HR/HM vocalists & longevity.

[CrimsonE]

Listening to a number of live bootlegs from various bands, I was thinking about how some lead singers still sound as good today as they did ten or even twenty years ago.  Dio just sounded amazing when I saw H&H live a few years ago, and even Halford manages to pull together a killer show (even if it isn't quite at the level of awesomeness in the 80's or 90's.  But for every vocalist that still has it, there seem to be so many more established talent that are simply  shadows of their former selves live.  Here are a few that come to mind:

Geoff Tate (Queensryche):  He still has much of the range, but the power is almost completely gone.

Don Dokken:  Even in the 90's he still have a decent voice, but he has really sounded like shit in the last few years.

Vince Neil (Motley Crue):  Not that Vince was ever a great singer, but in the last decade or so, consonants have become pretty much optional in his singing. 

Tom Keifer (Cinderella):  When you sing like you gargle with razor blades, I guess a lengthy career at that level isn't in the cards, but his sounds so incredibly thin these days, it's as if he's constantly battling laryngitis.   

Ozzy Osbourne:  He doesn't so much sing these days as talk in tune--not that he has ever really been a great vocalist.  But then again, Ozzy simply has to get a lyric or two right and run around the stage, shooting water canons and sayhng "go crazy" every now and then and that audience still eats it up. 

James Hetfield (Metallica):  Not a great vocalist by any means, but he really has faded quite a bit in terms of his live performance in the last few years. 

Axl Rose (Guns & Roses):  Not even counting his usual attitude, when I hear him today compared to his prime, I just want to cry. 

So, what other vocalists do you hear these days that are a long time past their prime?

[Zook]

David Coverdale, Joe Elliot.

[Nel]

Steve Walsh's voice is nowhere near as great as it was back in the old days, but I still respect the guy for adapting to it and putting out good work (guest spots, his solo albums last decade etc.) instead of sounding like he's straining himself or just giving up completely.

[black_biff_stadler]

James Hetfield (Metallica):  Not a great vocalist by any means, but he really has faded quite a bit in terms of his live performance in the last few years.  

He's been thoroughly incapable of delivering any of the grit that was signature for his pre-Load material since Load came out. I don't know if it was an ongoing decaying of his voice that came to a head after the roughly three years of touring they did for the black album or if someone convinced him to eliminate the grit altogether in order to preserve his voice(what's left of it) but the difference between his voice. I just watched them playing Harvester of Sorrow on youtube from Woodstock 1994 and it looks like a good bit of the grit was gone by then but he could still apply grit in spots where emphasis was necessary.

It'd be awesome if he could do some LaBrie-caliber rehabing just to get back even a little of his grit since I heard him singing Ride the Lightning on some streaming thing as recently as '07 and he was almost capable of hitting the high notes during those verses.


By the way, what the heck does MR/HM mean? "Hard rock/Heavy metal"?

[Perpetual Change]

James is the least of Metallica's worries. Compared to many of his peers, he sounds relatively good. Out of all the shit you could give Metallica, I've never gotten the obsession of James' vocals.

[Nel]

Oh, is that what HR/HM meant? Never mind my post then. 

[black_biff_stadler]

James is the least of Metallica's worries. Compared to many of his peers, he sounds relatively good. Out of all the shit you could give Metallica, I've never gotten the obsession of James' vocals.

James is a shell of the awesomeness he was in his prime and just cuz Lars and Kirk are sloppy is no reason to invalidate my opinion. His voice just sounds virtually nothing like it did on the golden era('83-'92/3); he's trying and still has attitude to spare and puts on a damn good show for his age but my comments were specifically about his voice now compared to how it sounded for what now comprises a good majority of their setlist, pre-Load material.

[BlobVanDam]

Just to comment on a few mentioned so far-

Don Dokken - Agreed. He's really lost his voice and range. I've checked out a few live clips of him, and he just can't hit the notes. And I don't even mean the really high ones, I just mean the average mid range ones.

Vince Neil - He was never a great singer, although he seems to have kept his range. His main problem is that singing the full lyrics and correct phrasing is optional for him now. Just listen to the Carnival of Sins DVD, and it's painful. He'll come in late for every line, then only sing a few words out of each line. I think it's too much effort for him to sing an entire line. I'll be seeing them live soon, so hopefully it doesn't ruin it too much.

Ozzy Osbourne - He was never a strong singer, although he's actually done some much better vocals than he gets credit for. I saw him live a couple of years ago, and while his singing wasn't great, the guy was giving it his all and doing his best, and even hobbling around he managed to get the crowd into it. I admire him for doing the best with what he's got, even if it's not very good anymore. His last two albums feel like they've relied heavily on pitch correction to even get a melody out of him anymore though.

James Hetfield - I think he's actually made a good recovery since DM. He went through the long "Barney" period (I call him Barney because he sounded like Barney the Dinosaur), but recently he seems to be making an effort to growl it out like he used to without trying to overextend himself. I saw him live this year (or was it last year?), and he was surprisingly great. I really couldn't fault his performance. Maybe not what he was 20 years ago, but for the music they play, he's still really good.

Axl Rose - I haven't heard anything from him in the last couple of years, but when I was checking out recent live clips of him in 2008 or so, I was actually quite impressed at how good he was. For a long time he was dreadful because he just wasn't doing anything, but he seems to have made a good comeback.

David Coverdale - Coverdale is still great for his age. Live he's not too consistent due to his age, but on record his voice is still great, especially on the softer stuff where his tone has only gotten nicer.



I can't think of any of my own picks right now. I could name a tone of vocalists who have held up well though.

[shadowfex]

I saw Iron Maiden earlier this year and Bruce Dickinson is still at the top of his game 

[ariich]

James Hetfield has been on good live form for the last couple of years, definitely back in the game. His voice around the St Anger time was weak though.

[Jirpo]

I saw Iron Maiden earlier this year and Bruce Dickinson is still at the top of his game 

most definitely.

[PaulEMoz]

Am I the only one who thinks Jon Bon Jovi's voice isn't a patch on the Eighties' version?

[black_biff_stadler]

Am I the only one who thinks Jon Bon Jovi's voice isn't a patch on the Eighties' version?

I'm with ya. He's been pretty dreadful since at least 2000 even with them playing some(maybe all?) of their 80s material a good two or three semitones lower.

[gazinwales]

Glenn Hughes, he sounds better than he did 20 and even 30 years ago.
These days he takes care of himself and his voice.

[CrimsonE]

After reading the comments, i agree that Bruce still sounds amazing.  If anything, he sounds better now than he did in the early 90's when he was going for the rougher vocal style that really didn't fit him (or the music).