists, in his view, they lacked the vibrance as performers to be considered great frontmen.
The debate began after Snider heaped praise on the late drummer Cozy Powell, who played alongside Dio in Rainbow, and played on a handful of tracks on Plant’s debut solo album, 1982’s Pictures at Eleven.
At one point, a fan tweeted to Snider that Dio was the second-greatest frontman after Queen’s Freddie Mercury. This prompted the following response from the former Twisted Sister man: “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.”
Then, when another fan put Plant’s name forward, Snider wrote: “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 ass off. Not a frontman in my opinion. And FYI many great frontmen are not great singers.”
Unsurprisingly, Snider’s thoughts stirred a passionate debate, with one commentator even describing Snider’s thoughts on Dio as an “absurd take”. However, Snider feels that his opinion wasn’t unfounded. Referencing his first-hand experiences with Dio, he explained: “I toured with him. … 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.”
Snider then supported his position by distinguishing between performance and “stage presence”. He said: “I knew this would upset people. I am NOT saying that Dio, Plant etc, don’t have stage presence. They have it in SPADES! But they are not performers.”
Snider also mentioned others he deems great frontmen, including Bruce Dickinson, Bono, Rob Halford and James Brown. Controversially, he also included Kid Rock in this set. He wrote: “Love him or hate him, @KidRock is one of the best I’ve ever seen. … Facts are facts. The guy is a killer in concert. Period. (and I am REALLY critical).”
Check out the entire conversation here.
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