The Owl Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 This is kind of a response to the Dream Theater fist listen thread, but I'll expand my point to go beyond just that... What I'm getting in that thread is that many people seem to dismiss Dream Theater entirely solely base upon their dislike for James LaBrie's Vocals, and then use that to bash upon the band.... And It's not just Dream Theater, I see people entirely dismiss bands like Opeth or BTBAM based upon growling vocals...... and just that, no mention of their music at all... I think it is a mistake to dismiss a band based just on the vocals, and in most cases people are missing out on really good bands because of that..... I hate myself for dismissing Opeth for many years based on the inclusion of Death Metal growls, but when I took the time to listen to them, I could have kicked myself for letting me stay away from such a great band... the same case with BTBAM... I still am not a big fan of Growling Vocals, but I have developed at least a tolerance of them due to the support of some of the greatest music ever.. If you like a band, but initially dislike the vocals, I say that in most cases the vocals will grow on you...... Like Growling vocals I mentioned above... and in other areas... Initially I absolutely hated Claudio Sanchez's voice in Coheed and Cambria..... but I did not let that distract me from listening to some very good music.... and after a while not only did I grow a tolerance for Claudio's voice, I now actually kind of enjoy them... And not let us forget, by nature of this site, we are all fans of a band who has received alot of criticism due to the vocals of their singer, and to dismiss a different band due to dislike of a singer while defending a band from the same argument is kind of hypocritical to me..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesse2112 Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 I'm glad you started this thread, intially i disliked Opeth and Between The Buried and Me, until I listened to them although I don't really care much for their vocals but they do have some awesome compositions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tangy Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 I say 9 out 10 times the vocalist is the deal killer for. I also tend to dislike groups after they have switched vocalists. If you don't like the voice its hard to listen to, thats all there is too it. I am not crazy about LaBrie but like Claudio, the dude from the mars volta, BTBAM and Opeth. Labrie is tremendously talented but i like i said its a strange fit IMO. Labrie should doing something like Journey or hanging with Gino Vanelli.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushgoober Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 QUOTE (tangy @ Oct 18 2010, 11:45 AM) I say 9 out 10 times the vocalist is the deal killer for... If you don't like the voice its hard to listen to, that's all there is to it. Exactly. I can't tell you how many albums/groups don't cut it for me because of the vocals. If I think the vocalist is "ok," there's room to grow, but generally if I'm initially really turned off by the vocals, there's not a lot of hope. I tend to find this to be a problem more with modern bands than older bands, but it happens plenty with older bands too. Sometimes even if the vocalist is good or great, the lyrics can be a big turn off for me, and this happens for me more with modern music than older music. Again, if the lyrics are "ok," there's room to grow, but if I'm initially particularly turned off by them, i.e., I just can't relate to them in any way, it's an uphill battle. The lyrics ruining it for me happens much less frequently than the vocalist ruining it for me. So, the vocals are the first thing I notice, and if they're bad, it doesn't matter how great the music is, I just can't get past it. If the vocals are at least unobtrusive, then the music gets a really fair listen. I wish it wasn't this way. I wish I could just overlook a bad vocalist and enjoy the music, but I just can't. God knows I've tried... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushgoober Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 Another killer for me is when the vocalist sings in a language other than their native tongue and consequently has a really bad accent and/or sings in very broken English. This is more a subset of a vocalist ruining an album, as it happens much less frequently, but when it does, again it can be heartbreaking. Almost every Grobschnitt album is ruined for me because of the English sung in a heavy German accent - had they stuck with German, I'd enjoy their albums. Other 70's groups include Brainticket, Emtidi and Group 1850 - all groups that would have amazing albums if they just stuck to their native languages. Other groups like Amon Duul II and Faust pull off English, even with the accents and broken English lyrics, but not everyone can do it. Thankfully most of the Italian prog groups stuck with Italian - when they didn't, it usually didn't work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjtull Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
librarian Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 Is there a product out there with a vocal volume control, where one can still enjoy just the music and put the screamers on low or off? That would be nice. I wouldn't know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tontonfranck Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghostworks Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 QUOTE Dismissing bands based entirely upon vocals.... ...is completely valid. Thread closed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushgoober Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchetaxe&saw Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 QUOTE (ghostworks @ Oct 18 2010, 07:33 PM) QUOTE Dismissing bands based entirely upon vocals.... ...is completely valid. Thread closed. Yep. If you don't like the vocals you're screwed. If I ask someone do they like Yes, and they reply "I can't handle Jon Anderson's pre-pubescent squawk", conversation closed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nappy2112 Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 Opeth BTBAM Guns and Roses Nirvana off the top of my head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushgoober Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 QUOTE (Hatchetaxe&saw @ Oct 18 2010, 12:51 PM) QUOTE (ghostworks @ Oct 18 2010, 07:33 PM) QUOTE Dismissing bands based entirely upon vocals.... ...is completely valid. Thread closed. Yep. If you don't like the vocals you're screwed. If I ask someone do they like Yes, and they reply "I can't handle Jon Anderson's pre-pubescent squawk", conversation closed. Often the best you can do is if you're in a position to, to continue to expose a person to whatever the group is and hope that the vocalist grows on them, but that's probably going to be the exception and not the rule. My wife went from not being crazy about Geddy's voice to thinking it's not bad, but that took years, and still she doesn't love his vocals and probably never will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rummut71 Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 I find this topic highly ironic being on a Rush messageboard... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metaldad Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 It kills it for me, that's for sure. Plenty of really good Metal bands get killed by the singing . I hate when i hear a song and the drums and guitar are just ripping and then comes AAARRRRRGGGHHHH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rummut71 Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 Cookie monster vocals get old fast... Okay if it is not the primary sound, but if it is all CM then I gotta pass. The last Opeth record actually had a decent melodic to cookie monster ratio... 'Crack The Skye' by Mastodon definitely had a lot less CM on it, which I think made it their best record so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchetaxe&saw Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 QUOTE (rummut71 @ Oct 18 2010, 08:12 PM) 'Crack The Skye' by Mastodon definitely had a lot less CM on it, which I think made it their best record so far. Agreed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steevo Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 QUOTE (rummut71 @ Oct 19 2010, 09:03 AM) I find this topic highly ironic being on a Rush messageboard... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Jane- Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 There have been a few bands like for me, mostly metal bands. But I even managed to get past King Diamond Vocals in the 80's so I think if the music is good enough I can usually get past it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancient Ways Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 I read the topic and thought Dream Theater. Also most of the newer metal bands that have the grunting/growling vocals. imo this is not for effect as much as it allows sucky vocalists to have careers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Not Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 Post this thread on a different forum and I bet you'll get a bunch of people mentioning Rush. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandDesigner Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 I would've never discovered two of my all time favorite bands if I let the voices of Billy Corgan and Claudio Sanchez deter me from digging deeper. Repetition usually makes any voice eventually sound good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColdFireYYZ Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 The singer from Alice In Chains killed it for me. Great music until the vocals kick in. Same for Nirvana. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanadu93 Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 I like Tom DeLonge's vocals, but I can easily see someone dismissing blink-182, Box Car Racer, and Angels & Airwaves because of his vocals, even if the person liked the music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Limelight* Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 Coheed and Cambria the music isn't terrible (nor great either) but the vocals are just terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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