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?
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.
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?
My chorus director calls it “stepping outside one’s beauty box.”
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.
Is it the same style like John Lennon in “Oh Darling”?
“Oh Darling” is sung by Paul McCartney
For curiosity, how do you feel about Tom Waits’ singing?
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?
Probably not a good idea, since, if I’m understanding you correctly, “Don’t Fear the Reaper” does not feature this vocal style.
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.
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.
How about Lennon in “Twist and Shout”?
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.
It’s “Grab The Crotch And Squeeze Till It Hurts” singing.
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.
Janis Joplin sings high and shrilly?
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.
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.
“I suffered for my Art. Now it’s your turn.”
“Wailing”, perhaps?
People who don’t like it often refer to it as “caterwauling”. Or simply “screeching”.