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Marmite vocalists and universally-liked ones

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    Marmite vocalists and universally-liked ones

    A poster here ecently explained that they didn't like Midnight Oil much due to the vocal phrasing of Peter Garrett. Which got me thinking whether there's any general consensus on bands and artists we dislike, despite good songs etc., and those vocalists who are pretty much admired by all. A brief list of suggestions:

    Marmite vocalists:

    Peter Garrett
    Thom Yorke
    Mark E Smith
    Bob Dylan
    Richard Butler

    Universally-liked singers:

    Frank Sinatra
    Elvis Presley
    John Lennon
    Paul McCartney
    Joni Mitchell

    Is it easier for the general public to like singers who are more conventional in their vocal approach? What other factors are in play?


    #2
    Personally I love the drama and range of Peter Hammill's voice, but after, perhaps unwisely, nominating a VdGG album for the short-lived 'Album Review' thread a while back and seeing Hammill's voice in particular come in for a near unanimous shoeing, it's clear that most people don't share my opinion.

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      #3
      Agh, I cannot stand Sinatra. Horrible.

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        #4
        Originally posted by gjw100 View Post
        Personally I love the drama and range of Peter Hammill's voice, but after, perhaps unwisely, nominating a VdGG album for the short-lived 'Album Review' thread a while back and seeing Hammill's voice in particular come in for a near unanimous shoeing, it's clear that most people don't share my opinion.
        It was a brave nomination for a [sob, sob] short-lived thread, but I admire your guts in doing so.

        Originally posted by delicatemoth View Post
        Agh, I cannot stand Sinatra. Horrible.
        Well, the marmite is creeping, or dripping, in.

        How about Jon Anderson? Is he marmite or completely hated, vocally-speaking?

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          #5
          Well what proportion is marmite? Is it like 20% like it, 10% don't and 70% don't care? That seems likely, and maybe about the same for Sinatra. Dylan would be more like 2% like it, 13% don't and 85% don't care, at a guess? Or is it just that people who like Dylan's words but not his singing are vocal about it?

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            #6
            Originally posted by Sporting View Post
            How about Jon Anderson? Is he marmite or completely hated, vocally-speaking?
            I'm really outing myself this morning, so I'll also admit that I've always liked early-70's Yes and don't have a problem with Jon Anderson's voice. Most of his lyrics were complete bollocks of course, but as he himself admitted, the overall sound and rhythm of the vocals were often more important than what he was singing.

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              #7
              Originally posted by delicatemoth View Post
              Well what proportion is marmite? Is it like 20% like it, 10% don't and 70% don't care? That seems likely, and maybe about the same for Sinatra. Dylan would be more like 2% like it, 13% don't and 85% don't care, at a guess? Or is it just that people who like Dylan's words but not his singing are vocal about it?
              Very good questions. As this board is obviously representative of society as a whole, we need more input on Dylan, Sinatra et al to form a statistically-accurate consensus.

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                #8
                Oh sorry, I just realised you're using marmite as shorthand for 'everybody has an opinion'! OK that's fair.

                To follow my own thought, I reckon that people who like Dylan's words but not singing give out about it cos they find it frustrating. How much does this happen in reverse? I might find Adele interesting if she sang a couple of songs like 'New Face In Hell' or Edith And The Kingpin'.

                Anyway, Nico might fit your original criteria.

                Does anyone dislike Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin or Chaka Khan?

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                  #9
                  Marmite means everyone has a opinion but those opinions are polarised.

                  NIco can do no wrong by me.

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                    #10
                    The sound-image of Sinatra singing New Face in Hell has just entered my consciousness.

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                      #11
                      Everyone loves Harriet Wheeler, right?

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                        #12
                        Peter Garrett sounds a bit like a robot dog. "The! Time! Has! Come!"*

                        His near-namesake Peter Perrett might also be marmite what with all those things in his nose.

                        *To be clear, I think this is a great record.

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                          #13
                          I'm not sure Joni Mitchell's voice could be described as "universally liked". Closer to Marmite, I'd have thought, with all respect to her and her music.
                          Last edited by Auntie Beryl; 22-05-2022, 10:51.

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                            #14
                            In interesting proposition for a thread, but attempting to assess a volume of vocalists might be a challenge.

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by delicatemoth View Post
                              Agh, I cannot stand Sinatra. Horrible.
                              I was going to say - much as I love Sinatra's singing, I know a fair few who don't.

                              (I'm not a fan of the general adoption of Marmite marketing in the discourse, mind ).

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                                #16
                                What's that wild album of Sinatra's? Trilogy?

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                                  #17
                                  Thinking about this while cooking squid (another marmite?) the marmite test boils down to a more or less 50-50 split with few abstentions. So one or two people not keen on Sinatra's voice doesn't marmite him.

                                  The only person who doesn't like John Lennon's voice seems to have been Lennon himself.

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                                    #18
                                    Originally posted by Hot Orange View Post
                                    Everyone loves Harriet Wheeler, right?
                                    No.

                                    Before anybody suggests it, it's a no for Karen Carpenter's smothering overly-sweet voice as well. Nails on chalkboard for me.

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                                      #19
                                      I reckon that Rolling Stones lot might have sold a few records if they'd found a bloke who could sing.

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                                        #20
                                        Sarah Vaughn? Diane Washington?

                                        Sinatra is a problem for many of my age and experience as a result of his ubiquity (and a predilection among many fans for his long "Elvis in Vegas" period of mawkish mediocrity).

                                        I adore Joni Mitchell, but that is most definitely not a universal opinion. I am also largely indifferent on Elvis and Lennon.

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                                          #21
                                          Re Thom Yorke, my impression is that it's Radiohead's music as a whole that's marmite more than his singing specifically. Though actually, one of my favourite vocal performances of his is on PJ Harvey's This Mess We're In.

                                          Brett Anderson might have been a more suitable nomination, though I may be judging too much by the opposing opinions in this household. I'm a fan, my wife thinks he sounds like a cat getting scratched to bits in a fight.

                                          I think Dylan would have been less interesting if he'd sung his whole output as he sung on Nashville Skyline or Self-Portrait.

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                                            #22
                                            Joni Mitchell for sure seems an acquired taste, both her squeaky early voice and the throat nodule rasp of later years. I love her but can't imagine most folk. There's a reason she's hardly played on classic hits radio station type stuff here at least.

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                                              #23
                                              I wonder if the stone roses would have been pure muso shit or have more depth without tuneless monkey gammon man. Certainly we'd have been spared the poundshop Gallagher impression had he just stuck to anti fascist karate or something.

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                                                #24
                                                Originally posted by Lang Spoon View Post
                                                I wonder if the stone roses would have been pure muso shit or have more depth without tuneless monkey gammon man. Certainly we'd have been spared the poundshop Gallagher impression had he just stuck to anti fascist karate or something.
                                                I love how much sense this post makes despite the fact that, to any neophyte reading, virtually none of the words do.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Originally posted by Fussbudget View Post
                                                  Before anybody suggests it, it's a no for Karen Carpenter's smothering overly-sweet voice as well. Nails on chalkboard for me.
                                                  This comment creates an odd mental dissociation for me. In my head, 'nails on chalkboard' has to invoke something piercing, jagged and probably high-pitched, the very opposite of Karen Carpenter's voice.

                                                  I can understand though why your actual description of it would lead to dislike – though in metaphor terms 'drowning in treacle' seems the more apt sort of comparison.

                                                  As it happens, I like her voice probably because it's relatively low-pitched, smooth and full, so it always avoids the nerve-jangling nails-on-blackboard effects a more 'showy' vocalist can easily create when they go shrill and/or ululating.


                                                  Brett Anderson, mentioned up the page by jameswba, falls into the same category – I love that dark, wounded croon thing he's so good at (e.g. Stay Together, The Wild Ones, Still Life) and don't agree with james's wife's 'cat scratched in a fight thing' at all.
                                                  Last edited by Various Artist; 22-05-2022, 13:41.

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