Argh, he’s great, and that song is gorgeous! Granted, he’s be eliminated pretty quickly from American Idol, but you can’t tell me there is a singer in the world more suited than Shane MacGowan to sing the Pogues’ songs.
YES and YES. You named my favorite male and female singers!
Actually, I love both of those bands. Which actually made me remember some other bands that I dig that have absolutely horrible vocalists: Punk.
The list just goes on and on: MC5, Stils, Dictators, Suicide, Sex Pistols, Ramones, Patti Smith, New York Dolls, Clash, Joy Division, etc. If you were apart of CBGBs, chances are you couldn’t sing. This didn’t mean they didn’t sound good, they just weren’t no American Idol either.
And, my favorite crappy vocalist I have forgotten all this time would have to go to Beat Happening’s very own Calvin Johnson. He sounds like an accounting firm full of buffalos on almost all his tracks.
I’m not sure how you meant this, but as I’m reading it, it’s not what I meant.
I said, I’d rather hear a technically mediocre singer doing a passionate, soulful take of a song, rather than a techically astounding singer doing a limp run-through of a song. The former is the better singer, in my opinion, because singing is not all about technique. It’s an amalgam of art and craftsmanship.
Now, I’m not saying I like to hear some poor tone-deaf schlub doing impassioned karaoke to “We Are The Champions.” Intensity will only take you so far–you still need to have some basic grasp of tune and be able to control the timbre of your voice effectively. But almost none of the artists mentioned so far are so technically deficient as to qualify. Anything they lack in range or pinpoint perfect pitch they make up for in character and soul. I guess that’s what I look for: character and quirk in a voice, with enough discipline to hold a melody.
Ooh, ooh–I forgot about Jeff Lynne!
ELO–great band, terrible vocals.
Wow, so many singers who have, what I concider, good voices getting slammed. Ouch!
Well, anyway, I totally agree with Tom Waits (How the hell did he get a career?) and Billy Corgan, sometimes (sometimes, for some reason, his off key voice seemed to work for me) are the only two I can think of at the moment. Although if you want to include people who, at one time were able to sing, then, because of time, or drugs, or smoking, or, whatever reason, don’t sound so good any more, then I include the lead singer of Loverboy who, on Hit Me Baby One More Time sounded like crap when singing “Working for the Weekend” and I saw a little bit of live 8, and was dissapointed 
when I heard Neil Tennant singing “Always oh my mind”.
I’m also disappointed that I didn’t run my post through spell check first 
Madonna or… Ester 
sang decent songs… but not neccesarily with a decent voice. Her early days were high pitched and irritating, while today she’s a british-sounding (you can develop an English-accent from marrying a UKer?) spaz.
Oh, and she’s overrated to boot.
89 posts and no one thinks of the worst. singer. ever. Macey frickin’ Gray!
The worst male singer ever is that guy from Sugar Ray. He’s off key both live and in recordings. I don’t even know his name, and I don’t want to.
Worst female singer? Sheryl Crow. My god, does she suck. I think she sucked some of the coolness right off Eric Clapton, but that’s what he gets for dating someone who is as a bad a singer as she is. Whenever she wins a Grammy, I shake my head in utter confusion.
Kris Kristofferson can not hold a tune in a sack.
**Max Torque **
The guy from “Canned Heat” ? He’s dead you know.
He was Al “Blind Owl” Wilson who killed himself Sept 3, 1970.
I’m really showing my age here but I think a special wing of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame of Horrible Singers should be dedicated to Freddie Cannon. ALL the singers mentioned so far are nothing compared to this guy. Those of you that can find a copy of “Pallisades Park” should really listen to the sour sonic stylings of this King of Cacaphony.
No, Jesus headed up The Twelve Apostles. The Green Day guy is Billie Joe Armstrong.
Roger Daltrey? Rod Stewart? Roger Waters?? Mick Jagger? Frank freakin’ Sinatra??
I need to rest. I don’t feel well.
**Karen **O from Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Ashlee Simpson; Anyone heard her ‘performance’ on the Super Bowl?
Oh and her lip syncing, blaming it on the band, then saying she had acid reflux. Just pathetic. It led to a message board invading her official website (Even made the news…) Sweet justice.
Kurt Cobain definitely doesn’t belong there. If anyone’s heard Nirvana: MTV Unplugged, they’d know he has range and consistency in his vocals.
Hey, welcome to the boards, man.
I’m with ya, man. No one has said Van Morrison or John Lennon yet, but all of my other favorite singers are here…
As Cartman would say, screw you guys…I’m goin’ home…
By being the coolest guy ever!
I note with great satisfaction that no one has yet come to the defense of Peter Cetera. I personally would find it quite gratifying if all subsequent posts included a Cetera slam. Just a friendly request.