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Famous bands with bad singers

#105
For the most part many of the bands listed have singers that match the music.
Rancid and the Dead Kennedys are bands with cheeky lyrics and rudimentary music, an off key singer fits.
Bands like Rush and Coheed & Cambria write such intense and epic lyrics the music it's fitting for that kind of a composition.
You know country stars are going to croon and hair metal bands will half scream their lyrics, I would expect anything different.
A bad voice is expected from Nirvana or The Violent Femes because that's what makes the genre.
It's the bands that intend to be taken seriously like The Stones, The Boss, and most of the modern rock bands like Puddle of Mud and Nickelback that come up short in the vocal department thus getting ridicule.
 
#109
EagleMoon said:
Muse...makes my teeth go on edge every time I hear him.

Every time I think bad singer, I think Neil Young, who gave Bob Dylan a run for his money. :D
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<blink> Wow, I'm surprised to see Muse mentioned. I was actually just trying to think of the opposite, bands I didn't think would be able to pull off the vocals live but surprised me. Muse and Pain of Salvation sprang instantly to mind. (PoS was even more impressive because of ALL the vocals, not just the leads.) I guess it's all about perspective and preference.

There is also that grey area of really good singers who, I think, set the bar a little too high in the studio and have difficulty pulling it off live. Rody from Protest the Hero (currently my absolute favorite band, mind you) and Claudio Sanchez seem to fall into this category.

EDIT: I forgot the most obvious one: Me. LOL Seems every band I have been in just expects bass players to be able to sing harmonies (I blame Sir Paul). I've gotten... OK, I guess, compared to the sound of, say, nails down a chalkboard. It's not so bad when the band sucks, but my current gig is pretty darn good. I'm definitely the weakest link vocally.
 
#115
Rockmusician said:
Guns 'N' Roses: I find Axl's voice to be very irritating. Sounds like he has a lot of midrange and not much else. Kind of reminds me of listening to bad AM radio. Love the music, hate the singer.

Smashing Pumpkins: Billy Corgan sounds like he is whining all the time and I don't like his tone.

Pearl Jam: Eddie Vedder has one of the worst voices I have ever heard. He has no range, is often flat and off key.

Motorhead: Lemmy. I never undertsood the attraction to this band. I realize that Lemmy is a great personality but he is not a good singer.

The last time I saw KISS, Paul Stanley's voice was aweful!
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Apparently you haven't heard Pearl Jams cover of The Who's Love Reign 'ore Me, Eddies voice sounds great on that song.
 
#117
brane said:
<blink> Wow, I'm surprised to see Muse mentioned. I was actually just trying to think of the opposite, bands I didn't think would be able to pull off the vocals live but surprised me. Muse and Pain of Salvation sprang instantly to mind. (PoS was even more impressive because of ALL the vocals, not just the leads.) I guess it's all about perspective and preference.

There is also that grey area of really good singers who, I think, set the bar a little too high in the studio and have difficulty pulling it off live. Rody from Protest the Hero (currently my absolute favorite band, mind you) and Claudio Sanchez seem to fall into this category.

EDIT: I forgot the most obvious one: Me. LOL Seems every band I have been in just expects bass players to be able to sing harmonies (I blame Sir Paul). I've gotten... OK, I guess, compared to the sound of, say, nails down a chalkboard. It's not so bad when the band sucks, but my current gig is pretty darn good. I'm definitely the weakest link vocally.
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Claudio struggles at times, usually when he's concentrating on guitar or he gets out of breath, but he is definitely able to hit all the (lead) vox that he records. The harmonies are another story, but when they have the female backup singers, those get done very well too. Just the fact that he can even stay on pitch on some songs (Everything Evil comes to mind, the verse guitar part is so rhythmically complex and different from the vocal melody) is pretty damn impressive. He's also a way better guitarist than Travis.

Roddy was a big disappointment to me live. But so was the second half of Fortress and most of Scurrilous, so who cares what I think. Ha.
 

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