The Top Ten Most Unique Male Voices in Rock and Roll

Everyone appreciates a good vocalist. When I go to a show, the band can be as good as they want, I'm not going to put up with their annoying, shitty vocalist. But I do not measure the pedigree of a singer in pure singing ability, I judge them on what how they factor into the final product, how they define the music's sound. That said, a lot of vocalist I consider to be fantastic, are considered by certain populations to be terrible singers. But without each of their peculiar voices, their music would not hold the unique appeal each offers. This is a list of who I consider to have the top ten unique voices in Rock and Roll.

10. Issac Brock - Modest Mouse

Mr. Brock is the definitive "Redneck Poet". His singing tends to teeter on hollering, and he's content to yell his message rather than sing it. His lyrics have always been clever, thoughtful, and simple. His intelligence personified by his apparent drunkenness, if that makes sense.








9. Frank Zappa - The Mothers of Invention / Solo Artist

Not enough people realize Frank's importance in the realm of music. Zappa was an unabashedly creative individual, who pushed every boundary he found, musical or political. Yet, the area where Frank proves to be most overlooked is in his vocals. While he played a multitude of instruments, and had mastered the guitar, Frank was also a classically trained singer. His voice, while deep and nasally, proved to have a huge range. Furthermore, Frank was hilarious. Read some of his lyrics, and you'll understand why he was a huge anti-censorship advocate.



8. Caleb Followill - The Kings of Leon
I don't think I'd be a Kings of Leon fan if Caleb wasn't singing. His vocal prowess, is defined by his muddled, southern drawl. On the band's first album, his voice is entirely unintelligible, and for some reason I found that to be absolutely fascinating. He might as well have never written any lyrics. But write he did, and his atypical themes of teenage horniness were pervaded by his beautiful mumbling. On their latest album, I can understand most of what he says. But that might just be me becoming accustomed to his broken jaw style of singing.




7. Thom Yorke - Radiohead
Thom Yorke is an essential part of Radiohead's enormous success. His shaky falsetto provides the perfect avenue for the band's emotional, schizophrenic sound. His distinctive tenor is marked by a strong vibrato, as well as a powerful ability to sustain high notes. He's openly critical of his voice, going as far as to describe it as "acidic". But his lyrical and vocal contributions to his band's product are unquantifiable, and prove his individuality.







6. Bon Scott - AC/DC
Everyone can recognize Bon Scott's loud, Scottish growl. His voice fulfilled more than simply a musical role, it also seemed to represent an atmosphere for which Angus Young to pound out the only three chords he knew. AC/DC is criticized by many, myself included, for being overly repetitive. Yet, I find myself listening to AC/DC, for great lengths to only enjoy the swanky feel of Scott's voice. It seems to embody excess, as if no matter what he's saying, he means that "I'm having a great fucking time." When Scott died, a lot of people felt AC/DC lost their edge, and even though Brian Johnson was a good replacement for the Scotsman, things never really felt right.




5. Robert Plant - Led Zeppelin/Solo Artist
A friend of mine used to speculate how Plant figured out he could sing. He suggested that maybe Plant's father was beating him, and as young Robert screamed, he realized he sounded damn good. Plant screams, moans, and shrieks across every Led Zeppelin album, and provides the entire basis for the band's sex-riddled sound. Led Zeppelin is going on tour soon, without Robert, and to me that removes the entire temptation to spend hundreds of dollars on tickets. I've even heard that the singer they're touring with is the guy from Alterbridge. Fuck that.



4. Nick Cave - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds/Solo Artist
This might be the first time some of you have heard of Nick. Nick Cave hails from Australia, and is the bad-boy front man for The Bad Seeds. He lacks any real singing talent, as he struggles to keep his footing on one pitch, and often allows his voice to slip and crack. And I love him. No other singer so effectively transfers emotional message from their lyrics to the music. Nick can move a man to tears, and possesses a individual talent in sounding genuinely sad. His reputation as a poet is well established. My favorite Nick Cave recording is actually a lecture he gave on the philosophy of the love song. A must listen.



3. Freddie Mercury (Farrokh Bulsara) - Queen
There really hasn't been another singer quite like Freddie Mercury. A classically trained vocalist, Freddie possessed a vocal of range of 4 1/2 octaves, and was considered by many to have perfect pitch. The most notable part of Mercury's voice was it's crystal clear sound in the upper reaches of his music. Every high note was marked by staggering clarity, and made him the envy of every singer in Rock and Roll. Queen hasn't been the same since Mercury's death, and they continue to limp along without him.





2. Tom Waits - Solo Artist
Tom fights Frank for the title of "strangest musician", at least on this list. When Tom Waits started out, he had a fairly normal voice. It was deep and growly, but it wasn't something you'd pick out of a crowd. That changed. Tom's voice now sounds like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car. I mean that in a good way. Tom's unique poetry is defined purely by his gravel road of a voice. Sometimes he sounds like a barking monster, sometimes like a ghostly spectre that barely has a voice, and sometimes like a man who has smoked enough cigarettes to open a hole in the ozone layer. Yet, he always maintains pitch, and is by far the coolest singer/songwriter in the business.



1. Bob Dylan - Solo Artist
I find it really hard to listen to Bob Dylan covers, because they don't have Bob Dylan. Every single one of them seems to lack the expression and sincerity Dylan displayed in his work, and none of them seems to catch the theme of the original. Dylan, again, was one of those artists that lacked a "good" singing voice, and instead owned a sound that cast him as the voice of a generation, the voice of change. The themes Dylan expressed in his lyrics ranged from social matters, to the issues of love. His voice was a masterpiece of expression, a rambling zenith for against which many songwriters are compared. Dylan's appeal moves beyond simply his music, his depth as a lyricist cements his role as one of this century's greatest poets.

Honorable Mentions: Jeff Buckley, Geddy Lee, Neil Young, and Weird Al Yankovic

So there you have it, my top ten list. I'm sure many will find this list debatable, but I feel that those not mentioned just didn't cut it.