In the long and winding history of rock ‘n’ roll, declaring a single “best” anything is always going to ignite debate. But Gene Simmons, the ever-outspoken bassist of Kiss, doesn’t seem to mind lighting that match. When asked about the greatest frontman in rock, Simmons had no hesitation: David Lee Roth.
It’s not surprising coming from Simmons, who famously encountered Van Halen early in their career and even tried to sign them before they hit it big. But this recent reflection, shared during an interview with Music Radar, wasn’t just a nostalgic anecdote, but high praise wrapped in reverence.
“David, in his prime, was the super frontman of all time,” Simmons said. That wasn’t the end of his accolades: “There was nobody — and I mean nobody, in any form of music — who ever stepped up on that stage and took being a frontman to the heights that he did.”
Simmons’s assessment of Roth goes beyond the voice and the bravado. It’s about the spectacle.
“David had the acrobatics and sexuality — all that stuff. It had never been seen before, and it was so in-your-face.”
To Simmons, Roth wasn’t just another energetic lead singer. He represented a new frontier of what a frontman could be — daring, dynamic, and impossible to ignore. That larger-than-life presence helped propel Van Halen into an arena-sized phenomenon and set a bar that few have reached since.
Still, Simmons made room in the conversation for other legends, notably drawing a connection to Elvis Presley, someone whose charisma once defined an era.
“Everybody has their top moments,” the Kiss bassist explained. “When Elvis was bloated and naked on the floor of a Las Vegas bathroom, that may have been a downer. But once upon a time, when Elvis got up on stage with the sneer and shaking the hips, he was the King. And when Van Halen were at their height, David was the finest front guy of anybody.”
That comparison isn’t made lightly. Simmons isn’t just offering a hot take, he’s positioning Roth in the lineage of rock icons who didn’t just perform music but embodied it. Elvis had the hips; Dave had the high kicks and a lion’s grin. Each redefined cool for their time.
Roth didn’t just sing the songs — he was the show.
