Ozzy Osbourne may have bit the head off a bat and Slipknot’s Corey Taylor may have been set on fire while performing, but even they don’t hold a candle to the wildest frontmen and frontwoman to ever grace the stage.
These artists pushed the limits of extremity, good taste and even the law — leaving their audiences in a puddle of shock and awe by the end of the night. You may not agree with their tactics, but it’s undoubtable that these frontwomen and frontmen left a lasting impression by being 100-percent out of control.
Oderus Urungus – GWAR
Our first entrant isn't a frontman or a frontwoman at all… but a front-thing! Though the Scumdog leader has returned to his home planet, Oderus' time on earth was filled with obscene and wild moments, including decapitating various politicians and public figures, feeding GWAR fans to the World Maggot, spraying audiences with "cuddlefish" juice and much, much more.
Wendy O. Williams – The Plasmatics
The queen of punk broke so many barriers that you could almost forget they even existed. While fronting the Plasmatics, Wendy O. Williams brought shock rock to a new level through onstage nudity, sawing guitars in half with a chainsaw, blowing up her band’s equipment and even firing shotguns while performing. One famous incident in 1981 saw her get arrested for obscene conduct and battery against a police officer. To avoid further obscenity arrests, she began covering her nipples with electrical tape, creating an iconic look fans still remember her for today.
GG Allin
No performer on earth has ever been more depraved than GG Allin. Backed by bands like the Murder Junkies and the Jabbers, GG was a human tornado of violence and bodily fluids. His shows rarely got past the first few songs, thanks to him urinating and defecating onstage (then throwing his it at the audience), fighting members of the crowd, performing live sex acts, and generally just being nude and filth-incrusted.
Julie Worland – Rockbitch
Julie Worland was just one of many wild women who made up the heavy metal polyamorous commune known as Rockbitch. The British band was all about free love and Paganism, and beyond their orgy-esque stage show, Worland and Rockbitch became infamous for throwing a "Golden Condom" out into the audience each night. Whoever caught the Golden Condom would be whisked backstage by Rockbitch and shown the time of their lives. The video below is basically the tamest Rockbitch clip that isn't age restricted by YouTube.
Maniac – Mayhem
Joining black metal’s most infamous and extreme band wasn’t something Maniac took lightly. His performances with the band have often been filled with blood, swords and animal carcasses, with perhaps no performance more disturbing than Wacken 2004. It’s one thing to carve up a pig’s head in a dark venue, but in the middle of the day? What the hell? Beyond Mayhem, Maniac also made headlines in 2007 for beating the hell out of Shining’s Niklas Kvarforth onstage in Sweden.
Niklas Kvarforth – Shining
Shining is one of the most underrated and musically brilliant black metal bands of all time, but it’s ultimately the onstage lunacy of Niklas Kvarforth that grabs most metalheads’ attention. Kvarforth is a walking ode to self destruction. Whether he’s self-mutilating, spewing misanthropic statements or straight-up snorting coke off the stage, Kvarforth’s dedication to becoming the physical embodiment of DSBM is unwavering.
Iggy Pop
In his day, there was nobody more extreme than Iggy Pop. As the punk movement began to take form thanks to the Stooges’ first three albums, Iggy Pop began doing things no one had ever seen before, including what’s now commonly known as the “stage dive.” Iggy wasn’t afraid to shed blood onstage, nor was he shy about lathering himself in peanut butter (on live TV, no less) just for the hell of it.
Seth Putnam – Anal Cunt
Like GG Allin, Seth Putnam was not a good dude, but he’s an obvious contender for wildest frontman in metal history. With the most morbid sense of humor in human history, Putnam would do anything for a reaction, even if it came down to racism, homophobia, sexism and the like. The extremity of Anal Cunt was a sight to behold, as was Putnam rolling around the stage in sweatpants when he wasn’t straight-up assaulting members of the crowd.
Jeff Clayton – Antiseen
As the frontman of punk veterans Antiseen, Jeff Clayton brings the ideals of a wrestling deathmatch to the concert stage. While singing about wrestling icons like Cactus Jack, Sabu and Abdulla the Butcher, Clayton actually brings out barbed wire bats to grind into his forehead and flaming tables to put himself through. If Mick Foley fronted a punk rock band, he’d be Jeff Clayton.
Gero 30 – The Gerogerigegege
Gero 30 may not technically be the frontman of his band, but during live shows, he was certainly the center of attention. During his time with Japanese harsh noise act the Gerogerigegege, Gero 30 (real name Tetsuya Endoh) wouldn’t so much play music as he would get naked, bring a vacuum to the stage, turn it on and stick the business end of that mf onto his pecker. He basically just did that as another dude screamed into a mic… and yeah… that’s the Gerogerigegege.
