Topic: I think I'm old :) These new warbly singers do my head in

[Andy @ Allerton!]

I hear older singers and their songs are simple, wonderful and lovely to listen to.

Well thought out lyrics and sung in an understated and brilliant way.


Then you hear most of the modern singers (post 2000 probably) - seemingly not capable of singing a bar without using every note in the available octave.

I get that people like this, but it just annoys the shite out of me. Just sing the fucking song well. I'm not interested in how brilliant or talented you are unless it directly is part of the song.

Listen to Cher or Shirley Bassey or Tom Jones and they are capable of amazing stuff in their range, but only use it when they are underpointing the song or belting out a chorus or grandstanding ending.


They don't warble the fuck out of Every fucking single line.

[Drinks Sangria]

Specific examples that have irked you, Andy?

[Red Ol]

I hear older singers and their songs are simple, wonderful and lovely to listen to.

Well thought out lyrics and sung in an understated and brilliant way.


Then you hear most of the modern singers (post 2000 probably) - seemingly not capable of singing a bar without using every note in the available octave.

I get that people like this, but it just annoys the shite out of me. Just sing the fucking song well. I'm not interested in how brilliant or talented you are unless it directly is part of the song.

Listen to Cher or Shirley Bassey or Tom Jones and they are capable of amazing stuff in their range, but only use it when they are underpointing the song or belting out a chorus or grandstanding ending.


They don't warble the fuck out of Every fucking single line.

I’m a miserable old git … and couldn’t agree more. They seem to want to practise a sliding breathy drawn out scale on every single note. It’s not great singing in my book




But apart from that …. Happy Christmas 

[Andy @ Allerton!]

Specific examples that have irked you, Andy?

I'm listening to a Christmas Album that I bought a few years back.

It's got a mixture of old time (50s, 60s) and then example of stuff from the 70s, 80s and 90s.

It's all quite reserved or mad as a bag of frogs, but it's all about the songs.

Then you've got the stuff from 00s onwards and the song to me seems to very much take a back seat - it then seems to be about a singer singing a line that would normally require 2 or maybe three notes and suddenly demands 50 notes in a very clever arrangement.

Specific songs?

I'll have a look.. Not going through all of them but..



Leona Lewis - One More Sleep (2013) - how many fucking notes do you seriously need. Fucks sake.

Destiny’s Child - 8 days of Christmas - just fuck off

Nsync - Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays - fuck you all you shower of fucking shite

Train - Shake up Christmas. Fuck you

Girls Aloud - not tonight Santa. Get fucked.

Justin Bieber - Mistletoe - Fucking fuck




And for balance, good Christmas songs past 2000 with a good song and a good performance - no shite notes for the sake of it. All about the joy of the song..

Kelly CLarkson - Underneath the Tree (2013)

Jessie J - Man with the Bag (2015)

[Andy @ Allerton!]

Added a Poll as well!

Merruh Chrusstmis!

[Red Ol]

Think Whitney Houston has a lot to answer for in this respect ….

[Andy @ Allerton!]

Think Whitney Houston has a lot to answer for in this respect ….

Yeah think you're right.

It's like the song used to always be about the song and now it's about the singer.

After the Cranberries did Zombie, a load of female singers started doing that dickhead trailing screech at the end of lines as well

[Ciara (with a capital "C")]

Train - Shake up Christmas. Fuck you

No - fuck YOU!

[Andy @ Allerton!]

No - fuck YOU!

Listened to it again to make sure

Fuck me. That's terrible.

[Andy @ Allerton!]

Smokey Robinson - Christmas Lullaby

Kinell what a load of shite

[Zeppelin]

That's always been a pet hate of mine too, along with bleedin' autotune. When I listen to a perfect voice like Sandy Denny, singing just as many notes as the song needs it is so beautiful and I despair at some of the shite on the radio these days. (I'm starting to sound like my dad now)

[Andy @ Allerton!]

That's always been a pet hate of mine too, along with bleedin' autotune. When I listen to a perfect voice like Sandy Denny, singing just as many notes as the song needs it is so beautiful and I despair at some of the shite on the radio these days. (I'm starting to sound like my dad now)

My favourite female singer is Julie London.

Such a lovely voice and her singing is so wonderful and understated.

[Riquende]

On the possibly tangential subject of autotune:

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/NNXg5dIVC1M" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/NNXg5dIVC1M</a>

This is the video that informs my understanding of why modern vocalists sound so inferior to those of yesteryear. I'd struggled to work out why I can't get into most acts past ~2000, and even find virtually all modern albums by existing bands with great 60s-90s content sub-par to unlistenable. It's a disease on the music industry.

[smutchin]

Think Whitney Houston has a lot to answer for in this respect ….

Her and Mariah Carey.

Also Liz Fraser. I mean, I love Cocteau Twins but This Mortal Coil’s version of Song To The Siren does my head in. People bang on about it being “haunting” or “mesmerising” but to me it just sounds like a mournful dirge, and I really really really wish she’d just stop doing all that wobbly vocal shit.

[Red Ol]

Her and Mariah Carey.

Also Liz Fraser. I mean, I love Cocteau Twins but This Mortal Coil’s version of Song To The Siren does my head in. People bang on about it being “haunting” or “mesmerising” but to me it just sounds like a mournful dirge, and I really really really wish she’d just stop doing all that wobbly vocal shit.

Thought she was great in Carry on Cabbie 

[smutchin]

Thought she was great in Carry on Cabbie 

I'm too young to get that reference. 

[Lee1-6Liv]

A lot of these warblers stem from X-Factor, young lad comes out, unshaven, guitar and a sob story about his dead nan, then proceeds to shout his song as if he is in pain with his eyes shut and the audience laps it up.

[bradders1011]

There hasn't been a genuinely historically good album since 2010.

[tubby]

There hasn't been a genuinely historically good album since 2010.

Which was the last one in 2010?

[bradders1011]

The Suburbs by Arcade Fire.

[SP]

Victor@Allerton.

[SamAteTheRedAcid]

There hasn't been a genuinely historically good album since 2010.

Horseshit.

[Andy @ Allerton!]

Victor@Allerton.

I don't believeee it!

[Son of Spion]

...

Also Liz Fraser. I mean, I love Cocteau Twins but This Mortal Coil’s version of Song To The Siren does my head in. People bang on about it being “haunting” or “mesmerising” but to me it just sounds like a mournful dirge, and I really really really wish she’d just stop doing all that wobbly vocal shit.

*Shakes Head* 

[So… Howard Philips]

I hear older singers and their songs are simple, wonderful and lovely to listen to.

Well thought out lyrics and sung in an understated and brilliant way.


Then you hear most of the modern singers (post 2000 probably) - seemingly not capable of singing a bar without using every note in the available octave.

I get that people like this, but it just annoys the shite out of me. Just sing the fucking song well. I'm not interested in how brilliant or talented you are unless it directly is part of the song.

Listen to Cher or Shirley Bassey or Tom Jones and they are capable of amazing stuff in their range, but only use it when they are underpointing the song or belting out a chorus or grandstanding ending.


They don't warble the fuck out of Every fucking single line.

Mariah Carey is capable of shrieking and warbling AT THE SAME TIME!

[Son of Spion]

Mariah Carey is capable of shrieking and warbling AT THE SAME TIME!

She's horrific.

I've loathed those warbling 'singers' for years. They hit 25 notes when one will do just fine.

No way do I put the other-worldly Liz Fraser in that catagory though.    Smutchin is off my Christmas card list now. 

[SvenJohansen]

You wouldn't hear Bob Dylan or Robert Plant warbling, thank feck. I blame pop music for how shite music has gotten. Once that crap started invading radios I knew we were effed. The very name makes me angry. "Pop" Fuck off pop! 

[Tonyh8su]

Destiny’s Child - 8 days of Christmas - just fuck off

I genuinely believe this is the worst song ever recorded. And that's saying something.

[smutchin]

*Shakes Head*

I knew that wouldn’t be a popular opinion! 

It’s just that one song though - like I said, I love the Cocteau Twins.

[Son of Spion]

I knew that wouldn’t be a popular opinion! 

It’s just that one song though - like I said, I love the Cocteau Twins.

*Puts Smutch back on Christmas card list.* 

[smutchin]

Listen to Cher or Shirley Bassey or Tom Jones and they are capable of amazing stuff in their range, but only use it when they are underpointing the song or belting out a chorus or grandstanding ending.

Funny you should mention Cher when autotune has come into the conversation - Believe by Cher is a great example of what it is possible to achieve when autotune is in the right hands. Bona fide pop classic.

Others have mentioned Sandy Denny and Julie London - both wonderful examples of pure voices who don’t need to resort to theatricals to capture your attention. I would add Joni Mitchell as another example. I heard River on the radio earlier and had to just stop what I was doing for a few minutes - it’s a song that never gets old.

[So… Howard Philips]

You wouldn't hear Bob Dylan or Robert Plant warbling, thank feck. I blame pop music for how shite music has gotten. Once that crap started invading radios I knew we were effed. The very name makes me angry. "Pop" Fuck off pop!

‘When Pop started invading our radios’.

Do you pre date Radio Luxembourg then?

[S]

I can’t stand this and from what I can tell, it came from X-Factor, Britain’s Got Talent and other such trash. Those shows don’t deal in subtlety. Everything needs to be a ballad, every verse needs to be full of faked emotion.

[Snail]

There hasn't been a genuinely historically good album since 2010.

Fucking hell, the cherry on top of a truly shite thread

[Sangria]

What do you think of this? Specifically the part from around 3:15 onwards. Sounds like autotune gone mad, extending a note digitally for half a minute. Except it's not autotune, the singer actually does hold it for that long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY35g26h4dc

[bradders1011]

Fucking hell, the cherry on top of a truly shite thread

I can't get on board with any of the modern popular beat combos.

[SvenJohansen]

‘When Pop started invading our radios’.

Do you pre date Radio Luxembourg then?

Radio Luxembourg was cool though, they played indie stuff and songs you wouldn't hear on mainstream channels or shows.

[sminp]

There hasn't been a genuinely historically good album since 2010.

Arctic Monkeys - AM was 2013 and I’ll fight anyone who tries to argue that isn’t a historically good album

[Elzar]

I agree. Sam Smith is absolutely shit.

[Sudden Death Draft Loser]

Fucking hell, the cherry on top of a truly shite thread

This.

There’s plenty of good music about