At the time, Pearcy had incredible swagger. Dude just owned the stage. Watch some old live stuff from '85 or '86, especially the Japanese shows. He had 80s cool down better than anybody. Voice even sounded good back then.
Oh, totally. And while he never was a
technically good singer, he has a certain "thing" in his voice. It's unique ... which often can be a better attribute in rock than a pure golden singing voice.
Yes,
swagger. Stephen had it in spades. Blotzer has trashed on him for not being the typical jump-all-around frontman, but his swagger just gave the impression of that laid-back LA cool vibe. It was his in a land of grinding twats like Brett Michaels.