People who sound like they are singing off-key on the record

Marc Almond on Say Hello Wave Goodbye.

Just a pinch off-key.

The top off-key honors go to Natalie Merchant- I cannot STAND to listen to her lifeless voice, always a half note off key - and Taylor Swift. Here she is singing live with Stevie Nicks. It's horrifying. Stevie looks like she wants to kill her.

OP? Don't listen to Nico then.

I like Nico. Her records sound like she is under the influence, and it fits the mood.

But, yeah, she's off key.

Isn’t the key in some of these examples intentional? A stylistic choice? I love “Breakout”. Sing it (Swing Out) Sister!

R6 No. There's dissonance, which is meant to produce a somewhat less harmonious sound, but even dissonant singing is on key.

Then there's plain ol' flat and sharp.

See Taylor Swift above.

Thanks R7… helpful to learn about dissonance.

Carly Simon's voice constantly went flat, at least to my ears. But that probably made her recognizable. Also going back quite aways, Neil Young's weird voice always sounded sharp.

Cyndi Lauper's final, long-held note on "All Through The Night" has always sounded off to me.

The new Velvet Underground doc by Todd Haynes talks about Nico doing this, and how John Cale (who comes off as an absolute genius) was able to shape the music around her voice so that it suited her.

"Paula Abdul! That bitch is singing off-key ON THE RECORD!!!!".

They just put on so many affectations. In the case of taylor swift and lana del rey, they are just shitty singers who completely rely on gimmicky affectations.

I much prefer the song stylings of Darlene Edwards.

R9 Agree with the mention of Carly Simon! She has a beautiful voice, but definitely often flat.

@r6, I agree, I always thought "Breakout" was suppose to sound a little off-key, because it's consistent throughout the song. I think off-key would come and go like that Taylor Swift mess @r3. I still like "Breakout", so whatever

Janet Jackson — lots of examples but Again being the best one.

Song from the 90's, "Because I Love You" by Stevie B. has always been the single most egregious example of this to me . I'm not sure if this was a national hit or just regional, but it was all over the place in NYC. Just listen to the refrain, I dare you.... He goes so sharp, the paint peels off the walls.

Anyone who criticizes Corinne Drewery DOES NOT DESERVE to be OP.

Muriel, please immediately demote this creature to r 11 or 12.

Also from the 90s Billie Ray Martin. At first I thought the remixes just didn’t fit with the vocals but she sounds flat on all her songs

Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers on record, live...doesn't matter. I don't get how he's made a career out of his voice.

For her comedy character Darlene Edwards, the great Jo Stafford sang ever-so-slightly sharp instead of flat.

Adele owns this thread.

R23, her George Michael tribute definitely qualifies.

Betty Lynn often sounds ever so slightly off key to me. Good example:

r18, "Because I Love You (The Postman Song)" was #1 for four weeks on Billboard's Hot 100.

Betty Davis Eyes?

Epic Fail--that should be "Bette Davis Eyes."

She's got Debbie Bavis eyes

R20 - I do love that song.

R6 it's more that the singer doesn't have the talent to sing a note for more than 3 or 4 seconds. Listen to OP's link for that.

Katy Perry's another example.

Lucy Ball.

On the other hand, when you have real talent . . .

That was painful, R3. Stevie Nicks has a fairly open relationship with staying on key, so if you are doing a duet with her, and you are the one off key, you need to re-examine yourself. Taylor needs to watch that video a lot, and then do some work on herself.

Ann Wilson of Heart.

R34 when Stevie Nicks toured in the 80s EVERYONE remarked on how her background vocalists sang circles around her.

R35, she doesn't sound off-key at all.

R37 I should have elaborated my point at R33. When you have real talent it shows.

R38, ok, my bad. Yeah, Ann Wilson is a mega-talent.

Katy Perry just cannot sing live AT ALL.

R40 You could have left off the last three words.

R26, thanks for the info. When I'd mentioned this song to some out-of-town friends at the time (and the horrific sharpness of the vocal performance) they weren't familiar with it at all, so I assumed it might be a regional thing. It was certainly a monster hit in this part of the world. And monstrously off-key.

Carly Simon for sure. Carole King sometimes, but it works for her, as it did Nico. Going back even further, Petula Clark was usually flat. (And it didn't work for her.)

I'm not sure if they made a record of it, but if they did you know the one I mean. The one they can't get a movie done on.

Of course I was nominated for stretching myself so far playing a woman who can't sing but does, back in "Florence." My 20th, I recall.

Funny, the contrast.

Barbara Cook singing anything on any medium.

Gwyneth Jones when she sang in opera. Huge voice, but many times with very bad intonation. Jerry Orbach, great voice when he was alive, but very off-key sometimes, especially on OCR of "Promises, Promises" which later was fixed by computer/autotuning in a later release.

R45 BS, Barbara had very good intonation. Stop being jealous Patti Cohenour.

I've actually seen Boston in concert. I love "More Than a Feeling," and maybe Brad Delp (singer) was having an off day, but his voice was nothing like the recordings. Horrible.

R46 made me think of another Broadway instance of off-key recording. I can't pin it on any one cast member (...although I have my suspicions it was Stritch) but have you ever noticed in the otherwise-brilliant recording of the title song from "Company" (1970 Cast Recording), when the cast holds that infinite, "We Loooooooooooove you," the vocals bend to an almost excruciating flat??

Thank you so much, [R3], for your comments about Natalie Merchant, who's unbearable. "Lifeless." Yes. Exactly.

No one's mentioned Rihanna yet?

Enrique Iglesias. I'd forgotten about this one.

Doretta Morrow

It's really not hard to find examples for this thread.

Patti Can't Sing Smith

[quote]Song from the 90's, "Because I Love You" by Stevie B. has always been the single most egregious example of this to me . I'm not sure if this was a national hit or just regional, but it was all over the place in NYC. Just listen to the refrain, I dare you.... He goes so sharp, the paint peels off the walls.

When I used to watch America's Top 10 with Casey Kasem (and occasionally Siedah Garrett) they played Stevie B (not to be confused with Stevie V's Dirty Cash, a far superior record) and was literally AGOG at the vocal. It was so off key it sounded like a special needs kid singing at a Christmas concert. It only became a moderate hit in the UK.

I'm huge Swing Out Sister and Stevie Nicks fan and they never sound off key to me. I'm quite partial to singers with limited ranges. but not those who can't keep to a tune.

Debbie Gibson, every song.

Simon Le Bon

That guy from Maroon 5.

Holy crap, I've never heard Katy Perry sing live. That's fucking horrible. I sound better.

So none of those mid to late 00s pop stars (Taylor, Rihanna, and Katy) can carry even the hint of a tune?

We should all be praising peers Gaga and Beyonce more. Love or hate them, at least they can sing.

Hasn't it been said that Jagger song slightly flat and that's why it's so hard to cover Stones' songs? Good singers have a hard time replicating his shitty, but iconic, voice.

R60 Ya might wanna rethink that.

Dinah Shore - though she sorta made it sound kind of ok with her nice tone, but you could tell something wasn't quite in key.

R63 I used to watch her talk show with my mom after I got home from school as a kid, and we would laugh at how badly she sang.

This is seriously out of tune, but I still love the song

NOOOO, R62! Beyonce can't sing either?

I know Gaga can.

So at least one major pop star from my era can actually sing.

Is Swing Out Sister actually flat? Even so I don't think being a tiny bit 'pitchy' (a little flat or sharp) is the same as being "off key" which more like you're just singing in a. different key or just not hitting the notes period.

What key is Courtney Love singing?

I think this song is perfect. I also think she’s very off-key.

Although I love her, Geri Halliwell in just about everything, but Look at Me comes to immediate mind.

"Brandy" by Looking Glass. An oldie from the 70s but just as offkey today.

Even God Can't Change The Past was written by songwriting genius Rick Nowels with Boy George. It's a lovely song but Charlotte Church's singing is just awful on it. Not sure if it's off key or she sounds like she has a blocked nose, but it's a song in desperate need of re-recording by a proper singer.

Crystal Waters owns this thread!

These guys too.

shLOL

My sister an I used to sing 🎵 she's tuneless, she's tuneless, as she stands there begging for mun-eeeee🎵

Are they naturally alto? Sometimes that pitch can work. No….I really can’t tell….don’t have the ear for it.

OP is correct. I've been a Swing Out Sister fan since Breakout hit the radio, and I have all their albums.

But it's been only in recent years I've accepted that Corinne Drewery has a jolie-laide voice — a gorgeous tone but very often ... off key.

For example, this is a lovely song that truly relaxes me, but the notes are, um, rarely where they should be.

Taylor Swift.

M.

R21 Performers like Anthony Kiedis aren't really singers tho.

Hey, Diana Ross made a career out of singing flat.

We tried to tell her, but she stormed out of the studio.

We got a hit album out of her anyway.

Um, sorry...Level 42 wasn't signing off key, they were HARMONIZING. duh. Figure out harmonizing...it's been around ages.

^^singing

R71 There's nothing off key about "Brandy."

So? The music consuming public obviously doesn't care: almost all the singers mentioned are big stars.

DL, why'd ya do what ya didn't? I'm afraid a little intervention is necessary. One artist name. Two words: Marianne Faithfull 1979 to the present.

R68, Courtney Love is usually in the key of bumps.

I'm not sure the people in this thread know what "flat" means. I don't have perfect pitch (and it seems like it might be curse if you do because then everything even slightly out of tune can sound grating to you) but I think some folks may be confusing A) an annoying tone B) poor singing technique and C) just not liking a person's voice as "off key"

One can be on pitch and still sound "bad"

To me, Beyonce always sounds annoying. I don't have good enough ear-pitch to know if it's because she's always a bit "sharp" or if it's just the timbre of her voice that I find grating. The way I describe it is that she always sounds like she's singing in a minor key even if the song isn't in a minor key (if that makes any sense).

My point though is "bad" singing isn't always due to being off-key; there are other ways to annoy :)

Ed Sheeran sounds like he's singing every song the same boring way, does that count?

Bette Midler. Great entertainer, but not a good singer. Occasionally she hits the right note, but it doesn’t come naturally.

The other off key singer is Madonna. Hurts my ears.

R90 see posts like that prove my point.

Bette Midler "occasionally hitting the notes??" C'mon. that's is ridiculous. You may not like her voice or style (I'm not a big fan) but she sings on key.

Madonna was definitely pitchy during her first tour and off key in parts for sure. And even in the 90s sometimes her voice in lower register sounded flat too.

But to compare the 2 is stupid.

I present the gold standard. Listen and be amazed!

R75--You're KILLING me!! DOFL**

We also loved that Madonna song about the young girl with eyes like potatoes.

Mary J. Blige

Alicia Keys and Adam Levine.

Both are pretty faces who should stick to song writing.

r29 they look like former Michfest attendees

r18: for the past several years, music critic Tom Breihan has been writing a column reviewing the #1 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chronologically; today, he reached "Because I Love You (The Postman Song)" by Stevie B. At the bottom of the column, he includes a shoutout to two classic tunes that peaked in the top 10 under the Stevie B. song.

I love Saint Etienne but Sarah Cracknell’s whispery vocals often seem to be searching for the right notes.

R98, Thanks for posting. Sounds like Tom Breihan isn't much of a fan of the tune either, although surprisingly, he doesn't note (pun intended) Stevie's singularly sharp delivery on the refrain. He does refer to the vocal as "feathery," though I'm not quite sure what that means!

Darius Rucker of “Hootie and the Blowfish” former fame. Blech.

Linda Perry in that horrible song "What's Up?".

These singers just need more practice.

I agree that the often maligned Darlene Edwards was the master of this.

She had VERVE! A goddess!

Is Mrs. Miller related to Ethel Merman?

Jesus, r104!

A few of my performer friends can sing off key on purpose and nothing makes me laugh more, especially when I can coax them into doing it in public (like in the car with the windows down and the radio going.) (And in my experience the most bravura song to sing off key is “1-2-3” by the Jackson 5)

I have very good pitch, and can’t intentionally miss notes. I’ve tried, because I love the goofy sound so much and would love love love to squawk around tunelessly in full glory. But if I hear a melody in my head that’s just the way the notes come out. It wants to naturally resolve. The few times I’ve had to provide harmony I’ve had to work and work at it until the harmony becomes the “new melody” for me.

I can see notes being off if a voice is tired and you can’t easily reach something, but that’s different than not sensing where notes are in relation to each other.

[quote] Jesus, [R104]!

I’m not ashamed to proclaim to the world… [italic]I love that sound![/italic].

All a-BOARD!

Darlene, of course, sang off-pitch on purpose, for our delectation.

Now, those radio stations that play Chrissy Hynde's very off-key "Have Yourself a Merry Christmas" on regular rotation around the holidays, what's their excuse?

Eddie Vedder in Pearl Jam always sound off-key. Partly it was that flat vocal sound of the Grunge bands, but mostly it was because he really is off-key.

He still is off key, and his daughter is worse. Olive cannot sing at all

Elaine Stretch forever owns this thread.

"We looooooooooooooove youuuuuu..."

Oh! I have a new singer I like!

She reimagines hits!

This bitch.

Paula Abdul, Rush Rush. When she attempts to hit the “high note” in the bridge, she misses it completely. They left it on the record. Why?

Haley Mills used the dissonent vocal technique in her hits 'Let's Get Together' & 'Johnny Jingo'. If Justin Beiber was a prodigy based on banging on pots and pans as a toddler, then Haley's grasp of this sophisticated approach to singing, at such a young age, shows a regrettably overlooked genius from the 1960s.

The QUEEN!

Yoko Ono - though maybe she screams on-key sometimes?

Yoko’s voice is the Harridan Harpie of music.

Natalie Maine's of the Dixie Chicks.

Peter Ostrum as Charlie Bucket in Willie Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. Painful.

I will say I think a lot of these singers are off-key, flat, and sharp because they can’t properly hear themselves singing. I’ve sung with studio headphones on and unless you have a good audio engineer to pipe your monitor feed in at decent levels, you just cannot hear yourself. Sometimes I’ve found it better to leave one side of the headphones on my ear and the other off a little so I can actually hear myself.

DL fave Jan Terri owns this thread

Speaking of Whitney, is she not off at times in "Saving All My Love for You"?

R112: see R49

Jackie DeShannon sings on key.

R123, I liked Jan Terri until she went full Trump.

128 posts to get to the clincher? Scott Baio owns this thread.

Patty Duke?

The chorus is way off key, yet it sounds good.

R122 I’ve sung with studio headphones on and unless you have a good audio engineer to pipe your monitor feed in at decent levels, you just cannot hear yourself.

I don’t find that hearing one’s self is a big factor. We can all sing Happy Birthday even with 5 pillows over our head. It’s just how the song goes.

Plus, if you’re a natural born singer, you’re listening to the accompaniment, anyway…. not your own sound. That just comes out instinctively.

[quote]Speaking of Whitney, is she not off at times in "Saving All My Love for You"?

No. where exactly would you think that occurs? Her delivery on that song is near perfection.

I hate to say it but this entire Streisand concert. Pitchy and off-key! 10:20

"I don’t find that hearing one’s self is a big factor."

I just saw someone on Austin City Limits wearing in-the-ear monitors in BOTH ears.

DL fave Dusty Springfield like the music turned up so loud in her headphones that Jerry Wexler claimed she couldn't possibly hear herself.

*liked

I should acknowledge that singers perform differently. Maybe some do need to constantly monitor their own pitch while singing - though it would seem to create a huge split of focus while performing.

It’s not like ballet dancers need a huge mirror in front of them while performing, to see they’re in second position or whatever. They just know what it is and move into it.

[quote]Maybe some do need to constantly monitor their own pitch while singing....

They are not all born with the same ear. What comes easily to some requires more attention from others.

Why are the gays so obsessed with Miss Betty Buckley?

Perhaps because, cunt that she is, in her prime she had a rare and hauntingly beautiful voice. She was a first class singer in addition to being a first class cunt. It's an edgy combination, not without some appeal.

r139, here's Seth Rudetsky analyzing Buckley's performance of "He Plays The Violin" from 1776:

That's La Buckley singing beginning at 1:45.

[quote]R139 Why are the gays so obsessed with Miss Betty Buckley?

Many singers switch between a “head voice” and “belting” (from the diagram.) Buckley can belt while in her head voice.

She is very technically accomplished.

This song with the big ending is another of her famous achievements;

I found Buckley's voice quite impressive in its prime, though something about it is kind of off-putting, like she is striking out at people while singing in that manner. Also, apparently it was technically harming her instrument, as she sounded quite vocally diminished in those "Hello, Dolly!" clips she did a few years ago.

Hardly. Buckley held on to her voice for many decades.

Indeed. Buckley is 74. That's an old voice.

Yes, but it singing with all the steely tone (many times used to describe her voice) in later years sounded more rusted.

Freddie Mecury on the last note of the chorus before the coda of "Somebody To Love". (3:55 in the linked video.) It has grated upon my delicate sensibilities for 40 years.

Other than that, I love you Freddie.

[quote]R145 something about [her voice] is kind of off-putting, like she is striking out at people while singing in that manner.

Haha. She often does sound very… determined.

Yes, and that's why she was miscast as Fran in "Promises, Promises." She does this steely-to-the-point-of-frightening reading of "WHEN TO" towards the end of her version of "Knowing When to Leave" that is so wrong for the character.

Have you ever listened to any Mexican oom-pa-pa music? The singers can never quite hit the note they're going for, but it doesn't stop them from belting it out as loud as possible.

Determination is unloved, R150.

Chris Montez had a brilliant, lazy, atonal technique that was casual and approachably sexual.

My entire discography.

Jo Stafford (who created the delightfully off key warblings of Darlene Edwards) is often cited as a singer with perfect pitch. She personally disagreed with that assessment, but maybe she was just being modest.

I love this thread because no one came for Cher!

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs on their latest release "A Dream I Have" I. LOVE. THIS.

Rufus Wainwright. He's not particularly pitchy, but that straight tone he uses is grotesque even when on pitch. Because of the weird way he produces his sound, if he's ever even a bit off key it's disastrous.

R157 that's because Cher doesn't sing. SHE IS MUSIC.

Chris Montez owns this thread.

Yes, I did, R157: see R85.

Taylor here to shut down the competition!