I wanna hear you scream!!!

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Listening to a classic GNR song, and the Axl Rose chant makes me come to thinking-Who has the greatest scream and in what song in all of Rock and Roll? You can search pretty far out for this one. Janis Joplin and Paul McCartney in the earlier days, James Brown, or if you look to the 70s you could consider Robert Plant of Zepplin. And I also think of Bruce Dickenson and Rob Halford of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, respectivly. The way that Bruce Dickenson screams at the end of "Run for the Hills" and the way Axl Rose does it at the end of "Welcome to the Jungle" are bone crushing. But when I am forced to choose, I still can't think of one better than Roger Daltry in The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again". What are your picks?

― Luptune Pitman, Sunday, 27 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

James Brown would be my obvious pick, but I've always liked the 'soul' screams of Stevie Wonder and Sly Stewart.

― Jordan, Sunday, 27 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The guy who sings as Jesus on Jesus CHrist Superstar.

― Mike Hanley, Sunday, 27 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

daltrey's scream is indeed a good one. other fine examples of screaming include, but are not limited to, james brown on "cold sweat," wilson pickett on "hey jude," prince on "the beautiful ones," and greg dulli on "retarded."

― fred solinger, Sunday, 27 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Chris Cornell on "New Damage", the last track on Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger.

― Josh, Sunday, 27 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

An old chestnut of mine: Eric Burdon on "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place".

― Robin Carmody, Sunday, 27 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The female backing singer on "Gimme Shelter," where her voice half- cracks, half-screams. And then Jagger (I guess) says "Whoo!" And Seb Bach toward the end of Skid Row's "I Remember You," turning "you" into a woooah-oooooh-ooooh-oooooooh!!!!! type thing.

― AP, Sunday, 27 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Some obvious and less obvious 'uns: 1. Lennon on "Cold Turkey." 2. Rhoda Dakar on "The Boiler" by the Special AKA. 3. Alex Ayuli on "Butterfly Collector" by AR Kane ("I'm gonna KILL YA!"). 4. Terri Roche on "Exposure" by Robert Fripp. 5. Entirety of "Women with Steak Knives" by Diamanda Galas. 6. Linda Sharrock throughout entirety of "Monkey Pockey Boo" LP by Sonny Sharrock. 7. "Black Is The Colour Of My True Love's Hair" by Patty Waters. 8. Julie Tippetts on closing section of side one of Keith Tippett's "Ovary Lodge" LP (Ogun, 1976).

― Marcello Carlin, Sunday, 27 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

liam on be here now. liam's scream is the best thing on the record.

― paul, Sunday, 27 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Screaming is cool. Huh huh huh."

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Sunday, 27 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Roky Erickson in "You're gonna miss me", Yoko Ono in "Don't Worry Kyoko Mummy's Only Looking for her Hand in the Snow",Iggy Pop on "Fun House" (whole album)......these are all, uh, screamingly obvious ones...

― Duane Zarakov, Sunday, 27 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Gerrie Rosalie in the Sonics' "Strychnine" and "Psycho." Augustus Buchanan (Big Youth) in "Screaming Target." Kurt Cobain in Nirvana's "Scentless Apprentice." What's-her-face (Palmolive?) in the Slits' "Shoplifting." Preferably the John Peel version.

― Michael Daddino, Sunday, 27 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Trent Reznor in "burn". (God, I am so uncool.)

― bnw, Sunday, 27 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Paul Westerberg on any of the live cuts of 'Anywhere Is Better Than Here' because there is NOTHING musical about it at all. 'Won't Get Fooled Again' is the gimmie. Robert Plant sounds like a castrati at all times... Joplin was more butch than he.

― JM, Sunday, 27 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The opening scream in "Angel of Death" must be mentioned.

I am partial to Kim Gordon's psychotic throat moans - she sounds like she's giving birth or something; and I also like Jennifer Herrema's yelpy little cough-screams. I'm going to miss them Thursday when Neil Haggerty plays - and yes nycers I am going I don't care what you think. I just hope he's facing the crowd this time.

― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 27 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

YOKO ONO

― anthony easton, Sunday, 27 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Black Francis summoning the spirits on the Pixies' "Tame", of course. That scream sounds like it's ripping straight out of Hell.

― Sean Carruthers, Monday, 28 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Bruce Springsteen during the entirety of "Born In The USA" and "War". Joey "Shithead" Keighley on D.O.A.'s version of "War". The Butthole Surfers' Gibby Haynes (I *think* it's him) on "The Shah Sleeps In Lee Harvey's Grave" and "Bar-B-Q Pope". The Angry Samoans' Todd Homer on the completely demented "Ballad Of Jerry Curlan". Mike D on the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage". The Muffs' Kim Shattuck on "Lucky Guy". Stiff Little Fingers' Jake Burns on "Suspect Device". Hüsker Dü's Bob Mould on "Eight Miles High"

― Patrick, Monday, 28 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Oh, and of course John Lydon on PIL's "Theme".

― Patrick, Monday, 28 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

> The opening scream in "Angel of Death" must be mentioned.

YES!!!

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Monday, 28 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I love Ian Curtis' throat-ripping howl on "Transmission." Not exactly a scream, and not exactly "rockin'," but it hits hard.

― Clarke B., Monday, 28 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Little Richard - the original rock'n'roll screamer, an influence on James Brown, Otis Redding, McCartney etc. Alan Vega's screaming on 'Frankie Teardrop'. Keiji Haino's stomach-ache wail. Marcello already mentioned Lynda Sharrock, but not her similarly blissed orgasmic convulsions on Sonny Sharrock's 'Black Woman' .

― Andrew L, Monday, 28 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I can't believe none of you have mentioned Screaming Jay Hawkins. Now there is a man who could strike the fear of HELL into you, whether he's singing about voodoo or constipation.

Also, surely, 60's garage-trash monsters the Monks should get a mention.

― masonic boom, Monday, 28 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

KC, NYC Unplugged, In the Pines - chilling.

― Geoff, Monday, 28 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Aretha Franklin (Rock Steady) Sly Stone (Sing A Simple Song) Prince (too many to mention)

― John Davey, Monday, 28 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Duane - Roky, yes! (I've mentioned this on ILM twice before - it's a fucking unearthly scream, not to mention an unsettling song).

Since this one was bagged before me, I'll go for Ian Curtis on Transmission - any live version. (and we can DAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNCE!)

― Dr. C, Monday, 28 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown "Fire".

― Arthur, Monday, 28 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Sampled screaming, this always stays with me, because I can't tell if it's human or not, eg - AFX - Ventolin (plain-an-gwaary mix) on the Blech compilation, or Faith no More and Boo-Yaa Tribe - Another Body Murdered. Both highly disturbing, because the screams don't come from the performers, it's as if the songs are allowing us a glimpse of the horror beneath. The screams never stop, there's no reprieve for the victim, it just sinks back under the mix. We're almost implicated, but it's just a sample and it's for effect (.........I think.)

― K-reg, Monday, 28 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

First, I think "Sabatoge" is Ad Rock and not Mike D. Almost positive about this.

But I don't rate that scream highly. Me, I associate screams with pain, most of the time. So the scream I love most is the one that expresses pain most completely. And that would be "Negative Creep" by Nirvana. Cobain probably couldn't talk for a week after that was recorded. You can hear his vocal chords ripping apart completely about half way through. And the fact that this kind of self abuse is in service of a song about self hatred is perfect. I love the refrain:

I'm a negative creep

And I'm stoned.

The last line really hammers it home. Feeling that shitty about yourself, and on top of it all, you just smoked a bunch of weed. That's low.

― Mark, Monday, 28 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

EYE, Yoshikawa, and Yoshimi from the Boredoms. Yoshimi sings like she rules the world...she probably could, too.

― mike j, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

No! Maso Yamazaki has the greatest scream. Almost every track he makes contains screams. Too many for me to give examples, even though I only have 7 of his albums.

Urrr...lemme try, though. "Epistle To Dippy" contains one of his most accessible screams around 22 seconds in, "Hyper Chaotic 1" towards the end, "Frequency L.S.D. 6" about 1 & ½ minutes in. This fantastically wicked rhythmic stutter full of "b" & "d" sounds, etc.

Keiji Haino too - but I absolutely adore that man's vocals all the time. Especially when he sings in that ultra-high falsetto.

― Kodanshi, Thursday, 31 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

eleven months pass...

Whoever the girl is who sings "Red Alert" by Basement Jaxx.

― Nick, Sunday, 26 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Iggy Pop-TV Eye, "looooooooooooooooooooooooooord".

― Ronan, Sunday, 26 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

For the best (I mean BEST) scream ever, check out the live version of "Gates of Valhalla" by Manowar. I'm absolutely serious - dunno how he does it.

― dog latin, Sunday, 26 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Hands down, most disturbing scream in a song, ever, is in "...A Psychopath" by Lisa Germano, on _Geek the Girl_. It uses excerpts from a 911 call from a woman who is the victim of a stalker. You hear her scream "Why are you here? Why? WHY?" to her assailant and then the phone hangs up. The police didn't get to her in time, and the woman was raped. It should be mentioned that Lisa Germano herself was stalked for a year, and this album was based upon those experiences. Some men may never masturbate again after listening to this song.

― K. S., Sunday, 26 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"K! Is for KOMPRESSOR! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

― Nate Patrin, Sunday, 26 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Pale Saints "Colours of the Sky"

― Brian MacDonald, Sunday, 26 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"...why doesn't it HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURTT!!!"

Though the Lisa Germano example above is definitely the most visceral.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 26 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

oh corin shits all over this category.

― di, Sunday, 26 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Little Richard and Screamin' Jay (there's a clue in the name) are great, but for me the only rival for James Brown is James Carr, like at the end of Love Attacks.

― Martin Skidmore, Monday, 27 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

six years pass...

Whitney Houston on "It's not right but it's okay". Seriously. Bruce Dickinson can go write a book about historical naval battles.

But this, this is the winner:

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=z2W_35mgBwk

the eyebrow, the mic technique. incredible........

― m0stlyClean, Monday, 2 February 2009 02:03 (seventeen years ago)

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