The 20 best frontpeople in modern rock
From Paramore's Hayley Williams to newly minted successes like Sasami, these are the most commanding—and compelling—bandleaders in contemporary rock
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There are lots of great rock records out there, albums that have changed lives for the better in countless ways. But we’ve all had the subsequent letdown of an experience: Going to see the artist live, and coming away underwhelmed. Being a great frontperson in a rock and roll band is a very different matter than being a great rock musician; the skillsets often overlap, but as anyone who has seen Bob Dylan on an off-night can attest, there’s plenty of room for divergence.
Consider the following, then, a list of great frontpeople. When putting together this roster of artists, the primary consideration wasn’t necessarily our favorite musicians, or whose music we love the most. It was about identifying the performers with that indefinable quality of charismatic showmanship—people who go above and beyond playing the songs as best they can, with as much heart as they can muster, to provide something more. It’s about celebrating the musicians who consider a live show a show, first and foremost. They want to deliver a night you’ll never forget, whether it’s via theatrics, bombastic energy, or simply a degree of personal magnetism that makes it impossible to look away; those are the qualities of a great rock and roll frontperson.
In order to keep this focused on the modern era (and retain a manageable size for this feature), we’ve made the admittedly arbitrary choice to include only bands and musicians who began releasing albums in the past 20 years. In others words: Yes, Mick Jagger is still a great frontman, but he doesn’t need our endorsement. Similarly, artists that we consider tremendous frontpeople, but who began their work before the cutoff date, were summarily disqualified. (Sorry, John Dwyer of The Osees; we all agreed you would dominate any other list.) Also, this is a list of American rock, as should be self-explanatory. And lastly, artists were granted exemptions if they began a wholly new project in the previous two decades: Thus, the presence of Jenny Lewis as a solo act and Craig Finn as the singer of The Hold Steady, despite their former bands Rilo Kiley and Lifter Puller.
Given that this is an obviously authoritative list, and not at all simply the votes of a handful of music critics who couldn’t possibly have seen every frontperson that’s blown you away in recent years, we encourage everyone to make their own nominations in the comments. And if you’re especially annoyed someone didn’t make the cut, rest assured, they were right there at number 21.
146 Comments
Wait, MCR is “modern”? I listened to them like 22 years ago FFS. Also you’re pretty loosely using the term “rock” here I feel.You’re clearly missing much more talented singers like Brent Smith, Lzzy Hale, Johnny Hawkins, Floor Jansen, Corey Taylor and many more.
AV is full of fucking morons.Also my chem is touring this year btw.
Being a great singer doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a great frontperson. It’s not all about raw talent.
There is a lot more to fronting a live act than vocal range.
The 4 I listed are all incredible beyond vocals. I’ve seen Shinedown, Slipknot and Nothing More in concert many times. I’ve also seen videos of Nightwish performances as they dont’ come to the States much.
Slipknot is a 90s band and Shinedown is godawful so I’d say the list is fair
MCR is one of my favorite bands but yeah, they’re old. They haven’t even released any new music in over 10 years, with their two newest albums being a live album, and the other was just a new assortment of old music. Dunno why they’re here.
Yeah, Paramore is about as rock n’ roll as Jem and the Holograms.
im not familiar with the rest, but floor and corey are probably more in the metal subgenere, and lizzy is just on that line between “hard rock” and metal.
Corey is metal with Slipknot. With stone Sour however he’s 100% rock
Hop Along was my first post-quarantine show and they brought the house down. Frances nailed a cover of “Don’t Leave Me This Way” – her voice is so dynamic and it made me want a whole album of disco songs from her. Banger of a list, in my opinion!
win butler, britt daniel, glaring omissions – and if walkmen were still around hamilton should be at the top of this list
I like all those guys, but Win isn’t exactly a showman.
is that supposed to be sarcasm? if not, have you ever seen AF live?
Yeah, and they’re great. But I mostly remember him chilling on the microphone with his guitar.
theres pretty much nothing chill about an AF show
Arcade Fire is Canadian, not US, and the list is only US bands, apparently. Otherwise Aurora should be on this list because she’s mesmerizing.
“bandleaders in contemporary rock”*radio pop rock bullshit for white people.There ya go champ.
The 1975 might have been the defining band of the 2010s and Matty Healy doesn’t make the list?
lmfao nobody listens to the 1975
lol
Paul Janeway of St. Paul and the Broken Bones wants a word with this list…
Andy Frasco is a hell of a frontman.Also Rick Mitarotonda from Goose. Best young guitar player in the business for my money.
They make me dance like nobody’s washing.
glad to see some ppl from hardcore here, but it’s sorely missing Patrick Kindlon from Drug Church/Self Defense Family, the man with the best stage banter of the last decade.
This might be my youth and recency bias but: I think we should be starting to talk about Olivia Rodrigo as a rockstar instead of a popstar. The Sour tour she’s on now is really reinforcing this and anyone who wants proof of this, look up her live cover of Seether she’s been performing.
I’m unfamiliar with a lot of these, but the ones I do know I agree with.One missing: Brandon Flowers. He’s someone who is clearly grateful to be performing and gives the impression that he really considers having an audience a gift that he wants to earn. The Killers put on an amazing show.
Oh absolutely, I’m seeing them in August and I can’t wait
YES! They’re my favorite band and he’s an amazing frontman, especially live.
The 20 best frontpeople in modern rock…are all from the english speaking world.yeah, seems legit
That this is a list of U.S. rock acts only is very explicitly mentioned in the intro.
Well, it was mentioned below the digital fold IMHO….
In fairness, the nature of the article means it doesn’t really “have” an intro. We have to click away from that to get to any content whatsoever, you’re not wrong.
You did write it, it’s just no one will read it because of this moronic slide show format. I do wonder when the ad revenue vs readership decline will force a change. Maybe it won’t!
But i do have to defend the original comment here, a more accurate title would be “The 20 best American Frontpeople in Modern Rock (with 2 exceptions!)” Frankly that’s more intriguing. Anyway just my views!
Sebastian Murphy from the Viagra boys
*AND* he’s AMERICAN to boot, win-win for AVC.
Lovely to see Frances and Eva on here. Their shows are so magical and fun.
I feel Eric Burton is missing here. I saw Black Pumas a few weeks ago and I was impressed at his devotion to the fans. It was truly a great show.Also Joe Talbot from IDLES gives a mean show.
Came all the way down here to mention Joe and IDLES.
I’m guessing these new AVC writers have never even heard of IDLES.*sigh*
This list needs more Julian Casablancas.
Pretty sure they got their start more than 20 years ago. Let that soak in.
Is this It released in the summer of 2001. So sure a tad more than 20 years ago. But they included My Chemical Romance who started around that same time also..And the Strokes did release an Album in 2020 that was highly regarded, won a Grammy (not like that actually matters of course), and are generally still amazing.
Oh don’t get me wrong, like any right-thinking rock fan I love the Strokes. But does he really put on much of a show as a front man? I always envisioned him as a little too cool for school on stage.
That is a fair assessment. I think we found the common ground. lol
This list seems very arbitrary. I’d include Rachel Price from Lake St Dive and Idles’ Joe Talbot for starters. How about Adam Granduciel or Kevin Parker?
Patrick Stickles from Titus Andronicus.
No A. Savage? No Joe Talbot? No Kristina Esfandiari? Seems iffy. Gerard Way classified under “modern rock” is pretty funny, too.
This site has never been very interested in any music beyond top 40. Iceage is probably one of the most entertaining modern acts, and I dont think they’ve ever once been mentioned here. Elias, they’re front men, is one of the most interesting modern artists and definitely deserved to make the list.
if anything i always felt this site was too interested in being name-dropping hipsters for bands that 4 people have heard about, and 3 of those people are members of the band . top 40 seems the opposite direction.
Possibly the worst live band I’ve ever seen. Drunk, utterly uninterested in what they were doing, but all members were “pretty”. The absolute definition of hipster hype band. This was first album, maybe they improved, but I’m not gonna bother finding out.
If it was their first album, that was 11 years ago when they were 17. Suffice it to say, as someone who seems them live on every tour since the beginning, yes they’ve grown. Check out Shelter Song, you might dig it.
No A. Savage? No Joe Talbot? No Kristina Esfandiari? Seems iffy. Gerard Way classified under “modern rock” is pretty funny, too.Looks like it is limited to American bands only. But yes, Talbot is an amazing frontman. If we’re going international, then Grian Chatten of Fontaines D.C. also needs to be on that list as well.
List is very disrespectful to Dan Bejar and his disapproving dad energy
Come on guys, no best contemporary frontperson list is complete without Andy Falkous.
Indeed, music history can arguably be divided into B.F. (Before Falkous) and A.F. (After Falkous).
SING IT.
Mandy Lee of MisterWives needs to be on this list.Her energy and positivity just makes you want to dance and love everyone.
Has anyone seen where I put my Geritol®?
It’s next to all of your Soundgarden albums. My God, what happened to us
Seriously. I’ve heard of exactly two of these acts. I’ll meet you at the early bird special at 4pm.
Samuel Herring from Future Islands should definitely be on this list. Such a distinctive voice and really throws himself into performances.
This has became the laziest piece of shit website to ever exist
Thanks for reading!
Come on, when REALLYBIGBABY69 weighs in with an opinion, it’s time to take stock and listen.
As if you don’t resent management and what this site has turned into
Careful, you don’t want to get unpersoned. Greyed, if you will. Shot down the ol’ memory hole.
I get being snide, you have to defend yourself, but this website used to run articles that meant so much to me. I have been here for almost a decade, and now it has became a low rent Rolling Stone. You stayed when your brothers and sisters were fucked by management, you now have to write articles about music that are lack any vitality or even a shread of intrest in them. Seeing what this thing has become makes me deeply sad and its just a sign of a world on decline.
That wasn’t snide, it was just sarcastic.
Side note :while I may not like the music you guys talk about ( and sometimes wonder if you made some of them up) I do enjoy the writing.
Come on, none of these people are real.
I feel like I just woke up from a 15 year coma??
maybe give it a few more years, we will clean this up any day now.
I was feeling old until I got to Paramore. Hey it’s someone I’ve heard of! Oh wait, My Chemical Romance is also on there. I’m pretty sure the rest are just made up.
Yes, those are the only two with any level of mainstream success that I’m aware of. I admit, I’m woefully unhip to the musics of today. This site is the only thing keeping me from being completely ignorant to current musical pop culture. With that said, I’m still not sure I’m actually missing anything. For example: there is a band the AVC was all about called Soccer Mommy a few years ago. I tried to listen to a song or two and it was just…terrible. So I’d like to try and listen to this article’s revolutionary, electric frontpeople, but I’m afraid I just won’t get it. Life is too short. I’d rather just listen to shit I actually enjoy.
Craig Finn / Hold Steady? Surely…
You know who is a good rock front person? Belinda Carlisle. I will be taking no further questions at this time
You’re not wrong.
hop along and turnstile are excellent and they appeal to 65 year olds too
Most of these don’t have mainstream success you’re aware of because they’re rock bands and we’re living in the year 2022, where rock bands are not a mainstream concern – unless, like MCR or Paramore, they’ve been around for about 20+ years and been folded in as a legacy act, much like the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith were still famous in 1992 even though old-timey blues-rock was no longer an active scene.
I thought the only band the AVClub was ever all about was Dawes.
thank you. quality reference a+
Trying to hold it down for the old AVClub.
Those are the exact two and only two I recognized.
And how can this list not include Brody Sarsaparilla from Soliloquy DEATH$&%£π✓ability?
Yeah, so my new fake name – – or non de plume, if you will – – is now Brody Sarsaparilla. King Kong Bundy does it again!
From now on, before I check into a hotel, I’m going to ask if you’re staying there. And if you are, I’ll send a pizza to your room.
You know you’re getting old when you cant tell if thats actually the band name , or the poster had a stroke as they were typing it
I saw Bob Dylan on an off-decade. But still.
Yeah yeah, we know you love Mitski and Japanese Breakfast
If you’ve seen Jason Isbell or Jade Bird live, you’ve been to a rock show.That’s all I’ll say about this.
Where is Amy Taylor?
The fact that Jeff Rosenstock managed to release a Ska album last year that was amazing should assure him his spot here alone
Have I just been to the wrong Jenny Lewis shows? She’s like a statue. Granted, one was for the anniversary of her very somber (but excellent) Rabbit Fur Coat, but she’s left zero impression on me as a live performer. Not saying she’s bad, just feels weird to see her on this list.
I saw her live on that same tour. She stood on top of a speaker cabinet and didn’t wear shoes for part of the set. Revolutionary!!!!
Thinking of KKB enjoying an indie music show—dressed in full ring attire amongst all the hipsters and dweebs that would inevitably be attending said show—fills me with pure, unadulterated joy. RIP big man, RIP
If you think the AV Club is going to write a music article and not slather Jenny Lewis with some unearned praise, well, I don’t know what to tell ya
Diet Cig is a blast live, and the constant high-kicking is a large part of the energy.
Also agree on Charly Bliss.Also I kinda feel like solo acts shouldn’t be counted as “front people.” That’s sort of a different dynamic.
Amyl from Amyl & The Sniffers
Now you’re just making shit up.
I don’t even know anymore.
I mean now you’re just reminding me that music has been on a downhill trajectory since Peter and the Test Tube Babies in 1983..
I’m not seeing any James Brown level performers….or a Howlin’ Wolf level performer. When I think of “frontpeople” for bands, that’s who I compare them to. Yeah, yeah….I’m old. I still have expectations. Fela delivered when I saw him. I was surprised that Prince did not deliver when I saw him (Chicago Theater in the 90s). Anyway…who are the people on this list again?
Did you ever stop and think you didn’t deliver for Prince?
I paid for a ticket to see him, not the other way around. Really disappointed with his over choreographed show.
No love for the good Mr. Tillman? The man’s clergy after all.
One of the best shows I’ve ever seen was The Pretenders. I liked them before (they were the opening act of I can’t even remember who), but wasn’t a huge fan until I saw them. Chrissie Hynde interacted with the audience, crowd-surfed, and was generally a huge ball of fun! I’ve been a fan ever since. ETA: This was before crowd-surfing was really a thing – I’d never seen anything like it before.
Yeah, but Chrissie Hynde doesn’t mumble all of her lyrics while dancing spasmodically, so she’s barred from contention here.
i like her, but she practically invented mumbling.
Don’t get me wrong, mumbling has its place in music. How else can you secretly let real fans know a beloved band member is actually dead, and replaced by a (possibly evil) doppelganger? It’s just that now, mumbling is encouraged throughout the whole song. And that is not okay.
Wait tho maybe she sings in that high, nasally indie lady voice? Then we can keep her
I don’t like some of these bands, but I disagree with the comment section more. Angel Olsen was a really amazing band leader front person when I saw her live. Marisa Dabice of Mannequin Pussy would have fit right in on this list too.
Mikael Akerfeldt? Anybody? Bueller?
It always pissed me off that John and Paul couldn’t give more space on albums to George, especially since John had stopped giving a shit by 1967-68 and Paul was just falling deeper and deeper into “Honey Pie” territory. Ringo, well, ehh.
I’ve seen a number of these in concert. Drain, Turnstile, Fiddlehead … a few others. No argument.But my vote goes to Arrow de Wilde from Starcrawler. I think they just signed to a major label, too. Great band.If Savages still exist — Jehnny Beth is incomparable. But I don’t know if they still exist. Jehnny Beth is a solo act now, so there’s that.
The wonderful, amazing and stupendous… KIIIIIIING KHAAAAAAAN.
I’m laughing at your “superior intellect.”
ok, since old world underground came out 19 years ago, im calling for Emily haines from Metric.
If I had a nickel for every egomaniacal keyboardist/whatever you play on the side of the stage-ist who left a successful band to start their own solo career, I’d have like…seven nickels. Sasima sounds like an awful human being. I bet her solo stuff blows. Not that I know what the hell a Cherry Glazerr is. Maybe there was a lot of Glazerr dramaa we’re just not aware of.
Maybe it’s cheating when your whole act is trying to remind people of Led Zeppelin, but I’ll throw in Josh Kiszka from Greta Van Fleet.
What’s that band (my wife likes them, but she’s working) who sounds like an almost ridiculous ripoff of Queen? I wonder what they’re like live.
I’m not reading this, but if Greg Dulli isn’t on the list, it’s wrong
Yeah, sorry guys, delete comments all you like, but Sasami still sounds like a egomaniac. Oh, and her music is (predictably) terrible. Them’s the breaks.
I don’t listen to any of these, haven’t heard of most of them, but I don’t exactly follow trendy MTV/radio stuff. I have four recommendations.Rebecca Lovell of Larkin Poe. Rebecca’s powerful vocals and her sister Megan’s lap steel are a potent combination, especially in this Conan performance lacking their drummer and bass player that instantly hooked me. Their YouTube channel regularly releases song covers recorded at home, as well as live performances and videos for their studio recordings.My friend and I were eating at a barbecue place called Stubb’s in Austin. We were just there to have some good food. And then I hear this incredible angelic voice coming from downstairs, where they have this little basement venue. I stood up from the table and walked to the rail and there she was, killing it. And then I realized that basically the whole restaurant had gotten up to see who was singing. She’s an incredible artist, philanthropist, winner of several Austin musician awards, a Latin Grammy nominee, and she’s gay (sorry, ladies, she’s taken).Grace Potter is an icon. She has unlimited lung capacity. She should be the first person anyone thinks of when discussing incredible rock singers of our current time. She has three Grammy nominations and performed for USO and an Alzheimer’s Association benefit.Ben Folds’ solo album debut is 7 months to this day outside the 20 year time limit, but I got something for that completely bullshit loophole. In 2015, Ben Folds released So There with a New York ensemble called yMusic, with typical Ben Folds songs as well as a concerto. During this tour, they played songs from that album, new arrangements of older songs (including the audience participation staple Army), and a song that was completely improvised and arranged live, which has become a signature of every Ben Folds concert. While the lasers, screens, and props from the 08-09 era are long gone, Ben Folds will always put on a good show.
Ben Folds is fucking amazing , but is sadly too old and not cool enough for the hip kids at AVC to write about.
Just what I needed on the day before my birthday: to feel even older because I don’t recognize a good half the names on this list. And, in concert, I’ve only seen two.
What about Myles Kennedy from Alter Bridge and Slash feat. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators?
Wow. Imagine AV Club giving us a too cool for the room, wannabe hipster list? Unheard of for them… Oh wait, they did include Paramour and MCR. That must have been painful to include.
I’m in no way a hipster or I’ve heard of a lot of these people. Maybe expand your tastes beyond what you liked in high school.
Absolutely fucking stunning that no one in this gang of experts realizes that a full third of these artists are not actually “frontpeople”, which requires that you are the member of a *band*.
Man the AV Club listicle deadlines must be razor thin. It’s a good thing the editor probably doesn’t care enough to actually read this article. They’ll never notice that 75% of it was written in 2009.
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Haven’t seen him in a few years so who can say…but man, Butch Walker has the fucking goods.
I don’t know if Jack White’s “too old” for a list like this, but he’s a helluva frontman and his new album rips.
Speaking of rock & roll frontpeople: is there going to be some kind of A.V. Club acknowledgment that Chris Bailey from the Saints has died? I’m guessing that he didn’t have much of a profile in the U.S., but I’d like to think that the A.V. Club, at least, has some idea of his (quite notable) place in the history of punk rock.
Ten years ago AV Club would have run a killer Gateway To Geekery on The Saints.
Neil Fallon of Clutch owns every stage in the universe. He collects rent from every frontperson in existence.
You seem to have fumbled and spilled a bunch of solo acts and whatnot in there by mistake.And left out Samuel Herring from Future Islands and Will Toledo from Car Seat Headrest, too, which is less excusable.
Adrianne Lenker shreds harder than anyone on this list.
Wow, this list made me feel old except for a couple of entries. I guess Jack White is excluded for being more of a solo performer? I do feel like Matt Schultz should be here though, but I’m definitely biased toward all things Cage the Elephant. And I’m old. So yeah.
This list is incredibly vanilla for some vanilla-ass easy listening.
Deciding to make a list of the best frontpeople in modern rock and then immediately disqualifying Dave Grohl from consideration was certainly a choice.I mean not one a rational person would’ve made but hey, gotta make sure the list is mainly obscure hipster bands no one has heard of *somehow*
Saw St. Vincent in Philly last year, she blew the roof off the house. She even took one of her singles that I’m not really a fan of — Cheerleader — and turned it into a real headbanger. It was difficult not to be exhilarated. A friend I went with flew in for the performance, and beforehand I asked him if he wanted to do the same for Tool a few months later. He demurred, but halfway through this concert, he leaned in and shouted in my ear,“buy the tickets!” Now that’s a consummate performer: St. Vincent was so excellent that she triggered a euphoric high in my buddy, and sold tickets for an altogether different act.Tool was okay. Those stadium shows are blasted so loud that you can barely hear anything but distortion. St. Vincent was better: she played the crowd, she played the bandmates, and she played the fuck out of that guitar.
Jenny Lewis, Gerard Way, and the chick from Paramore are all I know here. *sigh*
The happiest singer is Ragnhild Fangel from Pom Poco:
I was ready to go all keyboard warrior in preparation for when you left Craig Finn off the list, but there he is!
Limiting the scope to Americans, which means the absence of Luke Spiller—”the best frontman since Freddie Mercury,” according to Joe Elliott—pretty much discredits the effort.Do better.