Was Gillan before Marriot - I did say the first not the best that's purely opinion.

Gillan started serious rock singing before Marriot (he as the original 'Jesus' in JC Superstar of I recall) though Marriott was a kind of child star of the early 60s but doing more middle of the road stuff.
If we are talking about early rockers then surely the likes of Buddy Holly & Little Richard and of course, The King must be taken into consideration ?

Dashboard is a very very good tune.
Prefer Cribs' previous album if i'm honest and I don't think they'll ever top it

Can't see anything good about the cribbs myself. Tried to but nothing at all I have heard got me interested.

Paranoid by Black Sabbath is a particularly good album to listen to whilst driving i.m.o.
Especially Iron Man,good for gentle headbanging ,but at the same time not distracting whilst driving.

If I could go off at a tangent,a great album for me would be,
Paranoid,Black Sabbath.
Bad to the bone,George Thorogood and the destroyers.
Ace of spades, Motorhead.
Since youv`e been gone,Rainbow
Sweet child of mine,Guns`n Roses.
Thunderstruck,AC/DC
Let there be rock,AC/DC
Who are you?,The Who.
Bat out of hell,Meatloaf.
Stairway to Heaven,Led Zeppelin.

I haven't named them as great albums as such against my prog collection but I have a hell of a lot of Ennio Morricone soundtrack/compilation albums sitting about.
Surely 'Once Upon a time in the west' has to have the best soundtrack ever written?

Yes - it is. I also like "The Vice of Killing". Morricone was a stone cold genius and probably doesn't get the respect he deserves because he is so closely associated with writing stuff for the movies.

Used to love Pills n thrills n belly aches by happy mondays

Took the Mrs to see Fleet Foxes in Manchester last night; not everyone's cup of tea, but they are super-talented musicians - their live performance was genuinely remarkable.

I could get quite into this young fogey, folk rock revival; just got to get this beard sorted out.

you mean just like us 'old f@rts' who used to watch Pentangle,Fairport Convention & Steeleye Span etc etc ? and even you have to admit that the folky/rocky/punky music of the Pogues is a bit special ?

must be THE worst live rock band ever !!!!

Really not sure you are getting my point. I'll put it another way. I'm not saying he was the best or the first to sing in a Rock fashion ever! However I think Tin soldier was the first real Rock song to go mainstream rather than an R&B hybrid which is what say Zepplin or Cream were. Despite some calling it an R&B song it clearly isn't, it's sung with no attempt to sound black or American it's just belted out and that to me is what 70's rock was in vocal terms - it's pure soft(ish) rock. I don't doubt Gillan has a better voice, certainly a wider range - I also know that Marriott had a tendency to go all music hall so wasn't really a pure rock singer. However I think it's the case that whether by design or accident the Small Faces produced a prototype rock sound that charted first. This was 1969, the same year Deep Purple started so it was close I'll give you that but I reckon they got it in the charts first.

Again I'm not sure you are with me. I'm talking rock singer - Soft rock - Hard rock - Heavy Metal etc etc all are different enough not to be R&R or R&B. Up until 1969-70 these styles didn't really exist in the mainstream. Up until that point you were either American Blues inspired (R&B) and it's British variant Jagger, Burden and even Plant - or - Country (Rock & Roll, Rockabilly etc) or it's British variant the Beatles, Dave Clark Five and of course Cliffy .Elvis and Buddy Holly were great singers but clearly Country inspired and not rock - Little Richard is an interesting one though but I think we can call him unique!

Nothing wrong with any of it but Marriott sang in his own voice which I think is why so many British singers site the Small Faces as an inspiration - they didn't invent Rock no one did but they contributed.

Anyways it's just opinion and theories and helps pass a boring day - certainly less controversial than talking Rugby

Try Stornaway if you like that sort of thing.