Support NeoGAF

[Chromium.Wings]

I saw Foreigner back in 2014 with Kelly Hansen as their lead singer. That guy can fucking sing, I honestly felt that apart from being in a crowd and him talking to us every now and then that I was listening to studio album quality singing.

I also think Jonny Hawkins of Nothing More is a pretty damn good singer. There's an acoustic version of one of their most well known songs that just blows me away that someone can hit that range of highs and lows. Granted, live he doesn't go as high as he does on the studio albums, but he still shows some seriously impressive range.

But musical tastes are too varied for someone to say that a person is an indisputable champion singer.

 

[Fisty]

Whoever the lead singer is for Protest the Hero is versatile as hell. Not sure he stacks up to Freddie but I think he deserves a mention.

 

[uncelestial]

He is definitely up there, on any level you want to name. Influence, technical ability, raw emotional impact. He was pretty goddamn incredible.

I really like the introverted tortured type of vocalists like my avatar bros Kurt Cobain and Thom Yorke, of course. But the extraverted confidence and pure virtuosity of Mercury is undeniable.

I have a soft spot for the showboating 70s rock singers even though I'm often at odds with the music. The guys from Journey and Boston were amazing singers but you'd never catch me playing their whitebread-ass stuff in my iPod. Still, can't really deny how great they were.

But it's not all technical ability, of course. Taste matters. Otherwise, Grim Reaper's singer would be revered instead of roundly mocked.

 

[Schweinehund]

Plant is my favorite singer but I think Freddie may have been better.

Under appreciated singer

Spoiler

Roy Khan from Kamelot

.

 

[TheGreatMightyPoo]

Agree gaf?

Yes.

 

[Lynd7]

Gotta post the Wembley Stadium performance ;P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A22oy8dFjqc

 

[CaviarMeths]

It seems like when judging a great vocalist, most of you are going by the American idol standard.

I promise you that nobody is thinking about American Idol when they talk about Freddie being the greatest.

 

[Kill3r7]

I guess that's why many of his more recent performances sound like a GnR cover band with Mickey Mouse doing vocals

I think "had" would have been more accurate. That said, assuming Rose was up for it, he could put on a hell of a show but more often than not he was not up for it.

 

[Belgorim]

Yeah

 

[entremet]

Yeah I've never been a Queen fan. I find the whole resurgence of Queen with the younger internet generation amusing.
Queen, Radiohead and Muse - the Internet Trifecta of sheeple masturbation.

Lol. This is great.

 

[Reagan's BR]

Axl, Plant, and him round out my top 3.

Dickinson, Bach, Roth, and Cornell would certainly also get some mentions in my top 10.

Would give guys like Hetfield and Stanley from AIC props for being a perfect match for their music.

 

[pablito]

Freddie was great. Not my personal favorite though.

Jeff Buckley
Mike Patton
Daniel Gildenlow
Layne Staley
Mikael Akerfeldt
Kristoffer Rygg - he's not the most technical dude at all but something about his voice just does it for me.

 

[Hydrus]

I would like to also say that Ian Astbury from the Cult is one of the most criminally underrated frontmen and vocalist of all time! The man is the embodiment of Rock and Roll.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g6h1vI4Xv0

 

[Vital Tundra]

Everyone in that effin' band were phenomenal in their craft. Talk about having some of the best range in terms of genres. Mercury's voice is something special.

 

[SniperWolf1]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Lou Gramm from Foreigner. I absolutely love his singing man, so much energy. Urgent and Double Vision are probably my favorite tracks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lcb-Fsx_phM

 

[night814]

This is great.

If anyone hasn't heard Somebody to Love you're in for a treat.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LRt2jX1kaYo

 

[Bronx-Man]

Agreed. Not only that, I'm gonna go a step further and say he's the best male vocalist, period.

 

[Ding II]

In fact, a lot of the higher notes in Queen songs are secretly Brian May.

I'm pretty sure that Roger Taylor was Queen's designated screamer. For instance, here at the beginning of in the Lap of the Gods. (speaker warning) Here's Roger doing one of "his songs" live: I'm in Love with My Car, if you want to hear what he sounds like when he's not covering a soprano part.

While I'm here, I'm always impressed by this guy's Freddie impression. It must be the cheekbones or something.

 

[Mumei]

I don't know that I'd consider him the best, because as a vocalist he definitely had significant flaws. These mostly derived from the fact that he had vocal nodules and he toured nonetheless. If you just remember his highlights—Live Aid, Live at the Bowl, Hammersmith Odeon, etc., etc.—you probably think of him as a phenomenal live singer (though still relatively unadventurous; belted D5s live were fairly exceptional for him; Eb5s even more so). But if you listen to him on tour, he was seriously hit or miss. Some nights you might just get Tokyo in '79. So, because of his nodules he tended to color within the lines when singing live (particularly high notes), but nonetheless irritated his voice and would have bad periods—days, weeks, or tours. During these periods, he would engage in all sorts of vocal shenanigans you shouldn't do or indicators of vocal failure—shouting, straining, yelling, cracking, or the voice just going entirely.

But I do think that Mercury had one of the most wonderful voices in popular music.

 

[Dhx]

I don't know that I'd consider him the best, because as a vocalist he definitely had significant flaws. These mostly derived from the fact that he had vocal nodules and he toured nonetheless. If you just remember his highlights—Live Aid, Live at the Bowl, Hammersmith Odeon, etc., etc.—you probably think of him as a phenomenal live singer (though still relatively unadventurous; belted D5s live were fairly exceptional for him; Eb5s even more so). But if you listen to him on tour, he was seriously hit or miss. Some nights you might just get Tokyo in '79. So, because of his nodules he tended to color within the lines when singing live (particularly high notes), but nonetheless irritated his voice and would have bad periods—days, weeks, or tours. During these periods, he would engage in all sorts of vocal shenanigans you shouldn't do or indicators of vocal failure—shouting, straining, yelling, cracking, or the voice just going entirely.

But I do think that Mercury had one of the most wonderful voices in popular music.

Hello, old friend. It's an excellent point you make about Mercury's inconsistent live performances. I must admit that I am very guilty of cherry picking the highlights in my mind when I consider his place in the pantheon. And it leads to a difficult question that always flummoxes me. How do we compare singers that operate outside perfect technique? It's most probably impossible.

Let's take Adam Lambert. He undoubtedly performs the Queen songs with superior technique, yet even when we set aside the different voices, there is a quality missing that I would say directly derives from Mercury's improper technique. However, I do not have the proper advanced vocal education to be certain that you could not replicate the throaty, guttural, Mercury sound with proper technique.

All of that said, with a starting point of Mercury, where do we go? I'd love to open it up. Let's set aside Elvis and move it to the 70s on as I think most people would like to frame the discussion around a heavier, modernized rock.

 

[Sir Abacus]

Let's take Adam Lambert. He undoubtedly performs the Queen songs with superior technique, yet even when we set aside the different voices, there is a quality missing that I would say directly derives from Mercury's improper technique. However, I do not have the proper advanced vocal education to be certain that you could not replicate the throaty, guttural, Mercury sound with proper technique.

The quality that you're looking for is Mercury's vibrato. His is much faster but more irregular than a classically trained opera singer. So it has this unique vocal tone that's almost entirely unique and almost impossible to replicate since you're literally having to throw out every single thing you ever got taught to control your vibrato while simultaneously pushing it harder than you ever have while trying to replicate Freddy's unique tone.

You can hear it clearly on those acapella videos where they mute everything but the vocals.

And that's why Lambert is a pale shadow of Freddie.

 

[Parch]

I saw Queen in 1980. Freddie has some range, that's for sure. He was actually a very good musician as well but really enjoyed the stage showmanship.

They all did their fair share of writing, but Bohemian Rhapsody was all Mercury. Musically Queen was quite technical with all the layering they did, so it took 3 months to record Bohemian Rhapsody. That long to create one song is pretty nuts, but it's a prog rock masterpiece.

 

[Insane Metal]

I guess that's why most of his performances sound like a GnR cover band with Mickey Mouse doing vocals

FFT.