I thought that video was interesting. I don't really agree with the implied sense that James should somehow be taken to task or given a hard time for the state of his voice, or that the main reason it's "OK" for DT not to replace him is because it's so late in their career.
To me, a lot of the issues discussed in the video are things that were outside of James' control, unless he was going to quit the band or risk being dismissed.
The food poisoning incident - was he really going to try to force them to cancel the tour?
Singing night after night, more than 5 minutes at a time without a rest. Is he going to say no? How are they supposed to tour?
Bad technique - he likely didn't have a vocal coach from the very beginning (but someone correct me if I'm wrong), so I'm sure it's the norm, rather than an exception, for a metal singer to have some bad habits. But then he did get a vocal coach, and it sounds like he probably followed her advice from what he's said in interviews, and I think he was putting in the effort to doing the right thing.
I've often heard that it's possible to sing with grit or rasp without hurting your voice. If that's not true, it's certainly not common knowledge. He probably didn't know it. Most probably didn't. And even then - that's what many of "us" - metal fans - want. Was he going to tell JP and MP "no, I'm not singing like that." I personally like all of the facets of his voice - clean and high, breathy, raspy and high, raspy and heavy, etc. It's what the band wanted and what a lot of fans like to hear. So I don't think he's "to blame" as far as that goes. And interesting side question - let's say we all believe that any kind of rasp hurts your voice - do we want singers to stop doing it?
He says that people are often more lenient towards singers than other musicians like it's a bad thing, but I think we should be. We ask a lot of metal singers.
And finally - and the biggest reason I think there's no need to get all on his case - he sounds great live and in person. If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone walk out of a show talking about how awesome LaBrie was, I'd have a lot more money than if I got a dollar for every time someone said he sounded bad. If the show sounds good while you're there, that's the show. It *was* good. I've been to other shows where the singer sounded bad in person, and that's a whole different story.
YouTube, as far as I'm concerned, is just a bonus - something fun.
I would bet my entire career on the notion that there is no healthy way to sing with rasp or with growling. Every single Youtube 'voice coach' that I have seen that advocates 'safe' ways to growl either have shoddy credentials or shoddier science to back their ideas up. Melissa Cross herself even admits that she doesn't know anything about fundamental singing technique outside of the metal genre. Here's the question I pose to you - if you had to choose one of two options, which would you choose: Your favorite singer having a very short but amazing career, or having a longer, more consistent, but consistently very good career? Unless the singer is a freak of nature like Mike Patton, they don't have many choices. I made my choice in my mid 20s when I elected to focus on having sustainable technique in order to have a lasting career into my 60s and beyond. Lots of singers don't do this, and just create the sounds that appeal to the moment of what they are trying to create. You mention it not being common knowledge - in the academic community it is beyond common knowledge, it is accepted as an absolute universal truth, and there have maybe been 5 people over the last 60 years who have been able to justify a contrary opinion with their voices. Rasp is basically the fastest way to get vocal nodules that exists.
Also - the breathy sound is a technique we call 'covering the voice', and essentially it passes more air through the folds than is necessary to create sound. When there is an inefficient breath to voice ratio it tends to cause all sorts of technical problems, from inability to sustain phrases, going flat, to causing the entire mechanism to be overly dried out. James simply made unhealthy choices. He has even admitted to doing as such himself. People give him flak for it because they don't like hearing the current state of his voice and they don't understand why him doing what he did in the past is what brought him here.
As a voice teacher, my entire perspective is to teach the healthy way to do things, inform my students what the unhealthy ways are, and then help them understand how to make conscious choices about the unhealthy things that they do. It is virtually impossible to sing in a true 'metal' style without hurting your voice, but there are steps you can take to mitigate he damage.
As sad as it sounds, it ultimately *is* James' responsibility to take care of his own voice. My entire purpose of the video was to clarify why he is having the problems that he has now. I was not 'taking him to task' like many other people do. If James chose at any point to forego his vocal health for a tour/money/whatever, then that decision lies on his shoulders, and I am sure that he is wholly aware of that. There have been many occasions where tours are canceled or rescheduled due to the health of the singer.
Furthermore, choosing to inject cortisone to enable yourself to sing is absolutely a decision that would require medical advisement. I'm certain that James knew the risk (and potential ramifications) when he did it.
James did have lots of voice coaching before he became a metal singer, and as I pointed out in the Q&A, the longer his career has lasted, the more he has strayed away from what used to be relatively healthy technique.
Not all singers are metal singers. The lowered standard applied to singers goes across many different genres of music. Every non-classical project I have ever been a part of carried the notion that 'you can find a singer anywhere'. Singers are given free passes if they sing out of tune, if they have poor technique, if they are inconsistent, etc. Humans make mistakes, of course, so that is to be expected to some degree, but the amount of mistakes that singers can get away with compared to instrumentalists is ridiculous in my opinion. That was the basis of my argument.
I respect your differing opinions, and I see where you are coming from, but being an apologist doesn't really take away from the fact that lots of the things that James could have done differently were absolutely within his control.