Singers whose voice you can't stand

[mr sneff]

Van Morrison, Robert Wyatt

 

[Jonathan]

Van Morrison, Robert Wyatt

oh my GOD YES van morrison!! ugh thanks

 

[Ward]

My wife absolutely hates Ricky Lee Jones which is a shame as I absolutely love her music.

 

[Big Tabs]

I do think we need to cut a lot of slack to songwriters who may not be the greatest singers in a technical sense. e.g. Dylan, Neil Young etc.

Quite possible to like the song and dislike the voice.

I like Dylans voice (does depend which decade) but Neil Young has always got on my pip.

 

[foxwelljsly]

I do think we need to cut a lot of slack to songwriters who may not be the greatest singers in a technical sense. e.g. Dylan, Neil Young etc.

The world is full of musicians and singers who are masters of technique that make shit music. Don't let that fool you, no amount of hard work will make up for a paucity of talent and they're still shit. Its the grit in the oyster that makes the pearl etc..

I'm off to cleanse my palate with a bit of the Godz and The Fugs for the rest of the afternoon.

Oh, and in the answer to the OP, I heard a band called Greta Van Fleet recently. Quite apart from being absolutely the worst pile of self-important, joyless retro-rock cack I have ever heard, their singer sounds like he's failing an audition for a high school Rush tribute act. Truly, truly awful without even the entertainment value of Bobby Gillespie's club-singer rapping - which would be my second choice. Well, him or Neil bloody Diamond.

 

[Snufkin]

The Fugs came up with probably my favourite album title of all time - 'It Crawled Into My Hand, Honest'.

 

[Jamie]

Any Beach Boys.
Any Bee Gees.

 

[Seeker_UK]

Geddy Lee (high pitched squeaking)

You'll love David Surkamp then...

 

[Seeker_UK]

She had no Soul.
Until she was broken. Awful thing to say...

Her first recorded outing was pretty spiffy...

 

[Tony L]

...but she only found real fame when she joined The JAMMS:

 

[roman]

Van Morrison - strangulated tosh, and the singer from m people, a voice like snot smeared on glass.

 

[RustyB]

Edie Reader (Fairgroud Attraction). Attracted? Hardly, don't like nails on blackboard either.

 

[JensenHealey]

I dislike Van the Man too.

funny I was chatting to a colleague at work and saying how when was at Uni, mid 70s, there were folks there that literally thought Dylan was a God. I can tolerate it as a form of poetry, but not singing.

 

[seagull]

Are you implying that you like all singers voices

Not at all. Many I don't give the time of day have been mentioned already.

I'm surprised that two of my favourites haven't been mentioned yet...Peter Hammill and Robert Smith.

 

[Whaleblue]

Joni Mitchell and the guy from Anthony And The Johnsons. Can’t get through one song of theirs, just awful!

Joni? Are you serious?

 

[Whaleblue]

• Billie Eilish - Flavour of the week, I actively disliked her voice YEARS ago.

When she was a baby? (She’s only just turned 19!)

 

[35451]

Soft AOR rock too. Just tons of it. If you can imagine a sea of middle aged people at a festival waving their lighters in the air without actually wanting to cleanse the song with fire, that is what I’m on about. It is just as bad a cliche as the X-Factor over-singing thing.

PS In fairness as these things go Whitney Houston was one of the better ones. She may have been the blueprint for the ‘57 notes and a long warble to every single word’ thing, but she did have a lot of genuine talent and could also not do it if the song called for it.

Steely Dan?

 

[35451]

Joni? Are you serious?

Deadly serious.

 

[Tony L]

Steely Dan?

They never did a ‘power ballad’ or anything even close to my mind. I was thinking Asia, Europe, Toto, Extreme, T-Pau etc, that sort of thing.

 

[Rug Doc]

Heather Small - M people

Permantely sounds like she’s taking the mickey out of a bad singer by putting on a silly voice. I can’t stand it.