Vocalist, who are your biggest influences as frontmen?

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Chevelle7982
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Vocalist, who are your biggest influences as frontmen?

Post by Chevelle7982 »

I know that most people whether or not they are a musician or vocalist, have a favorite influence whom they always wanted to be like or appreciate in a great way, which is why I am asking who influences you the most both local or superstar status? I will go first: Kurt Coabin(Nirvana), Anthony Keidis9Red Hot Chili Peppers), Jim Morrison(The Doors), Maynard Keenan(TOOL and A Perfect Circle), Pete Leoffler(Chevelle), Elvis Prestley, Ozzy(Black Sabbath), Billy Joe(GreenDay), Freddy Mercury(Queen), I hate to admit it but Axl Rose(GNR), Chris Cornell(Sound Garden)(Audioslave), Billy Corgin(Smashing Pumpkins), Robert Plant(Led Zeppelin), Lizzy Hale ( Halestorm), Doug Snook(Wiskerbisket), Chip Jabs(Sons of the Forgotten, Purgatory, Even As We Speak), Nathaniel Hohol(The Fall Out), Andy from Adrian Blitzer, Aaron Lewis of Staind, Serj Tankian(System of a Down), and Scott Weiland(Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver). Just to name a few, how about you?
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DropoutHighRock
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Post by DropoutHighRock »

Adam Lazarra (Taking Back Sunday)
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its much more to me than words in a notebook.
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wow for me.

Post by Imgrimm01 »

Well lets see, James Hetfiled ( 80's early 90's Metallica ) , Geoff Tate ( Queensryche ) , Robert Plant ( Zepp ), Butch Lloyd ( Spinebelt ) , Philip Anselmo ( Pantera ) , are a few I could really list several more but you get the idea.
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BDR
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Post by BDR »

Front "person:"

* Johnny Stevens
* Lzzy Hale
* Chuck Budzina
* Eric Klein
* Sebastian Bach
* Axl Rose

Vocalist:

* Elton John
* Billy Joel
* Jon Bon Jovi

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Post by lonewolf »

Ted Nugent and although they don't sing much, Angus Young and Pete Townshend.
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songsmith
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Post by songsmith »

Frontmen (And Rob, I'm very proud of your mention, it means a great deal to me to have influenced someone who does so well.):
Steve Whiteman (Kix)
Ted Nugent
Rob Halford (Judas Priest)

Vocalists:
Paul Rodgers (Bad Company, Free)
Elton John
John Waite (The Babys, Bad English, solo)
Keith Whitley
George Jones
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Post by HurricaneBob »

I know drummers cant be frontmen butt!


Gene Krupa! As a drummer, he was the first to throw drummers into the spotlite. As Buddy Rich was more technical, Gene used twirls and flair to escalate drumming to a new level.

On the local level , 2 many too mention as ive stole licks from everyone. :P
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Post by Victor Synn »

Good subject. Hmm...here's just a short list of my influences:

Joe Elliot
David Coverdale
Bruce Dickinson
Geoff Tate
Paul Stanley
Steve Perry


That's just to name some, but there are far more and some that aren't even hard rock oriented that I grew up around.
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Post by FatVin »

For me it starts with guys, who might not have the best instrument vocally but who know how to turn a phrase, IMO, guys like Howlin Wolf, and Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Bob Seager, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Greg Allman, I've always had a soft spot for Donald Fagen (Steely Dan) Ya gotta mention Mick Jagger, Again, maybe not the best voice but he knows how to use what he's got. I almost forgot Rod Stewart who can deny, Maggie May and and Stay with me, et al.

Pure Front man: I don't think it gets better than Jagger and Stephen Tyler, ol' Axl gets an honorable mention here, and Paul Stanley is a sentimental fave. Can't go without mentioning Ozzy. I also think Springsteen will put on a good show fronting a band.

I think any discussion of vocalists should include Don Henley, Paul Rodgers, a young Robert Plant, now, not so much, Vedder, Weiland and the guys in Alice in Chains deserve some mention. Stephen Stills, Van Morrison, John Waite, ya can't forget Chris Robinson (Black Crowes)

I like the pipes on the guy from Train, and Rob Thomas

but with all of these guys NO DISSCUSSION of vocalists is complete without talking about the Godfather himself, the true Capo di tutti Capi of Rock vocals, The original Rock singer, the first, the one, the only, King of Rock and Roll: ELVIS of course, I'm talking about from '55 to 60 after he got back form the Army he wasn't the same, in those first few years he was untouchable, any one who says different is fuckin deaf, IMO.

I think Country music deserves some mention, the guys I admire maybe didn't have the best voices but they knew how to use what they had, Cash, Nelson, Jennings, Jones, Haggard, Don Williams, a vocalist of any genre would do well to take a real listen to these guys.

As for chicks, there is Only one Patsy Cline and the best female voice in rock is Pat Bentar, No Disscussion here, IMO. Linda Rondstadt of the middle 70's a close second. Nancy Wilson (Heart ) is good, Debbie Harry, okay, Chrissie Hynde not bad, worth mentioning I think ya gotta mention Stevie Nicks, I always liked Christine McVie's voice.

Locally, Yes Liz Hale, Pat Benetar she aint but she don't have to be, and I like Jeff Clapper's voice.

I think what a good vocalist should do is communicate and articulate the passion of the song. to do that you don't need to have the best voice but you better know how to use what ya got. Way too many vocalists these days seem to me to be more interested in looking good than sounding good and they end up sounding like Macho man Randy Savage (RAAAAAAAAGH is NOT a lyric, by the way) this is not a good trend, IMO

In any band, vocals are the hardest sqauare to fill, you can by with a mediocre drummer or a knuckle-head guitar player and barely average bass player, if you have good vocals, if you have great vocals you can get away with more, but good singers are a rare comodity and great ones rarer still.
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Post by Possessed »

I started as a Lead vocalist in death metal.
so here are those influences
John Tardy-Obituary
Chuck Schuldner-Death(RIP)
Chuck Billy-Testament
and the list goes on but you know what I'm into.
After a few years of screaming then I got into a wider range of music and singers like classic and prog rock and blues.
I would say Doug Pinnick of King's X has been the most influential as well Stevie Ray Vaughn. I really like that soulful style.
I started working on Bruce Dickenson's style once I got my range built up.
I just worked on his stuff for the technical aspects I never wanted to be that style of vocalist.Of course I worked on Queensryche as well.
I worked on my lower range by singing the Type-O stuff too. I think some of Peter Steele's stuff is harder than the higher range singers. It taught me a lot of control in the lower range. It also helped my deep death metal voice.
I also would say that every cover song I ever learned to sing with Rennis has had at least a little influence on me. A lot of the songs force you to do stuff you never did before and you push yourself to become better , nail the song, and not make an ass out of yourself. :twisted:
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Post by bassist_25 »

Possessed wrote:I.
I would say Doug Pinnick of King's X has been the most influential as well Stevie Ray Vaughn.
Both are totally underrated singers. Doug's voice has amazing timbre (though to be fair, the other two members of King's X are fantastic also), and Stevie has so much soul.
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Post by Possessed »

I agree with you on King's X. The whole band rocks. One of my favorites of all time.
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bassist4life2004
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Post by bassist4life2004 »

Vocalists:
Maynard James Keenan
Scott Stapp
Dave Dramine (Disturbed)
Eddie Vedder

Frontmen
Scott Stapp
Eddie Vedder
Maynard James Keenan
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Post by bassist_25 »

Possessed wrote:I agree with you on King's X. The whole band rocks. One of my favorites of all time.
Damn straight - They should be a lot more popular than what they are.

We just had a conversation on here about King's X about a month ago. It's great to see so many fans of such an awesome band.
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Possessed
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Post by Possessed »

I have seen them probably 10 times and I have talked to Doug quite a bit. He is a really cool guy. I love Ty's style too. Everything about that band is great. I think the only reason they haven't gotten bigger is because everybody thought they were a Christian band.
They have already said themselves they are not a Christian band. Just Christians that play in a rock band.
But you know how that goes. Media, Assholes, etc.
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Post by joel_fatal »

vocalist:
justun wanted- the last hope
Steve Heritage- assück
glen danzig

frontmen:
justun wanted- the last hope (again)
bill christ- caustic christ
joey ramone- the ramones
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Post by ERiC_AiXeLsyD »

  • Glenn Danzig (Misfits)
  • Michale Graves (Misfits/Graves/Gotham Road)
  • Rob Huddleston (Ann Beretta)
  • Duncan Redmonds (Snuff)
  • Axl Rose (Guns N' Roses)
  • Joey Ramone (Ramones)
  • Ben Weasel (Screeching Weasel/Riverdales)
  • Deborah Harry (Blondie)
  • Willie Nelson
  • Johnny Cash
  • Laura Eyeliner (The Eyeliners)
  • James Hetfield (Metallica)
  • Steven Tyler (Aerosmith)
  • Mark Unseen (The Unseen)
  • Paul Unseen (The Unseen)
  • Hirosuke (Balzac)
  • Davey Havok (AFI)
  • Dexter Holland (The Offspring)
  • Dr. Chud (Misfits/Graves/Dr. Chud's X-Ward)
...obviously a buch of different voice types. The way I see it, inflection & timing are everything.
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ERiC_AiXeLsyD
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Post by ERiC_AiXeLsyD »

...and all of the above have AWESOME stage presence.
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Post by Asundor »

Must say my Influences are
Scott Weiland - S.T.P.
Peter Leoffler - Chevelle
Wayne Static - Static X
Phil Anselmo - Pantera
Scott Stapp - Creed
Jason Satta - Cyphin :twisted:
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Post by Chevelle7982 »

Thanks everyone for your participation. Another thread that became a success on rockpage. I swear we should all be journalists. One thing is for sure, we may all have different opionions but from reading these replies, I must say that we are all definately ahead of the rest when it comes to taste. Another sign of great musical minds here!!
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Post by KMFDM ROB »

I don't sing well, but I'd say Geoff Tate, Queensryche. Man, he's great, has a great voice, and knows what he's doing. (this is coming from a guitar player too!)
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Post by DennySD »

Sorry to revive a week old thread but I had to comment on this.

Are we talking good singers here or good stage presence in general? Because there are a million singers with A+ character and D- vocal ability. So ignoring all your Green Days and New York Dolls and such...

To me, the greatest and most underrated rock vocalist of all time is the late Jeff Buckley. Any vocalist who has not heard this man... be careful, he may make you want to give up.

Thom yorke of Radiohead can give an undertaker chills.

Amen to Freddy Mercury. Surprised no one mentioned Lennon.

Sure Eddie Vedder is good but how many more alt-rock bands to we have to sit through before people stop trying to emulate him.

And if you wanna talk about using what you got to the fullest, how about Geddy Lee.

And then of course the non-flashy but solid-as-a-rock singers like Jerry Garcia or Roger Waters.

Also I think a good scream is practically a technique in itself for rock vocalists, but I don't really consider the unintelligible grunt/screamo thing "singing."

Of course rock vocals all come down to personal preference in the end, so to each his own. I tend to lean toward the more versitile artists but if Matchbox 20 is what you want to sound like then more power to ya. There's probably a bigger target audience for that anyway.
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Post by ToonaRockGuy »

Like Bobby, I'm a drummer, but I sing too, so I have to chime in as well, with a list of vocalists/frontmen/frontwomen that I admire, all local:

Frontmen:
Rob Carolus (Bad Daze)
Greg Locke (IN)
Lzzy Hale (HaleStorm)
Johnny Stevens (SideStep)
Chuck Budzina (Flap Jack-N-Jill)
Erick Carlson (I Enemy)
John Solinski
Jason Mittan (Choking Faith)
Mike Wise (Emily's Toybox)
Victor Synn (Hair Force One)

Singers:
John McKnight (Taught me how to sing & play at the same time!)
Lzzy Hale
Trace Baker (Good GOD, can she SING!!)
Felix Kos
Jeff Clapper
Chuck Budzina
Jeff Hoover (Scream)
Eric "Fat Vinny" Kelly (The Wiseguys)
Billy Nusom (Banditos)
Wally Archer (Banditos)
Victor Synn (Hair Force One)
Carol & Jennifer Kennedy (Atomic Blonde)
Dood...
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