10 Most Underrated Hard Rock Frontmen

When punk first started gaining traction in the late ‘70s, rock finally seemed to get back to where it started. After years of pretentious rock stars making rock odysseys, here was a genre that cut to the heart of the matter with almost no separation between band and audience. There may not have been that many hardened frontmen, but Mike Ness from Social Distortion seemed to put some edge into this new genre.

Cutting quite the intimidating figure, Ness swaggered across the stage like one of rock’s great troubadours, which turned into absolute magic once he opened his mouth. Instead of the intense sounds of hardcore or the snarl of early punk, Ness’ vocal delivery seemed to fit somewhere in the realm of Americana music. Though he could look like a punk version of Elvis at times, the core of his songwriting and playing style was suited to other legends like Johnny Cash.

Even if the songs were a bit tamer by punk standards, songs like “Story of My Life” and “I Was Wrong” still had that certain grit to appeal to both the classic rock and punk sides of the rock world. Punk was originally all about speed and cutting to the chase, but Mike Ness’ work with Social Distortion infused some more melody into the equation.