Heh.
That hoarse, raspy voice is not my cup of tea, but there are some songs where it works well and he uses it effectively. I’ve never paid a lot of attention to him, but over the years, my opinion of him has gone from slightly negative to slightly positive. He’ll never be a favorite, but I do quite like some of his better songs/performances.
I didn’t vote, because my answer isn’t simple enough to fit either of the first two options.
I love Rod’s vocals on “Truth” and “Beck-Ola.” I loved most of the “Every Picture Tells a Stiry” album. I love his cover of Elton John’s “Country Comfort.” He’s done some AMAZING work.
But he’s made a huge number of LOUSY recordings.
So, I’m a fan. And I think he still sounds great when he cares. But he’s probably made more bad music than good.
I like most of his hits, maybe the rest of it is terrible but I wouldn’t know because I don’t own it. The cheesy “Hot Legs” stuff I could do without but the good stuff is pretty good.
Lol! I liked the “Hot Legs”, “Do you think I’m sexy” stuff! Sure it’s vapid, pop dreck, but it’s fun and makes no pretense to being high art.
Other works of his seem much more substantial and praiseworthy. He may have turned out lots of stuff that fails on both accounts, but he’s accomplished more than I could ever hope to.
I don’t think he takes himself too seriously and he don’t produce music that takes itself too seriously.
I concur with the OP, Rushgeegirl, Eliahana, et al, who can’t stand his voice. I put him right up there with Neil Young in the “voices that make you want to puncture your own eardrums” category. I got no love for Joe Jackson either.
God, no. To me he personifies a certain type of nauseating sleazy male (the wannabe-swinger, Austin Powers type in an unbuttoned shirt.) The movie “Star 80” got it right when it had the pervert/killer constantly playing “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” in his car.
His body of work is also pretty damn meager considering his music royalty status.
That was the image he adopted in the late 70s and, for me, that was his downfall. Tom Jones does that act a whole lot better.
Anyway, in terms of white British singers who began their careers copying black R&B singers, who do you think was better during their prime: Rod Stewart or Joe Cocker?
Yes, too old, too sleazy, to derivative – and I’ve got “I don’t want to talk about it” on high rotation.
Admittedly, Rod is the weakest part of that video, but the part where the audience sings his song back to him (and Amy Belle) still gives me goose bumps.
– And that audience is reminds me that Rod was more than just a sleezy '70s lounge lizard in an open-necked shirt.
Hes a perfect example of the concept of: you don’t have to have talent to make it big in the music industry.
It’s quite possible to dislike Rod Stewart as not being to your taste, but to dismiss him as a sleazy talentless hack is absurd: he might have coasted on his ability for 40 odd years, until you remember that he wrote and sang songs like Mandolin Wind and The Killing of Georgie. Nobody could sell a story in song quite like Rod Stewart.
As it happened he was recently knighted and is now Sir Rod Stewart. I checked out his Instagram page.
Not a huge fan, but overall I wou,LD say I respect and like him, and his work.
Joe Cocker who did “Up Where We Belong” and “Leave Your Hat On”? Eek, that’s a tough one. I guess he seems more authentic, but I’d still put him, Rod Stewart and Bob Seger into the same bucket - music for creepy heavyset swingers to listen to in their Jacuzzi. 
Yes. Most of his songs may be soppy ballads, but they’re appealing soppy ballads. Also, I enjoyed it when we sang “We Are Sailing” in my primary school choir.
Thank you.
I neither like nor dislike his early stuff, I actively dislike most of his 80s stuff, appreciate the talent in his standards album even though it isn’t my cup of tea, and actually truly like Young Turks. But I voted “don’t like him more than I do” because if a song by him came on an Internet station I was listening to, I’d most likely skip to the next song.
Where are the poll options “Meh”, “Not my cup of tea” and “I can’t stand him”?
The best I can say about Rod Stewart is that his voice is nowhere near as irritating as that of Family’s Roger Chapman (according to Wikipedia, his vocals were "described as a “bleating vibrato” and an “electric goat”, which is being kind).
His songs were the background music to my young adult years, and I get nostalgic hearing some of them. So I would say I liked him more than I didn’t like him. (I don’t know that he’s all that admirable a person, but who of the rich and famous is??) I love his early work, he doesn’t take himself seriously and it was FUN - ‘Hot Legs’, ‘Tonight’s the Night’, ‘Do Ya Think I’m Sexy’ - I love those songs (and ‘I’m Losing You’, the first one by him I ever heard)…THIS creepy heavyset swinger doesn’t own a hot tub, but I can’t hack the bloviating, glum, ‘serious’ grande artistes I’m constantly being hectored to Admire or Die. Rod the Mod has had a LONG career, he seems pretty happy and hasn’t died of an overdosse while puking in the gutter (yet), and if Joan Collins could be made a Dame, Rod Stewart can certainly be made a Knight. Don’t like him? So? move along… Living well and being happy is the best revenge.
Nope, his voice does nothing for me.
Rodney def rocked it up to The Faces - best pub band of the early 70s ;), then he just lost the plot with that arse-waving, scarf waving tartan shite.
I completely loved their version of I’m Losing You’ The Faces - I'm Losing You - YouTube
I don’t like him but you have to respect his staying power. He is like a musical cockroach. He can adapt and survive in any era - 60s and 70s rock, disco, 80s synth chart hits, great American song book stuff, Christmas music, etc. His hair is indestructible too. He and Keith Richards will outlive all of us.