the Top 200 Greatest Rock Singers-140 to 131

Digging deeper into our list of the top 200 greatest rock singers, inspired by the travesty that was Rolling Stone's supposed list. Where they got it wrong, this list hopes to be more effective, but not only focusing on rock singers and those adjacent to the genre, while placing the spotlight on the singer's technical vocal ability, in terms of range and power, as well as their dynamics, phrasing and the overall character of their voice. Can they emote from different places? How well does their voice hold up live? All factors are being considered here. Things like lyrical content and the instruments they play do not factor in as these ranking are based on vocal merit alone. How they control a crowd or their entertainment value as performers is also not a factor; there are some great front men who are also sub-par singers.  

The same can be said of song writers which is why most Bob Dylan songs sound better covered by someone else. Needless to say, ole Robert Zimmerman is not making the cut. Most pop singers won't appear here, but there are a few country or jazz singers who crossover just enough to qualify for this list, while having a significant influence on rock music. Don't expect rappers on this list or metal vocalists who just scream or growl, but never actually sing. I am keen on singers who are derivative of other singers. The bulk of these are doing their own thing, the few paying tribute to other artists have still made enough of an impact with their music. Having a unique vocal quality is going to be one of the most important factors sometimes trumping technical ability. If they sound too much like Steve Perry from Journey or that they have listened to their vocal coach too much rather than developing their own style, then that is something that is also not going to fly. Some of these might have been ignored by mainstream music media, but by the time we get to the top 10, I am sure it will all make sense, so here are the Top 200 greatest rock singers. 

  140-Gavin Hayes 

 His band' Dredg's post-rock leanings were ahead of their time, as his honest croon brought a unique layer to the songs as they were melancholy but not over wrought or contrived.

   

 

139-James Graham 

I saw his band Twilight Sad open for the Cure and was impressed by his moody vocals which still hold a great deal of power when he reaches into his upper register.

   

 138-Richard Ashcroft 

 Despite the Smiths being my favorite band, I am pretty picky when it comes to Brit Pop. I dislike oasis, am indifferent to Blur, and dig Stone Roses, but their singer does not belong here as he always sounds like he has just woken up from a nap at a gay bar. The Verve has the benefit of Ashcroft on the mic who is capable putting some balls and emotion into his voice, which makes them stand out from the pack.

   

 137-Lita Ford

The best singer in the Runaways sure as hell was not Cherie Curie, nor was it Joan Jett. Lita is able to belt it out with a sultry howl, that gave her more range than even many of her male counterparts in the 80s

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136-Devon Graves 

 When it comes to progressive metal neither Psychotic Waltz got the recognition they deserved. His high pitched wail has more identity and haunting depth than the cut and past Geoff Tate worship bands like Kamelot and Fates Warning employ, which is why he made the list and they did not.

   

 135-Bono 

 I am sure many readers might wonder why he did not place higher. "Achtung Baby" was the last interesting album he made, before becoming a parody of himself. It became the thing where an artist's present sullied my memory of their past. It cannot be denied he was a groundbreaking singer when his band hit the scene, with a powerful voice and great falsetto.

   

 134-Lydia Ainsworth

 Sure, there is plenty of influence from the likes of sirens such as Kate Bush to her voice, but rather than wearing it on her flowing sleeves she has woven into her own thing. She is equal parts delicate and great depth in her tone.

   

 133- Neil Fallon 

 There is an energy to the burly bellow of the Clutch front man that sets him apart from other blues influenced rock singers that belt from their chest register like he does. his use of inflection and phrasing keeps clutch songs from riding too uniform of a groove.

   

 132-HR 

 The only way I can reggae is by way of Bad Brains. Bob Marley and Peter Tosh were always too high to throw their voice around or scream their brains out like HR is capable of. he has more grit to his voice, but is not limited by it, he took punk to places it did not know it wanted to go.

   

 

131-Joe Elliot

 His voice has changed over the years , which has allowed Def Leppard to not get stuck in the pigeon hole of hair metal. In his prime, he could get up there with the best of them, now his voice has mellowed with age.

 

Soundtrack to the Week vol 2

In the past I have done the iPod shuffle where I just hit shuffle mode and reviewed the songs that came up. These songs  have provided a soundtrack to my week. It's the emotion behind them that is being shuffled. This week was one where when asking "What Would Love Do ". The answer is sometimes wait. The sense of longing is conveyed in these songs which might seem out of character for me to have these largely mainstream songs on here. Many of these song are closer to pop or folk than rock . What counts is how they speak to me . Since it's my blog , if music connects with me then it's worthy of being on here even it might not be as dark as what I am normally doing. Lately my emotional scope has expanded beyond my comfort zone, but with great reward comes great risk and sometimes you just have to trust your parachute. Lyrically today most of these songs connect with me in a emotionally powerful manner. It's like the audio equivalent of being a four foot bubble of bliss. Perhaps there might be one creature whose  beauty might translates on a physical level how these songs sound.  These sing of faith in a connection that endures, giving hope in the moments of melancholy.


Lydia Ainsworth - "Into the Blue"



 

 Chelsea Wolfe- "Flatlands"


 

 Iron & Wine - "Naked as We Came"


 


 Ed Sheeran - "Dive"


 


Guns N Roses - "Patience"





 Tracy Chapman- "the Promise"


 


Chris Stapleton- "More of You"

 

 Emma Ruth Rundle -"the Distance"


 


Ani DiFranco - "Hearse"


 

Tori Amos- "1,000 Oceans"



 


 Taylor Swift - "Everything Has Changed"


 

Arabrot :"Who Do You Love"

When this album opens it certainly seemed more like the project is taking on more more conventional rock slant with this. Even with the drone and the odd touch of quirk to the vocals on the first song, you can also here traces of Led Zeppelin. "The Dome" has a angular groove that combines the weirdness of new wave with a driving noise rock pound. Things don't fall as firmly into the craziness I expect from these guys until on "Warning" and then it has a hint of punk to it. His wife Lydia Ainsworth, who we are a fan of here lend her voice to "Pygmalion". It sounds more like her song that what this project does. But it hovers rather than forming a song, so it more of an interlude. I guess everyone has to do a cover of "Sinnerman". The monotone vocals make less of an effort to convey the emotion of this song, so it falls way short of of Nick Cave's on this song.

I really like the dark powerful pound of "Look Daggers". It works of a pretty simple throb , but it's effective, almost like a more demented version of Clutch. "A Sacrifice" finds the darker turn the album takes progressing even further. The tempo picks up rather than relying on a drone.
Lydia returned to sing "Sons and Daughters". This feels more like it came from the 80s. Something Blondie might have done. The album closes with "Uniform of a Killer". It begins with a march and moves into a simmer , but doesn't engage me as much as some of the other songs on this album.

I'll round this one up to an 8, as it reaches a decent compromise. I think some of the more sonic oddities and genre jerking that have been reigned in for the sake of songwriting are not missed as long as they are keeping this heading in a darker direction. I think this album is such it's own thing that it is going to take some time for it to really wear on me , though I suspect tit's the stronger songs which I hear as the darkest that will become most endearing over time.

the Top 10 Pop /Electronic Albums of 2017

And so it begins the roll out of the end of the year lists. Here is the first of many. This year I defaulted to ranking by them in according to how much I actually listened to them as the scores in reviews are my initial impressions and as I often write in the reviews I have to see how they grow on me. So I used my Lastfm page to look at the actual numbers...Yes, I synched it with my iPod every morning to gather the data through out the year. There were a few occasions with rankings on this list when I am making an executive decision to let one album trump another , but typically speaking I am letting LastFm make these decisions for me to spare me the obsessive head aches. If these are albums I reviewed the click on the review link in order to check out the actual music.




10- Gucci Mane -"Mr. Davis

Yes, I did not review this album. But it's more mature than most of his previous releases and feels like he has perfected his songwriting process. Take that and combine it with the fact this might be the best produced hip-hop album of the year and it deserves it place here.

9- Tricky : "Ununiform"

 Despite the fact that Jay-Z helped produce this album taking away the dark edge, it still managed to grow on me. This is more radio friendly , but the songs are pretty strong. The last song embraces his classic sound perhaps the most as it features Martina Topley-Bird, but when you put it on shuffle mode the songs stand on their own perhaps better than they did upon my initial listen.

 Why it beat out Gucci...more dynamic range, fits a broader scope of emotions outside of ego stroking.

 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2017/10/gothtober-tricky-ununiform.html

8- Nine Inch Nails - "Add Violence"


This album is not on the goth/ industrial list because even though Reznor has more of an edge here, it's more atmospheric than it is dark or aggressive. It might not be "Broken" but it is solid and I am glad he has gotten his edge back . It will sit nicely against the rest of their catalog and is better than everything since "the Fragile" . So if you are a long time fan , you should be pleased that you are getting what we have wanted.

 Why it beat out Tricky? ... is this even a fair fight? more sonic depth is the short answer.

7-Fever Ray- "Plunge"

 Things got weird for this Swedish singer. I was not wowed by the first single from this album and though it was going to become another case of her riding a wave of hype from her previous work. This album took some warming up to, but after repeat listens I can hear how all the elements that worked before are in play just coming from a different angle.

 Why did it beat out Nine Inch Nails? On paper N.i.N was better this album was not as dense and just made for easier listening.

   http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2017/12/fever-ray-plunge.html 

 

6-Zola Jesus- "Okovi"

 After her last album I really needed her to get back to darker places. That is what happens after a weird atmospheric introduction. She combines sweeping strings with tracks that sound like they came from one of Bjork's nightmares.it is a welcome addition to her legacy and finds her voice continuing to live up to it's potential. I think it's a good compromise in terms of darker electronic music and pop. I don't see this propelling her into Katy Perry or even Sia status in terms of radio play, but that is not what she is going for or she would be there. Why it beat out Fever Ray? ...Darker and more powerful, yet still catchy enough to demand repeat listens.

 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2017/08/zola-jesus-okovi.html 

 

5-Lydia Ainsworth- "Darling of the Afterglow"

 This came out of nowhere and it was the leather dress in one of her promo pictures that made me more curious.  The vocals are beautifully layered against slick piano driven pop beat that focuses on being steamier than it does trying to make you dance along. This Toronto native's back is  classical music and film scoring. I can hear the cinematic quality, but it's not rigid like classical music can be. Her harmonies are pretty amazing.This earned heavy rotation through out the year. 

 Why ist beat out Zola Jesus?... Better vocal production and the vocals took me more places.

 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2017/03/lydia-ainsworth-darling-of-afterglow.html

 

4-the Haxans- "Party Time" 


 Ash Costello from New Years Day is embracing her inner Mortica Addams . I fully support this is a good look for her, but as a sound it has interesting results that works in varying degrees. This album is fun in many of the same ways the more disco moments or My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult can be. It gets stuck in your head and thus this heavy rotation is what put it in the top 5.

 Why it beat out Lydia Ainsworth? ... More fun, after all it is party time

. http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2017/10/gothtober-haxans-party-time.html

3-Taylor Swift- Reputation-


What I wanted Taylor to do was give me something bigger and better than "1989", instead she went into a more streamlined version of pop. I have grown to accept this. This album has grown on me in fact according to Last Fm I listened to it more than Halsey, but I feel Halsey's album is better. Now I would round this up to a 9ish.

 Why did it trump the Haxans? Better songwriting when Taylor is on point with songs like "Are You Ready For It?"

 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2017/11/report-to-dance-floor-taylor-swift.html



2- Halsey-Hopeless Fountain Kingdom

Another album like Gucci that I did not review for the blog, but got a ton of play on the ole iPod. I did write up something for it on Treblezine, in their top 50 songs of the year  for the song "Eyes Closed" and I did reference the fact when I reviewed Taylor Swift. So that answers why this out ranked Taylor Swift, it has more going on and Taylor went to minimal. I think the grooves on this album are more on point and she has some interesting perspectives lyrically.

1- Young Thug - Beautiful Thugger Girls

I never actually reviewed this album for this blog. It's not only a lot of fun with great declarations like how he is Bill Gates step-son or that he is the black Christian Gray and has 50 shades of Bae, but it is musical. There is real guitar on this. Does he mumble? yes. He also sings.Not the greatest voice ever and it's aided by auto tune, but he makes an effort to write songs that stand out from his peers. He made fools of Future, Gucci and 2Chainz who re-heated the same old same old.

Why did it beat out Halsey? The songs were catchier. Isn't that the point of pop?

 

Lydia Ainsworth : "Darling of the Afterglow"

I get so many albums in my in-box I am sure there is a great deal of awesome music I might be missing out on as I can't listen to everything and unless something seems like it's going to be dark enough for me it gets passed over. So she is lucky she happened to be wear a leather dress in one of her promo pictures that made me more curious.  The vocals are beautifully layered against slick piano driven pop beat that focuses on being steamier than it does trying to make you dance along. This Toronto native's back is  classical music and film scoring. I can hear the cinematic quality, but it's not rigid like classical music can be. Her harmonies are pretty amazing. The second song is not as smooth, there is more movement and layers. The choice of instrumentation is interesting this is one of the best produced albums I have hear in a long time. The clarity of every thing that feels like it is surrounding you is immersive even at the album's most intimate moments.

"Ricochet" pulls back in more firmly by my heartstrings. It's one of those moments when the sounds hit me where I am at emotionally. "Afterglow" feels like a 90s ballad that Kate Bush or Sinead O'Connor might have written,so I am on board for that. "Open Doors" is more of an ethereal drift until the odd change of pace that introduces guitar in the mix that drives the song like something the Police might have done in the 80s. "Spinning" has more of the kind of movement that drew me into this album in the first place. The fret-less bass on here is a nice touch. "Into the Blue" doesn't really set it self from other Euro-pop as much as the other songs on this album.

Her piano cover of "Wicked Game" is not as dark as Chris Isaak's version. It is not as fragile as you might think it would be.  "I Can Feel It All" is smooth groove that finds modern electronic pop colliding with 90s songwriting.  "WLCM" lyrically is more powerful for me. I think when she really gives her self room to pour emotion into the song that she is at her peak. The album ends with "Nighttime Watching" feels very Kate Bush to me as well. I'll give this one a 9.5 and see how it sits with me, some of the most breath taking songs balances the songs that run into more common pop zip codes.