Top 10 Bands RUINED By a New Lead Singer

Rome Ramirez
Technically, Rome Ramirez didn’t replace the late Bradley Nowell as the lead singer of Sublime. But “Sublime with Rome” is essentially the same band with a new name for legal purposes and a frontman who can’t live up to his departed predecessor. Ramirez, a fan of the band since childhood, is good if you’re grading on a tribute band curve. But he absolutely cannot live up to the presence of Nowell. And the albums released under the “Sublime with Rome” banner have been lackluster at best. This is less his fault and more a matter of him being given the impossible task of filling in for someone who was arguably irreplaceable.

Johnny Solinger
Though Sebastian Bach wasn’t the original lead singer of hair metal band Skid Row, his pipes were the group’s most distinctive feature. Unfortunately, Bach’s conflicts with his fellow bandmates got him booted from the band in 1996. A few years later, a new Skid Row was born, with Johnny Solinger. But the group’s sound was way out of fashion by then, and Solinger’s lack of range compared to Bach was painfully clear. Solinger’s tenure in the band was actually significantly longer than Bach’s, but he never felt like anything beyond a mediocre replacement. Since the late Solinger’s departure from Skid Row in 2015, the band has cycled through various other lead singers, none of whom have managed to recapture the Sebastian Bach magic.

Brandon Cruz, Jeff Penalty & Ron "Skip" Greer
One of the greatest frontmen in the history of punk rock, Jello Biafra’s unmistakable voice and sharp political commentary, and incredible stage presence made Dead Kennedys one of the defining hardcore bands. They called it quits in 1986 before reforming in 2001…without Biafra. There’s not much of anything to say about Brandon Cruz, Jeff Penalty, or current vocalist Ron "Skip" Greer other than “Not Jello Biafra.” Once again, this is a pretty blatant instance of a band cashing in on a name and losing their punk credibility in the process. Case in point, there have been no new Dead Kennedys records since the original run. And the band without Biafra has been likened to a glorified cover band.

John Corabi
One could argue that the end of the 80s would be rough for a band as emblematic of the decade as Mötley Crüe no matter what. Interpersonal conflict led to vocalist Vince Neil splitting from the group. In his stead, the band brought on the Scream frontman John Corabi, shifting away from the glam metal and into something more “alternative metal” and “grunge.” Though Corabi - a skilled vocalist in his own right - did a decent job of leading the band into a new direction on their 1994 self-titled album. But they were well past their relevance by then. The album flopped and the tour was cancelled. Neil eventually came back for the band’s next album, “Generation Swine”, which also wasn’t particularly well received.

Joe Lynn Turner
If you only know “Smoke on the Water,” you may be shocked to learn that Deep Purple has gone through 9 different formations since their late-60s origins, with drummer Ian Paice being the only constant. In fact, “Smoke on the Water” vocalist Ian Gillan isn’t even the band’s original singer. He is, however, its most enduring. Gillan’s initial run with the band (known as the “Mark II” ended in 1975. But the lineup reunited in 1984 before Gillan’s dismissal. He was replaced with former Rainbow frontman Joe Lynn Turner, who had collaborated with guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and bassist Roger Glover as a member of Rainbow, but that was the problem. It sounded like a mediocre Rainbow album. Turner soon departed and Gillan once again returned.

Trevor Horn
When you think of Yes and the 1980s, you likely think of the band’s shift from their prog rock origins to something with more commercial appeal. However, they started the decade without keyboardist Rick Wakeman or vocalist Jon Anderson. Instead, 1980’s Yes had Trevor Horn of the Buggles at the mic, with his bandmate Geoff Downes on keyboards. That might seem like a potential recipe for disaster. But “Drama,” the one Horn-led Yes album is legitimately good. But it wasn’t the Yes that fans knew and loved. He was soon dismissed as the band’s vocalist and Anderson returned. Horn, did however, continue working with the group as a producer.

Billy Burnette, Bekka Bramlett & Dave Mason
Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham vocals are so essential to the mythos of Fleetwood Mac. But would you believe the lineup hasn’t always featured them? They both joined the band well into its initial run. After Buckingham left in 1987, vocalists Billy Burnette and Rick Vito joined. Then, after Nicks’ departure, Burnette stuck around and was joined by singer Bekka Bramlett and Traffic’s Dave Mason. The result was 1995’s “Time.” An incredibly tepid album that failed to chart in the U.S. What’s more, there were personality clashes between the members, both previous and new. Nicks and Buckingham returned shortly thereafter, and this era of Fleetwood Mac soon became a historic footnote.

Blaze Bayley
Bruce Dickinson wasn’t the original vocalist for this legendary heavy metal band. But he’s widely considered the best. And replacing him was likely to be a thankless task. Wolfsbane singer Blaze Bayley replaced Dickinson in the mid-to-late-90s to not particularly good results. Many have since argued that Bayley is a good vocalist who wasn’t suited for Iron Maiden and the songwriting styles of Steve Harris. Two albums released with Bayley flopped both critically and commercially. And Dickinson came back soon after, though he and the band still perform some Bayley-era songs live.

Tim "Ripper" Owens
Judas Priest is another British heavy metal band whose most iconic frontman wasn’t part of the original lineup. But Rob Halford and his incredible vocal range were essential to the band’s success. After Halford’s unintended departure in 1992, the band auditioned various replacements, hiring Winter’s Bane vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens, who had previously fronted a Priest cover band. While Owens has decent vocal chops, he couldn’t fill the Halford-shaped void in fans’ hearts. And the rest of the band wasn’t giving him much to work with either. In any case, Halford returned to the band in 2003 and the Owens era is largely forgotten.

Gary Cherone
The original frontman of Van Halen, David Lee Roth was such a force of personality that the band could’ve collapsed in his absence. However, Sammy Hagar ushered in another successful era for the band. But third time was not the charm when Hagar left and Extreme frontman Gary Cherone came in. The band was already in a slump period, and this didn’t help. While Cherone had proven his vocal chops before, on his one and only effort with the group, he sounded like a second-rate Hagar impersonator. He’s not the only fault with the badly produced, overlong “Van Halen III,” but Cherone was unsurprisingly shown the door. Roth and Hagar returned to the band at various points.

What lead singer do you think is irreplaceable? Let us know in the comments!