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Singers who DON'T look how they sound/look EXACTLY how they sound

Started by Clownbaby, August 09, 2018, 03:14:10 PM

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Clownbaby

Before I knew what Black Francis looked like I wasn't imagining Divine without makeup crossed with a baby. I don't remember what I imagined, but it wasn't that

Also I imagined the woman doing the vocals in this song (Chloe Raunet) being a kind of intense Grace Jones type but she's not

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jTkdP2M5uac

Brundle-Fly

Boy George for me. I thought he was going to be a black reggae songstress until I watched TOTP

Spudgun

I got a huge surprise when Give It Up came round on these recent TOTP repeats, and it turned out that KC of Sunshine Band fame is white. I've got no idea why I ever thought otherwise, who I'm getting mixed up with, or how I'd got this far without ever actually seeing a picture of him, but there you go.

Twed

I can't imagine thinking this now (due to Meatloaf being so cemented in my mind over two and a half decades) but I remember being a small child and thinking that the singer of I'd Do Anything For Love would be a handsome crooner. Then I saw the video, which doubled up the surprise by it being "Hunchback"-themed.

kalowski

Quote from: Spudgun on August 09, 2018, 05:13:12 PM
I got a huge surprise when Give It Up came round on these recent TOTP repeats, and it turned out that KC of Sunshine Band fame is white. I've got no idea why I ever thought otherwise, who I'm getting mixed up with, or how I'd got this far without ever actually seeing a picture of him, but there you go.
Perhaps, like me, you used to get Kool and the Gang and KC and the Sunshine Band mixed up. I probably thought they were Kool C and the Sunshine Gang.

DrGreggles

Ben from Gomez*.
Sounds like Tom Waits, looks like the Milky Bar kid.

*20 years ago, less so now

Bazooka


gmoney

Quote from: kalowski on August 09, 2018, 05:46:11 PM
Perhaps, like me, you used to get Kool and the Gang and KC and the Sunshine Band mixed up. I probably thought they were Kool C and the Sunshine Gang.

Me too! KC looks a bit like a reanimated corpse I reckon. He'd have been good in the Thriller video, with his undead moves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psFQMKcsIF8

sevendaughters

the two lads from The Turtles. they look like they should be making furtive sex noises in a Games Workshop. they sing like angels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANPGyzmgvk4

flotemysost

I always used to assume Portishead's Beth Gibbons was a glamorous black woman.

Melvins do not sound like they are fronted by a podgy, benevolent mad scientist.

Lots of artists have an image that's so clearly cultivated to be a sartorial summary of their sound, and I find it a bit contrived and boring. E.g. The Libertines = raffish young lads, slightly literary/bohemian but not above a pub brawl. Or Florence + The Machine = passionate, poetic Romantic with an electro twist. I know that probably isn't entirely their own fault in either case, though.

alan nagsworth

I was extremely alarmed when I saw Les Savy Fav perform and realised that the singer looked nowt like Brian Molko, but was in fact a huge stocky bloke with a fuckoff beard changing in and out of a load of mental costumes and writhing about in the crowd.

studpuppet

In the "Fascinating creatures. Sounds like a lady, but really it's a man..." corner are Neil Sedaka and David McAlmont.

Lemming

People who look EXACTLY how they sound:
John Linnell and John Flansburgh
Cyndi Lauper
Burke Shelley
Rivers Cuomo
Robert Smith
Paul Weller
Annie Lennox

For people who DON'T look how they sound, Rick Astley instantly springs to mind, as does Scott Weiland. I've never managed to square away Scott Weiland's voice and appearance in my mind, maybe it's just me.

I also thought that song that the radio plays every 5 seconds right now, Shotgun, was sung by a black man. Shock when I found out that George Ezra is actually a baby-faced white guy.

greenman

Quote from: studpuppet on August 09, 2018, 09:40:26 PM
In the "Fascinating creatures. Sounds like a lady, but really it's a man..." corner are Neil Sedaka and David McAlmont.

Horace Andy surely comes top here?

non capisco

When I first heard 'Loser' by Beck on the radio I thought it was by a grizzled old geezer with a face like a desiccated walnut, coaxing the central riff out of an equally weatherbeaten slide guitar with his clubbed treefingers. Then I saw him on Top Of The Pops and he looked about nine. To wrongfoot me even further he was miming to the record with a backing band of doddering old men.




flotemysost

Quote from: non capisco on August 09, 2018, 09:58:24 PM
When I first heard 'Loser' by Beck on the radio I thought it was by a grizzled old geezer with a face like a desiccated walnut, coaxing the central riff out of an equally weatherbeaten slide guitar with his clubbed treefingers. Then I saw him on Top Of The Pops and he looked about nine. To wrongfoot me even further he was miming to the record with a backing band of doddering old men.

In a similar vein - maybe an obvious choice as he's such a chameleon, but Mike Patton's stellar impression of a middle-aged, shotgun-toting, beer-gutted, Bud-swilling redneck on FNM's RV is quite startling as he was actually a very pretty (and possibly straight-edge?) twentysomething at the time.

For singers looking exactly as they sound, his Mondo Cane performances would fit the bill.


Sebastian Cobb

Tracy Chapman sounds like she should look like a weedy little white guy.

jobotic

Timi Yuro is the correct answer.

For look like they sound, Lou Reed is the correct answer.


Maurice Yeatman

Quote from: flotemysost on August 09, 2018, 08:20:18 PM
I always used to assume Portishead's Beth Gibbons was a glamorous black woman.

That's what people often said about Lisa Stansfield when All Around the World came on the radio out of nowhere https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVuuatjHGnY

Quote from: sevendaughters on August 09, 2018, 06:46:56 PM
the two lads from The Turtles. they look like they should be making furtive sex noises in a Games Workshop. they sing like angels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANPGyzmgvk4

I've only just watched an amusing (if you're in the right mood) interview with them on Whistle Test in 1972 - about 25 minutes in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxENhuutYPE

Hecate

Quote from: Maurice Yeatman on August 10, 2018, 12:09:33 AM
All Around the World

I had that song stuck in my head for some reason the other day.
This is the best bit - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVuuatjHGnY&t=1m40s

Oooh-hooo, hooo! Cheeky cow, fucking look at me like that and turn away. I hope you don't find your baby, how's that?

I'm sure she turns into Limmy for a split second on the first ooooh.

I don't know what i was expecting but when I first saw the Marcy Playground guy, I was like "what the fuck!" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJhL3VOOatA

manticore

Quote from: greenman on August 09, 2018, 09:56:10 PM
Horace Andy surely comes top here?

Horace Andy sounds like an ethereal being to me, not exactly human female.

Twed

Eric Burdon of The Animals seems almost too obvious. That sound shouldn't come out of him.

Shaky

Mike Patton looks and speaks exactly how he sings.

Same with Gary Numan.

Nowhere Man

I think teenage Steve Winwood singing those early soulful renditions of Gimme Some Lovin' and Keep On Running takes the cake.

Not to mention:

https://youtu.be/TG32gmIIsVo

How the fuck does a white teenager from Birmingham get to sing like that??

studpuppet

Quote from: Twed on August 10, 2018, 04:44:02 AM
Eric Burdon of The Animals seems almost too obvious. That sound shouldn't come out of him.

Mind you, the sound then and Eric now is a better fit:


studpuppet

Quote from: manticore on August 10, 2018, 03:52:06 AM
Horace Andy sounds like an ethereal being to me, not exactly human female.

I'd stick Horace in the same bracket as Russell Thompkins Jr. You can tell it isn't a female voice. Laughter In The Rain always catches me out, however.

buzby

Quote from: flotemysost on August 09, 2018, 08:20:18 PM
I always used to assume Portishead's Beth Gibbons was a glamorous black woman.
See also Sia Furler - on her first two albums (OnlySee and Healing Is Difficult) in particular she sounds like a veteran blues singer despite being an early 20s white girl from Australia.

The 'big bloke singing in falsetto' thing like Horace Andy would also apply to Ricky Barrow (of The Aloof), Roland Gift and Cee-Lo Green

Hobo With A Shit Pun

CW Stoneking should not be a spherically headed cherubic looking Ozzie whiteboy. He should be ancient, black, American and dead. Dresses the part, though.