The Greatest CLASSIC ROCK SINGER OF ALL TIME DEBATE

By Rick VanVliet

I was listening to a classic rock DJ one night in my car and he asked a thought provoking question. Who is the top classic rock singer of all time? Several candidates rushed to my head. But, where to draw the line? What perimeters to go by? Late 60’s? 70’s soft rock? 80’s glam? 90’s Grunge and so on…. Let’s look at what I would consider the top 3. Let the debate begin!

One listen to the beginning of Black Dog is enough to set Robert Plant apart from the singers and frontmen of his, or any other decade. From heavy songs such as Whole Lotta Love and Heartbreaker to mellow ballads such as Thank You and of course Stairway To Heaven. Robert Plant and Led Zeppelin are a perfect match for each other. Could you imagine anyone else coming close to those tones he set so well we and we all remember?

What a voice! Who else possesses the combination of such power and range? As a frontman, who represented their band as proudly as Freddy? The list is long of the hits that rattle in our heads and our speakers. Such powerful songs like, Keep Yourself Alive and We Will Rock You, Mercury would have been a top 10 with just those songs but, when you throw in songs such as Another One Bites The Dust or Killer Queen, not to mention his Magnum Opus- Bohemian Rhapsody, Freddy is a top 3 classic rock singer without a doubt.

The first 2 singers on this list came to me quickly as an obvious 1 and 2. Number 3 could have been many many others. Candidates I considered were Steven Tyler, Bonn Scott, Steve Perry, Dio, Ozzy and Klause Meine of the Scorpions. But, you have to be honest with yourself, the first time you heard Guns and Roses and their Frontman Axl Rose you said to yourself, “Wow! That’s something new and different!” New with rasp? No! New with power? No! New with incredible range? No! But, that certain blend of all of them together sets him apart from most other singers. His screams during Welcome To The Jungle and when Sweet Child of Mine heats up are iconically stamped and rarely attempted by other singers. Then to bring it down to ballads like November Rain and Patience,they really do set him apart as special. Yes, it ended all too soon with conflict, attitude and ego giving us a smaller sample size of what could have been and we harbor some resentment to Axl for it but, he was once one of the best.