One of the greatest things about punk and alternative music is its embrace of imperfection. Even though most alt-rock singers couldn't pass the first round of American Idol, their voices are often uniquely powerful and captivating. However, these six singers have voices that are too rough even for some alt-rock fans.
1. Wayne Coyne (The Flaming Lips)
One thing Wayne Coyne doesn't get enough credit for is the consistently brilliant melodies he writes for the Flaming Lips, which are as immediately memorable as anything written by Nirvana or Belle & Sebastian. However, his ability to write melodies is vastly disproportionate to his ability to sing them, with his perpetually faltering voice often sounding as if he just got out of bed with the flu. He always sings on key, but he strains tremendously to hit each note.
2. Curt Kirkwood (Meat Puppets)
If Wayne Coyne had more of a country twang in his voice, he would be Curt Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets, who sings each line of his incredible acid-country songs as if he's forgotten to take a breath beforehand.
3. Ian Curtis (Joy Division)
For the film Control, the 2007 biopic about Joy Division's Ian Curtis, actor Sam Riley did all of his own singing, and actually proves to be a better singer than the real Ian Curtis. Though Curtis was a deeply intense and unsettling performer, with a knack for beautifully atmospheric lyricism, he was prone to singing off-key with a seemingly forced baritone.
4. J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.)
When you're as good at guitar as J Mascis, nobody's really putting on your album to hear a heart-stopping aria. Beneath the waves of fuzz on any given Dinosaur Jr. track is Mascis' signature drawl, in which he comes off like someone who hates singing but couldn't find anyone else to do it for him.
5. Calvin Johnson (Beat Happening)
Part of Beat Happening's charm was its complete lack of technical proficiency or virtuosity. None of the three members were very good at their instruments, including lead vocalist Calvin Johnson. Though Johnson had the kind of extreme, impressively deep baritone that could rattle your bones if you stood too close, he often danced around the correct note instead of properly hitting it.
6. Stephen Malkmus (Pavement)
Few musicians attempt to sing high notes so frequently with such consistently poor results as Pavement's Stephen Malkmus. He's written a huge number of my favorite songs off all time with some of the greatest, strangest lyrics ever written, but it just wouldn't be in Malkmus' weirdo nature to sing his melodies in a traditionally pretty manner. That's why I listen to Pavement: the lyrics make no sense, the guitars are noisy, and the vocals are raw.
What other alt-rock and indie singers can't really sing? Let us know in the comments section!
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