Next Frontman Up: 5 Classic Rock Bands That Moved on from Their Original Lead Singer and Still Thrived

Updated:

November 27, 2023 10:49 am

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The singer gets a lot of the spotlight in the classic rock genre, which can often lead to discord within the groups they front. Other members might get resentful, or the singers themselves might harbor dreams of solo stardom.

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When a lead singer is replaced, it often robs the group members left behind of a key source of artistic creativity and defining personality. Yet there are times when a group is able to handle the departure (or death) of a singer and still find significant success. Let’s look at five of the most notable of these vocalist replacements.

1. Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd began their existence as a leading light in the psychedelic rock movement, and the guy who led the way creatively was their lead singer and guitarist, Syd Barrett. Barrett wrote and sang the band’s successful 1967 singles “See Emily Play” and “Arnold Layne,” and was the dominant force on their thrilling debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn from the same year.

But Barrett starting acting erratic, likely the result of mental problems exacerbated by drug use. Fed up, the three remaining members of the group decided to leave him home one night instead of picking him up for a gig in early 1968. That essentially ended Barrett’s tenure in Floyd, which would shift gears to (and thrive with) a more atmospheric, concept-based rock format. For lead vocals, they would switch between guitarist David Gilmour (who replaced Barrett), bassist Roger Waters, and keyboardist Rick Wright.

2. Steely Dan

On the debut Steely Dan album, Can’t Buy a Thrill (1972), Donald Fagen sang lead on the majority of the songs, but the band also employed David Palmer as a lead vocalist as well. It’s Palmer who sings lead on “Dirty Work,” which has become one of the Dan’s most beloved tracks. Fagen also was reluctant to sing live, which seemed to make Palmer an essential part of the proceedings.

But as time passed, Fagen and Walter Becker, Steely Dan’s co-founders and sole core members, decided that Fagen was actually more suited to deliver the somewhat acerbic, ironic nature of the lyrics. When it came time to record the 1973 album Countdown to Ecstasy, Palmer was no longer present, and Fagen would remain the chief vocalist for the rest of Steely Dan’s illustrious career.

3. AC/DC

Bon Scott’s inimitable squeal was one of the defining characteristics of AC/DC, the Australian hard rock band known also for crunching guitars, surprisingly danceable hard-rock grooves, and a somewhat comical approach to subject matter.

They started to rid themselves of that cheekiness with the 1979 album Highway to Hell. But Scott died of alcohol poisoning (or as the coroner put it, “death by misadventure”) just as they were beginning to record their next album. Instead of taking a hiatus, the band decided to press on and record with new lead singer Brian Johnson, whose vocals were more muscular and gravelly than Scott’s. Johnson was the perfect fit for the arena-ready anthems being composed by guitarist brothers Angus and Malcolm Young, and the resulting 1980 album, Back in Black, became one of the best-selling albums of all time.

4. Van Halen

This was one of the most controversial and infamous songwriter switches of all, one that still inspires debate over which version of Van Halen was best. When the band came burrowing out of Southern California to bust open the hard rock world in the late ‘70s, David Lee Roth became the clown prince of the genre as lead singer, dropping innuendos and wild shrieks with equal measure across the band’s first six albums.

But after the massive success of the album 1984 (1984), Roth’s desire to so solo stuff, and his infighting about the direction of the group with guitarist Edward Van Halen, led to his departure. In came Sammy Hagar, already a big solo star in his own right, and Van Halen hardly missed a beat. We don’t have the space here to talk about all the comings and goings of Roth and Hagar after that, but suffice it to say that the Van Halen brand proved quite resilient in the face of all the vocalist drama.

5. The Moody Blues

The Moody Blues looked as if they were going to be one of the leading lights of The British Invasion when they scored a massive hit in 1964 with the single “Go Now.” The song, a cover of a somewhat obscure R&B song, was sung by lead guitarist Denny Laine, who put every ounce of emotion into his heartbroken cries.

But the group struggled to follow up the song’s success, and Laine left the band in 1966. To help replace him, Justin Hayward and John Lodge were brought into the group. Hayward became the chief lead vocalist as the band moved in a symphonic rock direction, one that sustained them as they became one of the biggest acts of the next few decades. Laine would land on his feet, though, as a key collaborator with Paul McCartney in Wings during the ‘70s.

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