Good Songs Ruined By the Vocals

[Janszoon]

Controversial opinion probably, but I don't care that much for Ella Fitzgerald's voice and style 🔥

Also, I can't quite stomach John Wetton's vocals. They really muck up otherwise great King Crimson songs like Starless and One More Red Nightmare.

I don't really mind his vocals as far as vocals go, but I think that song would be better without any vocals at all.

[Lexi Darling]

I'm not a huge fan of Wetton's vocals either, honestly losing Greg Lake caused them to take a big hit in the vocals department from that point on. I appreciate Adrian Belew for his delightful quirkiness but 80s King Crimson is just kind of apples and oranges to the 70s era in most areas and it wouldn't feel right to compare.

[Guybrush]

I quite like Adrian Belew, so I've no trouble with him. Plus his upbeat showmanship was an interesting counterpoint to the more dour Robert Fripp.

About XTC, I much prefer the vocals of bassist Colin Moulding over Andy Partridge. Here's a famous example:

I wouldn't say it ruins songs and it's not a deal breaker, but a minor annoyance.

[Lexi Darling]

Maybe I worded that poorly, I like Belew too. He's just such a different artist and performer all around (same with post-70s KC as a band really) that it's kind of impossible to really compare him to any of their previous vocalists IMO.

[jadis]

I don't think the vocals ruin the music, but I've complained before about Sonic Youth vocals (especially Thurston, Kim is bad but also kind of sexy so it works in a way). They're trash and their music deserved better

The "concessive clause" notwithstanding, file under those rare instances where we really don't understand one another. She's literally one of my favorite singers, one of the voices that make me swoon the most. Esp when she whispers or recites, like a spoken word type thing, it's incredibly powerful

[Gandalf]

Shadow of a Doubt is one of my favourite Sonic Youth songs. Their songs with Kim's spoken word vocals are usually great.

[Guybrush]

It doesn't ruin the song, but Lady Gaga's attempt at being a jazz singer doesn't sit quite right, at least not here.

But kudos for doing it 👍 I'm sure jazz has a bunch more listeners because of it.

[Lexi Darling]

Honestly as a huge Lady Gaga fan I never really liked it when she did that jazz stuff either. I appreciate her branching out and showing other sides of her artistry, but at best it's a fun novelty side thing and nowhere near what she's best at.

[Lisnaholic]

Oh, and I guess to put forth a band I actually really like, Neutral Milk Hotel. I'm generally a big fan of their sound and composition, that lush fuzzy psychedelia really tickles my fancy. But god damn if they wouldn't be way, way better if Jeff Mangum had a better singing voice.

I like Neutral Milk Hotel too, but have also found Jeff Magnum's voice annoying. I think my prob is that it's so central, undiluted, in almost every song. The redeeming feature is that his lyrics are often very interesting, but there's one song that really bugs me, where he's going "la la la" for ages, and I want to shout at the producer, "Couldn't you have given us a break here, and put in one of those Salvation Army Band instruments instead?"

TBH, I'm very picky about vocals, both lyrics and singing styles, so my list of songs ruined by the vocals would be looooong indeed.