That reminds me, when I was a teenager, my father liked to engage me in what he called "Socratic" debate, and I vividly remember the time he took the position that if a microphone was used, it was simply not music.
I think of him this morning as I encounter the greatest vocalists in music history restated as the best to ever pick up a microphone.
History is a long time, far longer than the era of the microphone. I assume nearly all of the top thousand greatest vocalists performed without a microphone.
Posts
98 comments:
A microphone amplifies and modulates to produce a sound in close approximation of the source. Music to one's ear with an assumed fidelity.
As a "Vocalist" Dylan isn't in the top 100. It says alot about his talent as a song writer, and his ability to write songs that fit his voice, that people think he should be 56th.
How many songs has Dylan "covered"? How many song have you heard and thought "Wow, if only Dylan had sung that, it would've be so much better"?
IRC, the microphone made guys like Bing crosby. Before that you had to belt it out. That's why people like Al Jolson were popular. You could hear him in the back row - in New Jersey.
Bob Dylan, vocalist.
OK. It's like saying that Phil Niekro had a pretty good fastball.
Some people have no grasp whatsoever of scale.
Slightly off topic, Rick Beato discussing the critics behind the NYT Magazine 30 Greatest Living American Song Writers. They all have Ivy League credentials, yet none seem to have any musical training nor think that matters.
As for the new list, no George Strait or LeAnn Rimes? Yet Izzy Pop, Björk, DMX make the list. Listicles…
Looking at the list, its another one of those "sophisticated" critic lists that most people would disagree with. Johnny Cash at 90 something. At least they put Whitney Houston in the Top 5. I'm listening to Tom Waits and its too bad Cash only covered one of his songs, because Johnny Cash could've done a lot Waits songs better than Tom Waits.
There was this guy named Tarkhan who sang at the market in Hohhot Mongolio in the 1610's. What a voice!
"OK. It's like saying that Phil Niekro had a pretty good fastball."
Or Michael Jordon was a great rebounder.
""Bob Dylan is the 56th greatest vocalist in music history,"
Reminds me of the time my girlfriend declared Bruce Springsteen to be a great guitarist. You just don't know what to say.
As local (San Antonio) radio personality, Charlie Parker, once said: "Any list other than yours is wrong"
History is a long time, far longer than the era of the microphone.
"Hey good lookin', we'll be back to pick you up later!"
What is it with Mariah Carey? Last week she was one of the greatest songwriters of all time, this week she's one of the greatest vocalists of all time.
Odd list--lots of people I have never heard of--which is probably on me.
But Elvis number 40? Chris Stapleton in the 80s? No Steve Tyler?
And what about Sir Rodney?
Yeah thats strange list
"How many songs has Dylan "covered"?"
Tons!
My favorite is "The Best Is Yet to Come" (on "Triplicate").
Bob Dylan is my favorite singer. It's a matter of taste. No sense arguing with this list. Elvis is only #40.
Dylan put out an album covering songs done by Sinatra.
Sinatra never covered a Dylan song. But at Frank Sinatra’s 80th Birthday Tribute concert in 1995, Bob Dylan sang a Bob Dylan song — "Restless Farewell."
I don't think Sinatra ever sang to Bob Dylan.
I have to go through junk to get to the list, so I'll just assume they mean pop musicians only(?)
Wow, that's interesting. Dylan sings Sinatra. Never would've believed it. I'll have to go find it.
@Wince
LOL.
I bought one of those (for a child) and it didn't work too well at all.
Some Dylan songs are his alone. Like a Rolling Stone. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues.
I once heard a Judy Collins cover of Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues that the Powerline guys were touting as a great Dylan cover. Really?
Also no EmmyLou Harris on that list. Allison Krause is great, but c'mon.
"Wow, that's interesting. Dylan sings Sinatra. Never would've believed it. I'll have to go find it."
Let me know what you think.
I prefer my Dylan songs sung by Willie Nelson.
These lists are always ridiculous as they are so objective. There are no 'experts' on this, just opinions.
That said...
It's a ridiculous list starting with Freddie Mercury at the top, filling in Bob Dylan in the middle, and over to Neil Young near the end. Freddie was a great vocalist. He'd be about #60 or so on my list.
Man...they managed to include a few old greats, but left out so many phenomenal jazz vocalists. Ella Fitzgerald, but no Sarah Vaughn. Also missing, of course, is Joe Jackson- who is always left off of every list. I'm beginning to think I'm the only one who thinks he should be in the R&R Hall of Fame. No Annie Lennox? No Chrissie Hynde?
I knew the list was trash when they had Linda Ronstadt at 85. Based on her versatility alone she is top 10.
I knew the list was worse than trash when it did not include Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys.
"The greatest vocalists of all time" which is then limited to American and English pop singers of the last 50-60 years. More than half of the names I either didn't recognize or know anything of their music. Who the hell is Freddie Mercury?
If we're talking popular singers, where are Edith Piaf and Carlos Gardel? What about Callas, Caruso, Pavarotti, Fischer-Dieskau, or a hundred others. Apparently none of them were as good as Brandy.
Of course it's perfectly fine to publish a list of "Our 100 favorite pop singers," it's the pretentiousness of All Time while being completely ignorant, unaware, and/or dismissive of pop singers who don't sing in English, 200 years of art song, 450 years of opera, and about a thousand years of church/liturgical music that got my goat.
Thanks for letting the old basso yell at the clouds. There are dinosaurs who walk among you.
Sinatra didn't write the songs. He was doing covers, but Bob deliberately recorded a lot of songs that Sinatra did and he sincerely took on aspects of the style of singing. There are three "Great American Songbook" albums: Shadows in the Night (2015), Fallen Angels (2016), and Triplicate (2017). It was a huge effort and incredibly reverential toward Sinatra:
Shadows in the Night (2015):
"I'm a Fool to Want You"
"The Night We Called It a Day"
"Stay with Me"
"Autumn Leaves"
"Why Try to Change Me Now"
"Some Enchanted Evening"
"Full Moon and Empty Arms"
"Where Are You?"
"What'll I Do"
"That Lucky Old Sun"
Fallen Angels (2016):
"Young at Heart"
"Maybe You'll Be There"
"Polka Dots and Moonbeams"
"All the Way"
"Skylark"
"Nevertheless"
"All or Nothing at All"
"On a Little Street in Singapore"
"It Had to Be You"
"Melancholy Mood"
"That Old Black Magic"
"Come Rain or Come Shine"
Triplicate (2017):
Disc 1 ('Til the Sun Goes Down):"I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plans"
"September of My Years"
"I Could Have Told You"
"Once Upon a Time"
"Stormy Weather"
"This Nearly Was Mine"
"That Old Feeling"
"It Gets Lonely Early"
"My One and Only Love"
"Trade Winds"
Disc 2 (Devil Dolls):"Braggin'"
"As Time Goes By"
"Imagination"
"How Deep Is the Ocean"
"P.S. I Love You"
"The Best Is Yet to Come"
"But Beautiful"
"Here's That Rainy Day"
"Where Is the One"
"There's a Flaw in My Flue"
Disc 3 (Comin' Home Late):"Day In, Day Out"
"I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night"
"Sentimental Journey"
"Somewhere Along the Way"
"When the World Was Young"
"These Foolish Things"
"You Go to My Head"
"Stardust"
"It's Funny to Everyone but Me"
"Why Was I Born"
…funny that I referenced that Mr Microphone commercial just yesterday. Amazing what sticks, innit?
I read the list from the bottom up and it still doesnt make sense
This list seems almost random in many ways. Ozzy Osbourne ahead of Celine Dion? By what criteria?
There was this guy named Tarkhan who sang at the market in Hohhot Mongolio in the 1610's. What a voice!
…yah I thought of one of the Presidential funerals or some such where Dan Rather was narrating during a muslim prayer, you know where the guy is singing. Dan made a point it wasn’t exactly Amazing Grace or something and the cleric sitting to his right diplomatically pointed out to his faith it was extraordinarily moving and beautiful. Yep…
I think that Dylan is a great singer, de gustabus non desputarum or whatever the Latin is, and ranking this or that matter of taste or cultural flexing is a waste of time, but creates engagement, look at Rick Beato’s devastating takedown of the NYT list of top living songwriters, Elton John, Billy Joel, Randy Newman, I could go on, not dead!
We’ve all seen enough of these lists to not argue with the content. It’s always some group of people hashing it out, debating, campaigning. What we could be critical of is if the same group of people come up with an entirely different list next time…
I haven’t read the NYT list but I bet that Carol King and Joni Mitchell are on it, for reasons that don’t need to be explained,
Elvis not in the top ten is a joke. Dean Martin not even on the list is an even bigger one.
imTay said...
I haven’t read the NYT list but I bet that Carol King and Joni Mitchell are on it, for reasons that don’t need to be explained,
5/12/26, 9:29 AM
—— - - ——- ————
The Top 30 Greatest Living Songwriters excludes Billy Joel. That is all one needs to know that the list is absolute garbage.
"That's why people like Al Jolson were popular."
This is the second time this morning I'm reading the name Al Jolson. The first was in connection with the post about Rod Stewart. From Stewart's Wikipedia page: "Stewart was born at home during the Second World War.... The family was neither affluent nor poor; Stewart was spoiled as the youngest, and has called his childhood 'fantastically happy'.... Stewart's main hobby was railway modelling. The family was mostly focused on football.... The family were also great fans of the singer Al Jolson and would sing and play his hits. Stewart collected his records and saw his films, read books about him, and was influenced by his performing style and attitude towards his audience...."
These pop listicles always run the gamut, from A to B.
"Dean Martin not even on the list is an even bigger one."
He was busy saving a lady from a beetle.
If I recall correctly, Stewart is still a passionate model railway maven. Has a huge layout, can't remember where I saw it, but there was a full writeup about it. Very impressive.
If they assign numbers to things, everyone has an opinion. They got the number wrong!
The list is quite respectful of metal. Bruce Dickinson, RJD, and Halford are all on it. Dio isn't even the last in line, hee hee. In other genres, Mavis Staples and Ann Wilson made the list.
Bryan Ferry did not. That is just crap. CC, JSM
“History is a long time, far longer than the era of the microphone. I assume nearly all of the top thousand greatest vocalists performed without a microphone.”
But we’ll never hear them, so do they really count? If a tree falls in the forest etc.
Anyway, ChatGPT says #1 is Freddie Mercury, so that settles it.
Dylan expanded the limits of what a song can do.
Sinatra and Tony Bennett are in the "top 5" of recording era pop music vocalists. There are plenty of lesser knowns with similar technical skills, but the harsh selection criteria of the LP and studio era (1940s to 1970s) filtered for genuine talent. After that the market fragmented and the vocals niche froze in time.
Dylan wouldn't make my top 1,000 or top 10,000 of technical vocalists. He's a typical "distinctive" folk/DIY/rock vocalist who's interesting because of his distinctiveness alone. He'd make my top 100 of folk/pop songwriters.
Sting, Bono, Ozzy, Madonna, etc. are truly terrible technical vocalists. Distinctive yes, enjoyable if you like them, but not technical. There's so much digital processing after Cher's "Believe" that few pop vocalists reveal their true abilities. Everything gets 'fixed' now.
That list sucks. Let me count the ways... No, the number's too big and I'm not that great at math.
Any list like this that does not include Roger Daltrey in the Top 10, is absolute bullshite trash. WT actual F?
What's the difference between a vocalist and a singer? I notice the list has none of the great singers in history - Pavoratti, Marian Anderson, etc. etc, only pop singers.
That top 100 list is bizarre in 101 ways. Just a bunch of 'diverse' genre artists to appeal to the widest audience. Recency bias. Heavy focus on black performers in the top 10 (the dominant readership?) Random, arbitary standards.
It gets clicks and sparks a reaction. It brings to mind a "top 50 guitar solos" list I saw that included some songs without guitars. See Skrillex's "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites."
Joan Baez has the definitive version of many Dylan songs, but there is a meeting of time and place and melody that only Dylan's voice can carry on some of his songs.......Stardust is sung by everyone eventually. Nat King Cole deserves credit for having the best version of the most covered song in music.....There are some versions of songs that are almost the exclusive property of one particular singer. Meatloaf and Paradise by the Dashboard Light, Shane McGowan and Dirty Old Town, Doris Day and Que Sera Sera, Ruth Etting and Ten Cents a Dance........There is music that is wedded to a time for a time and then it passes. Begin the Beguine by Artie Shaw had a moment, and now it's gone. The Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong albums sell better now than at the time of their issue.
At any moment there are tens of thousands of people on earth whose singing is technically perfect, and yet we really don’t care to hear them because technically perfect singing is banal. What we’re looking for is a singer that communicates the deep emotions of a unique song uniquely. Which is why I give you Bob Dylan’s Man in the Long Black Coat. Trust me.
I put Dylan's singing right up there with Leo Kottke's; "geese farts on a muggy day".
Thanks for the recommendations Althouse. I listened to, and liked the following. There's an attractive clarity and simplicity to Bob's singing of these old tunes. Who woulda thunk it! Maybe he deserves to be on the Top 100.
Shadows in the Night (2015):
"That Lucky Old Sun"
Fallen Angels (2016):
"Young at Heart"
"On a Little Street in Singapore"
Triplicate (2017):
"Trade Winds"
"As Time Goes By"
"When the World Was Young"
"Stardust"
They should have Rudy Vallee.
And Chet Baker and Hoagy Carmichael.
I like those gentle singers. Why must everyone be caterwauling?
Billy Preston's "It's Alright Ma..." is worth a listen.
Nancy Sinatra's "It Ain't Me Babe" was a hit and is quite good IMHO.
@Earnest Prole --
I agree that processed technical precision is not interesting.
Before processing, there were plenty of "good" but boring performers. Still, some rose above banal. Karen Carpenter = the most technical vanilla ice cream with the largest octave range ever. There are never 10,000s of similar vocalists like that.
"Sir, there's a gentleman calling on line 3 who asks that he be allowed to introduce himself."
"What's his name?"
"He won't say; he says that he thinks you should guess it."
"That seems contradictory--how can he introduce himself if he won't say his name?"
"Yes. I agree. But he's rather insistent."
"Did he say anything else?"
"Yes, he said 'Oooh hoo hoo'."
"'Ooh hoo hoo'?"
"Yes Sir, a very emphatic 'ooh hoo hoo'. And he also said: 'You put fookin' Joe Strummer on your list and you left me off?'"
"Tell him that you can't always get what you want."
Karen Carpenter combined technical precision with deep emotional presence. You can hear both on “Superstar” — the chorus is ordinary, banal pop singing, while the verses are remarkably, uniquely expressive. It’s the latter that makes us care about her.
Sound Garden/Radiohead singer has to be top 10 though.
Ann Althouse said...
If they assign numbers to things, everyone has an opinion. They got the number wrong!
Arguing about the criteria is more fun than arguing about the individuals.
Like a Rolling Stone was a one take song recording. After the musicians played the song in studio for the first time Dylan gathered the band into the producer's booth to listen to their work. They listened once and Dylan said push up the organ, listened again, and that's the version everyone has heard for the last 60 odd years.
Al Kooper was the organist. First time he had ever played the organ (he was the top session guitarist in NYC at the time). Dylan and the producer did not know that though.
Kooper, for his part, was hired to play guitar for the session but also hired was Michael Bloomfield from Chicago for the same session. Kooper felt he couldn't compete with Bloomfield and started looking for another way to get an album credit. At first he looked at a possible production credit but when the organist never showed up he told the producer he could fill in. Producer didn't believe him and left the booth to find an organist. Kooper, though, decided to learn the organ on the spot, first transcribing guitar chords to the keyboard, then watching Bloomfield to get the chord progression. When the producer, who couldn't find an organist, came back to cancel the session Kooper used hand signals from behind the organ to indicate that he was ready to go, and the producer reluctantly agrees. After the take, Kooper goes into the sound booth thinking he did okay as he watched Bloomfield to get the timing of the chord changes. Then he listens to the playback and immediately realizes: I'm a half beat behind the rest of the band for the entire song. When Dylan says 'pull up the organ' Kooper thinks 'I'm about to get fired'. Instead, that became his new career, founding Blood Sweat and Tears from behind an organ not long after, and the 'lazy organ' on LaRS is now 'signature' to the song.
"How many songs has Dylan "covered"?"
Scores! In additon to the mentioned Sinatra cover albums he has done 3-4 albums of just covers. One of them "Self Potrait" and it's "bootleg" version, "Another Self Potrait", clearly shows that he has the vocal ability to put a song across in different ways. Here are two examples from that album:
"Pretty Saro" shows that he can sing "clean" if he wants and it's a very moving version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPZl0ttRFP4&list=PLYHm4b2Mspf3rCV3d2S813gLuJK0VTjSc&index=3
"This Eveing so Soon" was his version of "Tell Old Bill" which was one of Dave Von Ronk's signature songs. Von Ronk sings the shit out the song. But Dylan's version is much more effective - he finds the emotional fulcrum of the song and can move the listener with much less effort .
“Like a Rolling Stone” has something like 17 takes. You can hear them all if you poke around. The first take is Dylan alone on the piano playing in waltz time (I kid you not).
A few years ago my wife and I had tickets to Dylan. A "must attend" evening meeting kept me from going so my wife took a female friend.
The meeting was looooong and boring. My wife said I got, by far, the better part of the deal. Her friend said she was too generous.
Dylan wrote some magical lyrics. And his voice really works well with some of his songs. Others, not so much.
But top 100 vocalists?
Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot?
Tell me where Slim Whitman landed on the list.
Chet bakers "Funny Valentine" is probably one of the best versions. "The trill is gone" also very good.
Linda Ronstadt is 85th. Really? That’s absurd.
Chet Baker - Yea!
Where's Liam Clancy, Finbar Fury, Mary Black, The Everly Bros., Delbert McClinton, Keb Mo, Boz Skaggs, Bo Diddly, Patti-Fuckin'-Paige, for God's sake? C'mon, people!!!!
This is a list for middle-aged critics, the kind who obsessively rewatch "High Fidelity" and only listen to albums on vinyl. It vastly underrates pop singers -- Ariana Grande is only #83, and Kelly Clarkson isn't on there at all.
The microphone, music recording, and an abundance of social changes made it possible for Bob Dylan to be considered a great singer. Nobody would have thought so in the 17th century.
Back in those days, the range of what "good singers" could be was a lot narrower. Folk music never went outside the local area. Your fame would only be local and fleeting. Other genres hadn't even been invented. If someone were to make up a list back then, it would probably be confined to singers performing at a few royal courts and opera houses.
This list is too eclectic. How do you rate Hank Williams against James Brown or Beyonce against Robert Plant or Marvin Gaye? What are you rating? The quality of the voice or the fame of the artist and the recordings? Freddy Mercury as #1? Tweak the algorithm a little and somebody else -- anybody else -- would have the top slot.
If you play Springsteen's "The Angel" at 45 RPM he sounds exactly like...Dolly Parton. Which should probably disqualify both of them from the list.
I don’t know about Freddie Mercury as number one, but I do know listening to him sing “Barcelona” with Monserrat Caballé in Barcelona is a rare treat. (You Tube)
You don't think of Rudy Vallee as being dark and gritty, but he had the best version of the best Depression ballad--Brother Can You Spare a Dime. His version of the Whiffenpoof Song is pretty good too. The Whiffenpoof Song is a great song, but the word Whiffenpoof is too airy and light for the dark themes that the song embraces, or maybe the word Whiffenpoof captures the lightness and transience of our existence. See my doctoral dissertation for further observations on the subject.
Can't her Ol' Blue Eyes do Dylan, but you can hear a reasonable facsimile croon The Pixies' "This Monkey's Gone Heaven"
Barbra Streisand didn't make the list? The only female artist to have achieved 11 number one albums on the US Billboard 200 chart across six decades? She wrote in her 2023 autobiography that Dylan once sent her a note telling her she was his favorite star, and that he wrote "Lay, Lady, Lay" with her in mind. Decades ago, Dylan sent her flowers and a note asking her to sing a duet, which she said she couldn't imagine at the time. On her 2025 duets album, she sang “The Very Thought of You” with Dylan.
The list is disappointing. It's like people don't know what a vocalist is or what their functions is. It's not just to say words along with music. A vocalist should be a musician that adds as much as any other instrument, if not more. Some on the list don't even do music.
Isn't Dylan pretty high on the worst vocalists lists too?
The reason everybody covers Dylan songs is not only because he writes great songs, but also because they feel pretty confident they can sing them better.
"if a microphone was used, it was simply not music."
Sounds like a fanatical opera fan. No microphone ever in the opera house, except to record a live performance.
No Paul Rogers or Steve Winwood, and Karen Carpenter should be much higher. A lot of the people on there have not been tested by time yet. That's a great filter.
Leland said...
"Slightly off topic, Rick Beato discussing the critics behind the NYT Magazine 30 Greatest Living American Song Writers. They all have Ivy League credentials, yet none seem to have any musical training nor think that matters."
Came here to post that. These lists are just clickbait to enrage people.
Ditto re Linda Ronstadt. Just watch some of her live performances. Incredible voice control and she could/did a huge variety of music. Most songs she covered were better than the original. Read about her cover of Tumbling Dice and interation with the Stones. It's a cute story. Once in a generation talent. I would have put her in top 5.
I think to be on the list, your singing should be instantly recognizable, and really be a key ingredient in the songs your are famous for, and anybody else lessens them. We're talking the greatest here. A lot on the list fit that standard, but some not at all.
Yes to Ronstadt.
Ronstadt #85
Iggy Pop, but no Yoko Ono. WTF?
bagoh20 said...
"Ronstadt #85
Iggy Pop, but no Yoko Ono. WTF?"
If Jann Wenner-era Rolling Stone created this list, Yoko would be on it.
I would agree that Linda Rondstat has a fantastic voice. Anyone that do Gilbert and Sullivan, Blue Bayou, and Rock n Roll has Range.
I have a comment concerning Mr. Dylan but out of respect for the host I will not say it.
I like those gentle singers. Why must everyone be caterwauling?
I was happy Billie Eilish didn't make the list. I get gentle singers (where's John Denver?), but singers with a voice that wouldn't project without a microphone just don't cut it with me.
hombre said...
I don’t know about Freddie Mercury as number one, but I do know listening to him sing “Barcelona” with Monserrat Caballé in Barcelona is a rare treat. (You Tube)
Hard to argue with though. At that level you are really talking about taste.
I didn’t look at the list. Where is Liberace?
I don’t even know what the boundaries of the list are tbh.
They must be kidding with some of these picks. Neil Young? Axel Rose
No Robert Palmer? No Lowell George? No Vince Gill? No Al Jarreau? No Steve Winwood?
Just off top of one’s head…
Ruling out singers who use a mic is sort of like ruling out football players who didn't use leather helmets.
The times they are a'changin.
Also--No Gregg Allman?
It's always easy to argue with these kind of lists but this one seems particularly bad. Linda Ronstadt at 85, no David Crosby, no Tony Bennett, no Sarah Vaughn, no Emmylou, no McCartney, no Van Morrison, Bono even on the list. The country singers listed are just the usual suspects and clearly shows that whoever made the list has never listened. But, what the heck, they get people talking and give ample opportunity to mock those who think they know enough to make the list in the first place.
Grok, What singer, including in bands, sold the most recordings?
" The Beatles — as a group featuring iconic singers/songwriters — hold the crown for the most recordings sold in history. If focusing strictly on solo vocalists, Michael Jackson or Elvis Presley lead depending on the metric. These figures continue to evolve slightly with new certifications and streaming."
A proposal: there would be less arguing if they made the list of the 100 Best Singers and rather than ranking them, just listed them in alphabetical order.
@Marcus Bressler --
The entire point of these lists to stir up web traffic, anger, excitement and comments. Social media engagement strategy.
They pick a wide range of performers to draw in many types of people, and then the top 10 or 20 are the target demographic for their business model and advertisers. Puppets on strings they'd have us be.
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