they can't really sing

A Surprise Left

i was thinking last night some weird reason that quite a few of my favourite acts have singers who at least by traditional standards don't really have voices that are anything special. take the smashing pumpkins for example. billy is a great songwriter and guitarist but as a singer, well he wouldn't get past the 1st round of idol. liam gallagher has a very "throaty" voice but in these two cases it just works with the music. i can't imagine listening to a pumpkins record and hearing jeff buckley or some other angelic voice singing the music. james hetfield is probably another example where it just works with that style of music. thoughts?

reeferchief

A Surprise Left wrote:

i was thinking last night some weird reason that quite a few of my favourite acts have singers who at least by traditional standards don't really have voices that are anything special. take the smashing pumpkins for example. billy is a great songwriter and guitarist but as a singer, well he wouldn't get past the 1st round of idol. liam gallagher has a very "throaty" voice but in these two cases it just works with the music. i can't imagine listening to a pumpkins record and hearing jeff buckley or some other angelic voice singing the music. james hetfield is probably another example where it just works with that style of music. thoughts?

What these singers have which pains me to say it about Gallagher as I hate the fucker is what contestants on "idol" dont, they have passion, they sing the music with intensity because they feel the music, they put there hearts in to it because it is their music about their own experiences and what they feel strongly about.
What singers on "idol" have to have to succeed is is the ability to sing other peoples songs to make a record company exec and his company money there is no passion, no heart no soul in that, sure they have the vocal range and the good looks to sell records to the mainstream but ultimatly it's a shallow, lifeless devoid of feeling buisness not music.

depopulationINC

reeferchief wrote:

What these singers have which pains me to say it about Gallagher as I hate the fucker is what contestants on "idol" dont, they have passion, they sing the music with intensity because they feel the music, they put there hearts in to it because it is their music about their own experiences and what they feel strongly about.
What singers on "idol" have to have to succeed is is the ability to sing other peoples songs to make a record company exec and his company money there is no passion, no heart no soul in that, sure they have the vocal range and the good looks to sell records to the mainstream but ultimatly it's a shallow, lifeless devoid of feeling buisness not music.

dang diggity

Also, those singers do have great voices....for rock....they are not into pop, and no, they may not have the voices for pop, but honestly.....do you think they care. I would rather, and I am sure most of them would agree, sell 1/2 as many records in trade-off for having songs, that you wrote, that have depth and meaning to yourself, your band and a loyal fan base that those "idols" will never achieve.

brain of c

bob dylan, tom petty and elvis costello can't sing. i like them all.

intodeep

Neil Young's voice is crap.

but it is some of the best crap i've ever heard

reeferchief

You could throw Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley in that category as well, not brilliant singers in the conventional sense, but perfect for the music they made.

A Surprise Left

dylan's voice is downright terrible at some stages although i agree he is a brillant songwriter. the australian songwriter paul kelly is in a similar boat. as for oasis i think noel generally puts more feeling into his words than liam...generally because he writes most of the tunes.

brhf9

mr. anthony 'i can't sing in key' kieds...

LedZepFan

brhf9 wrote:

mr. anthony 'i can't sing in key' kieds...

He has gotten astronomically better over the years though


Joe Strummer...the Clash is one of my favorite bands, but he isn't a very good singer, at least technically.

Same thing with Liam Gallagher. I actually love this guy's voice, fits the sound perfectly. Oasis is such an inspiration.

A Surprise Left

LedZepFan wrote:

He has gotten astronomically better over the years though


Joe Strummer...the Clash is one of my favorite bands, but he isn't a very good singer, at least technically.

Same thing with Liam Gallagher. I actually love this guy's voice, fits the sound perfectly. Oasis is such an inspiration.

I do agree about Liam, it does fit the music perfectly. Back to the pumpkins I was watching a live video of "Today" on youtube and it was almost laughable how bad his voice was. The guy can write a tune though....

brhf9

LedZepFan wrote:

He has gotten astronomically better over the years though


Joe Strummer...the Clash is one of my favorite bands, but he isn't a very good singer, at least technically.

Same thing with Liam Gallagher. I actually love this guy's voice, fits the sound perfectly. Oasis is such an inspiration.

i don't like a. kieds voice but i think it fits his songs ok.

and i really love the clash too, so it's hard to pick on them but mick jones has a better voice than joe.

corduroy10

Some more "greats" with lousy singers:

Joey Ramone (Ramones)
Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth)

kdpjam

the replacements/paul westerberg

awesome.

BackwardsBlues1

rock music isn't about being a good singer.

at all.

The Darkness

Great topic. Some of my favorite artists are Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Robbie Robertson and Lou Reed. All of these guys are top notch songwriters but don't have what most people would consider 'good singing voices'. Yet they all make it work, and because the songs they write are so good, it is impossible for me to hear anyone else doing them. About 10 years ago, there was a cover of Neil Youngs 'Pochahontas' by a female lead band...I think they were called 'Belly' or something. And the first couple of times I heard the song, I thought it was kind of cool to hear someone with a more accessible, possibly better voice cover the song. But it didn't take long for me to go back to Neils original version. As has been said above, it's all about the passion and feeling of the delivery.

dont_go_on_me

Isaac Brock
Frank Black
J Mascis

all awesome though

facepollution

I'll throw in Kurt Cobain, Mark Arm and Courtney Love - on a technical basis they weren't/aren't so impressive, but the passion they sang with more than compensates.

JaneNY

Maybe its not so much that those mentioned above 'can't sing', because almost all of them can obviously carry a tune; rather its more like some of them aren't considered to have classically 'good' singing voices, but I'd take feeling, emotion and singing from the depths of their being over a technically 'better' voice any day. I mean, I love Neil Young's singing, even if some think he 'can't sing'. I'd probably throw in Springsteen in this category too.

facepollution

JaneNY wrote:

Maybe its not so much that those mentioned above 'can't sing', because almost all of them can obviously carry a tune; rather its more like some of them aren't considered to have classically 'good' singing voices, but I'd take feeling, emotion and singing from the depths of their being over a technically 'better' voice any day. I mean, I love Neil Young's singing, even if some think he 'can't sing'. I'd probably throw in Springsteen in this category too.

I think you are right, but there is something so moving when you get a singer like Cornell or Buckley who can deliver all that emotion with mind-blowing range and power.

I should also add Raine Maida and Greg Dulli to the list too, I love both their voices even if they are less than perfect. I guess the lyrics are pretty important too though, without decent lyrics an average singer kind of has less going for them.

tybird

David Lee Roth...........the background vocals on the old Van Halen tunes covered his ass.

StoneG82

tom waits.