Like Sandpaper

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I really enjoy male vocalists who get criticized for not being able to sing. I think there is a charm to their raw roughhewed voice. ( Tom Waits , Lenoard Cohen, Bob Dylan) What Do Y'All Think ?

― anthony, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I definetely think the "raw roughhewed voice" is an acquired taste. I have loads of respect for Tom Waits -- great lyricist, hilarious raconteur, decent actor, all-around cool gent -- but I have a *VERY* hard time getting used to/around *THAT VOICE*. I'm not as familiar with Leanard Cohen, but the same holds true for me with Dylan (whose voice I find much more grating than Waits').

― alex in nyc, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I totally agree with Anthony. In fact, I would be hard pressed to name more than a couple of singers (harsh voiced or not) who I like as much as the three he mentioned. I guess a fourth name I would add to that list is Shane Macgowan.

― hans, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Others: Jake Burns of Belfast's incendiary STIFF LITTLE FINGERS, Brian Johnson and....er...Bonnie Tyler, Rod Stewart and Kim "Bette Davis Eyes" Carnes.

― alex in nyc, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Sometimes a rough voice can work extremely well. Sometimes it impedes getting into the music. For example, Macy Gray has a voice that would be fantastic in a certain context. Unfortunately, I can only narrow that context down to "something she hasn't tried yet" because everything she's done has been bad. (There are some exceptions, but I can't think of them. Generally, anything that keeps her voice in a high range is going to work better because she can't sing any low notes AT ALL.)

― Dan Perry, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Nazareth, anyone?

― dave q, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Cinderella?

― Arthur, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Jeff Magnum!...(*shuffles away quietly*)

― jel, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Bobby Bland, who sometimes sounds as if he's coughing up the world's biggest ball of phlegm.

― Andrew L, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Slipknot guy! He's good!

― DavidM, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ultimate album: Nashville Skyline. Dylan and Cash warbling and rasping around and thru and past each other.

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

My favorite Dylan album

― anthony, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

bon scott, eh?

― fritz, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

yr forgetting the barking bard billy bragg!

― Geoff, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

of course

― anthony, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

But Billy's not so much sandpapery ... he just sounds like someone's stuffed his mouth full of marshmallows. Plenty of you English types sound like that. :)

― Nitsuh, Tuesday, 11 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

but he is raw and roughhewn.

― anthony, Tuesday, 11 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

They're not all the same. Waits is a dullard, Dylan a genius.

Nashville Skyline is - pace Hand - surely a red herring here. Nowhere in his career has Dylan ever sung more *smoothly*.

― the pinefox, Wednesday, 12 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Waits is a Dullard? Are you crazy? Whoever thinks that is obviously incapable of putting his pants on in the morning! Having said that, I don't like his jazzy/lounge stuff, or for that mattter, anybody else's jazzy/lounge stuff.

― hans, Wednesday, 12 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I really like Hayden Desser's voice. It's like getting a sheet-metal cut on your finger.

Also, Joy Division would have been very different if Ian had been able to carry a tune without constantly going flat.

― matthew m., Wednesday, 12 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Anthony - I totally agree with you. But I once heard Bob Dylan's voice describes as "the sound of a dog with its leg caught in barbed wire".

David E. Williams too! He rocks like a sisterfucker!

― Kodanshi, Thursday, 13 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Who's Ian Curtis' closest vocal analogue, Kermit or Bert?

― dave q, Thursday, 13 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

DEFINITELY Bert. I suspect I'll never view "Sesame Street" the same way again.

― Dan Perry, Thursday, 13 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I would like to nomiante Robbie Fulks

― anthony, Thursday, 13 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

four months pass...

Bob Dylans voice showed some promise on time out of mind and things have changed, but he has lost it again, big time. Tom Waits takes some getting used to, but it is worth it. Lenoard Cohen is brilliant and smart enough to use female singers to make his dull monotone easier to digest. Another person I would add here is Johnny Cash. The American recording albums have that roughhewed thing downpat. His last album sound as if he is sick and dying and it is almost like he is going to lose it altogether.

― jason, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

LEMMY KILMINSTER!

― Lord Custos, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

That guy from the Lazy Cowgirls. Whiskey and Cigarettes.

― Dave225, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think both Mark Lanegan and Barry Black fit into this category quite well..

― electric sound of jim, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I was just gonna say Mark Lanegan.

― Sean, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Wild Man Fischer

― Andy K., Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

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