Joe Perry names “the Jimi Hendrix” of frontmen
If Jimi Hendrix is held up as a guitar player’s absolute gold standard pinnacle, then who are his equivalents? If the world were to complete the rest of the dream band, made up of the best of the best, who would be Hendrix’s singer, bassist and drummer? According to Joe Perry, there’s only one person for the job when it comes to the frontman of this imaginary troupe.
It might be expected that Perry would give the slot to his own frontman. As the guitarist of Aerosmith, he’s been the right man to another all-time great, as many would argue that Steven Tyler is one of the best rock vocalists around. Especially with his captivating on-stage energy and the sheer lengths and depths that his vocal range can reach, Tyler could definitely be a contender.
But Perry would actually pass him up for someone else. “David Lee Roth was like the Jimi Hendrix of the mouth,” he once said, considering Van Halen’s iconic vocalist to be up there as a peer of Hendrix’s on that God-tier level.
It’s easy to understand why. During Van Halen’s peak, no one had ever seen anything quite like it. As the group took all the energy that rock and roll has always had and then times it by ten when they merged it with elements of hair rock and heavier metal sounds, Van Halen were an unstoppable force that left crowd after crowd utterly blown away. Roth was a significant part of that, as his wild on-stage antics caught the world’s attention. His stage persona played a major role in making Van Halen such a hot ticket, but when you pair that with his genuine vocal talent and incredible songwriting skills, he becomes the epitome of what a great frontman should be.
If he could, Perry would probably invite the entirety of Van Halen into this dream band. “Man, I thought that Van Halen was an incredible band,” he said. He’d probably add Eddie Van Halen in as an additional player as he said, “Eddie was the leader in a whole new generation of guitar players and changed guitar playing – his style, everything.”
“It was funny – ’cause when I heard some of his stuff, I said, ‘Wow, I heard that effect before. I’ve heard that before,’ but he’s the one that put it all together. And it was new,” he explained. Whereas Hendrix was doing something new and pioneering with his never-before-heard guitar sounds and riffs, what Perry loved about Van Halen was their evolving energy, able to take the era of rock and roll that had come before them and translate it into something fresh for the next decade.
“When they were at their peak, they were the best – they were rocking,” Perry said, seeing the 1970s rock legends as deserving of a place in the dream band, handing the mic to David Lee Roth as the vocalist he genuinely sees as being the greatest, able to keep up with Hendrix’ own genius.
