The most irritating singing voice

Of all time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw07CDid0JM

What, no Ethel Merman? Carol Channing? Gwen Verdon? I can't listen a recording with them on it. Their voices really grate.
Carol Channing hands down.
Where is Madonna? Oops... Did I say that out loud ?
Brittany%20spears.%20
Phoebe Snow??? Are you effing crazy? Or DEAF!!!???
Your%20list%20reeks%20of%20shit.
Lana del Ray
Without Florence Foster Jenkins this thread/poll has no credibility.
Louis Armstrong? You're an idiot
Tiny Tim
Madonna She sings like a cunt!
OP, you are, ... in a word, ... a JERK!!!!!!
Pffffftttttt%21%21%21%21%21%21%21
Faith Dane owns this thread
And I Love Her
How could you forget Elaine Stritch?
Louis Armstrong did have an irritating voice, and that's not being racist. It was too gravel for my taste.
Rufus Wainwright I WIN!!
Stephen Tyler
Kristin Chenoweth belongs on there. Her.
Jessica Simpson should place.
Barbra Streisand OWNS this thread and she's not even a choice!
Belinda Carlisle would win
R18 = Celine Dion
Jennifer Nettles.
The%20Original%20Mrs%20Danvers
That big-nosed creature on Glee. The woman. The short, nasty, scene-stealing little bitch. Her. Worse than Callas in her last month passing a hard stool four days too late. Worse than Rufus sounding like he's sucking his fourth plum and collecting the pits in his mouth. Worse than Madge Being Profound. Worse than that damned Venetian castrato Paolo Prepusco in 1763 when he had a cold and presumed to intone a Marenzio madrigal and the doge's mistress fed him a dog's turd. Worse than Nero. Lea something.
Shakira and her braying goat voice. Blech.
I was in a store at Christmastime and they were playing Jessica Simpson version of "Baby It's Cold Outside." Honest to god it hurt my ears. It was awful beyond belief. I was embarrassed that I recognized it was her, but I remembered the voice from some other shit song I looked up once because it was so bad and I wanted to see which horrid singer it was. Find it on iTunes and listen to the sample. I defy you get through 15 seconds.
Tom Waits.
Nelly Furtado, Rhianna, Katy Perry
Sinead O'Connor Tracy Chapman Amy (RIP) Winehouse
Aaron Neville
Wing.
Stevie Nicks totally owns this thread. God she sounds like a goat. I don't understand how anyone can listen to her.
Stevie Nicks OWNS this thread !
A%20White%20Winged%20Dove%20OOOOOOOHHHH
Ke$ha - who should have been a cot death
Some bitch called Autotune. Apparently she steps in for a lot of no talent singers.
Billy Corgan, hands down
actually fingers in my ears
Neil Young and Lou Reed should each get an honorable mention.
billy corgan def
I don't know but Florence and the Machine is on PBS right now and my dogs just got up and ran out of the room. They couldn't even take 60 seconds of it.
The guy from Radiohead.
I always catch hell for saying this, but I prefer old, smoky-voiced Joni Mitchell to young, high-pitched Joni. What makes her a legend is her song writing and not her singing, IMO.
Sorry.
oh, that reminds me, R39: Neil Young
Stevie Nicks voice isn't so great anymore, but she used to have a gorgeous voice as evidenced in this demo of the Highwayman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DJR12uBnaf2s%26feature%3Drelated
I'm sure I'll be crucified but Michael Stipe. I like REM but his voice is annoying if you listen too long.
In this demo with Don Henley Stevie hits some very very high notes. Wish she could still sing as beautiul as this.
http%3A//www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DK-BtigvBHRE
I was surprised that someone included Gwen Verdon on the list, of all people. As far as I know, the only recording she made in which her voice could be described as "irritating" is the cast album of CHICAGO, which was made when she was getting really old and also suffering from throat problems.
Verdon's voice is also distracting on Sweet Charity. The line about "the world's littlest old taxi dancer" isn't a prediction, it's a description of how Granny Gwen sounds.
She is charming, though
Patti Scialfa (Mrs. Bruce Springsteen). Tuneless, paper-thin voice with a verbrato you could drive a truck through. Her voice doesn't even work on a "quirky" level, like, say, Marianne Faithful or Patti Smith. Her voice is just downright ugly. To top it off, she doesn't sound feminine; she sounds like a man singing falsetto.
Not%20Julianne%20Phillips%20first%20Mrs%20Springsteen
Ann Reinking.
Hands down Britney Spears. Every single one of her songs is AutoTuned to death and it's so irritating.
Linda McCartney
Dido. Her voice is just a deadpan monotone. And Aussie singer Kasey Chambers, her voice makes me want to kill.
I don't remember her name, but that Mormon who sang like a goat on one season of "American Idol". I remember she would always wear a long sleeve shirt under whatever outfit they gave her because she was forbidden to show her virginal arms or some such horseshit.
Not Brooke White
Another vote for Tom Waits. He writes some great songs, but that voice is just a little too..."on purpose". Same thing with Joanna Newsom.
I wish Burl Ives had been born mute.
Thom Yorke. His weird breathy/ululating falsetto songs makes me want to hit him in the teeth with a billiards ball.
OP is a thousand years old.
Cher is and remains LEGEND
Randy Newman
I have to agree with a couple of posters: Ethel Merman and Shakira. Ugh.
Sarah McLachlan - whiny beyond measure. Ugh. Mariah Carey/Whitney Houston/Christina Aguilera etc - Tedious vocal swoops and an inability to stick to a melody. Listen to Mary J Blige duetting with U2 on "One". She clearly was hearing the song for the first time in the recording studio and still managed to sing a completely different song.
Why is Gordon Lightfoot included in the poll? Do a lot of people find his voice annoying? I can understand if people don't like his style of music, but I've never known his voice to bother people.
Mary%20Hart
Gordon Lightfoot has a beautiful voice! Maybe the OP is just a disturbed Canadian. (OP: I know we had to hear Sundown, Carefree Highway and If You Could Read My Mind a lot, but blame Canadian content rules, not Gordon Lightfoot's voice).
Divine wins. Sorry!
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DztSY-T81vqw%26feature%3Drelated
Adam Levine - a good singer can only listen in small doses Kandi Burruss from RHOA - another great singer with an irritating voice
Wing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DXqBWvmhS-AY%26feature%3Drelated
Joe Cocker Bob Dylan
Betty Buckley
Mine
Mrs. Miller and Wing were released as jokes. If we limit it to singers on the charts: Michael Bolton. What he did to Otis Redding's "sittin' on the dock of the bay" was so heinous.
[quote]Mrs. Miller and Wing were released as jokes. Nineteen CDs isn't a joke.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_%28singer%29
Minnie Ripperton...doont, doont, dedoont, la,la, la, la, la, la, ahahahaha..... That earsplitting song. Oy!
Taylor Autotune Swift Maria Muldaur I wonder if "Midnight at the Oasis" could be fixed with Autotune. I like the song. It would be interesting to hear her sing on pitch.
R69, please. Wing doing "single ladies":
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Ddv4xjWVqjko%26feature%3Drelated
the Little Sparrow... Edith Piaf. Shoot me.
anonymous
Monday through Saturday my clock radio wakes me up to NPR. On Sunday, I set it to "alarm." I'd rather be jolted awake by the buzzer than chance waking to Garrison Keillor singing.
I really don't care for Gordon Lightfoot's voice either.
The cubefrau next to me listens to shit like this all da long. I'm ready to go postal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZD33qq1yqc
[quote]If we limit it to singers on the charts: Michael Bolton. What he did to Otis Redding's "sittin' on the dock of the bay" was so heinous. That was 25 years ago. My god, the people in this thread are ancient.
Lionel Richie
Another vote for Britney "I can't sing for shit" Spears.
Hearing Tom Petty makes me go all colicky.
Kim Kardashian...talking and singing.
Melanie for the song "I got a pair of brand new roller skates"
FEELINGS! WHOA WHOA WHOA FEELINGS!
Eunice
Sammy Hagar Michael McDonald (I call his style "hongin")
Stevie Nicks, I just can't listen to her, someone who looks so stunning, well she did in her younger days, how ironic can sound so bad, she sounds like she has a heavy cold or flu.
lol r33
Adam Levine, that song about spending all my change on you, his voice just grates on me, again a stunning looking man, but awful whiney voice. George Michael on the other hand an example of a stunning looking man with a voice to match.
Any singer who does that fucking irritating gospel style, masturbatory, self-indulgent "singing" by running up and down the musical scale, singing ten notes where there are two, and believing that louder is always better. They sound like shrieking hyenas in heat who should be put down.
r88 Amen
Cuntface Swift or Rhi-whor-a
Twiggy in My One and Only.
Mandy Patinkin!
la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la laaa laaaaa laaaaaaa laaaaaaaa LAAAAAAAAAAAAA! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHAAAAAARAH!
Minnie%20Riperton
I'm surprised no one inquired about the OP's poll choice "Mrs. Miller." I know who that is, but I doubt most people would. She was a novelty act in the late 60s, an old woman with a terrible, shrill operatic voice singing current rock hits such as by the Beatles. She might've been relatively well-known for a few years, but you'd have to be pretty old to remember her brief blush of fame. I happened to be reading about her a few months ago, I have no idea why.
R88 and R89, double Amen.
Just sing the fucking song, bitch.
Bjork
Or, [R88], [R89], and [R95] YOU could just not listen in and let them get along with their hyena business. I find some gospel singers great, especially with choral accompaniment. Praise the lord!
Anonymous
I'll have to second Bjork. Like nails on a chalkboard. I fucking hate that bitch.
For me it's a tie between Sheryl Crowe and Alanis Morissette.
Katie Perry
Yoko Ono has NO singing voice. She cannot sing at ALL. Gordon Lightfoot's voice, while not to everyone's taste, is quite nice and distinctive. Bob Dylan always had a terrible voice, but that was always overlooked due to his songwriting brilliance. Phoebe Snow has an incredible singing voice. She was amazingly talented. Marianne Faithfull had a rather dull monotone of a voice when she was young. Drugs destroyed what little singing voice she had. She now sings like she gargled with broken glass. The OP forgot to add Patti Smith to this this. God, her "singing" is shit!
I like Yoko's Walking On Thin Ice though, some of the dance remixes are really good. I've never actually heard one of her albums though.
Rod Stewart - his Xmas album is a horror
Antony Hegarty Nelly Fucktardo
That's called "melisma," R88. It should be called "miseria."
I think Christina Aguilera...I think the buying public agrees with me based off the sales and success of her last album. Nelly Fertado's voice is also so nasally it's painful to listen to unless the mix engineer knows how to EQ it perfectly.
I love Kate Bush but she is an acquired taste and can be irritating when she does the high pitched shrieking thing. Patti Smith and Antony are two acquired tastes I got into. Nick Cave is one I struggle with, but like some stuff. Same with Bob Dylan. Also Neil Young/Wayne Coyne. There is a place for idiosyncratic voices. Can't stand Joni Mitchell. And Rod Stewart was one I was gonna say, I can't believe he of all people did that American Songbooks and actually had massive success with it, wtf. The singer of AC/DC who sounds like he's taking a dump.
[quote]The singer of AC/DC who sounds like he's taking a dump. LOL! You couldn't have said it perfectly!
Yoko Ono's cover of "Firework" is so moving!
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DlrJz9Dh5MsM
#109, that must have been the sound she made when John was dragging her around the Dakota by her hair.
Tina Turner. Especially in the 80s with that schlock material.
could someone post a link to what r88 is talking about?
Darlene Edwards, Jo Stafford's comedy alter ego.
R112 Pariah Carey is the leading practitioner of this "art." Pisstina Aguilera is another.
Dido
R112, note the way Mary J. Blige sings her part of this song, compared to Bono.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DZpDQJnI4OhU
Melanie ("I've got a brand new pair of rollerskates ...")
Blige is good at it though, she has soul. Aretha, Stevie etc all do melisma very well. Mariah is the ultimate person to blame for this and the whole new American Idol style of singing that's infiltrated their charts this generation. Whitney kind of started it but people weren't able to replicate her voice. Look at the melisma/runs/ad libs on Carey's debut Vision of Love, very influential record. Mariah can get away with it to an extent cause she has flawless technique and some control. Not so with Aguilera, who has an amazing voice but doesn't know how to use it and only rarely lives up to her potential.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D-HtVFkT9CpM
So it's a deviation from the melody? Or is it what Blige did at the very end? Mostly I hate singers that change the melody as if to put their signature on it. It's annoying, because they almost NEVER improve it. If you want a song to be yours, then write your own damn song.
Think of it as putting ten or twelve notes into the space occupied by one long note by most singers. I don't love you enough to listen to that video, R119. That's how much I hate melisma. You'd have to be fucking me with force and panache in order to get me to listen to that shit.
Mariah has basically STOPPED doing melisma ... a lot of her songs are sung completely straight now, such as "We Belong Together." Maybe she'll add a few subtle ornamentations on notes but nothing like the horrible rococo song stylings of Christina Aguilera (see URL for basically what she does in every song).
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dpamb6Vg-D60
On the last season of The Voice, there was a little creature named RaeLynn whose voice was so bad I thought she was there as a joke. But she was for real and apparently has a fledgling country music career now. I genuinely thought she was mentally challenged.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D95mcaDw-IvY
r59 - it's called a vocal arrangement. Mary j. did precisely the arrangement as written for her by The Edge. And that is one great fucking recording.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpDQJnI4OhU
"Joss" "Stone". Do damaged vocal chords equal "soul"? Yeah, sure.
Lana del Rey
R22
http://www.threadbombing.com/data/media/2/1115466316c7b31948e61111279339c0.gif
[quote]Mostly I hate singers that change the melody as if to put their signature on it. It's annoying, because they almost NEVER improve it. Taylor Swift did this with "Silent Night." It's the most recorded song in history and her version is the worst out of tens of thousands recorded since early in the 1900s.
I only know of 4 people in OP's list. Why not list the really annoying ones like Michael Bolton, the guy from Creed, Sammy Hagar, everyone in Boyz II Men, etc? Really, any whiny groany voice.
What do you call a fear of bad singing? Phoebesnowbia.
A Joke from the mid 70's
Stevie Nicks singing on Letterman a few weeks ago. Only getting worse with age.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JxtYMZ7N6Q
Agree that Madonna needs to be on this list.
The Minogue sisters. They bring nasal to an artform.
I say Taylor Swift. Not only is she a terrible singer, at her best she is barely mediocre, but unlike many of the old hasbeens on the poll list, Taylor Swift is shoved down our throats every waking minute. I doesn't matter where you are, she is unavoidable. They play her "music" everywhere. Supermarket? Check. Department store? Check. Home fucking Depot? Check. CVS/Rite Aid/Walgreens? Check. Target? Check. Billboards, magazine covers, display kiosks, pop up ads online, TV commercials, radio, etc. etc. etc. I fucking hate her guts.
Michael Bolton and Frank Sinatra! The Righteous Brothers tend to be annoying also. That sliding shit that Frank Sinatra does absolutely gets on my main nerve--when his voice started to go in the late 40s and into the 50s the Mafia told him to slide into notes to make it sound "sexy" somehow. In his early days Frank Sinatra was merely OK, but late in life he was a messy disaster--Dorothy Kilgallen was soooo right about him. Some later Elvis stuff is worthy of the trash heap after he destroyed himself with drugs. As for Michael Bolton, I wish he and his music would dissolve into thin air.
Anonymous
I never really liked Rod Stewart or AC/DC. Axl Rose too.
[quote]So it's a deviation from the melody? Sort of. Melisma, the word people use to describe it, technically means singing more than one note within a single syllable. Think of "Angels We Have Heard On High": the "Glooooria in excelsis Deo..." is an example. But nobody's really complaining about melisma. What people are really complaining about it gospel-influenced singing. It's a veiled way of saying that "black people are annoying."
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R136 "It's a veiled way of saying that "black people are annoying."" How absurd.
Yeah, r136 you were doing OK until that stupid last sentence.
Actually he/she was doing better than OK all the way past that last sentence. It does appear just as he called it. I'm not mad, it's just an observation.
Anonymous
For me: Maria Callas. I know she's brilliant at phrasing, breathing, holding onto a note, etc., but I cannot stand that horrible plangent sound that emits from her throat. it is so harsh and unlovable. yeah, yeah: I know I'm a Philistine, etc. I still hate it.
This thread is full of Philistines. Except for the ones who hate Taylor Swift. However, I did learn that the Mafia told Sinatra how to sing. Jesus.
136 is right. It's also known as "ghetto yodel". Annoys the hell out of other races. Always has.
Yes, R5! Lana del Ray is absolutely the victor. I HATE her voice.
no r129 - Phoebesnowbia was the fear of hiccupping while singing
Tim Kazurinsky - yes I wrote that bit
[quote]And Rod Stewart was one I was gonna say, I can't believe he of all people did that American Songbooks and actually had massive success with it, wtf. He sounds as if he he prepares to sing by gargling with ground glass after smoking four packs of cigarettes. There are male singers with smooth voices who could nail all those songs perfectly - guys like Harry Conick, Jr., Michael Buble, John Barrowman, etc. -- lots of guys from Broadway, too.
Doug Fieger of The Knack had an unbelieveably annoying singing voice. He sounded just like he was: smarmy, sleazy, slimy. Those noises he made when he sang sounded like he was having a 10 inch dildo shoved up his asshole: "HUUGGGNNNNUUHH! My Sharona! HUUGGGNNNUUHH! My Sharona!HUUGGGNNUUHH! My Sharona!"
Darlene Edwards
I love unique voices. I love Marianne Faithfull and Bettye LaVette, who both have bluesy, raspy voices. And Phoebe Snow is one of my all time faves.
For rocks fans, it's definitely Billy Corgan. He's a great musician, a very good lyricist and a can write a wonderful melody. He just can't sing it!
Jennifer Hudson, I can't listen to her screeching, she made SMASH ten times worse.
Gwen Stefani's husband, whatever his name was, had a terrible voice.
Madonna. Despite overdubbing and octuple tracking, she manages to miss one note out of every four. And she always has sounded like she has a pug tugging on her clit while she "sings."
Michael Bolton, Mariah Carey, the Natalie Maines from Chixie Dix all make me wanna stick a knitting needle in my ear and pull it out my ass. Maines is so monotone the other two Chix must be deaf. Bolton sounds like he's bringing up a furball. Carey just annoys everytime she open her mouth. High notes or not, her voice has the warth and charisma of an iceberg. Also, does anyone remember Julia Fordham. Her voice is what you hear when a drone is flying over.
Justin Timberlake is supremely overrated. Average looks,voice, acting, songwriting, everything. His marketing team deserves all the credit for his success. Underwhelming mediocrity is truly a goldmine
Madonna is not on the list because she is not even a singer...just a complete fake in every way
Katy Perry. She sounds like an uneducated idiot when she speaks; she sounds the same when she sings.
Barbra Streisand OWNS this thread and she's not even a choice!
In addition to Rod Stewart's awful sound, he also sounds silly when he puts on that Southern accent for his American Songbook.
r112, as others have pointed out, r88 is talking about melisma--think Aretha Franklin singing the Star Spangled Banner at the beginning of a baseball game. It has its place but a little goes a very long way--every other singer on American Idol seems to think it's the normal way to sing. Michael Bolton should be banned from the airwaves forever--he sounds like some little kid "singing" a little kid song that he has made up on the spot only in a harsh, shouting, foghorn way of vocalizing in an adult male voice. Has anyone ever wondered what the castrati must have sounded like? There is a recording of the last castrati when he was older, but that is all there is to go on.
Anonymous
Amanda Palmer
Bruce Springsteen cannot and should not sing. I cringe every time I hear his god awful recording of Santa Clause is Coming to town blaring through stores at Christmas time. Adam Levine's voice is like nails on a chalkboard. Justin Timberlake's voice is equally annoying. They each own this thread along with any nonsense heavy metal hair band screeching and hollering. That is not singing. It is simply noise.
Thank you, R159. I didn't know there was a term for that annoying style of singing.
OP, you are a godsend for finding and posting that hilarious Mrs. Miller. Toward the end, she forgets the words, did you notice that? And comes in too early a lot. Hysterical. This must have been a vanity recording made at some circus tent.
If I wanted to hear voices like Adam Levine's or that whiney lead singer of Rascal-Flatts I'd torture a cat with an out-of-tune violin playing in the background.
She is not my favorite classical voice either- the timbre just is kind of ugly. But this thread is easy to answer- all the non singer singers from Taylor Swift to Britney Spears to JLo to Janet Jackson. Helen Reddy used to make me switch stations years ago. On the male side you have Justin Timberlake- dreadful.
How I do miss Darlene Edwards...a true original. I watched the Stevie Nicks video someone posted. Good lord. Abysmal. She is also doing that older woman/Lagerfeld joke of wearing fingerless gloves to hide the witch claws underneath...look at her face . She is over sixth and her face is tighter than a baby's bottom.
P.%20Surgeon
i voted dylan but it's dion in all honesty
Michael Bolton, anyone??? Honest to God, his singing voice makes my ears bleed!!!!!
I have no idea why anyone would think Phoebe Snow had an annoying singing voice. Her voice was spectacular and unique. That soaring voice singing a capella at the end of the final episode of "Roseanne?" That was Phoebe Snow.
Patti Labelle. The worst of the over singers and the most defeaning screamer bar none. There's a reason she's C List and doesn't have the status of Chaka, Aretha etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dx-Uz5q5g65c
Miss%20Ross
I love Gordon Lightfoot's voice. OP is nuts. I'd nominate Macy Gray (sounds like a dying cat) or Jennifer Hudson (massive but lifeless oversinging).
Agree R717, Lightfoot does not belong anywhere near this list. Patti Labelle-awful voice and just a screamer Stevie Nicks - hideous Michael Bolton - awful, imitative junk What about Randy Newman?? the voice from hell
Soulman
Sorry, I meant I agree with R171 :)
Soulman
The one from the group Steriophinics, He impersonates Rod Stewart, he has a false, strained voice, the handbags and the glad rags that you poor old grand dad had to sweat to by you, shut up and sing in your own voice and style, this guy had gotta rank as one of the worst ever. He must be the offspring of Rod and Bonnie Tyler, Steriophinics win hands down of the more recent groups with bad singers, as soon as I hear him I have to switch of.
Mel C any one heard her version of the Jesus Christ Superstar song, god it's bad.
Aretha...can't hit a note Bessie Smith....amateur. Wouldn't make first round of Idol. Mahalia Jackson...Christian Fundie screamer Nina Simone....deaf lunatic Shirley Bassey....unoriginal. Patti Page copycat.
Babs
Maria Muldaur, Astrud Gilberto, Taylor Swift - three who can't sing on pitch.
Michael McDonald sounds like he has a sore throat.
Y'all ever heard this Brit named Ellie Goulding? Yikes, now that's an annoying voice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DD9AFMVMl9qE
Aar.