Music

Black metal icon says female pop stars are fiercer than metal frontmen

by Tyler Munro

More than 30 years after essentially inventing black metal, Venom are still doing what they can to make their mark in the scene. They released an album earlier this year, but lately their path to press has been through Cronos, Venom’s only remaining original member.

But when he’s not reigniting decades-old spats with fellow loudmouth Henry Rollins, he’s doing the unthinkable: Bigging up the current crop of female pop-stars as the heir to the heavy metal showmanship throne.

Because three decades of hard touring and the excesses that come with it have seemingly rotted his brain, this quote, taken from an interview with the Rockpit, takes some deciphering. We’ll break it down for you after you read it in full:

I was telling some press guy recently, where the fucking hell are all the frontmen? Where have they gone? It seems like that’s one of the biggest things that’s missing at the minute, is where’s the new people like…and I’m not saying copy cat…but I’m saying the next charismatic figure. Where’s the next Ozzy Osbourne, where’s the next fucking Alice Cooper. It’s just girls at the fucking minute ’cause when you see the stage show for artists like Pink and even these fucking Aguilera’s and all the rest of these fucking Katy Perry’s, they are putting on incredible shows and they’re fucking kick ass bitches with a fucking attitude! And it’s like wow frontwomen, I’m up for that haha!

In short, and in English, here’s his thesis: With Ozzy and Alice Cooper aging, heavy metal is truly lacking in charismatic, show-stopping frontmen. Instead, he posits, the kind of showmanship usually reserved for the original Welcome to My Nightmare tour has been given new life by the likes of Pink, Chrisitna Aguilera, Katy Perry and their peers.

He may not be entirely right, but it’s also plain as day to say the likes of Lady Gaga have taken Rob Halford’s stage presence to new heights. And trust us: Cronos knows a thing or two about stage presence…