It's All About the Lead Singer

I'm a sucker for unusual, unique or insanely gifted vocalists when it comes to my choice in music. Often, I'm more impressed by a guy with a decidedly non-traditional voice using it musically than a guy with a voice you'd espect to hear using it musically. In fact, a very large part of my love for bands like Modest Mouse and Built to Spill comes from the unique character of their lead singers' voices. Those aren't the only two of my top vocalists, though. Visit my last.fm page and click the link for my playlist. It's currently set up to my favorite vocalists. If you get to this more than 15 days after this post, it may have changed. I only get one playlist and will eventually change it for my own tastes.

Here, in no certain order are my favorite bands for their lead singers and a brief explanation. And don't give me no guff. I'm not even a huge fan ofsome of these bands. I just really dig the voice. Besides, my taste is obviously far superior to yours anyway.

Faith No More: Mike Patton, lead singer of the band, is just an amazing rock vocalist. The first time I ever heard a song by them on the radio when I was in 10th grade in high school, I was just blown away. I seriously thought there were at least three guys singing on that song, but it was just him wailing away with his incredible range and power.

Cowboy Mouth: The lead singer, Fred LeBlanc, really does have an amazing rock voice. I know that their one big single was a little too catchy (and sorry, I used that as my sample song on the playlist, but it really does feature his voice the best). He's just got a growl to his voice that is impressive. I've often thought that if I were in a band, I'd want to be a blend of Patton and LeBlanc. My music would be drastically different, but that would be a killer voice.

Maynard Keenan: This guy is probably even more amazing than either of the previous two. He doesn't have the clear voice blended with that rock-n-roll growl of LeBlanc, or even the range and vocal flexibility of Patton, but what he does with what he has is even more impressive. I've never seen a rock musician play more with nonstandard rythms or tones than Keenan. I like him enough to include him twice in the playlist. Once with Tool and once with A Perfect Circle. And check out this piano cover to really see how complex the music, especially the interwoven rhythms, really is.

Iron and Wine: Moving on to a completely different kind of voice. I'm honestly not sure what kind of range Iron and Wine singer Sam Beam has. He's rarely going much above a whisper, but it is amazing to listen to his ability to put so much emotion into a voice so soft that you can imagine the sound ofthe whiskers of his beard brushing the microphone overwhelming the voice. He also makes some amazingly beautiful lazy morning music.

Modest Mouse: Isaac Brock is just cool. Odd pronunciations, a really strange singing voice, and a noticeable lisp make this guy one of the most recognizable voices out there. You could keep everything about the band the same but change his voice and the whole thing would fall apart.

Built to Spill: Doug Martsch can be a little shrill or even a tad whiney sounding, but somehow he pulls it off as sounding normal within the scope of each song. He's also a creative and interesting guitarist, and despite claiming to not put much effort into the vocalist, an interesting songwriter as well.

The Decemberists: I'm not sure what it is about Colin Meloy's voice. It's not as shrill as Doug Martsch's, but does have a bit of the quaver, and doesn't have the lisp of Brock, but he does definitely have that dorky kid with the braces quality. He's got some of the odd pronunciations as well.

Tripping Daisy/Polyphonic Spree: Tim DeLaughter is another wierdo vocalist. I loved Tripping Daisy in High School, and was somehow comforted hearing his voice on the radio again with the Polyphonic Spree. Polyphonic's cover of Nirvana's Lithium is awesome, by the way.

Tom Waits: Waits is the type whose voice just fits the subject matter. He sounds like he's been boozing and smoking it up for generations. You know that growl of LeBlanc's I mentioned? Waits never leaves a growl. The fact that he can make that voice listenable is amazing enough.

Johnny Cash: I'm not sure Cash even really knew how to sing, but he did, and I salute him for it. I've included one of his classics and one of his last recorded pieces in the playlist for the contrast.

Marcy Playground: Honestly, I'm a sucker because this guy sings entirely within my normal range. I can really wail on a sing-along to a Marcy Playground CD. I included a song that was never a single to keep it from falling into a one-hit-wonder playlist.

Soul Coughing: More weirdness. M. Doughty's jazzier side doesn't really come through in the piece I picked, but this is the song that turned me on to the band.

Fiona Apple: How the hell does such a big, rich, soulful voice come from such a tiny, anorexic-looking, dorky girl? And yes, I called a woman older than me a girl. She looks like one. Deal with it.

Tenacious D: Jack Black has some serious pipes. Classic hair metal vocal power being put to comedic use. Awesome.

Jurrasic Five: Yeah, this is the only hip hop group on the list. Most of these guys just have normal voices or sound like they have speech ipedements due to their grills. These guys are modern-day rapper, but are old-school in style. Most of the guys are pretty normal, but check out the dude with the deepest voice. Something about that voice.