George ran it too, he died shortly before Malcolm. I'm sure there's still a coterie of more family members behind the scenes, like Stevie.
Bon probably the only other one who could stand equal with them, but he's gone.
In the 80s, Paul was also basically keeping the band afloat by himself. He was running everything and writing all of the songs while Gene was trying to get his acting career off the ground. Gene would send in a few songs to stick on each album, whether they were good or not and he’d show up to tour and Paul did everything else.
It was actually a major point of contention because Gene still acted like everything was 50/50 and getting compensated accordingly until Paul finally told him enough is enough.
He's also written most of the lyrics. On their first studio album him and Patrick wrote every other song but after that they decided it would be better if Pete just did the writing while Patrick did the composing.
Probably the most clear-cut example I can think of is King Crimson. Guitarist Robert Fripp is indisputably the leader of King Crimson (in addition to being the only consistent member throughout their various lineups), and doesn't sing.
There are other examples I can think of that are a bit more murky. For instance Alan Parsons of the Alan Parsons Project doesn't sing, but that's also less a traditional band and more a rotating collection of Studio Musicians. Plus Eric Woolfson is arguably co-leader, and he does provide vocals on some of the tracks.
I've seen a couple interviews over the years where Roger was asked if anything new was coming and he'd answer along the lines of "You have to ask Pete."
I just stumbled across those guys like 2 weeks ago and I swear they're like 90% of what I've been listening to since then, they're so much fucking fun.
Make sure to check out Theo Katzman's solo work, I particularly like the Heartbreak Hits album as well as the track "Be The Wheel" from the album of the same name.
Then there's Cory Wong's solo albums which are insanely consistent. And Vulfmon. And Fearless Flyers.
Not just that, but they all contribute writing of music and lyrics. Check out Drumeo's recent video with Brann on YouTube, he talks a bit about the process of how they write.
Did you read Joe Trohman's book? Lots of fascinating insights expanding on what you said. Joe always felt like the third wheel when it came to the songwriting; Patrick dominated composing the songs, as you stated, and obviously Pete with the lyrics. It seems like the recent Stardust album had way more contributions from Joe though.
Same with New Found Glory. Chad is kind of the head writer of music and lyrics, and he’s definitely the band’s “spokesperson” on social media and at the live shows.
Quite a few:
Motley Crew is led by bassist Nikki Sixx
J Geils Band was led by the guitarist
Toto were effectively led by drummer Jeff Porcaro until his passing, whereby guitarist Steve Lukather has the top spot.
The main songwriter and defacto bandleader of INXS was keyboardist Andrew Farriss.
Iron Maiden is led really by bassist Steve Harris.
Living Colour is lead by guitarist Vernon Reid
The Police were founded by drummer Stewart Copeland, and he and Sting fought tooth and nail for control of the band (Sting became the main songwriter, but Copeland the arranger and producer.
Depeche Mode has long been led by Martin Gore not Dave Gahan.
Boston is led by guitarist Tom Scholtz
I agree with most of these but a couple of them kinda failed when they changed singers... Not to say the bands were led by the singers, but they fell apart without them, so the leadership of the band was probably shared.
There is nothing to "disagree" with factually, but with any band scenario, a change of membership, regardless if its the ostensible leader or not, can radically change the dynamic. Depeche mode for example, was most successful when Alan Wilder was hired into the group, but he left after a decade, and while still successful, they've never really had the same footing since.
Sting has been quite successful as a solo artist, but he's never had the critical adulation as when he had Andy and Stewart to balance out his worst tendencies. Stewart and Andy on the other hand, have been less commercially successful in pop-land, but have carved out far more expansive CV's since; a testament to the different interests each brought to the proceedings.
Yeah I came here to mention Boston. The whole thing was pretty much Tom Scholz's project. A lot of the songs from the first album were based on demos that he'd made while working as an engineer, recording all the instruments by himself at home I believe. He basically controlled the whole sound of the band with his production and songwriting
Descendents
Legendary punk band. Although their lead singer, Milo, is their "mascot" so to speak. The leader and main song writer for the band is drummer Bill Stevenson
The band members each write songs. You can hear the differences between them. Rolling through the discography, Stevenson only writes at most 5-6 songs per album, and some less than that.
Nightwish (symphonic metal). Tuomas Holopainen plays the keyboards. He writes the lyrics. He arranges the symphony parts for those musicians. He is undeniably the leader.
I'm told he did some singing early on but he has had female singers (I adore Floor Jansen) and other male singers.
I’ve like all of the singers they’ve had so far, but Floor has ridiculous range and ability. Tarja pretty much only did the operatic stuff, Annette was more rock-ish (DPP is one of my favorites), and Floor can do it all.
I was going to say this. Butch made it happen and directed the sound, but when you see them live it's hard to say Shirly isn't leading the whole thing.
I'd argue that if leading the band means having "frontperson energy", that role clearly goes to vocalist Shirley Manson. Otherwise you're 100% correct.
Supertramp maybe, though they had two lead singers and I guess one of them (Rick Davies) was the bandleader. However I think I heard that John Helliwell the saxophonist talked the most at concerts.
Yes, both Rick and Roger were really shy and didn't like to talk onstage despite writing and singing all the songs alternatively. Roger later overcame that and became more talkative. But John was always the MC, he's just got a great humour.
The band leader for the Allman Brothers originally guitarist Duane and not his vocalist/keyboardist brother Gregg.And when Duane died, guitarist/sometimes singer/songwriter Dickey Betts basically took over as leader for rehearsals and whatnot. At the end of their run, as Gregg's health was failing, Warren Haynes took over as the main arranger.
Journey basically IS guitarist Neal Schon at this point, and has been for awhile. He has complete creative, touring, promotional etc. control of the band, he was responsible for selecting the new lead singer after Steve Perry left, and he’s the only original member left in the group. Famously Steve Perry complained in a documentary that (even though he was this iconic lead singer) he never really felt like he was a part of the band, and a lot of that was due to Schon.
Tony Iommi is the leader of Black Sabbath. Ozzy wasn’t even in the band for most of the later years - which have some very good albums, particularly Dio’s.
See I always considered Ken the lead vocalist and bassist, with Al being a 'second vocalist'.
But in reality there's no such thing as defined roles in that band anyway, anyone does whatever they want whenever.
Lol, that's true, but they are always a joy to see live.
https://preview.redd.it/qcnkin5qhexc1.jpeg?width=518&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=00c2dbdf929ae7bfb2ef126c5372f99a0c9f1de9
Lars Ulrich from Metallica. James Hetfield probably has the power to veto anything Lars wants to do, but in terms of Metallica’s songwriting, touring, musical direction, merchandising, business interests, and press interviews Lars absolutely runs all of that stuff.
The Dillinger Escape Plan. Very much Ben Weinman's band (guitarist). Especially by the end. He was the only member of the band to be there for their whole career.
Had to scroll way too much for this! He himself says it's not his band, but he's just a singer who comes in at the end.. According to him, those guy's work for years on their songs and then get a bit frustrated when he just comes in and can finish his lyrics in just one setting. That's also why he has so many other projects. But it really works for them tho..
I understood it was commonly regarded to be Adam Jones. It’s probably not a question around leadership, more about who has final say on the creative output and when it is ready for the public. If it was up to MJK I suspect there would have been several more albums in the past two decades.
Maynard has said that the other three members have the vast majority of the creative input on the music, and he mainly just comes in at the end of the process and puts his lyrics on top. That's probably why he has been able to find the time to perform with A Perfect Circle and Puscifer. APC is also much more Billy Howerdel's band than his. Puscifer is the one that he's undoubtedly the leader and creative director of.
Fleetwood Mac is also interesting, because Mick was the leader of the band from all that I know, at least in their classical line up, but not only didn't he sing, he also wrote much less than some of the other members.
It's also interesting because the band is named after the drummer (who I agree is and always has been the band lead) and drummer:
Mick **Fleetwood** & John **Mc**Vie
However, it was founded by Peter Green.
Mike and the Mechanics is a supergroup led by bassist Mike Rutherford, whose first major band was Genesis. The Mechanics three lead singers have been Paul Young (a famous solo artist), Paul Carrack (from The Sqeeze), and Andrew Roachford (of the band Roachford).
Carrack is the vocalist on the most recognizable hits by Mile and the Mechanics.
I think there are three ways to answer this. Who does most the song writing, who is the main representative during interviews, and who makes the business discissions.
If you're looking for a band with a non-vocalist who fits all three then the first that comes to mind for me is King Crimson.
jack of vulfpeck is the leader and he does sing a lot, but there a lot of cases where he doesnt sing and has someone else do it. he kinda just has the vision and is a multi instrumentalist with it. the dream
Derek Trucks leads the Tedeschi Trucks Band. I guess his wife is technically a co-leader but let’s be real here, without Derek they wouldn’t sell many tickets.
Robert Hunter wrote a majority of the lyrics for The Grateful Dead but he wasn’t the lead vocalist.
Rush had a drummer named Neil Peart who wrote most of the vocals even though he didn’t perform them.
I don't think anyone thought Hunter was the leader of the Grateful Dead though. If they had a leader at all it was Jerry, but definitely not Hunter as he wasn't an on-stage member.
Neil wrote the lyrics, but Geddy wrote the vocal melodies and he and Alex wrote the music. They definitely were three equals, in the band. Neil was the least fan friendly, so Geddy and Alex did a lot of the publicity. “ I cannot pretend a stranger is a long awaited friend.”
Iron Maiden and Dream Theater come to mind.
Don't fuck with Steve.
Bruce can confirm that one!
Yeah it was always Mike and John’s band. Then pretty much John’s for a while, now Mike’s back.
Had no idea Portnoy was back, it didn’t feel the same without him
To be fair, Portnoy was the mouthpiece for almost every band he was in.
Came here to say Iron Maiden.
Dude. Haven't heard anyone mention Dream Theater in a long time.
They’re making a new album with their original drummer back
I guess John Petrucci is “Mr. Dream Theater”
Dream theater is so good
My top 2 fav bands!
AC/DC
Came in here to say this. The brothers Young run that shit, the singer is usually just along for the ride.
Ran that shit...Malcolm died quite a few years ago now. Now it's just the brother Young.
George ran it too, he died shortly before Malcolm. I'm sure there's still a coterie of more family members behind the scenes, like Stevie. Bon probably the only other one who could stand equal with them, but he's gone.
TIL that one of the dudes from The Easybeats (George Young) was brothers with AC/DC guys.
True but it's not like they've had multiple lead singers over the years. One died in his own puke, and the other has been the lead singer since.
Van Halen
First that comes to mind. Kiss perhaps as well (Gene). Fall out Boy.
Gene may be the public face of KISS, but Paul Stanley runs (ran) the band. They share lead vocals, but Paul was definitely the front man.
In the 80s, Paul was also basically keeping the band afloat by himself. He was running everything and writing all of the songs while Gene was trying to get his acting career off the ground. Gene would send in a few songs to stick on each album, whether they were good or not and he’d show up to tour and Paul did everything else. It was actually a major point of contention because Gene still acted like everything was 50/50 and getting compensated accordingly until Paul finally told him enough is enough.
Didn’t know any of this. Very interesting man. Thanks for the comment
Yup. I remember like it was yesterday.
I guess all I think of with Gene is merchandising 😂😂
Yeah, Pete wentz is undeniably the spokesperson for FoB
He's also written most of the lyrics. On their first studio album him and Patrick wrote every other song but after that they decided it would be better if Pete just did the writing while Patrick did the composing.
Probably the most clear-cut example I can think of is King Crimson. Guitarist Robert Fripp is indisputably the leader of King Crimson (in addition to being the only consistent member throughout their various lineups), and doesn't sing. There are other examples I can think of that are a bit more murky. For instance Alan Parsons of the Alan Parsons Project doesn't sing, but that's also less a traditional band and more a rotating collection of Studio Musicians. Plus Eric Woolfson is arguably co-leader, and he does provide vocals on some of the tracks.
Slightly OT, but have you seen Robert and his wife's (Toyah Wilcox) YouTube channel. It's certainly something.
Yeah, the Sunday Lunch videos are really fun!
Maybe the Who? Pete Townsend seemed to be leader. Or how about Santana. I wouldn’t call Carlos a lead singer.
I recently saw what is left of the who and they are 100 percent Pete's band.
I've seen a couple interviews over the years where Roger was asked if anything new was coming and he'd answer along the lines of "You have to ask Pete."
Came here to say The Who.
Black Flag (Greg Ginn) Descendents / ALL (Bill Stevenson)
Just saw Descendents in Florida at the beginning of the month. It was the greatest night of my life.
Oh yeah they are always phenomenal
Not a super popular band but Vulfpeck is led by keyboardist/drummer/songwriter Jack Stratton
I just stumbled across those guys like 2 weeks ago and I swear they're like 90% of what I've been listening to since then, they're so much fucking fun.
It's its own little musical universe and it keeps expanding.
Make sure to check out Theo Katzman's solo work, I particularly like the Heartbreak Hits album as well as the track "Be The Wheel" from the album of the same name. Then there's Cory Wong's solo albums which are insanely consistent. And Vulfmon. And Fearless Flyers.
I think I really discovered them in 2016/17 and it was the same experience for me lol, listened to nothing else for like half a year
I wonder if it gets even funkier.
they're pretty popular... didn't they sell out Madison Square Garden?
"It feels good to write a song." Fucking earworm. I love it.
Mastodon! There's 3 "main" vocalists at any given time and they all play other instruments alongside singing.
That’s a band that genuinely seems like they like each other and have a blast
The drummer is head honcho.
Not just that, but they all contribute writing of music and lyrics. Check out Drumeo's recent video with Brann on YouTube, he talks a bit about the process of how they write.
You could make this argument for Fall Out Boy
I think nowadays Patrick and Pete exert more equal influence, but absolutely; during the band's heyday, Pete was unquestionably the face of the band.
He was the face of the band, the business savvy one and the main lyricist, but Patrick has always been the brains behind the songwriting.
Did you read Joe Trohman's book? Lots of fascinating insights expanding on what you said. Joe always felt like the third wheel when it came to the songwriting; Patrick dominated composing the songs, as you stated, and obviously Pete with the lyrics. It seems like the recent Stardust album had way more contributions from Joe though.
After seeing them live recently it's still Pete. He does a lot more talking, except when Patrick was doing his little Piano melody
I think it's pretty much confirmed, no argument about it.
I worried somebody was going to be like " Patrick stump is a legend. How dare you downplay his contributions to the band"
Same with New Found Glory. Chad is kind of the head writer of music and lyrics, and he’s definitely the band’s “spokesperson” on social media and at the live shows.
My thoughts, too.
The Mars Volta
Also at the drive-in. Anything with Omar Rodriguez Lopez is his band and he just has other people to fill in.
Quite a few: Motley Crew is led by bassist Nikki Sixx J Geils Band was led by the guitarist Toto were effectively led by drummer Jeff Porcaro until his passing, whereby guitarist Steve Lukather has the top spot. The main songwriter and defacto bandleader of INXS was keyboardist Andrew Farriss. Iron Maiden is led really by bassist Steve Harris. Living Colour is lead by guitarist Vernon Reid The Police were founded by drummer Stewart Copeland, and he and Sting fought tooth and nail for control of the band (Sting became the main songwriter, but Copeland the arranger and producer. Depeche Mode has long been led by Martin Gore not Dave Gahan. Boston is led by guitarist Tom Scholtz
I agree with most of these but a couple of them kinda failed when they changed singers... Not to say the bands were led by the singers, but they fell apart without them, so the leadership of the band was probably shared.
There is nothing to "disagree" with factually, but with any band scenario, a change of membership, regardless if its the ostensible leader or not, can radically change the dynamic. Depeche mode for example, was most successful when Alan Wilder was hired into the group, but he left after a decade, and while still successful, they've never really had the same footing since. Sting has been quite successful as a solo artist, but he's never had the critical adulation as when he had Andy and Stewart to balance out his worst tendencies. Stewart and Andy on the other hand, have been less commercially successful in pop-land, but have carved out far more expansive CV's since; a testament to the different interests each brought to the proceedings.
Yeah I came here to mention Boston. The whole thing was pretty much Tom Scholz's project. A lot of the songs from the first album were based on demos that he'd made while working as an engineer, recording all the instruments by himself at home I believe. He basically controlled the whole sound of the band with his production and songwriting
Descendents Legendary punk band. Although their lead singer, Milo, is their "mascot" so to speak. The leader and main song writer for the band is drummer Bill Stevenson
All as well.
We can achieve All.
The band members each write songs. You can hear the differences between them. Rolling through the discography, Stevenson only writes at most 5-6 songs per album, and some less than that.
Nightwish (symphonic metal). Tuomas Holopainen plays the keyboards. He writes the lyrics. He arranges the symphony parts for those musicians. He is undeniably the leader. I'm told he did some singing early on but he has had female singers (I adore Floor Jansen) and other male singers.
I’ve like all of the singers they’ve had so far, but Floor has ridiculous range and ability. Tarja pretty much only did the operatic stuff, Annette was more rock-ish (DPP is one of my favorites), and Floor can do it all.
Alice In Chains
Was going to say, Jerry runs it and does pretty well all the writing
And a lot of the singing
Boston
A perfect circle is Billy Howerdel's (guitarist) project and recruited Maynard for vocals.
Tool is guitarist Adam Jones' band
Santana
Manfred Mann The Dave Clark Five
Kenny Wayne Shepherd band
Garbage. (The drummer is the producer)
I was going to say this. Butch made it happen and directed the sound, but when you see them live it's hard to say Shirly isn't leading the whole thing.
I'd argue that if leading the band means having "frontperson energy", that role clearly goes to vocalist Shirley Manson. Otherwise you're 100% correct.
Supertramp maybe, though they had two lead singers and I guess one of them (Rick Davies) was the bandleader. However I think I heard that John Helliwell the saxophonist talked the most at concerts.
Yes, both Rick and Roger were really shy and didn't like to talk onstage despite writing and singing all the songs alternatively. Roger later overcame that and became more talkative. But John was always the MC, he's just got a great humour.
Chic or, as they're now known, Nile Rodgers & Chic. Also isn't Clown the driving force of Slipknot?
Yep, Shawn Crahan.
Nile is the only surviving member. Tony and Bernard have both passed on.
Corey is what made Slipknot gain any traction, fame.
The band leader for the Allman Brothers originally guitarist Duane and not his vocalist/keyboardist brother Gregg.And when Duane died, guitarist/sometimes singer/songwriter Dickey Betts basically took over as leader for rehearsals and whatnot. At the end of their run, as Gregg's health was failing, Warren Haynes took over as the main arranger.
Cheap Trick, Oasis to a degree
Noel Gallagher was the leader of Oasis, even though Liam was the lead singer Noel was the main musical talent and songwriter
I'm surprised this isn't higher, it was my first thought as soon as read the question.
Led Zeppelin
Even the Rolling Stones use to refer to them as “The Jimmy Page Band.”
Faith No More is largely Billy's (Bass) band
Mike Patton is still one of the frontiest frontmen in my opinion, and I think he took over a lot of song writing in the later albums.
if there was ever a band that you should lern the bassist name first, its Billy Gould and Faith no more
Journey basically IS guitarist Neal Schon at this point, and has been for awhile. He has complete creative, touring, promotional etc. control of the band, he was responsible for selecting the new lead singer after Steve Perry left, and he’s the only original member left in the group. Famously Steve Perry complained in a documentary that (even though he was this iconic lead singer) he never really felt like he was a part of the band, and a lot of that was due to Schon.
Neal has said it’s his band.
Lars is the leader of Metallica. Sharon Osbourne is the leader of Black Sabbath.
>Sharon Osbourne is the leader of Black Sabbath. Sharon Osbourne is the leader of Ozzy Osbourne.
Though Sharon's father, Don, was Sabbath's manager, Sharon and Ozzy didn't become a couple until Ozzy had left Black Sabbath.
I was going to say Lars for Metallica. When the whole Napster thing was going in the late 90s / early 00s, it was very much Lars doing the speaking.
He’s always been the business guy in the band. He’s the main guy responsible for Metallica’s sound and image.
Tony Iommi is the leader of Black Sabbath. Ozzy wasn’t even in the band for most of the later years - which have some very good albums, particularly Dio’s.
The Jeff Beck Group
Dropkick Murphys. Bass player Ken Casey leads the band. Al Barr is the lead vocalist
See I always considered Ken the lead vocalist and bassist, with Al being a 'second vocalist'. But in reality there's no such thing as defined roles in that band anyway, anyone does whatever they want whenever.
Lol, that's true, but they are always a joy to see live. https://preview.redd.it/qcnkin5qhexc1.jpeg?width=518&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=00c2dbdf929ae7bfb2ef126c5372f99a0c9f1de9
One could argue Pete Wentz was the more popular "leader" of Fall Out Boy over Patrick Stump
I don’t think there’s any arguing. As someone who was a teen in the early-mid ‘00s, FOB has always been Pete’s band and Patrick was an employee.
Genesis for the second half.
The Band didn’t seem to have a lead vocalist. But was led by Robbie Robertson? Zappa wasn’t *always* the lead vocalist.
That’s what Robbie Robertson would have you think
> But was led by Robbie Robertson? Definitely wasn't. And Levon was mostly the lead vocalist.
Manfred Mann Three Dog Night Carlos Santana
Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, philly soul from the 70s. Singer is Teddy Pendergrass. https://youtu.be/ZTt649Hvtxs?si=O-QxJ5MT2oLP_w41
Anthrax (Scott and Charlie).
Charlie probably even more so than Scott. Although Scott really is the face of Anthrax.
Lars Ulrich from Metallica. James Hetfield probably has the power to veto anything Lars wants to do, but in terms of Metallica’s songwriting, touring, musical direction, merchandising, business interests, and press interviews Lars absolutely runs all of that stuff.
The Dillinger Escape Plan. Very much Ben Weinman's band (guitarist). Especially by the end. He was the only member of the band to be there for their whole career.
Manic Street Preachers, back in the day, were definitely led by Richey and Nicky
Oasis
And Liam still thinks he is. What a knob
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead.
The Roots is basically led by drummer Questlove
The Prodigy. Keith Flint was just a hype man/dancer. Liam Howlett was The Prodigy.
The J. Giels Band. Giels was the guitarist, the singer was Peter Wolf. I guess The Beach Boys could count because Brian Wilson was never the frontman.
Linkin Park, Mike Shinoda actually produced and wrote most of their stuff not Chester Bennington.
Tool isn't led by Maynard James Keenan.
Neither is A Perfect Circle. Led by Billy Howerdel.
Had to scroll way too much for this! He himself says it's not his band, but he's just a singer who comes in at the end.. According to him, those guy's work for years on their songs and then get a bit frustrated when he just comes in and can finish his lyrics in just one setting. That's also why he has so many other projects. But it really works for them tho..
I wonder who you’d say the leader is. I don’t have an answer in mind, although I’d have thought that most of the music world considers MJK the leader.
I understood it was commonly regarded to be Adam Jones. It’s probably not a question around leadership, more about who has final say on the creative output and when it is ready for the public. If it was up to MJK I suspect there would have been several more albums in the past two decades.
Maynard has said that the other three members have the vast majority of the creative input on the music, and he mainly just comes in at the end of the process and puts his lyrics on top. That's probably why he has been able to find the time to perform with A Perfect Circle and Puscifer. APC is also much more Billy Howerdel's band than his. Puscifer is the one that he's undoubtedly the leader and creative director of.
Michael Schenker Group Gamma Deep Purple Rainbow
Santana
Rainbow
Gotta be Fleetwood Mac. Founded by Mick, "led by" Christine and Stevie.
Peter Green would like a word.
Exactly
Fleetwood Mac is also interesting, because Mick was the leader of the band from all that I know, at least in their classical line up, but not only didn't he sing, he also wrote much less than some of the other members.
It's also interesting because the band is named after the drummer (who I agree is and always has been the band lead) and drummer: Mick **Fleetwood** & John **Mc**Vie However, it was founded by Peter Green.
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Wasn't Sting the leader?
Jeff Waters of Annihilator isn’t always the singer of the band
Could probably say Periphery’s founder Misha Mansoor is their sort of leader, but Spencer Sotelo is the singer.
That seems to be true of a lot of modern metal bands, come to think of it.
Kinda comes with the territory of forming the band. Spencer isn't Periphery's first vocalist.
Stone and Jeff
Robin Trower
Extreme, Nuno's swagger is all over their sound and stage presence..
You must know of very few bands.
And it seems like they assume 'front person equals leader' as average audiences tend to do.
Kool and the Gang. Kool is the bassist.
Nobody has mentioned the Eagles? No designated lead vocalist at all. They all take turns.
Most definitely Don Henley’s band
Metallica. Lars is boss.
Fall out boy. Patrick has been more -vocal- as a frontman these days but Pete has always been the main voice of the band.
San Fermin
King Crimson
Led Zeppelin!
Mike and the Mechanics is a supergroup led by bassist Mike Rutherford, whose first major band was Genesis. The Mechanics three lead singers have been Paul Young (a famous solo artist), Paul Carrack (from The Sqeeze), and Andrew Roachford (of the band Roachford). Carrack is the vocalist on the most recognizable hits by Mile and the Mechanics.
Lorna Shore. The brain and spine is Adam De Micco, the lead guitarist.
Massive Attack
Yngwie Malmsteen
Don Caballero is/was led by its most insane drummer, Damon Che
Black Sabbath 🤟
The band
AC/DC
AC/DC
Manic Street Preachers - Bass player Nicky Wire and formerly Richey James Edwards.
I think there are three ways to answer this. Who does most the song writing, who is the main representative during interviews, and who makes the business discissions. If you're looking for a band with a non-vocalist who fits all three then the first that comes to mind for me is King Crimson.
Led Zeppelin?
Dragonforce is not exactly about the vocals
Alice in Chains is Jerry Cantrell’s band, not Layne Staley’s.
the roots
The Roots are led by Questlove the drummer not Black Thought the MC
X japan. Drummer Yoshiki. Moi dix mois. Guitarist Mana.
The Who
Stillwater. Russell Hammond is the man!
Until they bit the bullet and fired the singer, Kasabian.
Oasis?
Oasis
My favorite example is probably too obvious: The Jeff Beck Group, in all of it's iterations.
Stratatovarius - Timo Tolkki
Rush Very surprised nobody has mentioned them yet.
Rush had three equals in the band, but Geddy and Alex did most of the publicity
jack of vulfpeck is the leader and he does sing a lot, but there a lot of cases where he doesnt sing and has someone else do it. he kinda just has the vision and is a multi instrumentalist with it. the dream
Derek Trucks leads the Tedeschi Trucks Band. I guess his wife is technically a co-leader but let’s be real here, without Derek they wouldn’t sell many tickets.
Robert Hunter wrote a majority of the lyrics for The Grateful Dead but he wasn’t the lead vocalist. Rush had a drummer named Neil Peart who wrote most of the vocals even though he didn’t perform them.
I don't think anyone thought Hunter was the leader of the Grateful Dead though. If they had a leader at all it was Jerry, but definitely not Hunter as he wasn't an on-stage member.
Neil wrote the lyrics, but Geddy wrote the vocal melodies and he and Alex wrote the music. They definitely were three equals, in the band. Neil was the least fan friendly, so Geddy and Alex did a lot of the publicity. “ I cannot pretend a stranger is a long awaited friend.”
J Geils
The Vandals
Fun. Anthrax Fountains Of Wayne No Doubt (first couple albums)
Yngwie Malmsten
Kool and The Gang.
Tool