Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:
Don Tiny wrote:
Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:
Who is the American rock singer better than Zander? Elvis? Springsteen?
What about Axl, DLR, & Steven Tyler? Is Trent Reznor outside of the discussion? I mean, if we're including longevity, then really only Tyler remains from those four.
I don't know.
You and I have much different sensibilities. Generally, I listen to rock music with my guts. It's about how the song makes me feel in the moment. I'm not judging it on competence or technical ability. But if we're talking about singers, I guess by "best" I meant the ability to sing pretty much anything and put the song over. Axl and Tyler and Roth have plenty of great moments but they all have sung stuff where they just sounded ridiculous. For example, G'n'R's version of "Live and Let Die" is a fucking horse abortion.
You know, I was just watching the Sinatra special and he did a version of "Old Man River" that I thought was really great. It certainly wasn't anything like the famous Robeson version, but Sinatra really sold the song. And I realized that I never actually paid attention to the lyric when Robeson sings it because I was just listening to the voice. Anyway, it's worth noting that Sinatra said he would never sing a song that he didn't really feel, he just couldn't. Well, as far as the rock and roll idiom is concerned, I'm pretty sure Elvis, Springsteen, and Zander are the only three Americans who I believe could sing just about anything.
I agree unreservedly, and I presume we would also agree that's not considered a knock against the other guy.
I don't have much in the way of opinions as to the musicality of most rock singers; I'm looking for someone to be a good showman - or to borrow your term, to 'sell' the performance (whereas you're looking for him to 'sell' the song).
But to your posit about us having different sensibilities, I tend to think words get in the way of music, though of course not so much with rock as it does with jazz. I'm not suggesting that's some enlightened take on the matter, just my particular angle.
My only real reservation about Elvis is he basically was all there was for so long; it wasn't like there was an easily acceptable alternative for American frontman that wasn't cardboard-cutout clean-cut guy in a tie singing a simple 12-bar or simpler II-V-I pop chart, whereas, say, by the time Axl shows up there's at least some history to pick and choose from giving the listener a chance to have a more 'informed' choice. That said, Elvis did bring some decent music to honkeys in a time when they wouldn't have been caught dead listening to, much less purchasing, a
Chess record ... so he's got that going for him.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
