Songs ruined by out-of-tune vocals

I'm a fan of Nick Lowe's quote "All my favorite records are out of tune."

Speaking as someone who doesn't exactly have an innate sense of pitch, I'll attest that it's possible for most people to improve it, with enough attention and exposure. (My sense of rhythm and timbre are much better; that's what clues me in to off-speed live recordings.) But I also think my relatively fuzzy margin of toleration toward pitch helps me to enjoy more musical performances.I'm fine with Afrobeat guitar jams where the guitars aren't all quite consonant with each other. I like the timbre of Rosalie Sorrel's voice, even when she doesn't land right on all of the notes.

Which brings up two questions I have for the pitch-sensitive:

1) Cher's vocal on "Half-Breed": on-key, or off?

2) would Karen Carpenter have done a better version?

 

oh, indisputably. I just want people to sound as much like themselves as possible. I don't want Leon Russell to cop the most monotone singing style possible, just because his voice can't glide all around like Al Green or Adam Levine.

I don't have much use for prioritizing obnoxiousness, either. It sounds like a parody of authentic rage, or intensely felt emotion. A distancing gimmick, disguised as its opposite.

 

The point about blue notes is that blue notes have the effect that they do because they're "out of tune."

Longer passages can also have the effect that they do because they're "out of tune." That effect would be ruined by them being "in tune."

Now if you don't like the "out of tune" passage you can think that something would be better by being "in tune," but for some of us on some pieces of music, the fact that something is "out of tune" is what makes it work as well as it does, so that it wouldn't work as well if it were "in tune."

For my tastes, there's no limit to what's acceptable pitch-wise, rhythm-wise, etc. Any approach can work. I don't like the idea of having some narrower normative that I'm going to apply to everything--which is something you seem to be fond of. I like the idea of seeing what we can do with different physical possibilities. We can create (subjectively, of course) worthwhile works using any conceivable approach in my opinion.

It should be pretty obvious that being "out of tune" can be an asset to someone, where changing it so that the same thing is in tune would negatively affect a song, just by realizing this: a set of pitches over time where a singer is consistently a quarter-tone, an eighth-tone, etc. flat or sharp is going to be different than the same set of pitches where the singer is consistently "in tune." Well, some people are going to like the former better than the latter (and vice versa, of course). For the people who like the former more, the more unusual pitch content is WHY they like it more--that's the only difference that we're positing. You seem to be assuming that everyone is going to like the (more or less) "in tune" version at least as much if not better, but that's often not the case.

 

okay sorry, was not a good comparison... was just two of my favourite bands with rather quirky vocals.... and the vocals make the unique sound of the band... of course the style is totally different... indie-country-rock versus retro-brit-pop

 

Pretty much anything sung by Billy Corgan

 

How about this

 

LOL I know that song....you know it's supposed to be funny..

 

Her Facebook page (LOL):
Gloria Balsam

 

All my own recordings. I am not a good singer.

 

I discovered this purely by accident on YouTube. I'll let it speak for itself.

 

It's not singing, but I have noticed some guitar fans think players are "out of tune" when they bend notes. It took me a while to figure out that's what it is.

 

I know she has an unusual voice thats why i listen to the likes of Dylan, Lou reed, Beefheart and Tom waits

 

Seconded. This is real Rhythm & Blues here. The sounds of human longing and emotions. Something you won't find on American Idol or any Karaoke wannabe singing show.

 

I know why Fluffy ran away.

 

Agreed. I have a strong suspicion many of these claims are being made by people who don’t know something intimate from a hole in the ground.

 

There's a ton of autotune on her 2003 eponymous album... like that album needed yet another reason to be hated.

 

Nicely put.

Some of you might find the following piece interesting (warning, do not expect this to sound "in tune" in any conventional way). It gives you a sense of how beautiful it can be for music to really explore what's possible beyond the conventional limits of "acceptable pitch:"



L.

 

Most songs on Hurry Up, We're Dreaming. Out of tune + heavy reverb is a bad combo for me.

 

Too many Stones song to mention

 

While this isn't an out of tune vocal part, I'm fascinated at how out of tune the guitar riff in the Paul McCartney and Wings' song "Bluebird" is at the 3:00 mark.



I'm surprised that this hasn't been addressed in any of the subsequent remasters that've come out over the years. It's a shame too cuz it's one of Macca's few good post-Beatles songs.

 

Marc Almond goes off quite a bit but it suits him somehow

 

The Jam - "Away From The Numbers". Great tune, but neither Weller nor Foxton get close to nailing it vocally.

 

I never noticed that was out of tune. I love that song though.

 

U2 b-side "Trash Trampoline and the Party Girl", starting about 1:40 onwards. Brutal. I am convinced that the only reason they did "Party Girl" on the UNDER A BLOOD RED SKY live mini album is for Bono to redeem himself. Beneath the ****e vox, lies a good tune...

 

This topic is highly subjective, and also some music styles are suited, I mean nobody can disagree that some of the early punk stuff was in perfect pitch? A punk song in tune? Doesn't fit right with the music I'd say. And can anyone imagine Bob Dylan being autotuned? It would never be the same. I think autotune has a lot to answer for these days in making music so all the same and taking any kind of individualist nuance that makes up a vocalist sound unique. Thats my two scents worth.