how many of your favourite bands have singers?

97

I can name the obvious 94 of those, C., but who are the other three?

It's what you do with it that counts...I think a good voice coupled with creativity is best (sorry if that's obvious).

All of the rawk. Few of the Jazz.

Not often that I like a singer who has taken lessons. Those singers tend to be copycats and melodramatic.

In general, I find that technically good, and therefore probably trained, singers do more varied, more interesting things with their voices. Their possibilities are greater.

There are so many bands I don't want to listen to primarily because the singers don't do it for me. It seems that a lot of people in rock think that playing an instrument takes a little effort, but singing should just kind of come by itself (a sweeping generalization I am not prepared to back up).

are you making a distinction between "singer" and "vocalist"? because i'd say 95% of the bands i like have singers. Not that interested in intrumental stuff, rock/pop especially. Jazz/electronic is different, but often they are not really "bands"

I think the voice part of it can be a particularly subjective thing. I think you are mostly looking for expression, passion and distinctiveness rather than technicality. Some techincally great singers lack any sort of expression (hello Celine Dion, Annastasia). A lot of average singers also lack expression like Baby Spice. But what about Tom Waits? You can't argue that his singing doesn't fit the sentiment he is tring to get across. What about Kurt Cobain, Mark E smith, Shane McGowan, Nick Drake? If you think about Massive Attack's Unfinished Sympathy.. it is not sung that great technically but it still sends shivers down the spine...