The Greatest Rock Singer of All Time

[dr_mabeuse]

Is Aretha Franklin, according to a new poll taken by Rolling Stone magazine.

Ray Charles is number two and Elvis is number three. Then it's Sam Cooke and John Lennon.

John Lennon??? No Jackie Wilson? No Arthur Brown? Etta James?

James Brown came in at #10. Dylan --not what i would call a great voice -- was #7! Apparently Janis Joplin didn't even place in the top 20!

I won't argue about Aretha and Ray Charles, though putting Elvis third is controversial. But Sam Cooke, while a terrific Singer, did not have classic Rock chops and was more of a crooner. And John Lennon was a song writer and a musician, not a singer...

 

[Liar]

Aretha? Someone has an odd definition of Rock.

Ok, the article actually says "greatest singer in rock era". So, of all singers, in all genres, alive and active in the same time period as rock music? I guess she's not an unworthy winner.

But still, odd thing to poll. Is Dylan the greatest songwriter in the Soul era? Is Jimi Hendrix a guitar icon of the Pop era?

Apples, oranges, and the odd banana.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Is Aretha Franklin, according to a new poll taken by Rolling Stone magazine.

Ray Charles is number two and Elvis is number three. Then it's Sam Cooke and John Lennon.

John Lennon??? No Jackie Wilson? No Arthur Brown? Etta James?

James Brown came in at #10. Dylan --not what i would call a great voice -- was #7! Apparently Janis Joplin didn't even place in the top 20!

I won't argue about Aretha and Ray Charles, though putting Elvis third is controversial. But Sam Cooke, while a terrific Singer, did not have classic Rock chops and was more of a crooner. And John Lennon was a song writer and a musician, not a singer...

Without putting down any of the people on the list, I have to disagree, at least if they are trying to name rock and rollers. Aretha and Ray Charles were not primarily rockers, as I understand. I don't se how they can leave off Chuck Berry, with classics such as School Days, Roll Over Beethoven, Sweet Little Sixteen, Johnny B. Goode, and othes.

They are messing with my adolescence, man.

 

[R. Richard]

What about Dion?

 

[Stella_Omega]

What about Dion?

 

[JagFarlane]

-Chuckles- How about The Boss...Bruce Springsteen!? Or perhaps Neil Diamond!?

 

[Shwenn]

This might clear some things up:

Voters included Metallica frontman James Hetfield, folk singers David Crosby and Yusuf Islam, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, punk rock veteran Iggy Pop and English pop star James Blunt. They each submitted their top 20 choices, and an accounting firm tabulated the results.

 

[R. Richard]

Quote:
Voters included Metallica frontman James Hetfield, folk singers David Crosby and Yusuf Islam, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, punk rock veteran Iggy Pop and English pop star James Blunt. They each submitted their top 20 choices, and an accounting firm tabulated the results.

OK, I was hoping that there might be some explanation.

Let's go back to basics. Elvis was 'the king.' Bruce Springsteen was 'the boss.' However, there was a guy who they called 'the music.' He was probably before the time of most of the voters, but I collect 50's 60s music. 'The music' was a rock singer all the way and would have been an easy choice, except he died young in a plane crash.

If you have any doubt, go to a music store and pick up a CD of his greatest hits. [Hint: his initials are Buddy Holly.]

 

[oggbashan]

... and an accounting firm tabulated the results.

That would be one of the acounting firms that didn't notice that the banks were lending money that couldn't be repaid?

'The music' was a rock singer all the way and would have been an easy choice, except he died young in a plane crash.

If you have any doubt, go to a music store and pick up a CD of his greatest hits. [Hint: his initials are Buddy Holly.]

I had all his LPs including the kitchen sink ones. I had one of 78rpms when very few people had heard of him.

I could sing along to everything on The Buddy Holly Story (including the Big Bopper's songs).

Og

PS. I could also sing along to almost the whole Gilbert and Sullivan repetoire, Hiawatha's Wedding Feast, The Messiah and Tennessee Ernie Ford...

 

[cloudy]

No Robert Plant?

No one could ever scream like Robert Plant. No one.

 

[AllardChardon]

Aretha was a rhythm and blues artist in the beginning, a phrase coined by Jerry Wexler, her first producer, along with Ahmet Ertgun. Now, I love RESPECT but my favorite R & B singer is Little Anthony of the Imperials. Just My Imagination. Perfection, IMO.

R & B is not rock. Part of it, but not it.

 

[Edward Teach]

Elvis
Chuck Berry
Little Richard

They pretty much WERE Rock and Roll at one time. The volume and the quality of their RR hits speaks for itself. Add in their influence as pioneers and they're hard to beat.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Okay, wait a minute, people! We're talking about SINGERS here. VOCALISTS. Not song-writers, not musicians. People who used their pipes to move the music. And I think it's fair to say that we're covering all of pop music, rock, soul, R&B, blues, disco, C&W, whatever.

We're looking for vocal texture, volume, range, dynamics, ability to rock, interpret a lyric, versatility, things like that.

 

[jomar]

Where's Billie?

Okay, wait a minute, people! We're talking about SINGERS here. VOCALISTS. Not song-writers, not musicians. People who used their pipes to move the music. And I think it's fair to say that we're covering all of pop music, rock, soul, R&B, blues, disco, C&W, whatever.

We're looking for vocal texture, volume, range, dynamics, ability to rock, interpret a lyric, versatility, things like that.

It's still going in the record book with an asterisk.

 

[THROBBS]

Okay, wait a minute, people! We're talking about SINGERS here. VOCALISTS. Not song-writers, not musicians. People who used their pipes to move the music. And I think it's fair to say that we're covering all of pop music, rock, soul, R&B, blues, disco, C&W, whatever.

We're looking for vocal texture, volume, range, dynamics, ability to rock, interpret a lyric, versatility, things like that.

yeah.
so howz about Freddie Mercury?

 

[jomar]

yeah.
so howz about Freddie Mercury?

Yeah!

You know, I never really warmed up to Queen, but hearing them now and reflecting - pretty damn awesome. Gets my respect. Get it? Respect? No? Well, ...

 

[cloudy]

yeah.
so howz about Freddie Mercury?

He's got my vote - damn fine vocalist.

 

[Safe_Bet]

He's got my vote - damn fine vocalist.

He also has THE best Youtube video in history! LINK
(I love the drag queen backup singers )

 

[TE999]

Nobody rocked like Bo Diddley! That sonofagun could get a dead man up to dance.

"Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley, where you been?
Down to the corner and back again...."

 

[Boxlicker101]

Quote:
Voters included Metallica frontman James Hetfield, folk singers David Crosby and Yusuf Islam, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, punk rock veteran Iggy Pop and English pop star James Blunt. They each submitted their top 20 choices, and an accounting firm tabulated the results.

OK, I was hoping that there might be some explanation.

Let's go back to basics. Elvis was 'the king.' Bruce Springsteen was 'the boss.' However, there was a guy who they called 'the music.' He was probably before the time of most of the voters, but I collect 50's 60s music. 'The music' was a rock singer all the way and would have been an easy choice, except he died young in a plane crash.

If you have any doubt, go to a music store and pick up a CD of his greatest hits. [Hint: his initials are Buddy Holly.]

Personally, I think Buddy Holly is overrated, both as a performer and as a "pioneer." R & R was very well established when BH came along, mostly because of Elvis and LItle Richard and Chuck Berrry and the Everly Brothers and some others. He would be pretty much forgotten by now if it hadn't been for the movie about him.

I'm not saying anything negative about him; I'm just saying he wasn't as good as some others of the same era.

ETA: I don't need to go to the music store. I remember the man quite well, and what I thought of him compared to the others I have mentioned and othesr from the Fifties.

I took the item to be about R & R SINGERS, not just about those who performed from the early Fifties until now. Otherwise, why not include such as Frank Sinatra and Rosie Clooney and Patti Paige, who were also outstanding perfomers, but not rockers?

 

[Misty_Morning]

Van "The Man" Morrison.

I could listen to him all day.

 

[shereads]

At least they got the decades right.






Can we have a thread about T-Bone Walker? I love to say and see the name T-Bone Walker.

 

[Stella_Omega]

That wanker Richards didn't nominate his own partner!

My list, in absolutely no order;
Mick Jagger
Roger Daltrey
Paul McCartney
Tina Turner
Claudia Linnear (mostly only got used as a backup singer)
David Bowie
Robert Plant

 

[R. Richard]

Personally, I think Buddy Holly is overrated, both as a performer and as a "pioneer." R & R was very well established when BH came along, mostly because of Elvis and LItle Richard and Chuck Berrry and the Everly Brothers and some others. He would be pretty much forgotten by now if it hadn't been for the movie about him.

I'm not saying anything negative about him; I'm just saying he wasn't as good as some others of the same era.

All I can tell you is to read the Wiki page on Buddy Holly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Holly

 

[shereads]

Okay, wait a minute, people! We're talking about SINGERS here. VOCALISTS. Not song-writers, not musicians. People who used their pipes to move the music. And I think it's fair to say that we're covering all of pop music, rock, soul, R&B, blues, disco, C&W, whatever.

We're looking for vocal texture, volume, range, dynamics, ability to rock, interpret a lyric, versatility, things like that.

Well that changes things.

Vocal texture, volume, range, dynamics, ability to rock: the female soloist who sings a screaming orgasm on the track,"The Great Gig in the Sky," from Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.