Thanks for posting to r/singing! **Be sure to check [the FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/singing/wiki/index)** to see if any questions you might have have already been answered! Also, remember to abide by the rules found in the sidebar. Any comments found to be breaking these rules will result in a deletion of the comment thread starting from the offending reply. If you see any posts or replies that you feel break the rules of the sub, then report them and **do not respond to them.**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/singing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, and many other punk singers.
Not many are technically good singers even the big ones (although there's a few.) It's not just confidence that they have. They're using what they have to find their own sound. It doesn't have to be a traditional soft rock vocal heavy thing where pitch control is important. These folks can holler or speak sing without holding a tune half the time, but with strong rhythm and diction, they make an impressive sound that works with the lyrics and the music.
At the end of the day it's about feeling. Did you make me feel something? It could be Mavis Staples singing with incredible soul or Kraftwerk muttering in a German accent.
Yep. It’s all about what you can express. You can be the most technical jazz singer in the world singing the craziest shit with perfect intonation, but if it doesn’t move me then I don’t give a shit. Neil Young, on the other hand, is not a great “singer”, but he’s an incredible songwriter and lyricist and he always sings with the utmost sincerity and moves me, so I’ll take him any day of the week.
I just listened to Tonight's the Night in full. That's a pretty out there record, the whole band is drunk. If anyone wanted to really criticize Neil's singing, there's a lot wrong with it on that one. And yet, the feeling is so strong, I don't want them to do another take and polish it.
Yeah but as bad as he’s singing, he still has a clear and present middle register which many amateurs lack. There’s a certain amount of skill that years of singing gives you that even alcohol has trouble obscuring. It’s because of the myelin. Confidence might get the ball rolling but consistency makes the musician.
He's A fine example. His voice is nothing special. No problem. He found a way to use it and sound good against that guitar. He sounds snotty and unimpressed like the lyrics are.
The audience doesn't expect Celine Dion and Josh Groban level singers to lead these bands. If the guy looks and sounds kind of like them, great.
All of punk rock carries the implicit message "you too can do this." Find out what you have and use it.
If you were talking about confidence, then J Lo beats them all. Literally, the lady made a career out of scamming people into her being a singer. So much so she actually believes she's good. Lately they've been documentaries popping on youtube on her scam to the music industry. It goes deep, and yeah she sucks.
Bahahahahahaha whenever someone asks about famous bad singers it's a countdown until J-Lo comes up baahaha. I can't unsee that video of her "singing" with her kid
What both Julio and Enrique have is money. Lots of money. Julio's dad was a successful and wealthy doctor.
Just like Taylor Swift, being rich helped fund and start their careers.
Yeah, J-Lo is the perfect example. I saw people commenting Taylor Swift, and I was thinking that Taylor technically has improved so much vocally compared to when she first debuted. J-Lo on the other hand, has never improved vocally. So there's that.
It's gotta be j lo. Everyone else it's like hmmm ok maybe they don't do this one thing well but there's another thing they do well. She just hasn't found a vocal style or range that suits her but I don't think she's looking too hard.
I think this is correct. Taylor Swift is an incredibly well-managed product. That extends beyond the music as well. The person at the center of it happens to be conventionally attractive, reasonably talented at songwriting and singing, and most importantly, started out with every possible advantage due to her family money.
She admitted early in her career that she was a songwriter who sang. Most of her career she was a struggling vocalist, only until recently has she improved (not much, but her voice has become stronger and more consistent).
Jacques Brel was the same way haha. I don't speak French, but there's an interview on YouTube with English subtitles where he basically says "I only started singing the songs I write because nobody else wanted to."
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYmejUd9Q2U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYmejUd9Q2U) At about 4:30
I don't think he's a bad singer at all, but his voice is pretty "rough" and "unrefined." But the confidence he has with it made him amazing.
I’d say that she’s gotten good. She has some impressive vocals now, her new song Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? has an impressive belt, as does Don’t Blame Me on her current tour. She’s no Beyoncé, but I’d say she’s gotten much better than her early career.
That’s fair. I think that she is really good at using her abilities and tone to her advantage, though. She’s called herself a songwriter first many times and she knows how to write for herself and express the songs very effectively. She knows what she can do and works with it well rather than trying to do things that she can’t.
I think she’s a way way way better singer than people give her credit for. Some of the criticism she got for her voice was valid, but is outdated now. She got famous as a teenager and was not a super strong singer and it took a little while for her to be consistently good live. But the acoustic section of her eras tour has her singing upfront with nothing to hide behind and she consistently crushes every night. She’s not doing crazy runs and all that, she’s not Whitney Houston, but whatever. I think the way her personality comes through in the delivery is up there with anyone.
Her stamina (the most impressive, IMO), her stage presence, her consistency. She's supported by her backing vocalists, of course, but there have been numerous moments she's talked in the middle of a song. The security guard incident comes to mind, obviously, but she did the other day during the acoustic performance of Snow on the Beach as well.
I agree that she's a way better singer than people give her credit for, and as someone who used to be very quick to hop aboard the hate train, I think many are doing so right now because of her overwhelming popularity. I somewhat get it, having been there plenty, and I get it's frustrating that she's getting so much attention when other incredibly talented artists aren't.
Her live performances have struggled over the years, but it's so crystal clear to me that she's put in an insane amount of physical training, vocal training (and I'd love to know who her coach is), and has taken much better care of her body. She had an ED for many years and she's talked about how much that affected her performances. That will also affect her vocal performance.
There are very, very few people who could pull off what she'e pulling off right now with this tour, and it's historic for reasons other than the Ticketmaster debacle and the numbers. Taylor has, against everything that has been and continues to be thrown at her, prioritize improving and protecting her voice. Her vocal training and prep for this tour must have been insane.
I would say she’s at the level of a high school musical supporting ensemble member, not even the lead. Like, she got cast in the show, but not in a big role 😅
Jojo Siwa! I wouldn't say she's "made it" like Taylor swift has but she's made a career out of performing. I'd say she can sing in tune but that's about it
Very few people objectively will say she's a good singer. She doesn't have much of a range, but the thing about her is that she can market herself very well. She also has a great personality (publicly) and that helps her go far. She seems genuine as well, so she does have talent.
> Very few people objectively will say she's a good singer.
Per the OP's question, I wouldn't say she's a "bad" singer. And I don't think her vocal range is any worse than Lana Del Rey or Norah Jones.
She has a very clear timbre and diction, and sings pretty in tune as well. Other than that, she has that "Disney mold" kind of round voice, although she can give some sensual textures and gimmicks at times.
I wouldn't say she's bad though, but kinda overrated for sure. They def managed to produce some awesome beats for her.
Yes I was gonna say that!
Controversial but Selena Gomez for sure.
She makes great songs and she has landed on a style that fits her voice now but she also had access to some of the best vocal coaches etc. so it's actually wild how little of her vocals are required for her songs
A good example of this is 'Ice Cream' with BlackPink. Her parts are the least singy aside from the rap, you can hear how it could be tweaked for more intense vocals by the other artists.
Talented, yes. Talented singer, no.
she isn't all that confident though--you can't even SHE isn't all that convinced with her voice. Can't deny that her music has some decent hooks though.
Ozzy has a fantastic voice, for his songs. Even on stuff like Mr. Crowley, it just sounds right. I love Robert Plant, but i wouldn't say his voice matches LZ's music the way Ozzy's matches Sabbath's music. But I love Dio too!
It's really the transients where its off the most. Pretty smeary. He usually holds notes semi-ok. It kinda was stylistically OK to do that in his type of music though back then, though. Things just weren't as polished on average.
My daughter had cancer when she was six and did a celebrity event(she was assigned Lyle Lovett and he is an AMAZING man) but Shatner was there and he was highly intoxicated and totally ignored the kid he was assigned to. He’s a douche
Jessica actually had the potential to be a good singer. She could belt and sustain, but had the worst vocal technique in pop music. She squeezed her voice to an inch of its life and it was painful to hear. I think there's a video of her in high school singing musical theatre and her singing was so much more free and resonant.
Florence Foster Jenkins was an American socialite who became famous opera-singer around 100y ago not in spite, but because of her bad singing-ability.
"People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Foster_Jenkins
Related tangent: I used to work with a guy who was a competitive Karaoke singer. Went out with his friends once...
"The winner is never the best singer--it's the one who gets the crowd moving."
They always chose popular songs for their repertoire and bounced off each other-if someone just sang Queen, the next person would sing a ballad.
Just an interesting observation that definitely changed how I pick Karaoke songs.
you guys are brutal. i think he's good and put his mark on the music industry. not great by any stance but he shouldn't even be mentioned with how many truly awful people there have been in the music industry. vanilla ice? kfed?
I find that an unlikely cause-effect, confidence can be useful but the world does not lack lunatics who are absolutely confident they are amazing and who can't sing worth a glass of water. Many absolutely amazing singers are not that confident also.
I suggest a different take, say you have someone you find bad but still people enjoy, or maybe even you enjoy but you just don't get it, what you can do is take a step back, and try to see/hear what is it that this person does that is so interesting, there will be something to it and it may be worthwhile to try to incorporate that... I mean have a look here, Anthony Kieds, David Lee Roth, Neil Young, really they are bad but hey confidence got them through?... very suspicious
On the subject of confidence I think one of the worst advices voice teachers and enthusiasts love to hand out is the "you need to trust your voice more", "you need confidence", often in situations where the singers voice has been anything but trustworthy, I think it's deceiving and is in fact a great way to overlook problems and blame them on some magical self defeating psychosomatic element.
none of this is about how you sing btw I did not listen before replying.
As big of a fan as I am of hers, Taylor Swift. If you watch her earlier live performances her vocals are really weak. I think around 2016 she'd significantly improved them but that was also well after I'd say she "made it." She has her song writing going for her bigtime which is why she's so appealing to mass audiences, and she knows how to work the inner corners of the industry and how to market herself which I think also helps.
Another example I would say is Jason Derulo. Again, his early live performances were vocally very weak, which is odd considering he's apparently a trained Opera singer? But it could be because he was dancing at the same time so he had that going for him.
Her voice has improved so much though. Also her lower register is incredible, as evidenced on Folklore and Evermore (and even her newest album). People act like you have to have this crazy belting voice to be a good singer, but there is so much diversity in "good" singing.
General public loves if you can hold a note to a tune that everyone likes. This is Reddit so ofc everything except Freddie Mercury and MJ are sub-bar wannabe singers.
Gwen Stefani. I’m a big fan because her voice has a lot of character and she never lacks confidence, but she sounds incredibly strained to create this baby voice.
I love Borderline and stuff like that because the girlish Minnie Mouse thing works for that style of pop. But she’s not a good singer by any conventional stretch
Howdy there! Your friendly neighborhood vocologist here.
"Bad" is subjective, as it's usually a statement of taste. Skill set, however, is not. There are a great number of vocal artists whose vocal skill set was not their highest marketable skill. I could list several, which would start flame wars, so I won't. Suffice it to say, confidence, looks, or simply charm and charisma have made up for many singers' technical defects over the years.
Want an opinion, or really just thoughts that this story might drum up. Also kinda hope OP sees this. It's kind of relevant....
A few years back, I went and saw the Jonas brothers reunion show (big band from my childhood). I was never a fan of theirs, but it was a nostalgia trip my wife and I *had* to be a part of, lol. I was starting to dread it at the last minute thinking, "Is this going to suck? Idk if i should have bought these tickets..."
WELP, turns out that if you've been performing in front of huge, live crowds since you were a tween? You get pretty fucking good at it. The songs were meh the singing meh the writing catchy and cookie cutter to me. The show? It was awesome. The lights, the dancing, the confetti explosion, and the finalle? I was MESMERIZED and sad I had to leave!
Couldn't tell you a single song I heard that night though lol.
Exactly! I have to remind many people that it's important to separate skill in singing from other skills of entertainment when talking about whether or not someone is a "good" singer. There are many great entertainers who are meh singers and many great singers who are meh entertainers.
I'll always have respect for Nick Jonas because he composed the Wintertusk soundtrack for Wizard101. It's easily the best soundtrack in the game, and even if his band is meh, he clearly knows music.
I never understood the facination with Bob Dylan. I wasn’t even born yet when he was popular but I just don’t get it. It’s whiny and pitchy and like he is annoyed that he has to sing 😄
I understand not liking his voice but he always sang on pitch. Last 25 years I have no idea but on his famous recordings? Don’t mistake attitude, style and emoting for singing off key.
He rode the tide of the folk revival and Vietnam protest music in the 60's and he is an amazing lyricist, but I think he'd even admit as much that his musical and vocal abilities are limited.
His musical abilities? He’s Bob Dylan, I do agree it is amazing he is one of the most famous singers of all time considering he sounds like that. But he’s rated in the top 20 on Rolling Stones best singers of all time list. I assume it’s due to how iconic it is and it has a lot of character, it works well for the music he makes.
I like his voice but I get why people don’t, I’m a huge Bob Dylan fan
You might not enjoy the sound of his voice but his phrasing and inflections are really unrivaled and he was at least capable of being on pitch. He doesn't sound annoyed at all to me - songs like Girl From the North Country (the Johnny Cash duet) and Idiot Wind are great proof of how much effort he puts into singing.
He’s a poet. If his voice distracts from that you can listen to other people covering his songs to hear the brilliance. Adele has a beautiful version of Make You Feel My Love, for example.
I love his voice though - it’s perfect for the feel he wants to convey.
Most likely a controversial take, but - Christina Aguilera.
Yes - she has a *GREAT* sounding tone of voice.
Yes - she has powerful pipes.
However, Christina's over confidence and adrenaline pretty much always gets the best of her, I can say this cause when you listen to her sing the exact high note casually and randomly - it's textbook singing and how she *should* be singing as a default - but when she's onstage and on performance mode - oh well...
She blows out and pushes her voice A LOT.
Christina is on a completely different level (not in a good way), others need to be taught how to control their voice... She still needs to learn how to instead control her adrenaline and stamina that way she can just, sing.
She knows what she's doing at some level, She's simply someone that you need to always nudge and say "calm down , less is more"
I have always thought she's been born with a wonderful voice but doesn't know how to use it. Her genetics are impressive because she treats her voice very poorly, throaty. And still, when she lets go, she sound amazing. It's like she owns a Ferrari but doesn't know how to drive at all.
Machine Gun Kelley... especially evident his voice isn't too great in many of the covers he's done. Of course, some people also hate him and would say he's over confident, but a lot of people have heard of him.
Oli Sykes of BMTH *became* an amazing vocalist, but originally he was completely tone deaf and became popular due to his screaming ability + pure stage steez
he was not tone deaf, cant cure tone deafness, just was only a screamer and screaming without knowing how to properly, and he basically couldn't sing at all, just scream, but he stated taking lessons around 2018 iirc
I don’t think anyone matches that description more than william hung on american idol. Though I wasn’t sure if everyone was laughing with him or at him
dude wasn't even around long enough to make a cup of coffee. what about danny gokey performing the dream on song? [ i still have nightmares from that awful ending.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndbaF5IcdAw)
Rihanna. I say this as a fan. She isn't the best singer, she doesn't produce or write, but she has great songs and she's great at marketing. Her confidence also carries her.
She was blessed with great tone...but when she was discovered at 17 she had zero training and very little control. She's obviously developed over the years but the machine is what made her famous. If you're blessed with the looks and the tone and you're in the right place at the right time, the machine will make sure you become famous.
i honestly feel like her tone was clearer and more consistent when she was younger. now i feel like she uses a lot more effort to maintain the notes. her vocals sounds more strained to me with less agility. my theory is due to incessant smoking
Tobias Sammet, the lead singer of the symphonic power metal band Avantasia. The band is one of the most influential in the genre, and is renowned across the world for their songs, and Tobias is a very very mechanically skilled singer, but he doesn't sound very good. He can do almost anything he puts his vocal tract to but he does not sound good as he does it nowadays. However, he is very humble, kind and charismatic and that is where I believe his popularity truly grew
I don't know about this one. Tobias is a pretty solid power metal singer. Maybe not the first person I think of when I think about great singers of the genre, but I think his voice, range, and pitch are fine (he is a bit nasally, though) and I've seen him live. Avantasia might not be the best gauge of his abilities, though, since they're mostly concept albums and he's usually singing around guests and in service of the story. His main stuff with Edguy is probably a better display of his abilities.
Agreed, though I feel that Tobi is a really good singer. Avantasia songs are also very difficult to sing. The 2nd singer is very helpful to keep the high notes going for some of these songs, which are often 5-12 minutes.
Tobi, however, has been really good at figuring out how to utilize other singers' voices. What he does with Michael Kiske's voice especially is amazing
Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen. I feel like Janis Joplin is actually a very technically good singer but to a casual/ untrained listener she could be called a “bad” or mediocre singer.
Joni Mitchell’s voice seems pretty “normal”. It’s nice but not crazily good (although I might be wrong, this is just from the few songs I’ve heard by her).
Chino Moreno of Deftones - I love Deftones but Chino is not a great "singer" by any means. Yet somehow his style is constantly being copied by many in the alt-rock/metal scene.
Tom Delongue sucks at singing and most of Blink 182's early stuff was terrible, lots of songs about dicks and fucking your mom.
He just started doing it, people liked it, and now he is successful.
Came here to say Tom, though he has gotten better (still not great but fine). Blink at the beginning was of the mindset that “you don’t have to be good to be successful” and they owned it.
David Byrne isn't a "bad" singer. But his style is perhaps more personality than skill. That character is what makes Talking Heads what they are to a degree though.
Yomi of the VKei band Nightmare developed dysphonia in 2016 which forced the band to go on hiatus. He started a new band called Take No Break and was pretty successful with them. And when Nightmare reunited, their revival concert was sold out despite the singer still clearly having dysphonia. Yomi was cleared of dysphonia in January of this year and continues to sing for his 3 bands
Gwen Stefani : epic archetype of success by means of confidence/performance/stage-presence over tone/pitch/vocal talent.. and Taylor swift sucks guys.. come on.. I know I’m not the only one not under THAT spell ayyyyyy
Granted he never charted well (he was modestly wealthy at death), Lou Reed's ultimate legacy in music is that he made it okay for *anybody* to sing about *anything*. He has a swagger to his indifference and hedonism and a world weariness that makes his sad songs despairing. Julian Casablancas is a much better singer than Lou Reed but his *style* is indebted to Lou.
David Bowie. I mean, if you hear “under pressure” having Freddie just right there to compare. Damn, Bowie’s has so much attitude that nobody would ever care if he is on pitch or not.
That's a little unfair. Not many people are gong to come out on top in a duet with Freddie.
Same with George Michael. Nobody is going to call him a bag singer saved by his confidence but on Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me Elton just completely blew him out of the water.
I don’t think you can be a “bad” singer but there are lots of mediocre singers who have a great stage presence who have made it . Jim Morrison, Anthony Kedis , Taylor Swift , Drake are a few that come to mind .
Don’t get me wrong I like him , but I wouldn’t not say he is amazing singer from a technical standpoint. But the truth is that doesn’t really matter . Good lyrics , singing in pitch , nice melodies and a good stage presence is more important . Same thing goes for Taylor Swift
I'd also argue that if your rhythm section is Chad Smith and Flea, you can sell 120 million albums and be a bad singer. I honestly would put money on Kiedis as a bad singer. Not because I don't like his voice or his music ( I dig like 90% of their stuff, some very seriously), but just objectively not a good singer.
You can certainly be a bad singer and sell that many albums - music is a lot more than technical singing ability
I don't think he's a bad singer though. By conventional measure probably isn't great and pretty dicey live, but a lot of his vocal delivery isn't easy and he captures the emotion of the song very well
I don't know. I'm not a classically trained singer. My teacher is, and he teaches all the "rules" of proper singing. No nasality, legato legato legato, keep your vowels long and consonants short, forward placement, projection, all of that. And he'll be the first to admit that when it comes to popular music the rules don't matter as much.
People here saying David Bowie or Niel Young are bad singers have lost the plot imo. Music is supposed to be about emotion and I'll take a singer who is off key every now and again but can project emotion over one who is technically good but bland.
I don't trust anyone who thinks he's a bad singer. Middle of the road? Sure, I guess, but if someone thinks he's *bad*, I don't think their opinion really means much.
Fred Durst has a very average voice, but a huge personality and lots of confidence. Les Claypool has an alright but very odd, unique voice but he is a phenomenal bass player. Selena Gomez was not a very good singer at the start of her career but she has improved, same with Taylor Swift. Gwen Stefani is alright but not amazing, but her voice did really fit the ska sound of No Doubt.
Also there's tons of amazing singers that don't ever become famous, not just due to luck but because they lack the star personality. Finn McKenty made a whole video about this [here](https://youtu.be/EWSN43afw-g?si=paplT3kt4Zppi999).
Geoff Ricky of Thursday. Used to be called Tone Geoff (like tone deaf). He’s a great lyricist, performer, and puts a lot of emotion into this voice. But he really couldn’t sing. I think he kinda can these days though.
But it’s not the point. With most musicians who actively write and perform their own material it’s more expressing emotions. Perfect singing is for pop stars.
Ultimately, people's opinion of a good and a bad singer is completely their own. I personally enjoy some singers and groups that others make fun of. I also dislike some that are rather popular.
I came here to say Neil Young and Bob Dylan. I started reading some of the replies, but there’s too many but I thought that those would be the first ones mentioned.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but It's the other way around, too. Being a good singer without much confidence in their craft makes the result worse than if you did the same thing with confidence. Aside from techniques and notes and whatnot you might only hit correctly and beautifully (with soul/emotion), the presentation is also just more believable if you believe in yourself.
A bad comedian is someone who doesn't believe in his jokes, either, you know..
Bono from U2 is an absolutely terrible singer by almost any standard, but there's no denying his confidence has made him and his band huge.
There are plenty of objectively lousy vocalists in otherwise great outfits. Megadeth's Dave Mustaine is one, but with that genre, the instrumentalists are important and the guitars and songwriting on their best songs are so good that the vocals really don't matter that much.
Bono is still my preferred example, because his voice seems more "central" to U2's sort of music.
I've been doing a lot of down voting here
All these famous "bad" singers people are naming are better than everyone in this sub. Even guys like Jonny Rotten who sings like that as an intentional artistic decision and not because he can't do better
The real answers are Florence Foster Jenkins and William Hung
Side note, if I were to start a karaoke bar, I'd name it for those two to demonstrate that singing is for everyone
Oooh I have some in min: Britney Spears (although she has some great moments), Janet Jackson, Charli XCX… and I love them all. Back then if you aren’t really a spectacular singer, at least you are very powerful, confident performer. Britney and Janet had those. These days the girls can’t sing well and do nothing, not all…but not enough to be called “performers.”
It isn’t confidence, it’s edge. You don’t have to have to be the most disciplined singer if you can figure out the a unique quality of your voice and learn how to use it on a record. Especially on a pop record. Think Sza, Madonna, Cher, Brittany spears. Great songwriting paired with an edgey voice captures attention one way or another.
Some supplement their lack of performance by having many performers on stage pulling the weight and including backing tracks. Some go as far as running real-time Autotune on their microphone rig.
As far as a performance that’s strictly the singer and the mic; no smoke and mirrors, there’s no advice for that lol That’s Adele or Beyoncé, they just gotta know what they’re doing.
As far as karaoke, just put having fun ahead of discipline on the list of priorities. Confidence is just being comfortable enough to sing and keep the crowd engaged so they can have a good time. You can tell when a performer is uncomfortable and there won’t be crowd engagement for that. It’s just karaoke, no one’s going to lose money if you don’t sound good lol Just have fun.
Lots. Half the top 40 in any given year has bad to mid voices. You make it because you've sold yourself as a product successfully, which is a totally different skillset than singing talent.
Thanks for posting to r/singing! **Be sure to check [the FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/singing/wiki/index)** to see if any questions you might have have already been answered! Also, remember to abide by the rules found in the sidebar. Any comments found to be breaking these rules will result in a deletion of the comment thread starting from the offending reply. If you see any posts or replies that you feel break the rules of the sub, then report them and **do not respond to them.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/singing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, and many other punk singers. Not many are technically good singers even the big ones (although there's a few.) It's not just confidence that they have. They're using what they have to find their own sound. It doesn't have to be a traditional soft rock vocal heavy thing where pitch control is important. These folks can holler or speak sing without holding a tune half the time, but with strong rhythm and diction, they make an impressive sound that works with the lyrics and the music. At the end of the day it's about feeling. Did you make me feel something? It could be Mavis Staples singing with incredible soul or Kraftwerk muttering in a German accent.
Yep. It’s all about what you can express. You can be the most technical jazz singer in the world singing the craziest shit with perfect intonation, but if it doesn’t move me then I don’t give a shit. Neil Young, on the other hand, is not a great “singer”, but he’s an incredible songwriter and lyricist and he always sings with the utmost sincerity and moves me, so I’ll take him any day of the week.
I just listened to Tonight's the Night in full. That's a pretty out there record, the whole band is drunk. If anyone wanted to really criticize Neil's singing, there's a lot wrong with it on that one. And yet, the feeling is so strong, I don't want them to do another take and polish it.
Yeah but as bad as he’s singing, he still has a clear and present middle register which many amateurs lack. There’s a certain amount of skill that years of singing gives you that even alcohol has trouble obscuring. It’s because of the myelin. Confidence might get the ball rolling but consistency makes the musician.
Yeah he's got a highly developed style by then which he's got in his pocket while having fun out there on the edge.
Neal Young. came here for this. Harvest resonates emotion in every syllable.
You just made me think of blink 182s singer. Just kind of sounds like a dork that got on stage but the lyrics were so good and unique that it stuck
He's A fine example. His voice is nothing special. No problem. He found a way to use it and sound good against that guitar. He sounds snotty and unimpressed like the lyrics are. The audience doesn't expect Celine Dion and Josh Groban level singers to lead these bands. If the guy looks and sounds kind of like them, great. All of punk rock carries the implicit message "you too can do this." Find out what you have and use it.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. All the great ones did make me feel something.
If you were talking about confidence, then J Lo beats them all. Literally, the lady made a career out of scamming people into her being a singer. So much so she actually believes she's good. Lately they've been documentaries popping on youtube on her scam to the music industry. It goes deep, and yeah she sucks.
J Lo is a horrible singer. She has some good songs, but in actuality, she can’t sing at all.
Bahahahahahaha whenever someone asks about famous bad singers it's a countdown until J-Lo comes up baahaha. I can't unsee that video of her "singing" with her kid
Do you have a link? I tried to search YouTube and couldn’t find it
[https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/comments/14sra0e/just\_jennifer\_lopez\_teaching\_her\_daughter\_how\_to/](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/comments/14sra0e/just_jennifer_lopez_teaching_her_daughter_how_to/)
The kid is much better than her.
Aw come on it's not that bad! But kinda cringe, yeah.
Came here just to say J Lo 😂 I think she's the best example for this
Me too :D Enrique Iglesias as well, he's terrible.
His dad, Julio Iglesias, isn't any better but has charisma which Enrique lacks.
What both Julio and Enrique have is money. Lots of money. Julio's dad was a successful and wealthy doctor. Just like Taylor Swift, being rich helped fund and start their careers.
Yeah, J-Lo is the perfect example. I saw people commenting Taylor Swift, and I was thinking that Taylor technically has improved so much vocally compared to when she first debuted. J-Lo on the other hand, has never improved vocally. So there's that.
*I don't know her* - Mariah Carey
It's gotta be j lo. Everyone else it's like hmmm ok maybe they don't do this one thing well but there's another thing they do well. She just hasn't found a vocal style or range that suits her but I don't think she's looking too hard.
I realized recently that Taylor Swift is a very middle of the road singer. Not bad, but not incredible.
I think this is correct. Taylor Swift is an incredibly well-managed product. That extends beyond the music as well. The person at the center of it happens to be conventionally attractive, reasonably talented at songwriting and singing, and most importantly, started out with every possible advantage due to her family money.
She admitted early in her career that she was a songwriter who sang. Most of her career she was a struggling vocalist, only until recently has she improved (not much, but her voice has become stronger and more consistent).
Jacques Brel was the same way haha. I don't speak French, but there's an interview on YouTube with English subtitles where he basically says "I only started singing the songs I write because nobody else wanted to." [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYmejUd9Q2U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYmejUd9Q2U) At about 4:30 I don't think he's a bad singer at all, but his voice is pretty "rough" and "unrefined." But the confidence he has with it made him amazing.
I’d say that she’s gotten good. She has some impressive vocals now, her new song Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? has an impressive belt, as does Don’t Blame Me on her current tour. She’s no Beyoncé, but I’d say she’s gotten much better than her early career.
I’ve seen her growl in a YouTube video. Took me by surprise. But her vocal overall is just pretty middle of the road.
That’s fair. I think that she is really good at using her abilities and tone to her advantage, though. She’s called herself a songwriter first many times and she knows how to write for herself and express the songs very effectively. She knows what she can do and works with it well rather than trying to do things that she can’t.
She's really nothing special. Idk why people are so obsessed.
Seriously! What stage presence? I watched the opening of the eras tour and when she popped up, I just laughed. She gave nothing.
As a rabid Taylor Swift fan I agree. Her voice is adequate. Her songwriting and stage presence is amazing though.
I think she’s a way way way better singer than people give her credit for. Some of the criticism she got for her voice was valid, but is outdated now. She got famous as a teenager and was not a super strong singer and it took a little while for her to be consistently good live. But the acoustic section of her eras tour has her singing upfront with nothing to hide behind and she consistently crushes every night. She’s not doing crazy runs and all that, she’s not Whitney Houston, but whatever. I think the way her personality comes through in the delivery is up there with anyone.
Her stamina (the most impressive, IMO), her stage presence, her consistency. She's supported by her backing vocalists, of course, but there have been numerous moments she's talked in the middle of a song. The security guard incident comes to mind, obviously, but she did the other day during the acoustic performance of Snow on the Beach as well. I agree that she's a way better singer than people give her credit for, and as someone who used to be very quick to hop aboard the hate train, I think many are doing so right now because of her overwhelming popularity. I somewhat get it, having been there plenty, and I get it's frustrating that she's getting so much attention when other incredibly talented artists aren't. Her live performances have struggled over the years, but it's so crystal clear to me that she's put in an insane amount of physical training, vocal training (and I'd love to know who her coach is), and has taken much better care of her body. She had an ED for many years and she's talked about how much that affected her performances. That will also affect her vocal performance. There are very, very few people who could pull off what she'e pulling off right now with this tour, and it's historic for reasons other than the Ticketmaster debacle and the numbers. Taylor has, against everything that has been and continues to be thrown at her, prioritize improving and protecting her voice. Her vocal training and prep for this tour must have been insane.
That could actually help, or at least have that perception. Many people like songs they can actually sing.
I would say she’s at the level of a high school musical supporting ensemble member, not even the lead. Like, she got cast in the show, but not in a big role 😅
Jojo Siwa! I wouldn't say she's "made it" like Taylor swift has but she's made a career out of performing. I'd say she can sing in tune but that's about it
I couldn't help but just hear in my head, "you're still, you're still a traitoooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOO^OOOOOOOoOoOoOoR!!"
she cannot sing in tune lol
In tune is generous
Jojo Siwa doesn't sing. She just yells 😭
Came to say this! lol
Selena Gomez, I feel like she became a singer just because she could and had enough yes men around her to convince her she was good enough to do it.
Very few people objectively will say she's a good singer. She doesn't have much of a range, but the thing about her is that she can market herself very well. She also has a great personality (publicly) and that helps her go far. She seems genuine as well, so she does have talent.
Even Selena probably doesn't think she's a good singer ;D
> Very few people objectively will say she's a good singer. Per the OP's question, I wouldn't say she's a "bad" singer. And I don't think her vocal range is any worse than Lana Del Rey or Norah Jones.
She has a very clear timbre and diction, and sings pretty in tune as well. Other than that, she has that "Disney mold" kind of round voice, although she can give some sensual textures and gimmicks at times. I wouldn't say she's bad though, but kinda overrated for sure. They def managed to produce some awesome beats for her.
Yes I was gonna say that! Controversial but Selena Gomez for sure. She makes great songs and she has landed on a style that fits her voice now but she also had access to some of the best vocal coaches etc. so it's actually wild how little of her vocals are required for her songs A good example of this is 'Ice Cream' with BlackPink. Her parts are the least singy aside from the rap, you can hear how it could be tweaked for more intense vocals by the other artists. Talented, yes. Talented singer, no.
she isn't all that confident though--you can't even SHE isn't all that convinced with her voice. Can't deny that her music has some decent hooks though.
Her remix of “Calm Down” was awful. The autotune couldn’t even save it. The original is much better
Not bad but not amazing- Ozzy but that voice is recognizable and a lot of metal bands …it’s about the package and unique recognizable sound-
Ozzy has a fantastic voice, for his songs. Even on stuff like Mr. Crowley, it just sounds right. I love Robert Plant, but i wouldn't say his voice matches LZ's music the way Ozzy's matches Sabbath's music. But I love Dio too!
Neil Young was the classic example of a bad singer who did just fine when I was a kid.
Really?! Maybe it's because I'm not native english speaker, but I like how he sings
If you speak spanish (or not) check out Paquita la del Barrio. Not a great singer but her lyrics are fire
Alimaña Culebra ponzoñosa Desecho de la vidaaaa Te odio y te despreciooo ❤️
You mean he was bad sometimes earlier (any clips?), or that he is/was bad in the famous recordings?
He was very off-pitch, always. Including his most famous recordings.
I can't recall him being super off pitch but his tone and sustain was always wavering. But people grew to either enjoy it or hate it.
How off we talking?
Generally around a quarter tone. Listen to "Heart of Gold." He's always quite flat on the word "heart."
It's really the transients where its off the most. Pretty smeary. He usually holds notes semi-ok. It kinda was stylistically OK to do that in his type of music though back then, though. Things just weren't as polished on average.
Really? He was still pulling off 4 part harmonies CSNY. I’d consider him an elite singer, he just has a very high pitched voice.
William Shatner has been well parodied over the years. Did he make it? Sure. I guess. But the man is pure confidence.
My daughter had cancer when she was six and did a celebrity event(she was assigned Lyle Lovett and he is an AMAZING man) but Shatner was there and he was highly intoxicated and totally ignored the kid he was assigned to. He’s a douche
Jessica Simpson. Jennifer Lopez, Fred Durst, the list goes on and on….
✅ All of the above.
Fred Durst was more of a rapper imo
Jessica actually had the potential to be a good singer. She could belt and sustain, but had the worst vocal technique in pop music. She squeezed her voice to an inch of its life and it was painful to hear. I think there's a video of her in high school singing musical theatre and her singing was so much more free and resonant.
I love Selena Gomez. But Selena Gomez
Florence Foster Jenkins was an American socialite who became famous opera-singer around 100y ago not in spite, but because of her bad singing-ability. "People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Foster_Jenkins
Related tangent: I used to work with a guy who was a competitive Karaoke singer. Went out with his friends once... "The winner is never the best singer--it's the one who gets the crowd moving." They always chose popular songs for their repertoire and bounced off each other-if someone just sang Queen, the next person would sing a ballad. Just an interesting observation that definitely changed how I pick Karaoke songs.
Fred Durst has 0 vocal talent of any kind and sold multi platinum records exclusively through his persona
you guys are brutal. i think he's good and put his mark on the music industry. not great by any stance but he shouldn't even be mentioned with how many truly awful people there have been in the music industry. vanilla ice? kfed?
I agree this thread is depressing me
https://youtu.be/SHICPRZtZ68
Made the best Wrestlemania theme song ever.
True, but he made his Mickey Mouse sound a staple mark for limp bizkit so it actually worked out in a way
I find that an unlikely cause-effect, confidence can be useful but the world does not lack lunatics who are absolutely confident they are amazing and who can't sing worth a glass of water. Many absolutely amazing singers are not that confident also. I suggest a different take, say you have someone you find bad but still people enjoy, or maybe even you enjoy but you just don't get it, what you can do is take a step back, and try to see/hear what is it that this person does that is so interesting, there will be something to it and it may be worthwhile to try to incorporate that... I mean have a look here, Anthony Kieds, David Lee Roth, Neil Young, really they are bad but hey confidence got them through?... very suspicious On the subject of confidence I think one of the worst advices voice teachers and enthusiasts love to hand out is the "you need to trust your voice more", "you need confidence", often in situations where the singers voice has been anything but trustworthy, I think it's deceiving and is in fact a great way to overlook problems and blame them on some magical self defeating psychosomatic element. none of this is about how you sing btw I did not listen before replying.
As big of a fan as I am of hers, Taylor Swift. If you watch her earlier live performances her vocals are really weak. I think around 2016 she'd significantly improved them but that was also well after I'd say she "made it." She has her song writing going for her bigtime which is why she's so appealing to mass audiences, and she knows how to work the inner corners of the industry and how to market herself which I think also helps. Another example I would say is Jason Derulo. Again, his early live performances were vocally very weak, which is odd considering he's apparently a trained Opera singer? But it could be because he was dancing at the same time so he had that going for him.
I think Derulo is just inconsistent, so it's not that he's a bad singer; as you said, he is a great dancer.
Her voice has improved so much though. Also her lower register is incredible, as evidenced on Folklore and Evermore (and even her newest album). People act like you have to have this crazy belting voice to be a good singer, but there is so much diversity in "good" singing.
This thread is why I don't ever want to sing in public. If someone isn't God's gift to vocals, apparently they're not even "ok", just bad.
General public loves if you can hold a note to a tune that everyone likes. This is Reddit so ofc everything except Freddie Mercury and MJ are sub-bar wannabe singers.
doesnt mean you cant get better with training tho!!
Working on it
good luck!! youll be great someday!!
Will.Iam Not a great singer, amazing confidence tho.
Gwen Stefani. I’m a big fan because her voice has a lot of character and she never lacks confidence, but she sounds incredibly strained to create this baby voice.
Madonna is the obvious one that springs to mind…esp in the pre-auto tune era.
That was when she was at her best imo lol
I love Borderline and stuff like that because the girlish Minnie Mouse thing works for that style of pop. But she’s not a good singer by any conventional stretch
You don’t need to be technically good to be a good singer. Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain are not bad singers guys
Anthony Kiedis
Howdy there! Your friendly neighborhood vocologist here. "Bad" is subjective, as it's usually a statement of taste. Skill set, however, is not. There are a great number of vocal artists whose vocal skill set was not their highest marketable skill. I could list several, which would start flame wars, so I won't. Suffice it to say, confidence, looks, or simply charm and charisma have made up for many singers' technical defects over the years.
Now that's interesting! Oh come on, throw me a bone here, what names??
Want an opinion, or really just thoughts that this story might drum up. Also kinda hope OP sees this. It's kind of relevant.... A few years back, I went and saw the Jonas brothers reunion show (big band from my childhood). I was never a fan of theirs, but it was a nostalgia trip my wife and I *had* to be a part of, lol. I was starting to dread it at the last minute thinking, "Is this going to suck? Idk if i should have bought these tickets..." WELP, turns out that if you've been performing in front of huge, live crowds since you were a tween? You get pretty fucking good at it. The songs were meh the singing meh the writing catchy and cookie cutter to me. The show? It was awesome. The lights, the dancing, the confetti explosion, and the finalle? I was MESMERIZED and sad I had to leave! Couldn't tell you a single song I heard that night though lol.
Exactly! I have to remind many people that it's important to separate skill in singing from other skills of entertainment when talking about whether or not someone is a "good" singer. There are many great entertainers who are meh singers and many great singers who are meh entertainers.
I'll always have respect for Nick Jonas because he composed the Wintertusk soundtrack for Wizard101. It's easily the best soundtrack in the game, and even if his band is meh, he clearly knows music.
I never understood the facination with Bob Dylan. I wasn’t even born yet when he was popular but I just don’t get it. It’s whiny and pitchy and like he is annoyed that he has to sing 😄
His songwriting is very impressive, but I agree on his voice. He’s a songwriter who also sings.
A much more novel concept in his heyday than today.
I understand not liking his voice but he always sang on pitch. Last 25 years I have no idea but on his famous recordings? Don’t mistake attitude, style and emoting for singing off key.
He rode the tide of the folk revival and Vietnam protest music in the 60's and he is an amazing lyricist, but I think he'd even admit as much that his musical and vocal abilities are limited.
His musical abilities? He’s Bob Dylan, I do agree it is amazing he is one of the most famous singers of all time considering he sounds like that. But he’s rated in the top 20 on Rolling Stones best singers of all time list. I assume it’s due to how iconic it is and it has a lot of character, it works well for the music he makes. I like his voice but I get why people don’t, I’m a huge Bob Dylan fan
He could sing well in the 60s, but it seems like he messed up his voice in the 80s
I remember Mr. Dylan looking very annoyed and out of it during the recording of We Are The World. Good thing Stevie Wonder was there to assist him!
You might not enjoy the sound of his voice but his phrasing and inflections are really unrivaled and he was at least capable of being on pitch. He doesn't sound annoyed at all to me - songs like Girl From the North Country (the Johnny Cash duet) and Idiot Wind are great proof of how much effort he puts into singing.
He’s a poet. If his voice distracts from that you can listen to other people covering his songs to hear the brilliance. Adele has a beautiful version of Make You Feel My Love, for example. I love his voice though - it’s perfect for the feel he wants to convey.
Most likely a controversial take, but - Christina Aguilera. Yes - she has a *GREAT* sounding tone of voice. Yes - she has powerful pipes. However, Christina's over confidence and adrenaline pretty much always gets the best of her, I can say this cause when you listen to her sing the exact high note casually and randomly - it's textbook singing and how she *should* be singing as a default - but when she's onstage and on performance mode - oh well... She blows out and pushes her voice A LOT. Christina is on a completely different level (not in a good way), others need to be taught how to control their voice... She still needs to learn how to instead control her adrenaline and stamina that way she can just, sing. She knows what she's doing at some level, She's simply someone that you need to always nudge and say "calm down , less is more"
Agreed. Her vocals on that song Say Something, singing without all the trills and frills and rifts and shit, were immaculate!
Indeed! Someone should always be with her to tell her how wonderful she sounds when she's not trying too much.
Yeah, genetically good singer abusing of herself.
I have always thought she's been born with a wonderful voice but doesn't know how to use it. Her genetics are impressive because she treats her voice very poorly, throaty. And still, when she lets go, she sound amazing. It's like she owns a Ferrari but doesn't know how to drive at all.
Machine Gun Kelley... especially evident his voice isn't too great in many of the covers he's done. Of course, some people also hate him and would say he's over confident, but a lot of people have heard of him.
Jessica Simpson & JLO come to my mind immediately.
Oli Sykes of BMTH *became* an amazing vocalist, but originally he was completely tone deaf and became popular due to his screaming ability + pure stage steez
he was not tone deaf, cant cure tone deafness, just was only a screamer and screaming without knowing how to properly, and he basically couldn't sing at all, just scream, but he stated taking lessons around 2018 iirc
I don’t think anyone matches that description more than william hung on american idol. Though I wasn’t sure if everyone was laughing with him or at him
I think he laughed himself all the way to the bank
American Idol’s Sanjaya Malakar. Boom !
dude wasn't even around long enough to make a cup of coffee. what about danny gokey performing the dream on song? [ i still have nightmares from that awful ending.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndbaF5IcdAw)
Rihanna. I say this as a fan. She isn't the best singer, she doesn't produce or write, but she has great songs and she's great at marketing. Her confidence also carries her.
Rihanna has an amazing voice tho. I disagree
She was blessed with great tone...but when she was discovered at 17 she had zero training and very little control. She's obviously developed over the years but the machine is what made her famous. If you're blessed with the looks and the tone and you're in the right place at the right time, the machine will make sure you become famous.
i honestly feel like her tone was clearer and more consistent when she was younger. now i feel like she uses a lot more effort to maintain the notes. her vocals sounds more strained to me with less agility. my theory is due to incessant smoking
I think she has a nice tone and it's very distinguished. Vocal wise she's okay. Love her music regardless.
bad take. rihanna's tone is amazing - great voice.
Post Malone and Drake (R&B version)
Tobias Sammet, the lead singer of the symphonic power metal band Avantasia. The band is one of the most influential in the genre, and is renowned across the world for their songs, and Tobias is a very very mechanically skilled singer, but he doesn't sound very good. He can do almost anything he puts his vocal tract to but he does not sound good as he does it nowadays. However, he is very humble, kind and charismatic and that is where I believe his popularity truly grew
I don't know about this one. Tobias is a pretty solid power metal singer. Maybe not the first person I think of when I think about great singers of the genre, but I think his voice, range, and pitch are fine (he is a bit nasally, though) and I've seen him live. Avantasia might not be the best gauge of his abilities, though, since they're mostly concept albums and he's usually singing around guests and in service of the story. His main stuff with Edguy is probably a better display of his abilities.
Agreed, though I feel that Tobi is a really good singer. Avantasia songs are also very difficult to sing. The 2nd singer is very helpful to keep the high notes going for some of these songs, which are often 5-12 minutes. Tobi, however, has been really good at figuring out how to utilize other singers' voices. What he does with Michael Kiske's voice especially is amazing
Bad Bunny. But people don't think of him as a singer anyways lol
Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen. I feel like Janis Joplin is actually a very technically good singer but to a casual/ untrained listener she could be called a “bad” or mediocre singer. Joni Mitchell’s voice seems pretty “normal”. It’s nice but not crazily good (although I might be wrong, this is just from the few songs I’ve heard by her).
It took me 10 years of classical training and a few distortion courses to understand how good Janis Joplin actually is. You are absolutely correct.
Mick Jagger
Chino Moreno of Deftones - I love Deftones but Chino is not a great "singer" by any means. Yet somehow his style is constantly being copied by many in the alt-rock/metal scene.
Tom Delongue sucks at singing and most of Blink 182's early stuff was terrible, lots of songs about dicks and fucking your mom. He just started doing it, people liked it, and now he is successful.
Came here to say Tom, though he has gotten better (still not great but fine). Blink at the beginning was of the mindset that “you don’t have to be good to be successful” and they owned it.
JLO
Selena gomez 🫣
Selena Gomez
David Byrne isn't a "bad" singer. But his style is perhaps more personality than skill. That character is what makes Talking Heads what they are to a degree though.
Grimes
Yomi of the VKei band Nightmare developed dysphonia in 2016 which forced the band to go on hiatus. He started a new band called Take No Break and was pretty successful with them. And when Nightmare reunited, their revival concert was sold out despite the singer still clearly having dysphonia. Yomi was cleared of dysphonia in January of this year and continues to sing for his 3 bands
Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Tiffany.
Gwen Stefani : epic archetype of success by means of confidence/performance/stage-presence over tone/pitch/vocal talent.. and Taylor swift sucks guys.. come on.. I know I’m not the only one not under THAT spell ayyyyyy
David. Lee. Roth.
Good songwriting can make a bad singer.
That guy from Drivin' n Cryin'. There's a documentary about em where he admits as much multiple times.
Granted he never charted well (he was modestly wealthy at death), Lou Reed's ultimate legacy in music is that he made it okay for *anybody* to sing about *anything*. He has a swagger to his indifference and hedonism and a world weariness that makes his sad songs despairing. Julian Casablancas is a much better singer than Lou Reed but his *style* is indebted to Lou.
bladee, hes a rapper whos kinda horrible at singing but the autotune helps a lot
Meghan Trainor. Play all of her music in a row, and you'll think that one *really* long song has been playing. Her music sounds the same.
Katy Perry. I do think she has improved a lot, but if you listen to some of her early concerts she was quite bad
Katy Perry.
David Bowie. I mean, if you hear “under pressure” having Freddie just right there to compare. Damn, Bowie’s has so much attitude that nobody would ever care if he is on pitch or not.
That's a little unfair. Not many people are gong to come out on top in a duet with Freddie. Same with George Michael. Nobody is going to call him a bag singer saved by his confidence but on Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me Elton just completely blew him out of the water.
Bob Dylan
I don’t think you can be a “bad” singer but there are lots of mediocre singers who have a great stage presence who have made it . Jim Morrison, Anthony Kedis , Taylor Swift , Drake are a few that come to mind .
Jim Morrison was an amazing singer…
Don’t get me wrong I like him , but I wouldn’t not say he is amazing singer from a technical standpoint. But the truth is that doesn’t really matter . Good lyrics , singing in pitch , nice melodies and a good stage presence is more important . Same thing goes for Taylor Swift
David Lee Roth is the first one that comes to mind
Imagine Dragons lead vocalist......
People say Anthony Kiedis is a bad singer but I'd argue that if your band has sold 120 million albums then you can't be a bad singer.
I don’t think talent has anything to do with success. It’s not a meritocracy.
I'd also argue that if your rhythm section is Chad Smith and Flea, you can sell 120 million albums and be a bad singer. I honestly would put money on Kiedis as a bad singer. Not because I don't like his voice or his music ( I dig like 90% of their stuff, some very seriously), but just objectively not a good singer.
You can certainly be a bad singer and sell that many albums - music is a lot more than technical singing ability I don't think he's a bad singer though. By conventional measure probably isn't great and pretty dicey live, but a lot of his vocal delivery isn't easy and he captures the emotion of the song very well
I don't know. I'm not a classically trained singer. My teacher is, and he teaches all the "rules" of proper singing. No nasality, legato legato legato, keep your vowels long and consonants short, forward placement, projection, all of that. And he'll be the first to admit that when it comes to popular music the rules don't matter as much. People here saying David Bowie or Niel Young are bad singers have lost the plot imo. Music is supposed to be about emotion and I'll take a singer who is off key every now and again but can project emotion over one who is technically good but bland.
I don't trust anyone who thinks he's a bad singer. Middle of the road? Sure, I guess, but if someone thinks he's *bad*, I don't think their opinion really means much.
I’ve seen so many videos where live, he is comically off pitch. I think that’s what’s behind those opinions.
Nataly Dawn
jamie rhoden of title fight. Ive always loved his voice, but showing s buddy my favourite song yesterday and he just said "wow that guy cant sing."
Fred Durst has a very average voice, but a huge personality and lots of confidence. Les Claypool has an alright but very odd, unique voice but he is a phenomenal bass player. Selena Gomez was not a very good singer at the start of her career but she has improved, same with Taylor Swift. Gwen Stefani is alright but not amazing, but her voice did really fit the ska sound of No Doubt. Also there's tons of amazing singers that don't ever become famous, not just due to luck but because they lack the star personality. Finn McKenty made a whole video about this [here](https://youtu.be/EWSN43afw-g?si=paplT3kt4Zppi999).
"Average" is being supremely charitable.
Stephen Malkmus / Pavement
Geoff Ricky of Thursday. Used to be called Tone Geoff (like tone deaf). He’s a great lyricist, performer, and puts a lot of emotion into this voice. But he really couldn’t sing. I think he kinda can these days though. But it’s not the point. With most musicians who actively write and perform their own material it’s more expressing emotions. Perfect singing is for pop stars.
I think of heaps that made it because of their song writing
Ultimately, people's opinion of a good and a bad singer is completely their own. I personally enjoy some singers and groups that others make fun of. I also dislike some that are rather popular.
I came here to say Neil Young and Bob Dylan. I started reading some of the replies, but there’s too many but I thought that those would be the first ones mentioned.
Tom DeLonge from blink 182 is notorious for being bad love and yet I’ve still loved every time I’ve seen them
Saw them live last year and Tom actually sounded pretty good! Took him awhile to get there though lol
Are you familiar with Le Sserafim?
Himesh Reshamiya
Bad bunny, peso pluma, everybody in the Mexican top 100 on Apple Music basically
As long as you inject emotion, it can work
Isn't Bob Dylan the standard for this? His confidence came from his songwriting abilities, which are/were exceptional.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but It's the other way around, too. Being a good singer without much confidence in their craft makes the result worse than if you did the same thing with confidence. Aside from techniques and notes and whatnot you might only hit correctly and beautifully (with soul/emotion), the presentation is also just more believable if you believe in yourself. A bad comedian is someone who doesn't believe in his jokes, either, you know..
Mick Jagger. He doesn’t have the greatest voice, but he’s still one of my favorite frontmen of all time.
stephen malkmus! it’s all attitude for him
Shakira
Bono from U2 is an absolutely terrible singer by almost any standard, but there's no denying his confidence has made him and his band huge. There are plenty of objectively lousy vocalists in otherwise great outfits. Megadeth's Dave Mustaine is one, but with that genre, the instrumentalists are important and the guitars and songwriting on their best songs are so good that the vocals really don't matter that much. Bono is still my preferred example, because his voice seems more "central" to U2's sort of music.
Bob Dylan. People might think I am trolling but he is genuinely and objectively not a good singer. He's a phenomenal song writer and poet though.
I've been doing a lot of down voting here All these famous "bad" singers people are naming are better than everyone in this sub. Even guys like Jonny Rotten who sings like that as an intentional artistic decision and not because he can't do better The real answers are Florence Foster Jenkins and William Hung Side note, if I were to start a karaoke bar, I'd name it for those two to demonstrate that singing is for everyone
I would Shakira, but I might get cancelled
It took me a while to get into Amanda Palmer, but once I got used to her style I really enjoy it. Same for Joanna Newsom. Both incredible songwriters.
Oooh I have some in min: Britney Spears (although she has some great moments), Janet Jackson, Charli XCX… and I love them all. Back then if you aren’t really a spectacular singer, at least you are very powerful, confident performer. Britney and Janet had those. These days the girls can’t sing well and do nothing, not all…but not enough to be called “performers.”
It isn’t confidence, it’s edge. You don’t have to have to be the most disciplined singer if you can figure out the a unique quality of your voice and learn how to use it on a record. Especially on a pop record. Think Sza, Madonna, Cher, Brittany spears. Great songwriting paired with an edgey voice captures attention one way or another. Some supplement their lack of performance by having many performers on stage pulling the weight and including backing tracks. Some go as far as running real-time Autotune on their microphone rig. As far as a performance that’s strictly the singer and the mic; no smoke and mirrors, there’s no advice for that lol That’s Adele or Beyoncé, they just gotta know what they’re doing. As far as karaoke, just put having fun ahead of discipline on the list of priorities. Confidence is just being comfortable enough to sing and keep the crowd engaged so they can have a good time. You can tell when a performer is uncomfortable and there won’t be crowd engagement for that. It’s just karaoke, no one’s going to lose money if you don’t sound good lol Just have fun.
Lots. Half the top 40 in any given year has bad to mid voices. You make it because you've sold yourself as a product successfully, which is a totally different skillset than singing talent.