While Def Leppard eventually glammed it up, their image from the getgo and even in the hysteria-days (¤see the videos for Animal or Pour some sugar...) was that they were regular working class rockers... with perms. They didn't have a ''star'' or a leader. The NWOBHM-movement that they helped pioneer was like that in general:Tygers of Pan tang, Diamond Head, Angel Witch and pre-Dickinson Iron Maiden were like that too. Sheffield is not the Sunset Strip; it doesn't work to look like Vince Neil or act like Axl Rose when you go to the local pub and needless to say, that attitude manifested itself in the general image and performance style of the band. NWOBHM was very "punk" in that regard.

And this is just nonsense:

>for better or
>worse the singer does make/break the band.

Wer'e not talking Springsteen/Dylan here or even Cobain/Corgan (=the type of personality based, singer-songwriter nonsense that ruined the *sound* of US "alternative"), wer'e talking "heavy rock" (VERY wimpy heavy rock in the case of "Hysteria" but still...), a genre where it is often the guitarist that is the "star" or where numerous bands (more extreme metal in particular) even suscribe to the "faceless" garage-rock aesthetic where the band as a *unit* and their combined sound is stronger than any individual parts.

Look at the popularity of Metallica; I'd even argue that the lack of personalities in that band was their most important non-musical aspect; they brought the underground, no star/personality aesthetic of the underground mainstream. I never heard anyone who held that against the band.

Look at Mötley Crue:vince Neil was NEvER as cool as Nikki Sixx or Tommy Lee.

van Halen may have had a charismatic singer in Roth but let's be real:Eddie was the star and the fact that they continued to be popular even after the EXTREMELY uncharismatic and dull Hagar replaced Roth proves my point.

AC/DC even survived losing one of the best frontmen and RAWK-singers ever and replaced him with a dude that was pretty much a regular joe. Why? Because it's Angus and Malcolm's band-''everyone'' knows that.

There are also lots of exceptions of course but in those cases, the singer is often a driving force in the songwriting...

Basically, I think you are applying classic rock/pop aesthetics to the wrong genre.