Greatest rock vocalists?

[Barry Admin]

Gotta say Corin Tucker for me, she's pretty much unbeatable. I just stuck on Sleater-Kinney's NPR show from a year or two back as background noise while I wrote a post, and "Price Tag" blew me away. I'm struggling to find the words at the minute, so I'm gonna be a total wank and paste in what I said a while back

Corin Tucker is absolutely unmatchable as a vocalist. Her voice has become so rich and versatile over the years, Gimme Love just pins me to the fucking wall. She can still do that amazing sort of tremolo-heavy goat whinnying, but she can also just project a really clear, powerful blast of vocal power that you could fucking weaponise and destroy buildings with.

[bgmnts]

Freddie is the obvious answer. Pretty sure I read Axl Rose can sing in all five octave vocal ranges, which is insanity.

I quite like Ann Wilson, especially in Crazy On You.

[Captain Crunch]

Pretty sure I read Axl Rose can sing in all five octave vocal ranges, which is insanity.

They used to say Dio had the best range / sustain / volume / whatever else people use to be objective about these things.  Not sure if that's true and if so, how would you measure such things? 

For personal choice I'd go for Paul Rodgers every time, pure molten gold. 

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Chris Cornell.

Gotta say Corin Tucker for me, she's pretty much unbeatable.

Each to their own. Her voice is the specific thing that always put me off them.

[bgmnts]

Chris Cornell.
Each to their own. Her voice is the specific thing that always put me off them.

Ironically i'd say the exact same thing with Chris Cornell!

[idunnosomename]

Axl Rose's bass register stuff sounds pretty silly. dont you cryyYYyYyYYyyYyyyyyyyy oh fuck off.

I would whack for Freddie Mercury in mastery of range, but Dio was excellent too. Neither relied on falsetto. Also worth pointing out that Bruce Dickinson only uses falsetto for screams. But then Rob Halford's best falsetto is just AWESOME (intro of All Guns Blazing)

[lankyguy95]

Mike Patton's the answer for range, power and vocal prowess.

[Noodle Lizard]

Mike Patton's the answer for range, power and vocal prowess.

Aye, and never hitting a bum note as far as I can tell. Devin Townsend as well. Boring choices, but as far as rock-oriented music goes I've still not come across any quite as good as them in terms of skill, range and consistency - whilst also being proper good performers, of course.

[Dewt]

Ann Wilson

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

Sun Records era Elvis Presley is the correct answer.

Colin Blunstone also a personal favourite.

[BlodwynPig]

Dane Stevens ;)
David Surkamp ;))

[Shaky]

Aye, and never hitting a bum note as far as I can tell.

Ah, now... not strictly true, especially if we factor in more recent live performances. But when he's on form (and he usually is), I'd certainly put him near the top spot.

[Gulftastic]

Noddy Holder.

[alan nagsworth]

John Maus

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Grace Slick set everything she sang on fire, even in the extremely dull post 1978 portion of her career. A lot of natural talent wasted in the 80s

might as well post an example https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7OsKoAd9KrU

[jobotic]

Prefer Cochran to Presley, brilliant though his Sin stuff is.

It's Lou Reed anyway

[Shit Good Nose]

Neil makes list thread shock!

For personal choice I'd go for Paul Rodgers every time, pure molten gold.

+1

Also Jimmy Dewar.

John Wetton - a bit of a marmite choice I know and limited range, but the power...

Thijs Van Leer is another one who had the full range.  Not since the late 70s mind (and he's barely sung at all for the last 10-odd years).  Amazing at his peak, though.

Ian Gillan was pretty special from 69 to about early 72, until the warbling took over too much.

Ike era Tina Turner when she was blasting out all her hate and anger in her vocals was something.  Was still a good vocalist post that mess of course, but obviously she went down the more soft soul and poppy rout.

Michael/Micki Steele had a great voice when she was in the Bangles - some real grit underneath - but obviously never got to use it that much in that arena.  Also sounds like she's lost it of late - the last few vids I've seen of her singing live were pretty bad.

[timebug]

John Fogerty. Watched a concert on YouPubes from when the bloke was about sixty and he still had the power and gusto that he used to display on the C.C.R. records back in the day.

[Shit Good Nose]

John Fogerty. Watched a concert on YouPubes from when the bloke was about sixty and he still had the power and gusto that he used to display on the C.C.R. records back in the day.

Ah yeah, good shout that.

[drummersaredeaf]

Ironically i'd say the exact same thing with Chris Cornell!

I once slapped a guy for not liking Soundgarden.

[Neville Chamberlain]

Bono Vox.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Noddy Holder.

I agree with this post.

[lankyguy95]

Aye, and never hitting a bum note as far as I can tell. Devin Townsend as well. Boring choices, but as far as rock-oriented music goes I've still not come across any quite as good as them in terms of skill, range and consistency - whilst also being proper good performers, of course.

It's interesting, I think Patton, as I said, has a real shout for being the greatest rock vocalist ever in terms of what he can do. But then there are others that I probably prefer. For tone, feel and melody, I love Maynard James Keenan and I love Chino Moreno. I think Daryl Palumbo from Glassjaw has a really unique and powerful approach to his vocals (very influenced by Patton). HR from Bad Brains I love for his presence and his range of vocal styles back in the day. Dio's been mentioned, as has Cornell. Jeff Buckley, to pick someone on a different side of things.

[NoSleep]

Lisa Kekaula. She was great depping for Rob Tyner when I saw her with MC3/DKT and from there looked up her own band The Bellrays (think the Stooges fronted by Tina Turner). Makes you realise that a lot of the most prominent rock vocalists have been most influenced by soul singers.

And Iggy, of course.

[SteK]

It's not Ian Brown...

[Jerzy Bondov]

On balance, all things considered, I think I would have to say: Richard Ashcroft

[kngen]

Lisa Kekaula. She was great depping for Rob Tyner when I saw her with MC3/DKT and from there looked up her own band The Bellrays (think the Stooges fronted by Tina Turner). Makes you realise that a lot of the most prominent rock vocalists have been most influenced by soul singers.

Yeah, she's a force of nature. A personal favourite.

Basment Jaxx should be falling to their knees and thanking God every day after she agreed to grace their songs with her presence.

[maett]

Steve Marriott isn't it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oaw7evBdrE

[chveik]

it's Captain Beefheart

[kngen]

One of these three. Fuck knows what their vocal ranges are, but this is rock not opera. Pick your king.