When one thinks of a professional singing voice, it’s likely concepts of brilliantly talented crooners come to mind. Or perhaps big sweeping voices with brilliant, rich tones and range. But occasionally a singer enters the fray with a less than sparkling tone. They come in with incredible poetic lyrics and voices that have some listeners scratching their heads.
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Here below, we wanted to explore three such examples. A trio of troubadours whose voices are more odd than they are operatic and professionally trained. Indeed, these are three male classic rock singers with the strangest voices.
[RELATED: Top 10 Songs by Leonard Cohen]
Tom Waits
Sometimes, it would seem Tom Waits was more of a vaudevillian than he was a classic frontman. With a voice that sounds like a gravel driveway, Waits prances around the stage with his bowler hat as if he’s a tramp on the highway shuffling around for donations. But as he does this, he’s also pulling off something magical. He’s tricking you. He’s using your preconceived notions against you. In fact, Waits is a supremely talented singer, songwriter, and performer. Yes, he’s part clown. But only in the way that Pagliacci was. Not to mention Waits originally came onto the scene with a crystal clear voice he altered only when he was getting too much pop culture attention. Now, it’s all about that gravelly driveway.
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan has perhaps written the greatest songs in American music history. Poetic, thoughtful, socially minded, and piercing, Dylan had his finger on the pulse of the 1960s and his ear to the wind of change. But his voice wasn’t necessarily the stuff of Frank Sinatra. It was nasally and at times cartoonish. Nevertheless, Dylan rose to the top of popular culture (whether he liked it or not). Early on his career, his singing voice was more palatable but as his career has progressed, it’s become heftier and more brusque.
Leonard Cohen
On his classic track “Tower of Song,” Leonard Cohen sings about being born with a “golden voice.” Of course, when he wrote those lines and sang them out loud, they were tongue-in-cheek. Yes, Cohen has a memorable voice. Yes, he has a recognizable voice. But golden? That seems more reserved for the likes of Tom Jones or Tony Bennett. Nevertheless, Cohen remains one of the keenest vocalists of his or any other time and he also remains memorable—yes—because of that, ahem, golden voice.
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