10 Unusual 1970s Lead Singers

Angry geeks, Playboy Bunnies, the masked and the maniacal...

By Nathan Hastings /

These days, the seventies are mostly remembered as the reality check following the daydreamy sixties. On the other hand, the seventies unleashed a gaggle of weirdoes who made fantastic music. These people messed with rock. They piled on the glitter, or fused it with funk and blues. They took rock out of the stadiums and into their own angry, nervous hands. The big icons of the decade€”Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Queen, etc.€” were worshipped from afar by mass audiences. The individuals on this list, however, were no musical gods. These unusual lead singers did for rock stars what Marvel Comics once did for superheroes€” made them freakish and human. This is a uniquely sweaty group. Note: Strange as they may be, no David Bowie, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, or any number of others will appear on this list, given their seventies work was of the €œsolo artist€ variety. An eccentric who does music under his or her own name is a different animal than a maniac of a lead singer. The people on this list had to get a whole band to go along with them. Now witness the strange faces of seventies rock, up close and personal€