I was listening to Marillion the other day and I started thinking about bands that have different eras with different singers and each of these eras have their fans. I guess there are loads of such bands when you started thinking about it.
Some that I can think of off the top of my head are:
- Marillion (Fish and Steve Hogarth)
- Fates Warning (John Arch and Ray Alder)
- Black Sabbath (Ozzy and Dio)
- Genesis (Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins)
- Nightwish
These are interesting because the vocalist gives the voice to the band and in many cases, the sound changes drastically with the change of vocalist. Still, many bands manage to pull it off.
AC/DC (Bon Scott/Brian Johnson)
Yeah, AC/DC is a clear example of this.
Oh yeah, this is a really good one.
- Black Flag (Keith Morris / Henry Rollins)
- Iron Maiden have had three (Paul DiAnno / Bruce Dickinson / Blaze Bayley*)
*Though Blaze’s two albums weren’t terribly good)
I was gonna mention Maiden but then I thought Dickinson is so dominant among the three. But they do all have their fans.
I always thought Damian Wilson would have done a good job.
Yeah, Dickinson is the de facto Maiden singer. So much so that he came back for another go around.
I dipped out at Powerslave, so I didn’t even know about Blaze until I read your comment.
My first real impression of Maiden was when X factor was released, and Kerrang! were making a big deal of Bayley taking over from Bruce. I liked that record well enough, but it pales next to the classics.
I mean, there’s Van Halen and Van Haggar. Does Blink 182 count (Mark + Tom, Mark + Matt, and now Mark + Tom again)?
Two bands from 90’s grunge:
Alice in Chains (Layne Staley / William Duvall) Stone Temple Pilots (Scott Weiland / Jeff Gutt)
Van Halen (Roth/Hagar)
AC/DC, for another
Nightwish comes to mind
Anthrax comes to mind.
Dance Gavin Dance have had three “eras,” though most fans seem to like all of them despite maybe having a favorite. They started with Johnny Craig on vocals for their first EP and record, then fired him and got Kurt Travis for two albums, then brought Johnny back for another album, then replaced him again with Tilian Pearson for the rest of their career to date (aside from a small tour where he was replaced by Andrew Wells due to a rehab stint.)
King Crimson
Greg Lake and John Wetton being my favourites.
Yeah, this one rings a bell with me too.
Arch enemy comes to mind.
the misfits have 3 distinct eras with danzig, graves and jerry only on lead vocals
Malice Mizer. The band had three different vocalists, and each time the music style and direction was different.
It went from Prog Goth rock (Tetsuo) to lighter Art / Synth Pop (Gackt), and then lastly dark metal (Klaha), all while maintaining its classical influence throughout.
Oh, Sepultura.
To many, the band effectively broke up when Max Cavalera left, but the Derrick Green incarnation certainly has its fans.
Bad Company: Paul Rodgers and Brian Howe
Kansas: Steve Walsh and John Elefante
Rainbow: Ronnie James Dio and Joe Lynn Turner
Survivor: Dave Bickler and Jimi Jamison
All have had at least three lead singers; these are the top two for each.