Is First Always Best (1 Viewer)

I'm not a fan of Genesis myself, but Peter Gabriel > Phil Collins?

Grendel said:

I was listening the other day to the dire Born Again - Ian Gillan and his bizarre one and only attempt with Black Sabbath - and it got me thinking - Is the first lead singer of a band always the best?

For some its no contest - Fish vs Hogarth is a chronic mismatch

Others though not so sure.

Lets say AC DC and its Scott vs Johnson - its a close contest but I still think Scott has the edge

Are there examples of bands that have improved when they ditched the singer and replaced them - Pink Floyd and Iron Maiden I suppose are two that spring to mind any others?

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Dio's by far the better singer, but many Sabbath fans would lynch me for suggesting he was better than Ozzy. I guess in terms of technical ability yes, but influence no.

Gillan not the first singer for Deep Purple, of course.

Steve Perry wasn't the first lead singer for Journey.

Grendel said:

Gillan is a slight anomaly - Dio was a pompous rock bore still at least you did not debate the first example

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In which case you'd prefer Bonnet or Turner for Rainbow?!?

Fish and Hogarth? Well, it was Hogarth's version that was contemporary when I grew up, so I've always had a liking for that phase. brave is still one of the best albums they've done. Teechnically he's very, very good, but he doesn't have the personality, theatrics, or lyricism of Fish. They did actually want to drop the name when Fish left but the record company stopped them, and they've purposely gone a very different route since. I'd say they were very... different.

Judas Priest improved once Rob Halford came in, although of course they didn't record anything with Al Atkins (who isn't a bad singer himself, actually).

Smile morphing into Queen?

Dream Theater did a rather lacklustre album before James LaBrie got the gig.

Grendel said:

I was listening the other day to the dire Born Again - Ian Gillan and his bizarre one and only attempt with Black Sabbath - and it got me thinking - Is the first lead singer of a band always the best?

For some its no contest - Fish vs Hogarth is a chronic mismatch

Others though not so sure.

Lets say AC DC and its Scott vs Johnson - its a close contest but I still think Scott has the edge

Are there examples of bands that have improved when they ditched the singer and replaced them - Pink Floyd and Iron Maiden I suppose are two that spring to mind any others?

Click to expand...

I listen to totally different genres of music but off the top of my head I can't think of one example where the original singer has been bettered. Got me thinking though.

Rainbow. Dio, then Bonnet and finally Turner. Out of the 3, Dio for die hards, but for me, Joe Lynn Turner was superb; especially in his final album, Bent out of Shape.

bezzer said:

Rainbow. Dio, then Bonnet and finally Turner. Out of the 3, Dio for die hards, but for me, Joe Lynn Turner was superb; especially in his final album, Bent out of Shape.

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I prefer Turner to Dio. Also, I have a sneaking regard for Bonnet.

Controversial one coming up for those who mostly dislike reality tv.... and I generally count myself among them....

I thought Queen were dead after Freddie. They tried a few tours with stand ins although never their own personality stamp on essentially his songs, but Adam Lambert has not only the voice, but character and personality to seamlessly pull it off. We were adue to them at the O2 in the summer, now 2021 and really looking forward to it. Perfect showman to replace the original perfect showman. If you're asking purely singing and performing I'd I'd call this one a draw, but overall Freddie edging it for his writing abilities.

I prefer Di'Anno over Dickinson myself but that might be because I prefer the 1st 2 albums over anything they did afterwards.

Faith no More spring to mind. Mike Patton > Chuck Mosley.