Is there a name for this singing style?

[woodstockbirdybird]

There's a certain style of (rock) singing that I find damn-near intolerable. It's best exemplified, IMO, by Paul Stanley of KISS, though it applies to Michael Bolton and Janis Joplin and a bunch of old hard rock/classic rock singers as well. It's characterized by straining (or at least sounding strained), which I take the singers confuse with having soul. To me, it just sounds like they suffer from constipation. I find it so shrill and grating, it ruins any chance I have of enjoying the music (not that most of the practitioners make music I care about anyway). Anybody know if there's an "official" name for this kind of singing? And what are some other examples, if you know what I'm talking about?

[woodstockbirdybird]

If nobody has a name for this style, I'm going to call it "cowbell". Because it is used chiefly by artists who think a cowbell is appropriate to use in a rock song. Also because I'd rather listen to a cow moo than these singers.

[Irishman]

Could you give a better description of the parts to which you're referring?

Are you just talking about, for instance, trying to be loud and sort of screaming? Are you talking about pitch, trying to go too high? What is it that is straining to you?

[panache45]

My chorus director calls it "stepping outside one's beauty box."

[woodstockbirdybird]

Could you give a better description of the parts to which you're referring?

Are you just talking about, for instance, trying to be loud and sort of screaming? Are you talking about pitch, trying to go too high? What is it that is straining to you?

Pitch, definitely. They all sound like they're trying to sing too high to me, though seeing them perform it doesn't appear that they're actually straining too much. I like panache45's description.

[Saint Cad]

Is it the same style like John Lennon in "Oh Darling"?

[bicyclops]

Is it the same style like John Lennon in "Oh Darling"?

"Oh Darling" is sung by Paul McCartney

[Le Ministre de l'au-delà]

For curiosity, how do you feel about Tom Waits' singing?

[Thudlow Boink]

I think I understand what you're talking about, even though I don't listen to any of the singers you named. When you picture someone singing like this, their eyes are clenched shut and they have a serious, straining look on their face, right?If nobody has a name for this style, I'm going to call it "cowbell".Probably not a good idea, since, if I'm understanding you correctly, "Don't Fear the Reaper" does not feature this vocal style.

[woodstockbirdybird]

For curiosity, how do you feel about Tom Waits' singing?

I'm fine with Waits - he's got more of a gruff, ragged voice, like Paul Westerberg; he doesn't get all shrieky. McCartney's vocal on "Oh! Darling" is close to what I'm talking about, but it doesn't bother me in the least (in fact, I think it's one of his best vocal performances, even if it wasn't done in one take). That might have more to do with my personal prejudices - I'm a huge Beatles fan - but I think McCartney is able to inest more of himself into his singing, so that he sounds legitimately unhinged (same goes for his vocal on "I'm Down") rather than a poseur. I realize this is all arbitrary and subjective, but listen to, say, "I Was Made For Loving You" by Kiss or Michael Bolton's cover of "When A Man Loves A Woman", and that's what I'm complaining about. It just sounds so forced (and therefore phony) to me.

[Really Not All That Bright]

I think he means the Joe Elliot/guy from Cinderella style- much higher pitched than the singer's normal speaking voice, which makes it sound like it hurts.

[rowrrbazzle]

How about Lennon in "Twist and Shout"?

[Duke of Rat]

Just in the last couple of days on VH1 Classics I've seen vintage Joe Cocker and recent Tesla. Never a fan of either, but damn those 2 guys seemed to be in as much pain singing as I was listening.

[gotpasswords]

It's "Grab The Crotch And Squeeze Till It Hurts" singing.

Forced "soulful" falsetto might also work as a description.

[Marley23]

Forced "soulful" falsetto might also work as a description.
McCartney's not singing falsetto on "Oh! Darling." It's his head voice, if I got the term right, and he's straining. I can't think of a more formal word for it than that. The OP feels these singers sound strained, maybe you could say they get nasal, and he doesn't like that.

[emcee2k]

Janis Joplin sings high and shrilly?

How about Lennon in "Twist and Shout"?

I think his voice actually was strained. It sounds like throat's about to rip apart. I think it sounds great.

[Marley23]

I think his voice actually was strained. It sounds like throat's about to rip apart. I think it sounds great.
The Beatles famously completed ten songs that one day, with Twist and Shout the last song they did. So yeah, his voice is every bit as shot as it sounds and it's that much more memorable for it.

[AskNott]

To my ear, a lot of Bono's early work with U2 sounded like he dropped an anvil on his foot before each song. Later, he became a better singer, and he sold the anvil to a young death metal singer.

Likewise, to my ear, Geddy Lee seems to have a comfortable range of four notes, and he spends most of each song trying to reach beyond that. In this way, he expresses emotion of some kind.

I know that many people disagree with me on those two singers, and they are welcome to spit sparks at me.

I take exception to putting Janis Joplin in the category of "forced and phony." Janis was a national treasure. There was blood and pain in her notes. KoKo Taylor was the Queen Of The Blues, and Janis Joplin, in her brief career, was close behind.

[mbh]

"I suffered for my Art. Now it's your turn."

Is there a name for this singing style?
"Wailing", perhaps?

People who don't like it often refer to it as "caterwauling". Or simply "screeching".

[kayaker]

To me, it just sounds like they suffer from constipation.

Like Screamin Jay Hawkins? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvNO0BfBecc)

[Mister Rik]

McCartney's not singing falsetto on "Oh! Darling." It's his head voice, if I got the term right, and he's straining. I can't think of a more formal word for it than that. The OP feels these singers sound strained, maybe you could say they get nasal, and he doesn't like that.

According to a book about the Beatles, which I read 25+ years ago, Paul deliberately screamed himself hoarse [b]before[/i] actually recording those vocals in order to get just the sound he wanted.


And I would also like to point out that Geddy Lee stopped singing like that two decades ago.

[PoorYorick]

Janis Joplin sings high and shrilly?
I think I get what the OP is talking about. If you listen to Ball and Chain, for instance (one of the best damned songs ever, IMO), some of Joplin's high notes become harsh, gutteral yowls. To me, this adds to her interpretation of the song, and seems to be a trademark for her.

ETA: AskNott said it better.

[MrDibble]

"Bluesy"?

[FriarTed]

My chorus director calls it "stepping outside one's beauty box."

I so hear that in the voice of Chris Colfer.

[An Gadaí]

Just one more chapter in the history of white popstars trying to sound black. :)

[WordMan]

Two concepts are being conflated: technique and sincerity/delivery

- Technique: yeah, it's a bluesy wail. It emerged from the raw, untrained approach that various styles - Delta blues, soul, some country, etc. - have in their vocals. Although it sounds raw, it is often a combination of the singer's natural tone - Rod Stewart has a natural rasp - and specific vocal techniques. A singer taking that approach without applying some technique over time destroys their voice.

- Delivery: so, what's the big difference between Lennon on Twist and Shout (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA9maAERDAs)and Michael Bolton in When a Man Loves a Woman (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64v-yj_c8dI&feature=related)? Your belief in the singer, in part indicated by how they use that technique. Lennon sounds shred-tastic because he punches his voice - employing that technique after being sick all day, abusing his voice by recording all day, and drinking milk - at all the right spots in the song, and sounds like he means it. Bolton sounds like a douchebag because his technique is there for show, on top of the lyric and not inside it.

Your frustration with this technique is no different than a lot of folks' frustration with melisma - stretching out syllables up and down vocal runs. In the hands of Mariah Carey, it is gymnastic, syrupy indulgence; in the hands of Aretha Franklin, there are few things as powerful.

[MTCicero]

For curiosity, how do you feel about Tom Waits' singing?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the patina of hipness on Tom Waits' music supersedes any misgivings the OP has concerning the fact that, in fact, he does practice the same style of singing that was decried in the OP.

I could be wrong, though.

[MTCicero]

I'm fine with Waits - he's got more of a gruff, ragged voice, like Paul Westerberg; he doesn't get all shrieky. McCartney's vocal on "Oh! Darling" is close to what I'm talking about, but it doesn't bother me in the least (in fact, I think it's one of his best vocal performances, even if it wasn't done in one take). That might have more to do with my personal prejudices - I'm a huge Beatles fan - but I think McCartney is able to inest more of himself into his singing, so that he sounds legitimately unhinged (same goes for his vocal on "I'm Down") rather than a poseur. I realize this is all arbitrary and subjective, but listen to, say, "I Was Made For Loving You" by Kiss or Michael Bolton's cover of "When A Man Loves A Woman", and that's what I'm complaining about. It just sounds so forced (and therefore phony) to me.

See? I was right after all.

[cjepson]

Anybody know if there's an "official" name for this kind of singing?

I don't know of any official name for it. I used to refer to this kind of music as "grunt, sweat & strut".

[Peremensoe]

There's a similar dynamic of strain in many bluegrass vocals, in which it's not necessarily the specific tone achieved which is significant but the "moral" quality of the struggle to reach it, or even the suffering conveyed by the raggedness of the attempt.

[campp]

The voice is an instrument. You can play it how you like, just like the myriad sounds you can get out of an electric guitar.

I like Janis, Joe Cocker, and Waits. Great vocals!

[MTCicero]

I like Janis, Joe Cocker, and Waits. Great vocals!

^^^Agreed.

[aruvqan]

Could you give a better description of the parts to which you're referring?

Are you just talking about, for instance, trying to be loud and sort of screaming? Are you talking about pitch, trying to go too high? What is it that is straining to you?

Janis Joplin, Summertime. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTFF-BaT0MM)

[TruCelt]

It's not just rock and blues. The very worst of these, IMHO who I really can't stand to listen to, and whose success continues to baffle me, is Garth Brooks.

[Lute Skywatcher]

"Wailing", perhaps?No, that's Yoko Ono.

[jayjay]

The voice is an instrument. You can play it how you like, just like the myriad sounds you can get out of an electric guitar.

Of course, if you shred the strings on your guitar, you don't have to have 5 follow-up surgeries to remove the polyps from your fingers...