Favourite singers with ‘bad’ voices.

I was just enjoying The Gun Club’s first album and was thinking about how Jeffrey Lee Pierce’s voice really suits the music and sounds great even though he is all over the place technically. I started to think about other singers who are technically ‘bad’ and would be laughed off these ‘talent’ shows that people love so well these days. Wayne Coyne is another favourite of mine who is sharp, flat and basically ‘not a particularly good singer’.
Who else would you highlight in this category?

 

Obviously (given my avatar pic) Ace Frehley is another one!!

 

Mark Arm of Mudhoney. I love it.

 

Shaun Ryder's voice fitted the Happy Mondays outlaw funk sound (and their outlaw image) perfectly, but he never even got close to a tune.

 

Richard Butler of the Psychedelic Furs

 

Who’s that then?

 

Ian Hunter. The guy either yells or talk-sings, and his songs just wouldn't seem right with proper singing.

 

It's clearly someone's dad.

 

People don't know Bob Weir (Grateful Dead) when they see him?

 

I guess not!

 

I said "dead." I said, "Clearly, someone's dead."

 

Good, Bad, But Beautiful.. MARK E SMITH.

 

Shane McGowan - but his voice is perfect for putting across his songs.

 

stephen malkmus

 

Lemmy from Motorhead.

 

Well a lot of people would say Lou Reed, but he did a lot with his limited range. Very personable and affecting voice. Which is kind of the point as a singer - to create an emotional response in the listener, rather than gymnastics. No one would ever mistake another singer for Lou.

Not known as having a "bad" voice, but the female equivalent might be Suzanne Vega, she has the same plainspoken NYC delivery that just sells anything she sings. You believe her, as with Lou.

 

Paul Westerberg

 

Mick Jagger
Iggy
Bob Dylan (before he started with his self-parody voices...)
Joe Strummer
Joey Ramone
Jimi Hendrix
Jon Spencer
Kathleen Hanna
Jason Pierce...
Stopping there because I've realised that just about all my favourite singers have 'bad' voices... What consitutes a 'good' voice?

 

David Gedge from The Wedding Present and Cinerama.

 

Much love here for the vocal renderings from Mr.Thomas Alan Waits.

True perfection.

 

I'd say the obvious answers would be Dylan & Neil Young but my favorites that aren't so well-known would be John Darnielle from The Mountain Goats and Jeff Mangum from Neutral Milk Hotel. I personally love all their voices but some people I've tried to get to listen to their music have told me they that they hated their voices.

 

Burke Shelley from Budgie.

 

Kind of appropriate thread this as I was listening to the two Richard Harris/Jimmy Webb albums last night.