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Post by The Fairy King on Jan 2, 2023 13:40:44 GMT
14 Freddie Mercury
 Freddie Mercury’s soul-stirring vibrato and four-octave vocal range — as well as his overwhelming charisma — ignited the music of Queen, making their art rock an arresting spectacle. “Bohemian Rhapsody” offers a crash course in Mercury’s greatness, thanks to its balladic bookends, feisty rock moments, and operatic middle — including the breakdown where Mercury’s vocals, accompanied by guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor’s, were mega-dubbed into a giant choir. Queen’s catalog is stuffed with other moments that show just how talented Mercury was: “Somebody to Love” floats on air as Mercury soars through octaves and moods effortlessly, “Another One Bites the Dust” is all snap and swagger, and “The Show Must Go On” is a ruefully appropriate coda, Mercury putting in a full-throated performance even as he sang of his deteriorating health. —M.J. Top 20: 1. Aretha Franklin 2. Whitney Houston 3. Sam Cooke 4. Billie Holiday 5. Mariah Carey 6. Ray Charles 7. Stevie Wonder 8. Beyoncé 9. Otis Redding 10. Al Green 11. Little Richard 12. John Lennon (really?) 13. Patsy Cline 14. Freddie Mercury
15. Bob Dylan (really?) 16. Prince 17. Elvis 18. Celia Cruz 19. Frank Sinatra 20. Marvin Gaye
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Post by coolcat27 on Jan 2, 2023 14:10:14 GMT
I read this through list yesterday and had a similar reaction. I was expecting Freddie to be top 5 at least. John Lennon was a brilliant artist but I think even he would tell you he was not a better singer than Freddie. Come on. Bob Dylan would be the same. Significant artist, sure. Incredible voice? Um, not really. I guess a rock singers list would be different and if you think of it that way, Freddie is ranked #2 among the rockers here. But still. Where the hell was Layne Staley on this list? Where was Liam Gallagher? Glenn Danzig made this list. Yeah, no.
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baronlutenvank
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Post by baronlutenvank on Jan 2, 2023 14:58:36 GMT
Do people still bother with Rolling Stones these days? I wouldn't have been surprised if Freddie was on the Top 10, but John Lennon being higher in the ranks than Freddie? Even John would've said he wasn't even the best singer in The Beatles.
At least Aretha topped the list. If Freddie were still around, he definitely wouldn't mind her being no. 1
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ted
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Post by ted on Jan 2, 2023 15:19:20 GMT
Yes, if this list had enough merit, would Dylan have been included and would Lennon have had the ranking he has? I don't think so.
Ted
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Post by kyflohgal on Jan 2, 2023 15:36:32 GMT
14? I think he should easily be in the top 10. Yes, I agree, he would smile seeing Aretha first.
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Steve
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Post by Steve on Jan 2, 2023 16:00:04 GMT
14th is an insult really. He's got to be top 3.
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akirafish
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Post by akirafish on Jan 2, 2023 16:00:16 GMT
Freddie himself was also a huge fan of John Lennon's singing, quoting him in a 1982 recorded interview:
"I don't know why, he just had that magic. He had that touch. It was just something that whenever he put his voice down on tape, it did something you know... He just deliver his emotions through his voice. I mean he didn't have to actually sing like a wonderful singer. Of course he was a good singer but he wasn't a singer in terms of say Robert Plant or... But of course he had amazing phrasing. He did have everything. But it was just unique. And his voice mostly was just an amazing trademark for his songs or whatever emotions that he wanted to put across. "
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BrƎИsꓘi
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Post by BrƎИsꓘi on Jan 2, 2023 16:41:05 GMT
14th is an insult really. He's got to be top 3. i tend to disagree. i know these lists are subjective, but so (naturally) is the unavoidably-obvious bias of a fan-forum such as this. Freddie was perhaps one of the greatest Rock Singers of all time. But of ALL singers? Never. There's a huge spectrum of singers; opera, blues, jazz etc that I know nothing about - save that Freddie probably never got close to any of them in actual greatness. FWIW (well my opinion's worth) I could name 13 singers that i think "better" Freddie. Doesn't make Queen any less of a favourite band (for me) though. 1. Sam Cooke 2. Levi Stubbs 3. Marvin Gaye 4. Etta James 5. Graham Nash 6. Billie Holiday 7. Ronnie Spector 8. William Bell 9. Otis Redding 10. David Ruffin 11. Brenda Holloway 12. PP Arnold 13. Al Green Note: No rock singers in my list. Although, Steve Marriott almost made it. |
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baronlutenvank
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Post by baronlutenvank on Jan 2, 2023 17:03:46 GMT
All the more reason I consider him Top 10. There are other vocalists I believe belongs in my top 10 with Freddie:
1. Ronnie James Dio
2. Roger Daltrey
3. Rob Halford
4. Agnetha Fältskog & Frida Lyngstad (it's impossible to separate these two.)
5. Freddie Mercury
6. Christine McVie
7. Bobby Kimball
8. Karen Carpenter
9. Smokey Robinson
10. I wanted to say my ex-girlfriend, but instead, it's gonna be Debbie Harry
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fcb101
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Post by fcb101 on Jan 2, 2023 20:15:56 GMT
Where's Ella Fitzgerald?
Any list of vocalists without Ella Fitzgerald in the top 10 is an absolute joke.
And there are a lot more anomalies in that top 20...
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Post by deathtoming on Jan 2, 2023 20:25:37 GMT
I think it's important to note what Rolling Stone means when they say "greatest singers." From Rolling Stone:
" [...] keep in mind that this is the Greatest Singers list, not the Greatest Voices List. Talent is impressive; genius is transcendent. Sure, many of the people here were born with massive pipes, perfect pitch, and boundless range. Others have rougher, stranger, or more delicate instruments."
"In all cases, what mattered most to us was originality, influence, the depth of an artist’s catalog, and the breadth of their musical legacy."
Greatest voice is subjective enough, but if you take into account all those other factors they looked at, it's so difficult to have a top 200 ranking, especially once you go past say the top 20 or so.
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ted
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Post by ted on Jan 2, 2023 22:16:09 GMT
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Post by angusscrimm on Jan 2, 2023 22:29:20 GMT
LOL...
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Post by Ryan Newton on Jan 2, 2023 22:33:55 GMT
Rolling Stone is suffering from America-centric brain rot, as per usual.
Of course, it's all subjective, but please don't ever tell me that Bob Dylan is in the same ranks as Freddie in the list of greatest singers.
Nobody can deny that Bob Dylan is a once in a lifetime artist whose music has lasted and will last for generations, but his voice sounded like shit 90% of the time.
John Lennon is also a questionable inclusion. Is John Lennon the best singer in the world? John isn't even the best singer in The Beatles.
I think that too often there is a tendency to put artists of the past on a pedestal (rose-tinted glasses, etc). Hell, maybe we even do this for Freddie Mercury, but Beyonce (a good inclusion I think) is the only modern artist to even make the cut here. I find it highly improbable that 19 of the 20 best singers in the world aren't even from this generation, and I'd rather chalk that up to lazy "journalism".
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Post by angusscrimm on Jan 2, 2023 22:35:49 GMT
Elvis not in the top 10? Roy Orbison not in the top 20? The world has gone mad!
Freddie (not being a Stepford here) has always been my number one and I can't see it changing. There have been plenty of magnificent singers that I love, there ARE plenty of magnificent singers that I love, and there WILL be more to come, but Freddie really captivates me more than anyone. It's not just his technical ability or the notes he can get to, but it's his style, tone, emotion and personality coming through that nails it for me....his voice is just pure gold as far as I'm concerned.
For him not to be higher up that list (when seeing who they have in there) is nothing more than pure, clueless and ignorant, pish. They have no credibility, whatsoever.
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fireplace
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Post by fireplace on Jan 2, 2023 22:47:17 GMT
I found it quite enlightening to learn that Christina Aguilera is about a 100 places better than Barbra Streisand, and also that Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Lou Reed are considered among the best vocalists in history. You learn something new every day. Next year we'll see Justin Bieber, Mark Knopfler and Milli Vanilli enter the top-10.
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Post by masterstroke on Jan 3, 2023 11:23:10 GMT
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Post by 85guild on Jan 3, 2023 15:16:17 GMT
it's a list that everyone in the world would have a different result so no need to fret over it. It is their list of best singers and not best voices but even with that rationale WTF. As a fan of neither, I don't see how Christina Aguilera (fabulous voice) is a greater singer than Barbra Streisand (fabulous voice) by 100 spots. Is she more emotive, sells the story better than Streisand, uses her large voice judiciously? Cool if she does, but don't see it for the stuff I know from both of them. It's all subjective, but Freddie is a better singer (not strictly voice, singer) than John Lennon, Mariah Carey or Beyonce will ever be but that's on my list!
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mike71
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Post by mike71 on Jan 3, 2023 16:23:14 GMT
I don't take these lists seriously, but If I'm making a list, I would seperate them. I wouldn't compare a blues singer with Opera or Rock. If we're making a rock list Freddie would be an obvious top 10 or higher, I have him at the top spot with Plant. if you add blues and Jazz he goes further down. I also never compare male and female singers.
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Post by The Real Wizard on Jan 3, 2023 17:08:20 GMT
Elvis not in the top 10? Roy Orbison not in the top 20? The world has gone mad! And Celine Dion's fans are pretty aghast at her omission too.
But honestly, such lists are always going to spark outrage because their favourite singers or the best selling singers aren't included.
Of course it's par for the course that Rolling Stone will be pretty US-centric, but they still did a reasonably good job as they included African legends like Fela Kuti, Miriam Makeba, and Youssou N’Dour.
I'm not normally a fan of lists, but if anyone's even remotely close to having a fair criteria for such things and sticking to it, it's these cats here - it's about as comprehensive as it'll get:
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Post by The Real Wizard on Jan 3, 2023 17:24:01 GMT
I think that too often there is a tendency to put artists of the past on a pedestal (rose-tinted glasses, etc). Hell, maybe we even do this for Freddie Mercury, but Beyonce (a good inclusion I think) is the only modern artist to even make the cut here. I find it highly improbable that 19 of the 20 best singers in the world aren't even from this generation, and I'd rather chalk that up to lazy "journalism". To be fair, it's mighty difficult to get people from this generation to agree on who the best singers are today, because most people have completely different taste in music from one another. We used to have a thousand artists with millions of fans, and now we have millions of artists with thousands of fans.
The album as a medium is pretty well dead. People curate Spotify playlists based on their moods more than they listen to albums now. They listen to a hundred great singers daily. Artists used to be few in number, which made it easier for people to agree on who the "best" ones were because they were only exposed to so many of them to begin with. Today there are over a thousand genres of music a mouse click away, never mind 200 great singers.
Someone just posted a video of The Who's legendary Cincinnati 1979 show, and at one point Pete Townshend refers to John Entwistle as the greatest bass player in the world - in a world that also had James Jamerson, Jaco Pastorius, John Paul Jones, Chris Squire, Tony Levin, Lee Sklar, Stanley Clarke, and Carol Kaye. Of course he was just doing the rock star PR thing, but if anyone made such a pronouncement even remotely seriously, one would not be remiss to call any purveyors of such banality a fool.
I guess the one thing that hasn't changed is people conflating their favourites with some mythical idea of "the best," but it's got to be harder and harder for anyone older than a hormonal teenager to declare anyone to be the best at anything now that there's so much to choose from. But again, the term "GOAT" is thrown around carelessly and ubiquitously, so if that term is actually being used unironically, then maybe I'm living under a rock.
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Post by The Real Wizard on Jan 3, 2023 17:44:25 GMT
it's his style, tone, emotion and personality coming through that nails it for me....his voice is just pure gold as far as I'm concerned. Just playing devil's advocate - all of that is ultimately subjective. Without a doubt Freddie Mercury was one of the most technically gifted and creative singers ever, but plenty of people would apply those attributes to John Lennon or countless other singers they love.
The way we in the west feel such things about Mercury and Lennon, millions of people in the far east feel this way about Kavita Krishnamurthy, Lata Mangeshkar, and Asha Bhosle. Aesthetics aside, they have each recorded tens of thousands of songs in dozens of languages. No western artist comes close to that kind of versatility. And only one of them made it to Rolling Stone's list.
It's kind of the same reason why people born in particular places in the world end up worshiping certain gods. You don't find a lot of people in Japan going nuts over Norse mythology or Zeus.
Maybe it's just me, but as I get older I find myself hesitating before declaring anyone at any particular thing to be the best or the most important, as it's the culture we're raised in that ultimately shapes our tastes and views.
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mike71
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Post by mike71 on Jan 3, 2023 18:03:50 GMT
Elvis not in the top 10? Roy Orbison not in the top 20? The world has gone mad! Freddie (not being a Stepford here) has always been my number one and I can't see it changing. There have been plenty of magnificent singers that I love, there ARE plenty of magnificent singers that I love, and there WILL be more to come, but Freddie really captivates me more than anyone. It's not just his technical ability or the notes he can get to, but it's his style, tone, emotion and personality coming through that nails it for me....his voice is just pure gold as far as I'm concerned. For him not to be higher up that list (when seeing who they have in there) is nothing more than pure, clueless and ignorant, pish. They have no credibility, whatsoever. What nails it for me is the things you mentioned, and most of all his versatility. Many powerful voices, but a lot of those singers sing in the same style, I feel Halford has the edge on Dio and Dickinson for that reason, as great as they are. |
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Post by angusscrimm on Jan 3, 2023 18:36:16 GMT
it's his style, tone, emotion and personality coming through that nails it for me....his voice is just pure gold as far as I'm concerned. Just playing devil's advocate - all of that is ultimately subjective. Without a doubt Freddie Mercury was one of the most technically gifted and creative singers ever, but plenty of people would apply those attributes to John Lennon or countless other singers they love.
The way we in the west feel such things about Mercury and Lennon, millions of people in the far east feel this way about Kavita Krishnamurthy, Lata Mangeshkar, and Asha Bhosle. Aesthetics aside, they have each recorded tens of thousands of songs in dozens of languages. No western artist comes close to that kind of versatility. And only one of them made it to Rolling Stone's list.
It's kind of the same reason why people born in particular places in the world end up worshiping certain gods. You don't find a lot of people in Japan going nuts over Norse mythology or Zeus.
Maybe it's just me, but as I get older I find myself hesitating before declaring anyone at any particular thing to be the best or the most important, as it's the culture we're raised in that ultimately shapes our tastes and views.
Yeah mate, I get you! I wasn't declaring Freddie the best, just that I personally find him more captivating than anyone else. I know a lot of people don't like him at all (that's their fault but each to their own  ) , and those who are fans may still find someone else better. Just my personal view on it. There's no way I would ever declare someone, absolutely, the best at anything. Apart from me, I'm perfect  (I used to be conceited, so I've mellowed a bit!). |
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Nuppiz
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Post by Nuppiz on Jan 4, 2023 16:11:23 GMT
What baffles me is that Ozzy Osbourne made the list at all. He may have been one of the pioneers in the metal genre, but I don't consider him to be a good singer or vocalist. A great performer perhaps, but without a constant string of great musicians surrounding him, he would've never made it past being a local pub singer.
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Post by 85guild on Jan 4, 2023 17:24:48 GMT
^^^
It's subjectivity! What makes a great singer to me (versatility, believability, honesty, ability to sing effectively in all dynamics) wouldn't match up to what others think is a great singer (range, technical ability, etc.). Maybe the RS panel believed that Ozzy was a pioneer in metal singing and helped build the genre with his early stuff, a lot of which has stood the test of time, and rated him that way. Or he did crazy ass shit and had a name that resonates with a fair part of RS demographics so they threw him in, who knows.
I don't equate having a great voice with being a great singer. Pete Townshend is a fabulous singer but no one is going to say he has Adam Lambert's voice. Listen to Willie DeVille sing storybook Love from Princess Bride. That is great singing for me and he may have a one octave range. Hearing Mariah Carey trill her way through 5 octaves of meaningless lyrics and melody may be technically/vocally impressive but doesn't make her a great singer IMHO.
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ted
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Post by ted on Jan 6, 2023 16:07:56 GMT
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Post by homesquid on Feb 2, 2023 0:46:51 GMT
14th is an insult really. He's got to be top 3. i tend to disagree. i know these lists are subjective, but so (naturally) is the unavoidably-obvious bias of a fan-forum such as this. Freddie was perhaps one of the greatest Rock Singers of all time. But of ALL singers? Never. There's a huge spectrum of singers; opera, blues, jazz etc that I know nothing about - save that Freddie probably never got close to any of them in actual greatness. FWIW (well my opinion's worth) I could name 13 singers that i think "better" Freddie. Doesn't make Queen any less of a favourite band (for me) though. 1. Sam Cooke 2. Levi Stubbs no3. Marvin Gaye 4. Etta James no5. Graham Nash hell no6. Billie Holiday no7. Ronnie Spector hell no8. William Bell hell no9. Otis Redding 10. David Ruffin 11. Brenda Holloway hell no12. PP Arnold hell no13. Al Green Note: No rock singers in my list. Although, Steve Marriott almost made it. |
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Post by homesquid on Feb 2, 2023 0:50:06 GMT
14th is an insult really. He's got to be top 3. i tend to disagree. i know these lists are subjective, but so (naturally) is the unavoidably-obvious bias of a fan-forum such as this. Freddie was perhaps one of the greatest Rock Singers of all time. But of ALL singers? Never. There's a huge spectrum of singers; opera, blues, jazz etc that I know nothing about - save that Freddie probably never got close to any of them in actual greatness. FWIW (well my opinion's worth) I could name 13 singers that i think "better" Freddie. Doesn't make Queen any less of a favourite band (for me) though. 1. Sam Cooke 2. Levi Stubbs no3. Marvin Gaye 4. Etta James no5. Graham Nash hell no6. Billie Holiday no7. Ronnie Spector hell no8. William Bell hell no9. Otis Redding 10. David Ruffin 11. Brenda Holloway hell no12. PP Arnold hell no13. Al Green Note: No rock singers in my list. Although, Steve Marriott almost made it. the correct top 10 1. Aretha Franklin 2. Sam Cooke 3. Freddie Mercury 4. Whitney Houston 5. Ray Charles 6. David Ruffin 7. Marvin Gaye 8. Gladys Knight 9. Al Green 10.Roy Orbison |
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velizar
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Post by velizar on Feb 2, 2023 8:39:09 GMT
Steve Perry isn't listed anywhere... He's often overlooked when it comes to insane vocals
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) , and those who are fans may still find someone else better. Just my personal view on it. There's no way I would ever declare someone, absolutely, the best at anything. Apart from me, I'm perfect 
(I used to be conceited, so I've mellowed a bit!). 
