Metal Vox Talks
Today's post is from our friend HIM.
I am not a musician. But I almost always make a distinction between vocalists (Roth) and singers (Halford). I dunno. That might not stand muster. That is what I do though.
Recently, I was thinking about bands with different lead vocalists/singers. And it led me to compile a series of lists with my choices for who were the best singers/vocalists in said bands. In doing so, I merged the two categories. I simply asked myself: who was the best singer in these groups? I excluded singers who didn’t show up on albums, or who served primarily as backing singers, just as a matter of course. I also struck consideration of various versions of a band as well. I did, however, consider how these singers sounded when they were with the bands in question.
Let’s start off with a fairly easy one:
IRON MAIDEN
1. Bruce Dickinson
2. Blaze Bayley
3. Paul Di'Anno
Notice that I am not suggesting that one was more powerful or influential than another. For instance, I would rank Di’Anno over Blaze on that account.
Let’s move to a more nuanced one:
DEEP PURPLE
1. Ian Gillan
2. Joe Lynn Turner
3. David Coverdale
4. Rod Evans
I can see some quibbles with this one. But, again, this isn’t about the merits of the music. I also know it is hard to separate that idea from the idea of who is the best. So I want to move on to a complicated one:
MOTLEY CRUE
1. John Corabi
2. Vince Neil
This is, again, about who was the best singer. It is not about who is the obvious front-runner for a host of reasons. That makes it more difficult, doesn’t it? I mean, this could easily have been about Geoff Tate in 'Ryche. But it isn’t. So let’s go even further:
BLACK SABBATH
1. Ronnie James Dio
2. Ian Gillan
3. Glenn Hughes
4. Tony Martin
5. Ozzy Ozbourne
I find this one the most difficult. And I can see people going in several different directions. But, given that I have been bloviating a lot recently, I want to turn this over to you. What are your thoughts on these bands? Other bands? Vocalize your opinions while singing the praises of those who lead the bands we love.
