While some may be very talented on their own instruments, they may not be able to carry a tune to save their life!

Here's a bonus clip of Robert Fripp all dressed up with his wife Toya, singing 'I'm Too Sexy'

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lazland wrote: The mention of Squire as being someone who can’t sing suggests to me that California has an even bigger illicit substance problem then first thought

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Hrychu wrote: Squire made a great backup singer but his Fish Out Of Water album to my ears could've been SOOOO much better with a vocalist capable of matching the music. But keep in mind this topic focuses on "bad singers" and not those whose voices we don't like. If that was the case, I'd list singers such as Frank Bornemann or Jon Davison.

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That's true. There are quite a few great singers in Euro-power metal, but the music has become so generic, it's beloved just by die-hard fans. 

There are also vocalists with little range that fit the music they create. Kevin Moore is one such example. I liked him a lot in both Chroma Key and OSI. 

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Steve Hackett doesn't have a great voice, but does not sing out of key, and has good vocalization. In fact, he is a decent singer, not the best, does not have the greatest vocal range, but his voice is ok and he knows how to adapt it to his music.

Ozzy hit some tough notes and has a unique voice. We saw him in 2010, and he was great. Impressive.

I actually like Peter Gabriel's voice, but admit I haven't listened to much after his first "Car" solo album but Genesis was never the same. Quirky, unique.

Personally, I like Squire's voice on Silently Falling. Neither Jon would have been a good fit for that song.

I don't dislike his voice, but Andy Latimer is better on guitar and flute.

Nick Mason sung on one early PF song and wasn't worse than Roger Waters

I'll add this (even though it's a bit of a joke)...

Wakeman coudn't really sing although he does a bit on Rock n Roll Prophet.

The only time Emerson and Palmer sang in ELP were their drunken antics on Are You Ready Eddie?

Vangelis does speak sometimes on his music (Albedo 0.39) and his only bit of singing I remember was on his 1980 post new wave effort See You Later (Multi Track Suggestion). It's actually strangely coincedental that the only time Emerson, Wakeman and Vangelis tried to properly sing was in the early 80's. Was that because there were so many bad singers around at the time they thought they might just as well have a go?!

Grumpyprogfan wrote: richardh wrote: I wouldn't count Yoko as a musician. Well she has over a dozen solo albums that she wrote the music for. Why doesn't she count as a musician?

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only dickheads who think yoko was the reason why the beatles broke up would think that shes not a musician

I saw Hackett live just a few months back. He sang a jazz fusion version of "Camino Royale" and it sounded awesome. IMO Hackett actually ha a great voice. 

Coming from theater and film, in the end, to me, there are no bad singers or musicians, since it is all different and ... sometimes it just sounds weird.

There is a story about actor Paul Scofield in one or Peter Brook's books and it was in the performances of King Lear, and in over 200 shows, Peter Brook states that he never once heard Paul do the specific set of lines the same way ... it was different each and every time, and I wonder if it is our thinking that singing has to be this and that way, in order for it to be good, and determine if someone can sing. I'm not even convinced about having to be pitch perfect, and folks like Robert Wyatt are not pitch perfect but his voice comes out just fine.

Reminds me of folks that disliked Joe Cocker when he came out, and then one night at the Oscars he put tears in everyone's eyes ... 

I don't think of Yoko Ono, btw, as a musician. As an artist, maybe and that is what she started out with I believe, but in the end, I think that the idea was to go 100% against the ideas and concepts about the arts ... a dot on a white wall? Hmmmm !!! Probably just as bad as what many of us think of her singing. She doesn't bother me either way ... 

https://www.discogs.com/artist/42754-Yoko-Ono" rel="nofollow - https://www.discogs.com/artist/42754-Yoko-Ono

Ian Anderson (since c2010) - I saw him in concert and he was atrocious. He was great in 1984, though.

Dave Lawson (Greenslade)

I think all singers you mention here can sing, it's just that you dislike them.

James LaBrie IS the reason why I like Dream Theater (and Ayreon too). 

Some people just can't hit notes properly. They do not hear when they're singing out of tune. In order to sing properly, you at least need what is called "relative pitch", meaning that you can hear intervals between notes, enabling you to hear music and then what you're singing and how the pitch you generate relates to the music that's playing (or other people singing, in a choir).

As an example, from what I've heard, Yoko Ono does not have that. Would have been using auto-tune, had it been available in the 70s.

When it comes to James LaBrie, although he is an extraordinarly good singer, I've seen him live a couple of times and he was not able to hit the notes properly. Good singer, terrible live singing. Unfortunately! 

LaBrie is hardly the worst singer  in progressive metal, but being one of the most famous, he gets the most flak. 

Well said! It's a perfect example of the Tall Poppy Syndrome, where talented individuals who stand out by achieving success are often subjected to unfair criticism and resentment. 

That's pretty neat and thanks for sharing that. I once played around with auto-tune stuff back in 2005 because I liked the watery/warbly effect it made. I can't sing worth sh*t, so this gives me some ideas. I'm likely to use it to make my singing even worse than it already is, and I would do that on purpose. Sort of like trying to make it sound like I'm singing from inside a burrito or a bag of pretzels.

Hi,

I think there are other things at play here. Bob is known to get bored and change the lyrics, so changing with his moods and "singing" it whichever way he wants each night is no big deal for him.

This was one of the reasons why in the late 60's and early 70's Bob's bootlegs were so huge ... everything was different in one way or another. 

So, expecting him to "sing" something within a style/idea that we want to see, isn't going to happen. Bob sings/speaks his lyrics in whatever way they make sense for him. That would be something vastly different than not being able to sing.

It's not unfair. A singer either hits the notes or not, it's not a matter of taste or opinion. 

There' an objective component to the criticism (he sings out of tune) as well as a subjective (I like it or I don't like it). The fact that he's BOB DYLAN doesn't change the former.

Hi,

Bob is not the only one that sings out of tune and makes it work. Neil Young is another. Robert Wyatt is another. Out of tune is based on one musical design ... and in many other cultures, where they also have music, they sing differently than the conventions we think, and expect, to define what singing is! Sometimes it is easier to say Mick Jagger can't sing as well, but he is excellent at telling you what his words mean and stand for ... and you don't forget it!

Reminds me of a comment in Robert Wyatt's book about Syd ... when a guitarist involved in the 2nd album, asks Robert what key Syd was in. Robert's reply? He don't know the chords or the keys ... he just plays! 

Music, is much more than what we think it should be!

The concept of a "bad musician" is subjective, you can't really treat your opinion as a objective fact.

TL;DR: Yes, she is still a bad singer/musician. Feel free to point me to a recording which you think demonstrates otherwise.

HIi,

I'm not sure why we are so disappointed, and consider it bad/incorrect when someone does something intentionally, as appears the case to be with Yoko.

One forgets in the 60's, for example, film had a scene called "anti-film" that many directors took part in, and the idea was to break down, and through all the conventions that film had which could be found ... the idea was that something else will appear, and it does, but, the "results" are not something that we could possibly expect. And Godard, never tired of having fun at our expense! Theater had its Pinter and Beckett and others ... that went out on a limb ... how about cigarette smoke rings, being "dialogue" within a play? 

Likewise, a lot of music in the late 60's also ran into the "anti-music" idea by being completely different with a lot of counter everything in it, and many of these groups we actually like and discuss ... but in some ways, they come off as "academic" as opposed to just right out in the open. Heck, I know some folks that thought Dagmar couldn't sing a note either! 

I kinda think that we have this idea that if it doesn't fit the mold it is WRONG. IN the realm of the arts ... "wrong" has been its creator for hundreds and hundreds of years ... why are we so against it now? Yeah ... it's Yoko's fault ... (what a name for a group!!!)

I suppose that it could be said that Yoko is doing something similar, and there are times when it seems to reach levels that we consider bad in the realms of singing. My question is ... if it is NOT singing, how can we value it as "bad"? 

I'm sorry, it's simply bad. If you are one of those people who cannot ever criticise any artist, well, I won't comment any further since that will lead us down the road of anger and name-calling.

Or let's say it in the words of my favorite TV series:

It's not automatically art (or good) just because you say it is.

^Why Madonna?

MikeEnRegalia wrote: I'm sorry, it's simply bad. If you are one of those people who cannot ever criticise any artist, well, I won't comment any further since that will lead us down the road of anger and name-calling.

Yes that was horrible. But regardless of the can't or can sing-discussion, I quite like Yoko Ono's imperfect singing. I'm picky when it comes to vocals in my own way, but lot of vocalists I really like doesn't sing conventionally "perfect". The two first sides on Approximately Infinite Universe is quite lovely. I guess you won't enjoy it as much as I do, but maybe you'll be at least a little surprised.