For the past week or so, the Internet has been having a blast arguing over the vocal range chart released by the folks at Concert Hotels, as it compared the vocal ranges of “today’s top artists with the greatest of all-time,” and ultimately declared that Axl Rose has the greatest vocal range in the history of modern music. “But what about Mariah Carey,” people shouted from the mobs lighting buildings on fire in major cities, as others stole the nuclear launch codes to end this world in the name of Faith No More’s Mike Patton. And yet, even as science jammed on the brakes of things like cancer research and building moon colonies to bring us these rankings, the man whose voice needed to be heard had remained silent.
That is, until today. Rose sent a statement to Spin that thanked everyone involved for the honor, but he ultimately believes that there are just a lot of really good singers who should all be recognized for their accomplishments and talents.
Big thanks to all the fans and media for the props reacting to the Spin top vocalists article.
From what I could tell, the original article was for the most part only talking about the professionally recorded vocal range of the singers they compared calling the entire group “The World’s Greatest Singers.” It’s very flattering and humbling to be included in such an illustrious ensemble.
If I had to say who I thought the best singers were, I’d say first that I don’t know there’s a definitive answer as in my opinion it’s subjective, and second that my focus is primarily rock singers.
That said, I enjoy Freddie Mercury, Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney, Dan McCafferty, Janice Joplin, Michael Jackson, Elton John, Roger Daltrey, Don Henley, Jeff Lynne, Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Scott, Etta James, Fiona Apple, Chrissie Hynde, Stevie Wonder, James Brown and a ton of others (predominantly 70’s rock singers) and would rather hear ANY of them anytime rather than me!
Peace!
Axl
(Via Spin)
I don’t like to stick my nose into business that isn’t mine, but there have been two exclusions on each list thus far, from the Concert Hotels original to Rose’s humble name-dropping, and those names are Matthew and Gunnar Nelson. These brothers provided the angelic vocals on “Love and Affection,” which has been voted the Greatest Song in the History of Everything by at least 12 billion different people*.
*Citation needed.
