Vocalists whose voices are your own personal nails on chalkboard.

Bad Religion Greg
They Might Be Giants (both guys)
Death Cab guy

avril

Bad Religion Greg

http://frontstreetny.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/sb2.jpg

They Might Be Giants (both guys)

Dead to me u r. ;_;

co-sign Avril
Jonathan Davis of Korn (Follow the Leader and after)
Billy Corgan
Attila from Mayhem's De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
dude from Blink 182

i think this is the worst sung song ive ever heard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NrrHTFp8z0

Thats it im throwing our yr postcards!

if that's the worst sung song you've ever heard, you've lived a charmed life

here's one far worse, for instance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob1HxFuq0yM

For many years my answer would have been Robert Plant but that changed a while back and now I can finally appreciate LZ.

know I'm gonna take flak for this but JOANNA MOTHERFUCKING NEWSOM

i agree with j.n. her voice is some affected betty boop cartoon shit.

also i would probably hate jeff mangum if i were hearing him for the first time now

(I hear that joanna's toned it down on her more recent stuff, but honestly I can't be arsed to give her another chance)

joanna otm, but I'm getting more tolerate of her.

Corin Tucker.

oh fuck how could I forget the dude from GHOST MICE, that shit is truly vile

Wayne Coyne can be at times, even tho I like the Lips

Warrel Dane has many of those moments too

btw, for those of you who have managed to remain blissfully ignorant:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWfqNW2sYIQ

(anarchist kids love the shit outta this shit and i'm just like, smgdh)

ghost mice seems a little influenced by the mountain jorts

britney spears. she really cannot sing.

only vocalist I simply cannot stand is the dude from the Tiger Lillies

(xp) like no amount of processing can make britney sound even okay to me.

ghost mice seems a little influenced by the mountain jorts

― kurt schwitters, Sunday, March 20, 2011 11:14 PM (11 seconds ago) Bookmark

yeah, but without the songwriting chops or charisma — basically just earnestness and strained shouting

I agree on jnewsom, that kind of affected plum in mouth warbling really weirds me out.

Lucinda Williams & Tom Waites (though they both seem like cool dudes)

natalie merchant

victoria williams

JENNIFER LOPEZ

Leon Russell

corgan X 1000000000000000000000000

makes me want to die when i hear that voice

another cosign for joanna newsom

OTM with Tom Waites, I just don't get it.

i can deal with corgan's voice because i can deal with darby crash's voice and they're pretty similar.

Zooey Deschenall

Yeah Hennifer and Zooey D are pretty much it for me.

Antony
Britney (except on "Slave 4 U")
Andy McCluskey

Jenny Lewis

http://www.tvgasm.com/shows/images/dancingwiththestars/season5/10-23-07%20resized%20South%20Park%20J-Lo.jpg

most indie crap that sounds like frog eyes. that spazz voice. i actually wrote something about that voice once. or similar voices.

Britney (except on "Slave 4 U")
otm

Oh yeah Conor Oberst

drake

him from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

this thing. jeez i can't believe this was 8 years ago

Chuck Eddy:Master Editor!And/Or:1400 Words Split In Half Like A Baby In The Bible

So many...First three that come to mind are Melissa Etheridge, Gordon Gano, and (95% of the time) Robert Smith.

I remember writing a very long and passionate essay in seventh grade about how much I hated Frankie Valli's voice, but I am a fan of it now.
I guess my answer now is idk who sings in Of Montreal, but them. It sounds like they have anywhere from two to six vocalists who are all trying actively to hit different notes from one another.

different bad notes

Are we allowed to say "my own?" I hate listening to recordings of myself.

the fucking polyphonic spree asshole!

neil young
axl rose
billy corgan

The guy from Titus Andronicus.

katy perry
adult women who sing like toddlers with lisps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS1FTnGFbAY

Gonjasufi
whoever sings for Mission of Burma

Corin Tucker.

― kate78, Sunday, March 20, 2011 7:07 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Crazy talk!!

Sufjan Stevens
Jason Mraz
Katy Fucking Perry

Britney's kittenish pre-orgasm whimpers wouldn't be so bad if it wouldn't have influenced so many other singers (however, none, that I know of, of any appreciable quality).

I liked Ms. Newsom much more before she started aping Kate Bush.

A second for Mr. Oberst - he gives me an involuntary urge to bitch-slap anyone within reach.

Just about every auto-tuned track out there - excepting Bon Iver's take on it (crazy how cool technology can be when used on a singer who actually knows about pitch.

Many of those warbling female folk troubadours from the 60's (like Judy Collins) make me want to emulate the "Blutarsky response" from Animal House (I gave my love a cherry...).

Whatever that douche-bags name from the Decemberists is.

first person I thought of when I saw thread title was James Blake but even that's only on two or three tracks

dude has a pretty soothing, soulful voice

what tracks?

actually I know the answer to this, it's the quasi-rapper lady from this crappy British band that I heard the other day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yayIbyPa6sw

honestly I am incredibly generous about listening to records in full at least once when ppl send them but I couldn't get more than like three songs into this

xp the ones where he doesn't pronounce his T's properly, er The Wilhelm Scream iirc? drove me round the bend

Jarboe, with a bullet.

conor oberst OTM
jeff mangum, definitely

How in the holy fuck has nobody mentioned Yoko Ono yet??

Bjork - made worse by the fact that I do want to enjoy her work, I just can't stand her voice.

there was this local band whose singer was soooo bad... he sounded a like a muppet being strangled... oh, did I mention he would try to rap too...so gross.

It is my understanding that Britney Spears can really sing, also backed up by some VH1 thing I saw years ago. Why she sings that way I don't know, it works for her.

This has only a little to do with pop records but I can't stand when someone sings at a wedding or funeral and they can't sing and everyone goes on and on about what a great singer they are. They should be forced to watch "American Idol" where even talented people get the boot.

i don't think she can really sing. for one thing, intentionally singing incorrectly can damage your vocal cords badly, which I dunno why anybody would wanna do that on purpose...for another, she's admitted in interviews that she only thinks her voice is "ok".

it's diff from like Sheryl Crow who has opera training but sings w/ very straight tone for her pop tunes

She's a better singer than Madonna, IMO. And I don't think Madonna is that bad, it's just that they are dance singers and with dance music you don't always want to hear someone's chops.

well I wouldn't argue that the vocals don't serve their function, I love 80's Madonna as much as the rest.

but when Britney went to croon a ballad in her early days, boy was that cringeworthy. and imo Madonna, even though a mediocre singer, was actually able to pull off a ballad...just sung material that wasn't too challenging melodically and wasn't too far out of her strengths.

I don't find Britney credible as a ballad singer, no.

Bjork - made worse by the fact that I do want to enjoy her work, I just can't stand her voice.

― Jedmond, Monday, 21 March 2011 00:37 (21 minutes ago)

Big fan as well, but there's the weird anomaly of her being such an unpredictable singer that I always feel I know exactly when she is going to belch/scream/sigh/coo. She has this formulaic approach to lyrics, where content mostly dictates how she delivers. That said, I continue listening to her b/c she really is one of the single-most original voices in all music.

Grace Slick.
That Cindy/Candy whatever she's called from the B52's.

Maybe not what the thread's about, but I can't really handle growly metal vocals.

Grace Slick.
That Cindy/Candy whatever she's called from the B52's.

Suggest Ban Permalink
― Bloody Snail, Sunday, March 20, 2011 9:05 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark

too far

intentionally singing incorrectly can damage your vocal cords badly, which I dunno why anybody would wanna do that on purpose...

suffering in the name of art/money? lots of popstars are willing to sacrifice their future well-being for the promise of immediate success, and isn't Britney a prime example of that?

yea but why would she HAVE to sing badly to be successful? like that doesn't make any sense. big diff between 'undersinging' and singing poorly , and she does the latter.

I imagine Max Martin & co. coached her to sing the the way she does because they thought a nasal/reedy tone would suit the music and establish an unmistakable style. ideas of technical strength and poorness probably weren't the main deciding factor, although she definitely entered the industry with the ability to sing straight. just listen (or don't) to her early Star Search appearances for proof that she had some sort of a traditional voice before she hit upon her trademark sound.

There's a female folksinger whose name I can't remember -- put out one album in the early 70s that apparently sold about five copies, recently rediscovered and played a lot on WFMU. Voice is a wheezy combo of cigarette rasp + helium. The front ends of a lot of her words and lines are just air being pushed through the diaphragm without the vocal cords engaging...I wish I could remember her name.

Corgan. Fucking Corgan.

Adding insult to injury, Ron Howard's narration on Arrested Development reminds me so much of Corgan that I've never seen a full episode of what I'm told is a brilliant show.

wow, that's some serious corgan hate! good to know you.

I don't think I will pay to see Britney Spears perform in Branson when she is sixty years old, so why not murder your vocal cords. Making a pretty good living entertaining people, and she doesn't make anyone cry doing it!

Corgan truly cannot sing, bless his soul.

Corin Tucker.

― kate78, Sunday, 20 March 2011 23:07 (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

dead to me.

the girl from Icelandic glitchtwee collective Mum

Sounds like WmC is describing Karen Dalton.

There's a female folksinger whose name I can't remember -- put out one album in the early 70s that apparently sold about five copies, recently rediscovered and played a lot on WFMU.

Karen Dalton? Hope not--I love "Something on Your Mind." (I can see where it could be her, though--she definitely has a love-it-or-hate-it voice.)

have no idea if britney "can sing" but i really love her weird little soapy hiccup.

Yes! Karen Dalton it is. I've just listened to a few snippets from the fmu archives to confirm. Thank you Mark and clemenza.

most indie crap that sounds like frog eyes. that spazz voice.

― scott seward

YES/NO

Can't see that this would change your mind, but take a look at Margot at the Wedding if you ever get a chance. That's where I first heard Dalton--"Something on Your Mind" is used memorably over the end credits.

also I guess the guy from We Are Scientists. They have a song on the soundtrack for MLB2K11, and everytime it comes around I'm like "nnnnnnnnnggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

I don't find Corin Tucker that terrible but the press is patronizing.

Bob Fucking Dylan

this totally original thread will be kurt schwitters' legacy

he created a warm room of hate. and for that we will always be thankful...

Is he gone?

Bcz I will always remember him for the bagels. Srsly I just ate like half of a homemade pizza, but when I clicked on that thread I was hungry all over again

lol buzza

i also find natalie merchant really irritating. and james blunt.

and jimmy barnes.

James Murphy

So so many. A find a good 90% of male fronted indie from the 00s unlistenable because of the voice. Add to that list everyone who's ever been influenced by Eddie Vedder...

A few examples: guy from Death Cab, guy from Counting Crows, guy from Nickelback, Billy Corgan, guy from Arcade Fire, the list goes on.

Basically, I do not tolerate the combination (in men) of "affected"+"sensitive"+"really meaning it". I just want to punch them. Though I can think of a few exceptions like Antony, whose voice I really like.

JENNIFER LOPEZ

― billstevejim, Sunday, March 20, 2011 11:20 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

Funny, I find Jennifer Lopez's voice to be completely innocuous, like it's almost not even there. I'm surprised anyone could find it irritating. Unless it's really about JLo herself.

^ agreed

a few months ago i would have said chester bennington, but no longer

florence from florence & the machine. awful.

CONOR OBERST, YOUR JUST LEAJOUS

Also, Guy Garvey Lead Singer Of Elbow (The People's Poet)

J Lo. is irritating not because her voice is annoying but because she is occupying a spot that could be taken up by someone with genuine r and b TALENT. It is a disgrace to black people.

J-Lo is not black.. or are you saying only black people should make rnb?

King Diamond

OH RICHEY, WHY. (PaulTMA) -- you're ridiculously clueless.

krüt schwitters (crüt) -- you're a double-ass.

katy perry
britnoid

TMBG - otm even tho I kinda like they anyway in limited doses, for sentimental/nostalgic reasons

Katy Perry is fabulous. I could do without the over-production but technically she is impressive to these jaded ears (I come from a family of classically trained singers).

anthony and the johnsons

u s steel you are kidding me right

her tonedeaf bellow on the chorus of "firework" is the stuff of nightmares

Katy Perry
Joanna Newsom
Dan Bejar
Quasi-hipster Enya/Florence Machine lady
Whichever inbred hick in Kings of Leon pretends to sing the most
Eddie Argos

dan bejar, fuck yeah.

TONI CHILDS

Colin Meloy of The Decemberists
Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel

just listened to clips of both to confirm and yes, absolute visceral negative reaction

Neil Hannon from Divine Comedy.

andrew stockdale from wolfmother, and his face is even more aggravating.

Richard Stilgoe

Thom Yorke
Billy Corgan
Animal Collective guy
Fleet Foxes guy

David Sylvian.

aw, Sylvian's one of my favorites

Any Mockney/glottal-stopping/Anglo-accented (post)Britpop shite

co-sign on Antony

His voice to me sound just so obviously a limited composite of a couple or more others it seems like an impersonation

Thom Yorke.

Bernard Sumner keeps me from enjoying many NO songs.

Cranberries woman
Tindersticks bloke
Kings of Leon geezer
Muse guy
Florence of the Machine
Thom Yorke, for sure

Katy Perry is fabulous. I could do without the over-production but technically she is impressive to these jaded ears (I come from a family of classically trained singers).

― Suck a Toe, You Self-Pitying Dweeb (u s steel), Monday, 21 March 2011 10:24 (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

:D

Isaac Brock is quickly approaching this territory for me. I feel like he got so much praise for his weird singing style and his grim lyrics and his "bravery" (choosing to front a band despite having a lisp) that he feels like the people want to hear him bark and growl and careen all over the scale rather than actually sing.

Also all these vocalists who decide to forgo dynamics and just everything AS LOUDLY AS POSSIBLE; you know, Katy Perry, Jeff Mangum...

james blunt

Katy Perry is fabulous. I could do without the over-production but technically she is impressive to these jaded ears

― Suck a Toe, You Self-Pitying Dweeb (u s steel), Monday, 21 March 2011 10:24 (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

100%. great singer. there are many, many things about her to dislike, but I can't imagine why the voice would be one of them.

frogbs has it — her vocals are so compressed in the mix that both her grating baby coo and when she's basically screaming are the same volume

Joan Baez

Macy Gray

I told my dad once that I didn't like Macy Gray's voice and he agreed but in this totally terrible and racist way, of course,, so I have been kind of afraid to repeat that opinion lest the same thing happen again.

michael mcdonald
liam gallagher
bobby gillespie

if you just picture a muppet singing macy isn't hard to listen to.

is too heretical to say dylan?

someone already did. so, no.

in that case, dylan.

Lambchop guy

dan bejar kill kill

How has nobody said Chris Martin yet?

like J-lo, too innocuous to be truly annoying?

J-Lo is very annoying when she tries to do high notes like in "If You Had My Love". And Katy Perry's voice is awful.

J-Lo pisses me off because there are people without connections who could sing better than that. Okay she is cute and a decent actress but as a singer she is arm candy. J Lo peddles a lot of bling that brings disrespect and cheapens black talent.

cute? she is the star and the moon and the sun. man, yeah, i confess, i could just look at her all day long. kinda forget what she sounds like. which is really sexist, but, then, i am really sexist. cuz i would definitely be a katy perry fan if she performed nude. which is also really sexist. for anyone keeping track. i mean, she's cute. didn't even know it was her on how i met your mother until after i had seen it. which just means i am old and don't pay attention to current pop girlies like i used to.

(still don't watch idol though. despite my j-lo jones. something else i like is on when that is on...it's always on.)

actually i don't even know how "cute" katy perry is. i just saw her on snl and noticed the boobage. i am always a fan of that. she used to be a christian pop singer, right?

ya

more like a christian *POP* singer

boing!

i always thought someone could make a zillion dollars by starting an xian pop record company that signed stripper-esque women and men and had them dress all demure-like with just a hint of knee, cuz they would sell boatloads to horny xian bastards.

Duffy's pinched squeaky voice actually causes me bellyaches sometimes.

... yeah, that is not a good noise

co-sign with the Katy Perry haters

I feel like Katy Perry's voice is annoying for sure but it's not quite "nails on chalkboard" for me. I'm surprised no one's mentioned Ke$ha or La Roux yet.

not exactly nails on chalkboard, but i REALLY resent gwyneth paltrow forcing her voice on me. on awards shows on glee and in movies. so lame. so so so so lame. blah. i mean isn't her husband enough punishment for one lifetime? plus, not even any boobage to speak of, so just exit stage right please. please! you are rich and famous so OF COURSE everyone in the world will let you sing on their shows. they have to! but that's just plain old blackmail.

Yeah, my entire Oscar party simultaneously groaned when that happened. We just couldn't believe this show was wasting our time with this shit and then left boggled why their ratings keep drooping.

La Roux is OTM. Unlistenable.

And she doesn't know French grammar but still uses it in their BAND NAME, not just some lyric. So annoying.

Yeah, it's La Roux for me. I think I'd really like the music but I can't get past that voice. One of my friends saw her live and said she was like 'an angel' and it was the best singing she'd ever heard, and this is someone who listens to tons of music so idgi. I'm very rarely put off by a voice alone but I really can't stand it.

Top Three:

1. The
2. Beastie
3. Boys

i am really sexist. cuz i would definitely be a katy perry fan if she performed nude.

new board description?

also, corgan is great, fuiud

also also, that ghost mice video upthread: looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool

joanna newsom, nuff said B)

ummmmm pretty sure the "bad french grammar" la roux thing is on purpose, i.e. to support the whole androgynous shtick. so clever i know.

I hate sort of deep-but hollow male voices. I think it's the main thing that puts me off Jimi Hendrix but I can also hear it in Bad Religion.

Katy Perry's voice isn't nails on blackboard: on "Teenage Dream" it's the sound of a buffalo getting drawn and quartered.

ummmmm pretty sure the "bad french grammar" la roux thing is on purpose, i.e. to support the whole androgynous shtick. so clever i know.

She admits on this TV show that she didn't know it should have been La Rousse. (At approx 9 min 30)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti2DmjoHkjI

Eminem
Chris Martin- esp. that wavering falsetto that he employs on one of their simpering hits

Is it me or did Cunt Corgan simply decline? It wasn't quite as grating on (some of) Siamese dream say

yup, but most vocalists decline eventually so can't rly blame him, can we?

most "annoying" voices don't really annoy me too much as long as they don't overshadow the music

the decembrists guy can burn in hell, though

Anthony Kiedis from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers would be up there for me. The way he sings "Fly away on my zephyr" gets me quite angry but nothing will beat rage I feel with the last ten seconds of Can't Stop when all the music drops out and he's singing something about "This life is just a read through" It has to be the worst moment in a song ever, plus the way he sings and rhymes things like win big and shindig, I'm getting wound up just writing this.

he's pretty terrible that's for sure

oh and that reminds me G Love! a lot of minstrel shit sounds bad to me. some people can do it others should be thrown in a river.

Katy Perry's voice is like being shouted at through a megaphone.

i'll be honest i can't really listen to karen dalton much either. speaking of, um, channeling. or jo-ann kelly for that matter.

i am a judy henske fan though. she was sort of a cross between bessie smith and sophie tucker at times.

karen dalton a definite hottie though. love, sexist skot

karen dalton paved the way for cocorosie though. so, um, uh...

i LOVE Karen Dalton's busted up squawk

Sammy Hagar
Fergie
Animal Collective

The falsetto on Goodbye Stranger makes me maim, but I otherwise enjoy Supertramp.

Post-Bon AC/DC. With a few exceptions I have a really, really hard time with Brian's voice. He sounds like an elderly ferret.

Interesting re: AC/DC. I once gave a friend of mine a tape that had Highway To Hell on one side and Back In Black on the other. I asked which singer she preferred. She said, "Which singer? What do you mean?" She refused to believe that the same singer wasn't on both records. It took years to convince her otherwise.

Lots of them:

Mark E. Smith
Shane MacGowan
Tom Waits
Antony Hegarty
Billy Mackenzie
Jimmy Sommerville
Captain Beefheart
Nick Cave

Many of them making great music, but still really horrible voices that I can never possibly stomach!

Also Patti Smith.

And PJ Harvey not least. Absolutely hate that voice!

And finishing off with thousands of growling or screaming metal "singers".

Geir you've said a lot of things on ILM that I disagree with but putting Billy Mackenzie's name in this thread is by far the most ridiculous thing you've ever said, it's kind of unforgivable.

Jimmy Sommerville ;_;

Antony Hegarty and Billy MacKenzie both represent exaggerated emotion, which is something I absolutely despise. Music should not be too emotive, particularly not in the performance. It should stay cool, calm and collected, and concentrate on the clever and skillful over the emotive.

oh geir. never change

Antony Hegarty and Billy MacKenzie both represent exaggerated emotion, which is something I absolutely despise.

hypocrite

"I don't care for exaggerated emotion, I guess."

Aesop rock

Exaggerated emotion? Meh.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sOperaDoc.jpg

She admits on this TV show that she didn't know it should have been La Rousse. (At approx 9 min 30)

yikes! never mind then. now i feel very foolish for having assumed that elly jackson would put that much thought into the name.

Anthony Kiedis from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers would be up there for me. The way he sings "Fly away on my zephyr" gets me quite angry but nothing will beat rage I feel with the last ten seconds of Can't Stop when all the music drops out and he's singing something about "This life is just a read through" It has to be the worst moment in a song ever, plus the way he sings and rhymes things like win big and shindig, I'm getting wound up just writing this.

YES ^^^^^

all you ppl saying Animal Collective, are you talking Avey Tare (the screamer) or Panda Bear (the relatively calm other guy)?

All of it. The entire collective.

The only one for me is really Kimya Dawsonw

I thought I disliked Tare/Bear too, but Panda Bear sings on a track on the last Pantha du Prince album, and I actually enjoy it.

Pierre Bouvier
Britney Spears
Judy Garland (I can take Wizard of Oz but after that it becomes impossible)
Claudio Sanchez (coheed and cambria)
I used to hate Mick Jagger's voice so much, especially on songs like Paint it Black where he does his weird little vocalizations at the end sometimes, but this has pretty much reversed by now.

*sob* Judy!

Claudio Sanchez (coheed and cambria)

oh god, I forgot how horrible this guy is/was

Very much yes to the Beastie Boys -- remember Mike D described as having "vole-like rapping" in some review, and that's about right

Mariah Carey and co, all those pointless warbles and whoops and show-off bullshit on inane lyrics just drive me up the wall

julia stone, emilia torrini, cocorosie, joanna newsome, and all the other mannered childlike wonder forlorn pretty pretty girly singers, particularly the ones with quaint put-on british accents.

also, the xx. i try to like them, i really really do. i should but i cant

Also:

Bob Dylan
Axel Rose
Bon Scott
That fuckwit from the Prodigy who tried to cover up incipient baldness by looking like a clown with special needs

Ok.
Nina Simone and him from the English Beat.
For the same reason. They both do a similar thing where it sounds like they're singing from the back of their mouth or something. I just can't listen to it. Anyone else know what I'm talking about?

Nina

....

Noooooooo

I know.
I wish I could get past her voice.
I may be alone here.....

you really aren't.

but i try to keep it to myself now.

sob

The only one for me is really Kimya Dawsonw

― maher shalal smash paz (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, March 23, 2011 5:09 AM (2 days ago)

god bless you wgw

i know. in all fairness, my brother in law played a nina album last year that i actually kind of enjoyed. so i'm open.

x-post

i made a vow not to talk about nina or the smashing pumpkins on ilm anymore and i already broke that vow on this thread! and i never talk about tool on ilm. because i love ned! oh, and randy newman. never talking about randy newman on ilm anymore either. out of respect for the general population.

you are a kindhearted man, Scott Seward

Scott, I'm assuming you've heard Nina Simone doing 'Funkier than a Mosquito's Tweeter' (on the basis that you've heard pretty much everything ever recorded)? If you don't like that, then you probably can't be converted.

phew. good to know i am not alone.
howzabout english beat guy? anyone hear that similarity?

I think it's a back-of-the throat (glottal?) thing

y'know i actually kinda like Kimya Dawson and Cocorosie vocally.

Maybe if I hadn't been so inundated by them in the mid-90s, I'd be okay with Eddie Vedder and Billy Corgan, but it's like some PTSD thing ... I really can't shake it.

like I would listen to nothing but Kimya and Cocorosie singing for a week straight if it meant I was guaranteed to never have to hear They Might Be Giants ever again.

des'ree

This morning was the first time I'd knowingly heard a Katy Perry song. I actually couldn't believe someone with a voice like that would be allowed near a microphone.

believing it is easier once you've seen her boobage

Liam Gallagher.

I always thought kanye west's whiny nasal tone would sound better on someone less boastful

like Ween covers?

whoever sings in MGMT

Sarah, I'll back you on Kimya's voice, although I don't care for her songs.

I want so much to like Judy Garland but she's just too much for me. Too much showtune, not enough croon I guess.

Greg Dulli

!

Otherwise, Joanna Newsom would be my most obvious pick.

The Greta Van Fleet guy

Janis Joplin.

cosign

Otherwise, Joanna Newsom would be my most obvious pick.

yeah hate to say it but man I cannot get past it

She’s my go-to example when it comes to ‘bands/acts you’d really like if it weren’t for their vocalist’. See also: Big Thief.

Perry Farrell

Rag'n'Bone Man aaaaaaaaargh

The only one for me is really Kimya Dawsonw

― maher shalal smash paz (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, March 23, 2011 1:09 AM (ten years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Man, the last 5 years of zoomer music have really done a number with me on this

--The Billie Eilish ASMR whisper
--The Jack Harlow whiteboy drawl
--All the post-Elle King girls who sing like (as Maura says) they're holding in a sneeze
--All the King Krule guys that sing and/or rap like they've got a mouth full of Big League Chew

tom delonge

I found out recently that I would probably enjoy the Noel Gallagher albums if he did not sing and they were instrumental.

That ‘and’ is doing lifting here, because 1. no Noel vocals, and 2. no Noel crummy lyrics.

Also, I envy how much people love Talk Talk, and I wish I did. But.

yeah he did sound like Steve Winwood on Quaaludes at times, but I give him a pass because the music's so good

Any 'cursive' vocalists or the ones that do that old-timey, Bille Holiday inspired thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SU0gFPMwP8

‘bands/acts you’d really like if it weren’t for their vocalist’. See also: Big Thief.

― pomenitul, Thursday, May 20, 2021 11:19 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

same

Would any of the Newsom haters acknowledge her singing improved between 2004 and 2015?

have the stock criticisms ever been updated since 2004

is there anyone worse than the 21 pilots dude

Conor Oberst. Can't be anywhere near it

boring predictable choice but Chris Martin

Can't stand Jack White.

Later in life realization: Carly Simon

pom with a powerfully contrarian revive, respect

Tom Verlaine after about three songs.

The Passenger guy and the 100000000 other singers who employ the same poor wickle sick puppy voice.

Would any of the Newsom haters acknowledge her singing improved between 2004 and 2015?

whiny autotune singing in general

I’ve come around to it in many a context but it’ll never win me over completely, ‘cause I’m just that ancient.

Another challop I’ve posted before: Joni Mitchell on Blue.

I've actually not heard anything past Ys so no I will not acknowledge that

this is Greta Van Fleet dude for me forever

https://j.gifs.com/MZDYgR.gif

Midge Ure.

it's less that newsom's vocals got more polished and more that her singing changed as a result of surgery for vocal nodules

Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Beyonce

I have a hard time with katy perry's vocals but I think it's mainly the aggressive levels of production polish

Miley Cyrus

in b4 someone just ups the challop to "women"

think we're basically there already 🙁

honestly I know it's a boring answer but Dylan really is tough for me to deal with at length

Corgan whenever he does that nasal porcine screeching thing he does. One of the more unpleasant sounds in musicdom.

if I hadn't grown up w/ the pumpkins I'm sure I would have much less patience for billy's bullshit vocals lol

oh Billy Corgan for sure

in b4 someone just ups the challop to "men"

Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Beyonce

fuck you

Some vocal affection trends that I find silly and distracting even if I enjoy some of the artists that did it:

-the 80s holding-your-nose muppet voice
-the 90s singer songwriter chewbacca too-much-dairy voice

dolores o'riordan

in b4 someone just ups the challop to "women"

Fwiw, a lot of the men referenced so far have high/piercing voices ...

Basically every dude in a post-blink 182 punk or emo band.

there were a lot of annoying vocal stylings among all those cookie cutter screamo bands circa 2006

-the 90s singer songwriter chewbacca too-much-dairy voice

idk who this is in reference to but I like it as a descriptor for Jim James

Hobo Johnson

Isaac Brock

westside gunn

idk who this is in reference to but I like it as a descriptor for Jim James

― intern at pelican brief consulting (Simon H.), Friday, May 21, 2021 10:06 AM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

what? jim james is a tenor

idk I just feel like he has a chewbaccaan quality

if I hadn't grown up w/ the pumpkins I'm sure I would have much less patience for billy's bullshit vocals lol

That fella from Smash Mouth and a tranche of emo and emo-adjacent vocalists who have that adenoidal whine.

Dude from Counting Crows frequently sounds like a cat in heat.

ILM: it's not just here for the loving music things in life

Disagree with almost all of these, but am having trouble getting past the vocals on the Squid album. I might still grow to appreciate the sound of nails on a chalkboard though.

+1 on Corgan, but only when he does that nasal whine (which I never noticed before "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" came out).

Westside Gunn 2nded

Man, the last 5 years of zoomer music have really done a number with me on this

--The Billie Eilish ASMR whisper
--The Jack Harlow whiteboy drawl
--All the post-Elle King girls who sing like (as Maura says) they're holding in a sneeze
--All the King Krule guys that sing and/or rap like they've got a mouth full of Big League Chew

― bruce spr!ngisH3r3 (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, May 21, 2021 1:44 AM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

OTM

the billie eilish thing is ok when she does it, but when others do it that's a big no from me

tom delonge

^this is the one that's had me heading for exits for 20+ yrs

where are yeeewwwww

I quite like him, at least in blink but his influence maybe went a bit too far

Michael Stipe, nowadays. Also Andy Partridge, which sadly stops me appreciating the otherwise sturdy XTC. Co-sign on Corgan too.

David Tibet

I don't think I've ever heard Jack Harlow, but the name Jack Harlow alone sounds like the old man hat voice

Kind of want to say the dude from Soul Coughing but the only song I've heard by them is Super Bon Bon, so I don't know for sure.

Ali Campbell from UB40

I don't have an answer to this. There are singers I don't enjoy like Anthony Kiedis or Nick Cave but I think I dislike them more for the way they sing and what theyre projecting rather than their voices

David Tibet

Yes, completely unlistenable.

Agreed.

"dan bejar, fuck yeah."

Had to google his name. Literally the worst.

Oh god yes.

Phil Elverum too, although it’s less the timbre than the delivery and the words that come out of his mouth.

The singer for the Growlers has a style I find intensely irritating that I think is shared by a number of other male singers lately but i have a hard time describing it.

Bill Callahan

Mark Kozelek, which is complicated (aside from the extramusical things brought to light), because I'd loved the first 4 albums under Sun Kil Moon the most, however there was this very noticeable change in his voice by then since the early RHP days. In the beginning he carefully enunciated his words but by those peak era SKM albums he didn't exactly mumble, but his voice had evolved into this sort of congested, jowly jawbreaker-in-his-cheek sounding effect. Or like he was eating a big sandwich and sang with his mouth full. IDK. Then of course his next phase was rapping as he furiously dug his own grave, the multitasking professional he is.

van morrison

stings cousin bernard sumner who can not sing and ruined songs by 808 state and chemical brothers too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaF1xe2QSOE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKobm6DpV60

Bill Callahan

― groovemaaan, Friday, May 21, 2021 2:27 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

waht

one big room full of bad opinions

Bejar 4 eva, f the haters

Christopher Cross
Talk Talk
Dave Matthews

Froggy voices really bug me, but for some reason Boz Scaggs pulls it off

Rufus Wainwright sounds like someone only trying to sing vowels with his teeth clenched

i hate Justin Hawkins' voice from Darkness

the billie eilish / katy perry / i don't even know all their names really but they all sound like a female gendered person that would get a dude put on the pedo list if he fucked them

it's creepy.

update 10 years later: I am okay with TMBG and Eddie Vedder now, but Corgan still ... I have to laugh to keep from cringing

Thom Yorke is fine but anyone who has ever been heavily been influenced by hum needs shot in the chin

Oh yeah, I can’t stand Yorke’s voice either. Sorry, Yorke

Axl Rose and Robert Plant.

Christopher Cross is great

Thom Yorke is fine but anyone who has ever been heavily been influenced by hum needs shot in the chin

Similarly I like Lana Del Rey, but feel her vocal influence has not been good

Yeah, someone has a vocal style, and lots of people go "oh I could do that and I Shall!"

ctrl+f 'kiedis' 3 results. asleep at the switch ILM

her out of 'mum' (the icelandic band) annoyed me too when i was younger, wonder if i'd feel the same now

i have a special plan for everyone saying 'david tibet' btw

Not fair! No chaos magic allowed!

+k

the obnoxious part about kiedis is his lyrics, not his singing idk

his voice isn't bad but he's totally unable to sing in key

has anyone ever been accused of having been a *good* influence on other vocalists?

I feel like that only happens in rap

Every singer who cites someone as an influence is essentially crediting them as having been a good influence, surely.

whiney's list is OTM

ctrl+F lennon 0

as a beatles semi-hater I'll admit his best work by far as a vocalist and songwriter was in that band. but that reedy offkey whine he has by the 70s with that fucking echo on it is truly one of the worst sounds in rock & I'm surprised it doesn't bother more people

so as not to take sides mccartney's "I can rock out too y'know" voice is another one of the worst sounds in rock

i have a special plan for everyone saying 'david tibet' btw

how about those opera singers eh? yeesh

My obvious answer is Tom Waits and my more obscure pick would be the guy from Hope Of The States if anyone actually remembers them round here. I know people that still think they should have been huge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw2piI2eRbk

how about those opera singers eh? yeesh

Can't stand operatic singing tbh.

I thought I’d forever hate it until I realized my issue was mainly with the material being showcased.

Like, Italian opera is absolutely not for me. Now,
Winterreise sung by, say, Matthias Goerne on the other hand… or Wozzeck…

the way the guy in reo speedwagon enunciates drives me up the wall

_Winterreise_ sung by, say, Matthias Goerne on the other hand… or _Wozzeck_…

I don't think disliking a centuries-old genre of singing is comparable to disliking one guy with a weird voice.

I just meant it’s a cliched opinion, to not like opera, as is not liking a singer with an unorthodox voice

Yeah it’s super common. I certainly felt that way in my teens.

Not liking (literal) nails on chalkboard is a “cliched opinion,” but that’s what the dr. ordered in this thread!

I just meant it’s a cliched opinion, to not like opera, as is not liking a singer with an unorthodox voice

So?

Ian Anderson
Uli Jon Roth
The guy from Eloy
Robert Plant when he does all the lemon stuff
Classically-trained singers trilling over modernist works like the first half of the 20th century never happened

Karen Dalton

ctrl+f 'kiedis' 3 results. asleep at the switch ILM

Give it away, give it away, give it away now, imago!

Kiedis doing ballads is painful ... still though, on that California trip ... Katy Perry "when you party with uhnh-uss" ... no contest, she is leagues worse than Kiedis, even if you include the video for that RHCP song where you see his mouth form the bad sounds.

has anyone ever been accused of having been a *good* influence on other vocalists?

― intern at pelican brief consulting (Simon H.), Saturday, May 22, 2021 9:30 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

The only I can think of is Louis Armstrong, but there must be plenty more.

Definitely Bing Crosby, bc he spawned Sinatra and other great crooners (to answer Simon's question)

the way the guy in reo speedwagon enunciates drives me up the wall

― brimstead, Saturday, May 22, 2021 12:30 PM bookmarkflaglink

There was SOME-thing miss-INGGGG

it’s so lame, right? Like “wow how surprising, you don’t like this guy with a weird voice”

His voice isn't weird. It's mannered.

it's really just the braggadocio that gets me

oh gosh whatever same thing, I like his voice

This is a weird one but Roy Orbison. I know he's a great singer but his voice grosses me out. Maybe it's just that "Oh, Pretty Woman" grosses me out and I've come to associate his voice in general with that song.

Map otm

amy winehouse
rag and bone man
steve albini I'm a hard boiled detective noir from the 1940s, you wouldn't understand
sarah vaughan
the lady from the young disciples
daevid allen

patrick stump

Adam Levine

Frank Zappa: Classic or Dud?

Katy Perry is definitely one for me, this sort of overblown shouting thing she does

My up-to-date cultural example is Shirley Bassey.

I say this with regret, but it's Bob Dylan.

post-70s Dylan, absolutely

i used to be very anti-dylan vocals but i came around after a long time, i think the outtakes on Another Self Portrait like Tattle O'Day and This Evening So Soon are legit great vocal performances by anyone's standards

Zhu (eye-watering-falsetto EDM guy)

Some of the worst ensemble singing I've ever heard is on Indian War Whoop by the Holy Modal Rounders. It doesn't just sound bad, it's the smugness that they are so SURE that they are "blowing the minds" of all the "squares" with this pointless hippie cacophony.

...and I have a fair amount of tolerance for pointless hippie cacophony.

"Peace Sells" came up on shuffle the other and it's so great but Dave Mustaine is singing it.

Many indie vocalists who seem to revel in not being able to sing in tune: Stephen Pastel, Alison Statton (Young Marble Giants), Martha Tilson (A Certain Ratio)...

Romy Madley Croft

(Mostly on I See You.)

people like to get really specific about the mechanics of singing, but the older i get the more i just give in to the fact that i conflate a vocalist's persona, lyrics, songwriting, etc. into one big ball, and the vocalists i don't like, i just don't connect with the whole package for whatever reason. like, i'm really on board with this assessment of steve albini, even though i can't even remember what his voice sounds like really.

steve albini I'm a hard boiled detective noir from the 1940s, you wouldn't understand

also tom waits is a perennial one from me, i'm intrigued by some performances i've heard, he has something going on but there's like a fetishistic element to him that turns me off? idk

rag and bone man

good one

"Peace Sells" came up on shuffle the other and it's so great but Dave Mustaine is singing it.

I never understood the big deal about Kanye West rapping with his jaw wired shut; I was like, I've been listening to Megadeth since the 80s and that dude has never unclenched his jaw once.

Man, I love Holy Modal Rounders and I'm not getting what Halfway is hearing at all; it's just daft larking about to my ears, not meant to be "good singing" or pretentious or anything, to me at least

Many indie vocalists who seem to revel in not being able to sing in tune: Stephen Pastel, Alison Statton (Young Marble Giants), Martha Tilson (A Certain Ratio)...

― I was born anxious, here's how to do it. (ledge), Monday, May 24, 2021 2:21 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Agreed, although I kind of love Jeffrey Lee Pierce for this exact same quality though.

Eddie Vedder and the entire Grunge genre

As I'm pretty much a non-listener to classic rock radio I had somehow managed to never hear "November Rain" by Guns n Roses before last month. I was used to hitting the button any time "Sweet Child of Mine" or "Paradise City" came on, but holy shit Axl in overwrought ballad mode is the absolute worst.

Agreed. What amazes me is that I didn't mind his voice back then but now I can't get past it whenever I hear GnR.

Guy Picciotto of Fugazi/Rites of Spring

booooo

imagine how unsexy fugazi would be without his wild abandon

Unfortunately, I think I have to +1 on Guy Picciotto. It's not quite nails on chalkboard level, but his voice has definitely put a hard cap on how much I'm able to appreciate those 2 bands. It's not a stretch to imagine that it drives some people nuts.

Apparently he was originally added to Fugazi to be the Flavor Flav to Ian MacKaye's Chuck D.

the children's choir in "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" by John Lennon

that shit is so creepy

It's no accident that this list never reached 100:
Top 100: Songs sung by adults that feature a children's choir

The goth music of the past twenty years has been a shitmine of high school choir-level vocal "talent".

Also bands that bring in any old female singer even if she can't sing...because "I love women's voices" is ick and sexist.

Also never much liked Eddie Vedder or Pearl Jam, but heard him sing solo acoustic emrealized, "woah, the dude can sing." Just notinthatgenre.

The kind of vocals Adam Levine does kind of gets on my nerves.

Anyway, two recent examples that have truly lowered the bar: Jacob Collier and the guy from Black Country New Road

Of all the grungey 90s vocalist dudes, I'd say Vedder's got one of the classically best singing voices

cilla black

Vedder's gotten better, I'd say..

the guy from Black Country New Road

― imago, Tuesday, May 25, 2021 3:10 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

for anyone who hasn't ventured into the appropriate threads to experience this mfer, i really suggest you listen then perhaps reassess any other singer in the history of mankind you have previously considered annoying

yeah it's a shame as otherwise their music is pretty good

yeah i'm totally down with this whole new "English kids who want to be in a band opening for A Minor Forest in 1998" vibes but the singing is tough to take

The only result for ctrl + f "ian curtis" is someone's user name????

i've been waiting for a guy to come and say "his voice is bad"

I wish we'd get Bernard Sumner on the record about that.

a girl in my group of friends at university could not stand the voices of Syd Barrett, Robert Wyatt or Ian Curtis, she may have chosen her friends poorly

Curtis ruins JD for me. The songs are good, the vocals are...not.

Every once in a while, I hear "Atmosphere" and remember the first time I heard it I thought it was Scott Walker

Great, now I've got Scott Walker singing "I love a party with a party atmosphere" stuck in my head.

curtis is pretty much the only voice i can imagine conveying a joy division song, and the JD hangovers on movement bear this out (i love movement to death)

I have no beef with Curtis. But Sumner's Curtis mimicry works maybe in ways he didn't intend: when he sings lines like "No reason ever was given" on "Sense" he sounds like a frightened normal person instead of the sepulcher itself.

*"Senses"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-KvyKNSV7U

lmao

LOL

uh-oh, a friend of mine was in A Minor Forest ... kinda scared to hear this awful British person

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azhgpelu0vY

another variation for someone who appears in this thread often

uh-oh, a friend of mine was in A Minor Forest ... kinda scared to hear this awful British person

― sarahell, Tuesday, May 25, 2021 11:33 AM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Tell them good job with the band!

He's a rad dude ... for a while he had a band with his daughter (when she was a kid) ... I have a CD-R somewhere. I am fine with kids singing that sound like themselves.

lmfao CaAL

I like a lot of the singers people are hating in here

For me:

Wayne Coyne
La Roux
Andy Partridge
Billie EIlish
J Mascis
90% of hardcore vocalists who bellow instead of yell
100% of whisper-scream nu-emo vocalists
Metal vocalists who whine instead of scream (Deftones, unfortunately)

Oh, also, any time somebody sings with a fake accent, Kate Bush i.e. ("The Dreaming", "There Goes A Tenner"). Unlistenable I hate it

ugh j. mascis, there's a voice i never want to hear again tbr

Yes, fake accents are a dealbreaker, just unbearable.

'Extreme' metal vocals are all up my alley, but emo and/or screamo are a bridge too far.

xp

do people feel the same about mick jagger

Anyone outside North America who sings with an American accent is singing with a fake accent - that's a hell of a lot of singers.

It's fundamentally annoying unless the vocalist (e.g. Mick Jagger) is charming and/or talented enough to pull it off.

I mean, just forget about most British popular music in that case.

There's a sea of exceptions, thankfully.

Oh yeah I was gonna say Mick Jagger. Generally his vocals on "Exile..." are lousy to my ears, it's a weird thing that "Sweet Black Angel" is one of my favourite Stones songs despite the bullshit accent

A generalized "fake American accent done by non-Americans" isn't so bad, it's "fake Cockney" or "fake Southern American" or what have you

"Far Away Eyes" reminds me of Bowie's singing on "Teenage Wildlife": so cartoonishly contorted that it goes from camp to sincerity in 10 seconds flat.

Another one: Broadway/musicals of any kind. It may well be the type of music I loathe the most in the world, and the vocals are a big part of my seething hatred.

i try to forget about most british popular music myself, stuff that draws attention to its britishness is just as embarrassing most of the time

not much of a stones fan but jagger is more interesting because he does the pomo thing of drawing attention to his fakeness (unless he's just bad and critics have projected all of that onto him?) i'm way more bothered by the ones who try to sound "real" like say clapton

Another one: Broadway/musicals of any kind. It may well be the type of music I loathe the most in the world, and the vocals are a big part of my seething hatred.

Love Van Halen, not a particular fan of David Lee Roth, although he is a good frontman.

The Eternal Return is beyond my control. I, too, am sorry.

xp

Thing about Broadway is that, if you study voice, that is the standard by which singers are messured in competition, or at keast it's what too many white people think a good singer out to sound like.

I got so much shit when singing for not having "the Broadway voice", whereas I've always gotten many compliments on it and I'm happy with it.

Think it's covertly sexist and racist and intensely annoying. There are other asoects to singing besides the gymnastics.

i'm way more bothered by the ones who try to sound "real" like say clapton

Is George Michael trying to sound real? For example.

i guess? it's a similar kind of appropriation. i'm a hypocrite because it doesn't bother me as much- he's a better singer, i like his style more, and also he's not a fascist. we always bring a lot of baggage to how we hear someone

do people feel the same about mick jagger

Mick Jagger, Fake Blues Singer: two thumbs up
Mick Jagger, Fake Country Singer: burn the world down

The most blackfacey singer in all of British rock? Steve Marriott from Humble Pie. The Fucking Worst.

What about black British singers singing in American accents?

What about Roland Gift, a singer who doesn't sound like a human being?

What about Green Gartside, "real" post-punk singer and "fake" pop singer?

he found a new hermaneutic, a new paradigm

ooh green gartside, that's one for me.

Mick Jagger, Fake Blues Singer: two thumbs up
Mick Jagger, Fake Country Singer: burn the world down

wrong way round

I hate most country music so much that you'd think someone blatantly sneering at it would meet with my approval, but no.

Is there a term for the Roland Gift / Mark Morrison 'singing from the back of the throat like a ventriloquist' technique?

"fake Cockney"

Always the worst bits on early Genesis albums

...and "Benny the Bouncer" by ELP.

fake cockney is acceptable from people who already have estuary-ish accents but not from poshos. it's also acceptable from americans - the worse the better imo

Broadway/Musicals is way too broad - I will specify instead the aw-shucks-fellas western gal musical voice, as demonstrated here by Celeste Holm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZLad-t6GBc

Joan Baez

― Tom D (Tom D.), Monday, March 21, 2011 10:10 AM (ten years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Seconded. Death by vibrato. Though I do like Joan Didion's essay on her.

For me it's the fake olde worlde folk accent buskers like to do

What like Dave Swarbrick?

Unless it's literally Linda Thompson or Sandy Danny doing it, that is

Not Dave then!

I don't know much about him but yes the British Folk Rock accent, which I guess was okay at the time but just seems a bit silly when everyone does it as soon as they get a bit folky

xxp what about buffy sainte marie?

xp I just grew up with folk and feel like him taking over vocal duties in Fairport is where that kind of olde world folky voice really takes hold of the genre, love it when he's doing it but I will admit that it is an acquired taste and really not something everyone can pull off well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzBRrXCNkUU

He's not really doing it too much there, thankfully

Another one: Broadway/musicals of any kind. It may well be the type of music I loathe the most in the world, and the vocals are a big part of my seething hatred.

Quite the opposite! Part of the point is to people in Row Q or whatever can hear.

to=so

What like Dave Swarbrick?

I think that was kind of his accent? I thought he was a Brummie but he lived in quite a few places. Anyway, I'm all in favour of that English (rather than British) folk accent.