10 Greatest Hard Rock Frontmen Of The '80s

As the '80s metal scene began to turn a corner, there was no band as synonymous with the genre as Iron Maiden. Helping birth the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Maiden were on a quest to become one of the biggest bands in the world by sheer force of will. Things may have been fine with Paul Di'Anno at the helm, but things turned a page once Bruce Dickinson came into the fold.

Brandishing the range of a metal god, Dickinson turned every Maiden song into a sonic event, from the epic story of "Wasted Years" to the sinister seance going on in "Number of the Beast." Even though Bruce could combine multiple layers of kickass into one song, the band went to a completely different level when they took to the road with Bruce.

Clamoring around the stage almost like an actor, Dickinson became at one with the crowd every time they played, as he pulled every ounce of energy out of his audience. Even in doing something as simple as announcing a song, the way Bruce would stir the audience into a frenzy is something that modern metal bands are still trying to master. Bruce Dickinson may not have been the first metal singer, but the mark he left on Maiden wrote the rulebook on how frontmen should behave going forward.