Vocals: Not letting them ruin music you'd otherwise enjoy

[Orbert]

If I'm listening to a band, and everything's good except maybe the guitarist is a little weak, or the drummer is steady but mostly a bag of clichés, or the bassist can't do anything but thump roots and fives, I can usually deal with it.  But if I don't like the vocals, I have a lot more trouble just accepting them because everything else is fine.  I do consider the vocals part of the whole, but there's no question that for a lot of people, they're on a different standing somehow, often the make-or-break piece of the puzzle.

I love instrumental music, partly or perhaps mostly because of this.  If the guys can play, let 'em wail, I want to hear it all.  There are so many bands that sound awesome to me... until the vocals come in.

[Heretic]

I used to dislike harsh vocals. August Burns Red and Between the Buried and Me got me into them, though, and now I like most of them. Some of the high pitched, squawkish harsh vocals are still not my favorite, though, but if the music is awesome sometimes I can listen through it.

[Dark Castle]

The only vocals I can't get into growl wise are some of the black metal vocals, such as Inquisition, great music ruined by croaking, and the gurgliest of death metal.  But I love all forms of extreme metal. 

[Ħ]

Vocals are really really important to me...so yeah, I'd reject otherwise good music if the vocals aren't what I like.

[energythief]

Vocals are make or break for me.  There's not way I can overlook vocals I don't like just to enjoy the surrounding music.

If I don't like the vocals, I don't listen to the band.

My sentiments exactly. there's so much music out there that I don't feel as though I'm missing out either.

[Jaq]

While I love well performed vocal harmonies in any band-just plain a sucker for multi-part harmonies-I've never had ran into a vocalist that made me run screaming from the band in question. As it seems that harsher vocals are what's coming up here, there are times where I can say "that person doesn't do this style very well", but even funeral doom, with its subsonic death metal roars, and the worst of pig grunt grindcore, doesn't bug me enough to turn off the song.

I do love good singing though. Especially when a band can pull it off live.

[fadetoblackdude7]

Coheed & Cambria - fabulous concepts/ideas, pretty good music, but his vocals?? eehhhhh naaaa, can't deal with them.

[hefdaddy42]

The vocals are a part of the music and if I don't enjoy a part of what I'm listening then it's hard to appreciate it.

This, there is no separation for me.  If I like it, no problem.  If I don't, problem.

[kirksnosehair]

An interesting exception to my rule about vocals, though, was Opeth.  To put it mildly, I hate cookie monster/death growling, whatever you want to call it.  I just can't take it seriously and 99% of the time when I hear it, I reach for the skip button.  But my friends kept hounding me about Opeth.  The said I should try to look at the vocals as an instrument.  So I tried it.  And mostly, it worked.

Armed with my new perspective, I tried few other bands, but I was not able to give any of them a pass the same way I did with Opeth.  I'm not really sure why, but, well, there it is.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

I'm not a fan of BTBAM's vocals, but I love the music on the last 2 albums. I think they do really good clean vocals though.

[VioletS16]

I kind of eased onto Death Metal vocals via Opeth. At first, I didn't like them. Then, they grew on me and now several of my favourite bands have growling or screaming...

I find Cradle of Filth on here is shunned and I think it's because of Dani's vocals...really, I think that the majority of  people on here aren't educated enough in that kind of vocal style and don't realize that no matter how hard you try, it's almost impossible to find anyone else who can growl/scream like he can...seriously...it's so so defined, and a lot of people, upon first listen, don't like it. I also think that most people just watch the music videos, and none of the music videos they've released have been  for good song...besides Babalon AD and From the Cradle to Enslave, so a lot of people don't dig deep enough into their catalog to find really good songs...like Bathory Aria and A Dream of Wolves in the Snow (No Dani on that one)
 

[adace]

1. BTBAM - I like other 'core' bands such as Periphery, PtH, Textures and Trivium but Tommy Giles' harsh vocals just never sit well with me. He has fabulous clean vocals but otherwise he just sounds too hoarse for my taste. But I wouldn't say that it totally ruins their music.
2. Wolves in the Throne Room - The vocalist in this band just can't compare to the vocalists from Agalloch, Immortal and Enslaved. The music is pretty good though. But like BTBAM, the vocals don't really ruin the music.
3. A Silver Mt. Zion - The vocals absolutely kill what is otherwise awesome music. Good thing they have some instrumental stuff lol.
4. High on Fire - Matt Pike is definitely one of my least favorite vocalists but HoF are still an enjoyable band.

[ReaperKK]

As I've grown older I think I've become more picky about vocals and even moreso lyrical content (that's for another thread tho). I find that poor vocals will lower the overall quality of the music just like a poorly recorded guitar track can, or any other instrument.

I will, however, give vocals a chance to grow on me JLB took a while and even through all the years of being a DT fan I still don't like him on everything.

[faemir]

If I really dislike the vocals I won't listen to the band. However, there are very few bands with vocals I legitimately dislike - I'm pretty open when it comes to singing.

[black_biff_stadler]

I kind of eased onto Death Metal vocals via Opeth. At first, I didn't like them. Then, they grew on me and now several of my favourite bands have growling or screaming...

I find Cradle of Filth on here is shunned and I think it's because of Dani's vocals...really, I think that the majority of  people on here aren't educated enough in that kind of vocal style and don't realize that no matter how hard you try, it's almost impossible to find anyone else who can growl/scream like he can...seriously...it's so so defined, and a lot of people, upon first listen, don't like it. I also think that most people just watch the music videos, and none of the music videos they've released have been  for good song...besides Babalon AD and From the Cradle to Enslave, so a lot of people don't dig deep enough into their catalog to find really good songs...like Bathory Aria and A Dream of Wolves in the Snow (No Dani on that one)
 

I bought Nymphetamine back in '04 and love it to this day. I think I'll check more of their shit out.

[MetalManiac666]

For me, 'music' encompasses all aspects of it - the instrumentation and the vocals.

This exactly.

If I really dislike the vocals I won't listen to the band. However, there are very few bands with vocals I legitimately dislike - I'm pretty open when it comes to singing.

and this too.

[Lowdz]

I come from a melodic rock background so I tend to go for music with a good singer and plenty of melody. I can't stand Death Metal growls or the Nu-Metal shouty thing at all. It's not my thing.
Saying that I like some bands where the singer isn't the greatest- WASP, Ratt, Savatage (Jon Oliva era) etc. So I guess it's the style of vocal rather than the talent of the individual that appeals to me. I prefer a singer with a bit of grit to the voice rather than the Steve Perry smooth as silk style.

[Lowdz]

For some reason I just listened to some Death (Sound Of Perseverance) on YT, and I love the music. I could really go for this, but then the vocals started. Not sure if I can put up with them enough to listen to the music. Shame.
If I could get hold of the stems for this and take the vocals out this would be a great album.

[black_biff_stadler]

^I realize you don't like DM vocals but if Chuck's Cobra Commander-sounding vocals on that album bother you but you like the music, try listening to some stuff from their previous album, Symbolic, because his vocals on The Sound of Perseverance are DRASTICALLY different from how he sounds on any other album. Symbolic is written either nearly as well or every bit as well as TSoP depending on whom you ask and is still very much a progressive death metal masterpiece by the opinions of many.

Try starting with Without Judgment

[Super Dude]

I actually rather enjoy prog vocals and I can't understand other people's problems with the vocals of those bands, but yes, bad vocals can ruin a good song for me.

I know it's kind of a lame example, but: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWcXuu16ttc&ob=av2e

It was a simple pop record I wanted to get into when I was getting sick of pretentious progginess once upon a time, and this did not help the case of pop at all.

[theseoafs]

Unless it's used sparingly and tastefully, screaming/growling vocals ruins songs for me 100% of the time. I'm with the others on not making the vocals/music separation.

[ZKX-2099]

I have a pretty strict no female vocals policy.

9 out of 10 times... nails on a chalk board.

[Sigz]

I have a pretty strict no female vocals policy.

9 out of 10 times... nails on a chalk board.

wat

[Ravenheart]

I have a pretty strict no female vocals policy.

9 out of 10 times... nails on a chalk board.

wat

[Lowdz]

^I realize you don't like DM vocals but if Chuck's Cobra Commander-sounding vocals on that album bother you but you like the music, try listening to some stuff from their previous album, Symbolic, because his vocals on The Sound of Perseverance are DRASTICALLY different from how he sounds on any other album. Symbolic is written either nearly as well or every bit as well as TSoP depending on whom you ask and is still very much a progressive death metal masterpiece by the opinions of many.

Try starting with Without Judgment

Thanks for the heads up, Checked that out and didn't get the same buzz as with TSOP. I actually preferred his voice on that to Symbolic. Not sure why, maybe just the songwriting on TSOP felt better.

[Gorille85]

I have a pretty strict no female vocals policy.

9 out of 10 times... nails on a chalk board.

wat

[black_biff_stadler]