Great Rock Vocalists

[Tikker]

Was talking to a friend tonight, and the conversation veered this direction

who would you list in your top 5 favourite Rock Vocalists? (favourite, not necessarily the best, if that makes sense)

no particular order for me:

only woman on my list
Ann Wilson from Heart



Freddie Mercury



Brad Delp (Boston's lead singer)



Burton Cummings (the Guess Who)



Jon Bon Jovi




honorable mention

Sammy Hagar (this guy is amazing live. probably the most entertaining guy I've ever seen)





I also really liked Roger Daltrey, John Fogerty (even tho he's kinda terrible, I like his voice)

[Nusk]

ok i can play, but mine aren't really rock


Stuart Staples (male living)


roy orbison (male deceased)


kd Lang (female living)


Billie Holiday (female deceased)

no gansta rap song will EVER be as hardcore as this

[Arlos]

What about Jim Morrison? What about Janis Joplin? Hell, Geoff Tate from Queensryche at least used to have a pretty amazing voice.

Hell, one of my favorite voices period is the lead singer of Portishead, seriously sends shivers up my spine.

If you haven't ever heard her sing, I cannot recommend the following 2 songs enough:



and



If you want to hear her singing live, check here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg1jyL3cr60

Seriously, one of the best voices I've heard, ever.

-Arlos

[brinstar]

top five, in order:
chris cornell (pre-audioslave)
layne staley
jeff buckley
thom yorke
josh homme

honorable mention:
scott weiland
serj tankian
mike patton
maynard james keenan
nina gordon + louise post of veruca salt (together they are goddesses, their solo stuff stinks)

[leah]

<3 mercury

<3 <3 <3

[Tikker]

What about Jim Morrison? What about Janis Joplin?

MOrrison was probably the most over rated singer...possibly ever

Janis Joplin was alright, but wouldn't make my top 50

and to stir the pot, all of Brinstar's picks sucked donkey balls too

[brinstar]

yeah i'm not falling for that

you said post your favourite, that's what i did

lick it

[Arlos]

What, no comment about the Portishead singer?

-Arlos

[brinstar]

arlos if you like creepy chick vocalists, try Jennifer Charles of the band Elysian Fields:



edit: crappy fan-made video, but the song owns, and is actually one of their most cheery efforts. some other stuff on that album is downright morbid, yet JC somehow makes it sexy at the same time

[Nusk]

/agree with jim morrison being overrated

geoff tate cant pull it off live unfortunately. he lipsinks worse than milli vanilli

portishead is good but i <3 billie holiday

[Tikker]

What, no comment about the Portishead singer?

-Arlos

portishead's got a couple songs I don't mind, but not top 100 material for me


Durothil loves(or used to anyway) Cornell.

[Drem]

jim morrison's lyrics are overrated. he had a great voice

what are we judging anyway? their lyrics or their actual ability to sing?

my top 5 in no particular order:

jack bruce
paul simon
iggy pop
donald fagen
ian curtis

honorable mentions:

john mayall
kurt cobain
mark e. smith
julian casablancas (i actually like his voice /shrug)
robert plant
eric clapton

i dunno i just kinda like bluesy singers or post rock stuff

[Tikker]

what are we judging anyway? their lyrics or their actual ability to sing?

personal preference!

if you like bluesy kinda voices, check out really old chicago, with Terry Kath singing

this is actually probably one of my favourite rock performances of all time
I prefer this version to the Spencer Davis group's

[Drem]

i love chicago

i also left old acoustic Bob Dylan off my list for some reason

[Gaazy]

whoever that stuart staples guy is that nusk posted, hurts my ears. And ill post a list later if I get around to it, ive got a migraine and am going to take a nap Ive never had a migraine up until about a month ago, and ive had 5 or 6 in the past month so bad some have made me throw up. Maybe im dieing or something ><

[Gaazy]

OK, anyway, most of my to ones are listed in this list somewhere, like Maynard, Cornell (older stuff, just lke brin said), Sammy Hagar. One that isnt on the list, and no one else will agree with, but I love it, it the guy from ZZ Top. Godamn, they put on a bad ass live show. Their music all sounds the same a lot of the time, but what a show

[Arlos]

Heh, ZZ Top was the first rock concert I ever went to, back in 1986. Was the Afterburner tour.

I wouldn't call their singer a great vocalist, though. There's a big difference between an effective singer and a great vocalist. Maynard, Cornell, etc. are effective (as are people like Les Claypool, etc), but they don't have great voices, as such. When I think great vocalist, I think really clear voice, amazingly expressive, and often with a huge vocal range. Janis Joplin, for example, had easily a 3-4 octave range, and could sing in a wide variety of keys, and was expressive as hell in all of them.

The Portishead singer, for example, I am not sure what her range is, but I don't know that I've ever heard a more expressive voice, and only insanely rarely heard one as expressive.

Another singer I like a lot is Lisa Gerrard, one of the 2 people from Dead Can Dance. My favorite of their songs, from a live performance:



Oh, and Nusk, there's a reason it needs to be limited to rock. If you're going to expand it to blues, you'd also need to open it up to soul and people like Ella Fitzgerald and Shirley Bassey, and other people might want to open it up to truly classical trained singers like Opera singers, etc.

-Arlos

[Nusk]

zztop is a fantastic blues band and i love they

what no one loves nick cave?

sorry you dont like stuart staples might want to check out other stuff.. unfortunatly he does not do "happy"

[brinstar]

mm yeah it seems this really is an even more subjective topic than i thought

[Drem]

nick cave's aight

what about james brown
screaming jay hawkins
joe simon
etc

[Harrison]

I can't believe I saw Kurt Cobain on here

[Tikker]

One that isnt on the list, and no one else will agree with, but I love it, it the guy from ZZ Top. Godamn, they put on a bad ass live show. Their music all sounds the same a lot of the time, but what a show

I love ZZ Top but I wouldn't put them on the list of great/favourite vocalists

lot of bands I really like don't have what I'd call a great vocalist, but are still great bands

[Drem]

I can't believe I saw Kurt Cobain on here

i can't think of a bad thing about him other than he killed himself

i think a lot of singers could take vocal lessons from him. he had a lot of energy, originality, attitude, range, and diversity

[Tikker]

i think a lot of singers could take vocal lessons from him. he had a lot of energy, originality, attitude, range, and diversity

you're kidding right?

[Naethyn]

Chester Bennington