Range, Grit, Soul: The Voices That Rule Them All

Summary

In this episode of Mandatory Music, hosts Michael and Sebastian dive into their top five favorite vocalists across various genres, discussing the impact and unique styles of each singer. They explore the personal connections to these artists, the diversity in vocal abilities, and the cultural significance of Canadian musicians. The conversation highlights the importance of vocalists in music and how their styles resonate with listeners. In this engaging conversation, Sebastian and Michael explore the legacies of iconic vocalists across various genres, focusing on their unique contributions to music and culture. They discuss the Tragically Hip's impact on Canadian music, the eclectic styles of Serge Tankian, the heartfelt songwriting of Tom Petty, the unparalleled talent of Freddie Mercury, and the poetic rebellion of Jim Morrison. The discussion also touches on the importance of using one's platform for social awareness and the challenges faced by artists in maintaining their vocal integrity over time. The episode concludes with honorable mentions of other legendary singers, highlighting the rich tapestry of musical history.

Takeaways

• The discussion centers around personal favorite vocalists rather than industry rankings.
• Elvis is acknowledged as a great vocalist but not included in the rock genre list.
• Floor Jansen from Nightwish is celebrated for her vocal range and emotional performances.
• Neil Fallon of Clutch is noted for his unique delivery and lyrical content.
• Sebastian Bach is recognized for his effortless singing style and vocal talent.
• Chris Cornell's versatility across genres is highlighted as a significant aspect of his legacy.
• Gord Downie's lyrics reflect Canadian culture and history, making him a unique voice in music.
• The hosts emphasize the importance of authenticity in music over commercial success.
• David Gilmore's contribution to Pink Floyd is discussed in terms of vocal nuance and emotional depth.
• The conversation showcases a diverse range of vocalists, each with their own unique style and impact. The Tragically Hip's final concert was a national event in Canada.
• Gord Downie's ability to connect with Canadiana was profound.
• Serge Tankian's vocal range and emotional delivery are remarkable.
• Tom Petty's 'Wildflowers' is a timeless classic.
• Freddie Mercury's genre-defying music continues to inspire.
• Jim Morrison's poetry and vocal style were revolutionary.
• The 27 Club highlights the tragic loss of many talented artists.
• Using a platform for social awareness is crucial for artists.
• Vocal integrity can diminish over time without proper technique.
• Honorable mentions include iconic figures like Amy Winehouse and Robert Plant.

Mandatory Music is proudly hosted and produced by Michael Heide and Sebastian Kwapich

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Thanks for listening and keep on rocking

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to vocalists and personal favourites
• 2:53 Exploring the impact of vocalists
• 5:57 Diverse vocal styles and their influence
• 9:10 Unique vocalists: Clutch and Nightwish
• 12:03 The legacy of Sebastian Bach
• 15:07 The versatility of Chris Cornell
• 18:01 The Canadian influence: Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip
• 24:46 The legacy of the Tragically Hip
• 26:21 Exploring the unique voice of Serj Tankian
• 32:00 Tom Petty: The heart of American rock
• 34:34 Freddie Mercury: The unmatched vocalist
• 38:01 Jim Morrison: The poetic rebel
• 42:54 Honourable mentions: Icons of rock

Transcript

Michael (00:14.243)

Good evening and welcome back to another fine episode of Mandatory Music. I am Mike, I'm here as always with my bestie of many, many years, Sebastian. How are you, buddy?

Sebastian (00:25.502)

Yeet! No, just kidding. I'm good, how are you?

Michael (00:26.873)

I'm doing very well. Yeah, so the last couple of weeks we've just been doing album reviews, song reviews. We haven't done a list. Status quo, and we're break. Seb is the list guy, he loves a good list. Who doesn't love a top five, a top 10 list of whatever? So we came up with the idea of a

Sebastian (00:39.18)

Yep. Status quo. Hey, everybody knows how much I love lists.

Michael (00:56.597)

a list of our favorite vocalists. Cause we all, never talk about vocalists and vocalists we love. We talk about it's music centered. It's exactly all the stuff that's not a singer. So we had the idea of this to our top five favorite singers in the rock, hard rock, metal, all, all three of those, whatever soul, any, any genre you like what, what five singers really can make the hairs on your arm stand up.

Sebastian (01:02.262)

Yes, it's usually music centered is what we talk about, right? The music, the guitar, the bass, drums. Yeah.

Sebastian (01:22.243)

Yes.

Michael (01:26.745)

if you will.

Sebastian (01:26.808)

So I went in the route because there's a bunch of artists that I can put on here. I'm just gonna name one right now that I didn't put on my list, but Elvis is not a consideration because he doesn't fit in that style of music, but he's arguably one of the greatest vocalists of all time ever in the history of music, right? So I urge anyone that hasn't actually watched the movie to go watch it, because it gives super.

Michael (01:35.427)

Sure. Okay. No.

Michael (01:43.715)

Absolutely.

Sebastian (01:52.345)

deep insight into how he was raised and his influences and stuff like that. aside from that, so what I did is I looked at the vocalists and like, would this vocalist appear on like a Spotify metal slash hard rock playlist? And that's where I kind of grabbed my five favorite vocalists. I understand there's probably a couple in my list or in someone else's list that probably should be on the top five vocalist list, but I went...

from a personal, my favorite situations, yes.

Michael (02:23.735)

Yes. And that's what this exercise is, is our, our personal favorite. It's not like Rolling Stone's top five of all time or whatever because mine's mine. Okay. That's funny because mine's actually set in stone and, it's a rarity. Yeah. I had actually, funny. The other day I was thinking about it and I had came up with the five, like, was like, man, that was fast. I should write this down. Did I know then I'm like, okay.

Sebastian (02:32.854)

And I might change it as we talk, but.

Sebastian (02:40.44)

That's a rarity these days, isn't it?

Michael (02:52.631)

I got four of them, what am I? And then I'm like, what was the, it took me like 10 minutes to remember what the fifth was. I'm like, it's just, then I think I chose something completely different than what it was. I'm like, yeah, then I'm like, no, I'm not, not into that. So yeah, I, but it's funny.

Sebastian (02:53.262)

That's a new five the next day.

Sebastian (03:07.522)

Well, we'll see what the list is like. And then I do have some honorable mentions afterwards that we'll get into as well. Just they were considered, but I didn't put them in the top in the five because it's limited to five.

Michael (03:15.009)

Yeah. So I will, so I will say I am wearing an arrows in the shirt. Steven Tyler did not make my list. Didn't the thought actually didn't even, didn't even occur to me, but you talked about Elvis, the movie. I still haven't seen it. I know. I think the wife watched it. I was whatever. Yeah.

Sebastian (03:21.186)

He did not make my list either, yum.

Sebastian (03:27.628)

Yes, you should watch it.

It's very good, although to be fair.

you're gonna get annoyed with Tom Hanks in the movie. His accent is just something else. It just kind of takes you away out of the movie. Because he does this Dutch accent and it's just like, just speak normally.

Michael (03:40.121)

That's what I've heard.

Michael (03:44.525)

Hmm. That's a shame. Or even speak like someone from Tennessee or like the Southern accent.

Sebastian (03:54.327)

Yeah, it's kind of like that Daniel Craig thing in Knives Out where he speaks in that Southern accent and you're just like, this is James Bond, man. Like just speak British. Just just be British. I reckon I reckon that we're in a bit of a pickle here. That's the worst accent ever,

Michael (03:58.461)

yeah, that's hard. It's yeah. Right. Cause you're, you're looking at them and you're like, dude, we know you're not.

Actually, funny. So how's funny you say that? Cause I, last night took my son to see Mr. Impossible final reckoning and, what's her name? I think it's Hannah wedding him wedding him from, Ted Lasso and games drones. She was in it. She played like a military general, but she had an American accent. And I'm like, no, you know, you are no, you're English and you are Rebecca from Ted Lasso. And this is wrong. It's it was so weird because it just, it

Sebastian (04:17.254)

I heard it's really good.

Sebastian (04:23.01)

Yeah. Yes.

Sebastian (04:29.098)

That's rare because

Sebastian (04:33.29)

You're Rebecca. You're not.

Michael (04:40.205)

the voice didn't fit what you're looking at. She looked like Rebecca exactly, except things she had like a military hat on or whatever and the uniform. And I'm like, no, that's Rebecca. I'm sorry. This is.

Sebastian (04:43.747)

Yeah.

Sebastian (04:49.71)

See, I'm in that state with Daniel Craig. So if Daniel Craig did knives out before he James Bond, I don't think anyone would have even cared about his accent. But because you're so used to seeing him in that James Bond accent, that it's just a little jarring to listen to him speak or try to speak Southern Kentucky, Louisiana speak.

Michael (05:04.589)

Well, it's like asking Pierce Brosnan or Sean Connery to, can you guys not be your native accent, please? okay. So speaking of accents, so, so did you know that naked gun has been remade? Okay. So one of the previews last night was naked gun. And I had no idea cause I've been, I had just had no idea. So the preview comes on.

Sebastian (05:14.154)

Imagine John Connor doing like a Jamaican accent or something. Rastaman, yeah.

Sebastian (05:22.658)

Yes, Liam Neeson is playing like that.

Michael (05:31.735)

And he's not even trying to hide his accent. Like, it's just like, he's full Irish. I'm like, this is amazing. And he's supposed to be Liam Neeson's son. Cause that's probably, guess it's probably part of the joke, right? Yeah. Yeah. Leslie, that's what I say. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. So he's Leslie Nielsen's. Yes. Can't say those two names back, back to back, but that a funny clip. And it was just, and then I'm like, okay, he's not even hiding. He sounds like Gwagon from Star Wars. No, it's just gonna be.

Sebastian (05:42.39)

Leslie, Leslie Nielsen.

Liam, you said Liam Eason. It's his own son.

Sebastian (05:53.197)

Yeah.

Sebastian (05:57.635)

I haven't even watched the trailer for it. Does it look good? It's what it is, yeah.

Michael (06:02.457)

My thought after the preview was like, he's trying to reinvent himself as a funny old guy. Which maybe he is funny because he's been doing the taken movies and whatever. Well, know, like 50, sure. Well, you know, like when De Niro, they did like, what was that? Like meet the parents, stuff like that. So he started doing comedy, but it's De Niro. He can be funny. I just don't see what needs, maybe the movie will be funny. I don't know.

Sebastian (06:09.634)

Okay.

Yeah, you should just stay to taken, I guess. Just do like taken eight or nine. How many were out here? Like four or five.

Sebastian (06:26.498)

Yeah.

no, man, he was pretty funny in that, but you need deadpan parents to bounce off Ben Stiller, right? So it works in those movies. Yeah, yes. Dustin Hoffman is in it too. That's a good movie actually. Okay. Vocalists, you want me to start? Okay. So I didn't...

Michael (06:38.049)

Yes, totally. So Streisand and De Niro work perfectly, right? Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, of course. Okay.

You can go, you can go. Yeah, please. You go first.

Sebastian (06:57.288)

This is too hard to do like a top five. So I'm just going to say there's just five. You can put any one over to the other one. But the first one that I went with, and it's mostly from one song, but the song has impacted me on such a level that this is probably the most shared song that I have ever shared with people that I know in my life. Yes.

Michael (07:00.011)

It's a random order. Yes.

Michael (07:08.99)

boy.

Michael (07:20.441)

Can I guess? Is it Gangnam style?

Sebastian (07:24.994)

That's a good song. That's such a good, I love that song. It's so infectious. Dude, that had the zeitgeist of the world. That had a pulse on everything, man. Like everyone was dancing. But the vocalist I'm talking about is Flora Janssen.

Michael (07:26.617)

Isn't it though? It's so, anyway, sorry. It is, you can't help, can't help yourself.

Michael (07:36.671)

Absolutely did. Yep. Sorry.

I figured she would be on your list. When we did the Nightwish episode, you love yourself, Floriance, and she's amazing.

Sebastian (07:45.249)

Yes. Yeah. She is the reason and she sits in the symphonic metal pocket. So she's the front woman for the band Nightwish. And I believe before that she was in After Earth, if I'm not mistaken. But if anyone needs proof that she has some serious vocal ability, just watch the live version of

Michael (08:02.591)

okay.

Sebastian (08:14.35)

Ghost Love Score from Vakon. I believe it's 2013, I'm not sure. The story behind that is that Floor had little to no time to prepare for this concert. It was like her first major concert. And you can see the rite of passage as people just accept her as the new front woman for Nightwish. And that song specifically is extremely challenging to sing vocally, because it goes through so many different vocal styles. there's opera in it, there's...

metal growly in it. There's, you know, head voice, throat voice, chest voice, like she goes through all sorts of different ways and how flawlessly she navigates that very challenging song to sing and she just nails it. Like it's so emotionally moving that one part. And literally from that song alone, I started exploring Floor as a vocalist and she does a lot of other things. She does like Phantom of the Opera with like

Michael (08:49.901)

Mm-hmm.

Sebastian (09:10.034)

duet in that and she does Frozen but she predominantly does the opera voice for Nightwish so yeah she's on my list for sure. I had to put her on there because I freaking adore her as a singer so...

Michael (09:16.696)

Interesting.

Absolutely.

Michael (09:24.185)

So we'll do this. Yep, that's right. Round of applause for Florianson, everybody. Thank you. Yeah, got buttons to push. so you went someone super serious, you know, trained, a complete vocal savant. Now my...

Sebastian (09:32.524)

We are leveling up our game here with all sorts of sound effects. So there we go.

Sebastian (09:48.975)

Yes. She has been trained so much training, like so much. You can even see it. Sorry to interrupt, but I just want to highlight this point. You can even see it in the performance based on how she maneuvers her body and how in control she is of her like chest and breathing and watch it with like a reaction video from like a train like the charismatic voice, for example, this ghost love score. And if you watch that video on YouTube, there's so much education in terms of

Michael (09:54.573)

Yes, she's.

No.

Michael (10:11.897)

Mm-hmm.

Sebastian (10:18.392)

posture and how her mouth moves over the vowels when she's singing. It's a very fascinating video to watch. So sorry about that, Mike. Go ahead.

Michael (10:23.287)

Yeah. Okay. Well, no, no. So I was just trying to, I was, was saying like, you went with someone super posh and trained and polished and perfect. I'm going with somebody that is the exact opposite of polished and perfect. just got to find, yes, no, it is not David's name. It is, Neil Fallon clutch. So the, and this is the reason. Okay. So

Sebastian (10:32.013)

Yes.

Sebastian (10:39.682)

Dave Mustaine. Okay.

Sebastian (10:48.597)

Okay

He's okay.

Michael (10:53.241)

Neofalon is the lead vocalist. He's one of the primary songs. They all write together. He's a great lyric writer, great guitar player, but his singing style is like a preacher giving a sermon in church.

Sebastian (11:06.732)

Yeah, it's very unique.

Michael (11:08.159)

It's not what I love. That's what I love about clutch is the voice. The music is fine, but it's, it's the, his delivery and how, yeah, he's basically pointing his finger at you and telling you how it is in the song. And it's just, something about that, that really, just, resonates with me I think it's really cool. And that's why I'm really excited about our lists. I think our lists are going to be so different. It's going to be amazing. We're not, we shouldn't have any, any,

Sebastian (11:10.403)

Yeah.

Sebastian (11:33.41)

Yeah.

Michael (11:36.829)

And even his lyrical content, can be historical with like US history. It can be outer space stuff. It can be anything. Like it's just, he doesn't leave any stone unturned. And it's just...

Sebastian (11:49.784)

You know the first song that came to my mind when you said Clutch is the regulator, the song The Regulator.

Michael (11:55.179)

Exactly. Right. So the regulator is like in a sort of half acoustic jam. It was featured in the walk and dead. They kind of blew up after that. It was, yeah, it was like season three or four or something. And there's like this really cool scene Rick's in like this empty town and he just like killed some bad guys and the regulator starts playing. It's like, my God. was like the, such a good song. Yeah. It's so, yeah. So, so Neil Fallon, he's, he's the shit and he's just,

Sebastian (12:03.312)

was it?

Sebastian (12:16.066)

Dude, that's such a good song, the regulator, man. Yeah.

Michael (12:24.557)

He's a regular guy, he's a working guy, comes out in the jeans and the sneakers and a t-shirt. And it's just, it's nothing pretty, but it, it comes across, especially if you get a chance to see Clutch Live. I know we've seen Clutch Live a bunch of times and

Sebastian (12:38.444)

He's almost got like a, I don't want to say this, just hear me out. It's almost like comparable to like Volebeat, but better. Like he's a better singer. No offense Volebeat, but.

Michael (12:47.318)

volby, but way better. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Sorry, Michael. No offense.

Sebastian (12:53.226)

Yeah, that's a good poll. He's got a very unique voice for sure.

Michael (12:55.191)

Yeah. So all my singers are kind of in that vein, not kind of, well, kind of, just singers that just can get the hair on my arms to stand up. the regulator. So good.

Sebastian (12:59.948)

vein in pocket. Yeah.

Sebastian (13:06.968)

Dude, that's such a good song. Yeah. That's such a good song, Mike. I just put it on and it's like, that might be my favorite clutch song ever. The regulator, I think.

Michael (13:13.613)

Yep.

Well, it's hard to beat. There's, yeah, that's, mm-hmm.

Sebastian (13:21.184)

It's so groovy. So Clutch to me is like, is the pity. I know this is your style of music is that that that sludgy groove thing. And his voice is like so flawlessly perfect for that genre of music, because it's like, it's kind of doomy and he's got a bit of a drawl in his voice. You know, he knows where he lands musically and how he sings and it fits so well for Clutch's music 100%.

Michael (13:31.213)

Yes. Yeah.

Michael (13:37.027)

Yeah, absolutely.

Michael (13:49.879)

Yeah. Well, same with like floor and nightwish and all that. Right. She is the embodiment of that style of music. And it's just, they just go hand in hand and very two different, obviously two different styles of. You got meat, you got meat and potatoes and like filet mignon. It's like, that's if you put right this, you know, highfalutin and then sort of just regular guy, blue collar. So yeah, anyways, what, what, what next you got there?

Sebastian (14:04.169)

It's very different.

It's a good reference, yep. Yep.

Yeah. Oh, okay. So my next guy, he came to fame in the 90s. the reason I selected him is his ability to sing is so effortless. It's like so natural for him to sing. And he's an incredible vocalist. Sebastian Bach from Skid Row.

Michael (14:38.411)

Whoa, look at you. Dude's got pipes, man. He's got pipes.

Sebastian (14:41.93)

Listen, listen, listen to him sing. He's so effortless and it's just like, yeah, I'm just going to sing this and he'll just sing. There's no, some people are just so naturally gifted in this as a voice like, Pavarotti natural gift, right? For sure. Sebastian Bach from Skid Row is an incredible vocalist. He's got that.

Perfect 90s metal hard rock voice where he can like scream and belt, but there's also a tenderness Again, I've watched him on the charismatic voice as well. And she's just in awe of how His breath work between like taking breaths in you can't hear it. Like it's just such a good vocalist

Michael (15:10.489)

Mm-hmm.

Michael (15:25.183)

Mm-hmm Knows what he's doing. Okay. Now. Let me ask you this about Sebastian Pope Do you think? He got pigeonholed because of the whole skid row thing and like a lot of yeah, like there's so much more to him and I understand like he loves he loves metal and all that stuff and because he was in the DO documentary and which he's fabulous in I just

Sebastian (15:31.565)

Yes.

Sebastian (15:39.04)

Is a hard rock. Yeah.

Sebastian (15:52.013)

He's also like a pretty, know, crazy is not the right word, but he's very like, but fun loving and likes to have a good time. Like he's not a super serious guy. Like he likes to joke and you know, he just wants to have a good time a lot. So.

Michael (15:57.453)

He's out there.

Yes.

Michael (16:04.718)

Yeah.

And he was on the Gilmore Girls too. Yeah. yeah. Yeah. No, he's Sebastian Bach. He was like a singer or a rock and a singer in a band. I, okay. I have watched Gilmore Girls all the way through. it's well, I've done it more than once. I did it when the show was originally on with my girlfriend, now wife. And now, yeah, my, and now Jolene's gone through and been watching it too. he's, and he's, can act like he's.

Sebastian (16:10.378)

I did not know that really. As Sebastian Bach or playing somebody else. That's awesome.

Sebastian (16:22.05)

Well, he's got a daughter, folks, so that makes sense.

Sebastian (16:27.927)

boy, before his...

Michael (16:36.953)

He's got it all, man. He's he's in a couple of seasons. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's like one or two seasons of Sebastian Bach and the Gilmore Girls. as much, Melissa McCarthy's in Gilmore Girls, we're going off topic, but whatever. Yeah, it's, I don't know. The show is, you know, it's not a very testosterone heavy show, but whatever. It's okay. It's...

Sebastian (16:38.058)

Is he like in a couple of episodes or? Seriously.

Sebastian (16:47.393)

I did not know that.

Sebastian (17:04.098)

He was in Rock of Ages too.

Michael (17:06.617)

Oh, with Tom Cruise. I don't think I've ever seen that. I think I'll have to watch that. Yeah. Oh, but Bach, but when I was saying about being sort of pigeonholed, cause you know, like when metal died in like in the early nineties, when grunge came in 91 skid row, I think was, was kind of got lost. And I think if, I don't know, I know he ended up leaving skid row, but he could never shake the, Oh, they use the guy from skid row, right?

Sebastian (17:08.322)

I guess, yeah.

Sebastian (17:22.35)

You kind of got lost in there.

Sebastian (17:31.22)

Yeah, he just, yeah, he just never transitioned out of that, right? So.

Michael (17:37.401)

No, or maybe he didn't want to. And that's just the way it was. And he was just happy doing what he was doing. Right. Oh, hell yeah. Especially like coming in late eighties. That's perfect name for a band. Cause all the other good ones like Cinderella and all those ones were taken. So yeah. Okay.

Sebastian (17:43.0)

Good name for a band though, Skid Row.

Sebastian (17:49.357)

Yeah.

Sebastian (17:53.057)

Live. So when's the last time he did a studio album is my question. So I guess he's done a lot of solo stuff for sure.

Michael (17:58.081)

I think he's done some solo stuff.

because he's been out of Skid Row for a long time.

Sebastian (18:06.35)

Yeah, I guess they're no longer a band,

Michael (18:08.087)

I think they are with a different singer.

Sebastian (18:12.194)

Yeah, but anyways, if you've never heard of Sebastian Bach's thing, the two songs that I would recommend is 18 and Life and I Remember You. That gives you such good inclination on to how he can sing. It's unbelievable. Like he's...

Michael (18:12.387)

But yeah.

Michael (18:20.995)

Lots of gooder.

Michael (18:33.251)

You know, like Gary Sharone, I don't know if he's on your list, but he's kind of in that same vein where he kind of just, he's the extreme guy. right. Right. No, I'm not sure he got into Van Halen because he was an extreme, but whatever. Okay. So my next one, no particular order. we've talked about this guy a ton over the, over the fall and the winter months. And, you know, David Gilmore, they're like, come on, like he's.

Sebastian (18:38.732)

Yes, he's not on my list, but there we go.

Sebastian (18:55.694)

send it.

Sebastian (18:59.82)

Okay, yeah.

Michael (19:03.213)

He's the yin to Roger Waters' yang, like the angry voice to the soft spoken, delicate, beautiful voice. it's just, he's the voice of Pink Floyd, right? It's just, can you say? There's.

Sebastian (19:10.126)

Sure. Yep.

Sebastian (19:13.806)

There's this, yeah.

Sebastian (19:20.11)

There's such a nuance in his voice too. Like he's not like the most accomplished singer in terms of like vocal range and ability, but he knows what he has in his voice and it fits the music perfectly.

Michael (19:21.816)

Yes.

Michael (19:33.373)

man, like listen to echoes. Like it's just the first line of, just like, my God, headphones are going to explode off my, off my bald head. And that's, yeah, I don't know. I, I love Gilmore. I love everything he's done. Like we've taught, we've, we've talked a couple of the solo records. he doesn't write lyrics. His wife writes the lyrics, which I think is really, it's a really neat. I don't, you know, the whole, okay, I need a song. This is the song. It's about this. Give me some words and, or however it goes.

Sebastian (19:45.39)

Sure, yeah, he's great.

Sebastian (19:52.536)

That's fascinating to me. Yeah.

Michael (20:02.829)

He just writes a piece of music and here she's like, here, here are the words. This is it. Take it or leave it buddy. But yeah, no, Gilmore is, you know, I, did I say here? His haunted and that's a different guy. Wrong one. soft, I was at the wrong thing I wrote. that might be my next one. but yeah, no, he's just the pink flight dynamic, the soft and delicate tones that he can get and just sort of, it's just, you know,

Sebastian (20:06.242)

This is it. Yeah.

Sebastian (20:18.574)

Man!

Sebastian (20:32.662)

Yeah, that's a good pull for sure. I do like that. Yeah.

Michael (20:32.665)

Like wish you were here, song, song, song. Yeah, yeah, so yeah. Don't wanna dwell too much on David Gilmore, because we spent like four hours talking about David Gilmore already, so we're good.

Sebastian (20:43.746)

Yeah, he's a good one. So for me, I think this is one of the best voices during the grunge era. And he has so much diversity in his music. Chris Cornell. So rest in peace. So look at the stuff that he did with Soundgarden, how grungy and medley he made his voice. And then look at his tender stuff, like he did this Sinead O'Connor song.

Michael (20:52.951)

Ooh, crunch!

Michael (20:57.961)

Mm-hmm. Yes. Rest in peace.

Michael (21:08.141)

Mm-hmm.

Sebastian (21:11.628)

nothing compares to you. Like he's such an incredible singer. He did that, I don't want to call it a hip hop album, but it was that more dancey pop like scream. Yeah, this Timbaland. So his versatility in terms of like being a singer in so many different genres styles of music is there. And you can't deny he's probably the one of the best singers out of the nineties to come out of the nineties. So

Michael (21:14.894)

Mm-hmm.

Michael (21:19.958)

the Tim, the TI or Timberland or yeah.

Michael (21:30.197)

Mm-hmm. yeah.

Michael (21:35.543)

Yeah. I would think he's probably the best. If you're looking at vocal talent out of even out of the big, big four or whatever you want to call them a grunge in a Nirvana Pearl Jam, Alison James and Soundgarden. Chris's voice was better than all of them. Lane was, Lane was kind of, yeah, Lane was kind of there, but we all knew kind of where that was going to go. But you know, Chris could do anything.

Sebastian (21:40.206)

Could be,

Sebastian (21:45.196)

Yeah.

Sebastian (21:51.49)

But he reinvented himself. Yeah.

Sebastian (21:58.261)

Yeah, so he had his career with Soundgarden, he had solo stuff, he reinvented himself with Audioslave when it was Rage Against Machine plus Chris Cornell. He's done his solo work as well, so he's just such an accomplished singer.

Michael (22:05.785)

Sure. Yeah.

Michael (22:13.335)

And he could cut and he did beat it by Michael Jackson and he made it sound good. Right.

Sebastian (22:16.238)

There you go. He has this emotional quality in his singing that he's singing from pain. He's singing from a deepness. And obviously based on what happened in his life, like it's very valid, right? There's definitely pain. So yeah, he was, he, man, I, this has gone too soon. Gone too soon. So.

Michael (22:26.19)

Mm-hmm.

There's some, there's some pain. Yep.

Michael (22:36.365)

Yep. Way too soon. Yeah, no. And it just had the anniversary last week, 18th, think, something like that of his passing. So yeah, it sucks that he's gone, but at least we have the music to... Yeah. And it's funny, my last three, they've all passed on. I didn't even realize it until now. like, wait, they're all dead.

Sebastian (22:49.804)

Yeah.

Sebastian (22:59.95)

Well, Mike's going back to the 20s, 30s, maybe.

Michael (23:04.781)

Well, obviously, no, I'm not going back to the 20s 30s. Okay. So I would be remiss since we are Canadian people that I wouldn't talk about somebody from Canada and who better talk about. Then Mr. Gore Downey from Canada's band, the tragically hip, no unique voice. even their songs, their music was it's unapologetically Canadian. He, his lyrics were.

Sebastian (23:18.872)

Yes.

Unique voice for sure.

Michael (23:33.687)

This is probably one of the reasons why they didn't translate well into the States. They're about Canadian stuff, Canadian history, things going on, Canadian and people in other countries don't care about what we have going on in Canada as you know.

Sebastian (23:38.434)

Yeah, Canadian man.

Sebastian (23:46.893)

Well, especially when most of the music will translate or supposed to go down south to the US, right? So if you have other countries singing about their own music in more socially accepted areas like Europe, for example, like the music translates to other countries because people are more open to that, right? But if you're not singing about America, you're not gonna get played in America, right? So yeah.

Michael (24:02.529)

Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep.

Cause no one cares about Hugh McClennan and all the stuff and things about, you know, locked in the trunk of a car. Yeah, exactly. All the things that you and I love. Yeah. And they refused, I'm going to include all five of them, refused to change that to get bigger in the States. They know they're not, no. in their principles too, that's another, I'm going to throw that in there. He just, they didn't give a shit.

Sebastian (24:14.462)

Great Lakes and make Canadian Canadian. Yeah.

Sebastian (24:29.644)

Yeah, they were like, we're not going to sell out, so to speak.

Michael (24:38.275)

about making an extra buck down south or playing to, you they played, in Canada they would play arenas, in the States they play bars, which, mind boggling to.

Sebastian (24:46.85)

Yeah, it's so wild to

Yeah, you could sell out BC Place in Vancouver and then you go to Seattle, you have to play a club in Seattle, Washington.

Michael (24:54.893)

Yeah, they're probably playing like if they're, if they're lucky, they're playing the show box of the Moore theater, which isn't very big. So yeah, they, like they're Canada's band. know Russia's from Canada and they're huge and there's lots of other Canadian artists too, but man, the hip were Canada's band. Like the whole country tuned into their final concert that was broadcast on our national broadcasting channel. Like they played it for their last show. So that's the importance that this guy had the whole band had.

Sebastian (24:59.074)

Something, yeah. Couple thousand people, yeah.

Sebastian (25:10.893)

Yup.

Sebastian (25:18.787)

Yeah.

Michael (25:23.361)

in our country, like their music will live on with me anyway. listen to the hip all the time and some songs just, just really get you right. Right in the, right in the fields and it's, it's awesome. So.

Sebastian (25:36.226)

Yeah, no, no complaints there. He's, he's a very accomplished vocalist, obviously. And yeah, he had a pulse on Canadiana through their entire career.

Michael (25:44.525)

Yeah, sure did. Especially after he got sick, he had this platform and he raised awareness about, you know, Indigenous people in the North and how they're mistreated and all Indigenous people across our country.

Sebastian (25:53.313)

Yeah, their charity work is something that's never talked about really like the hip. They've done a lot of stuff to try to contribute to making this place a better place than it currently is in Canada and the world itself. So that you got to celebrate that. So for sure. Yeah. OK, so I went with another unique voice here, and this is kind of off the board because most people probably don't even know who this person is. Some people do that if they're in this, but he is an

Michael (25:55.405)

Nah. No. No.

Michael (26:01.837)

Yep. Yeah, absolutely. Yep. Absolutely. Okay.

Michael (26:13.411)

All right.

Sebastian (26:21.902)

extremely accomplished composer of music. He also does sounds or what's the word I'm looking for? And then movie soundtracks, not a movie soundtrack, score, movie scores. So he does those. Serge Tankinen from System of the Down.

Michael (26:36.377)

score. Okay. Yeah.

Michael (26:41.973)

system of down, wow, look at you.

Sebastian (26:45.326)

He is an incredible vocalist and he has such a range of what he decides to do in a song. So he will scream all of a sudden randomly. So a lot of his songs seem like they're very chaotic in terms of like where his choices in vocal style. But when he gets into that tender moment to sing, his voice is actually very angelic and beautiful. And I just like...

Michael (27:01.859)

Mm-hmm.

Michael (27:09.763)

Mm-hmm.

Sebastian (27:13.43)

system of the down in general because there is a lot of pain behind the music. But yeah, he's got such a fascinating voice to me. And he's okay just like yelling and screaming and not singing or talking. Like he's okay doing that in a song. And so just to have the confidence to go through whatever the song needs or whatever he feels the song needs.

Michael (27:23.713)

Interesting.

Michael (27:38.189)

Mm-hmm.

Sebastian (27:38.702)

Like you don't always need to be this like angelic voice, right? There's a purpose for a lot of the choices he makes as a vocalist, which I really respect. So yeah, that's, I was going to go with somebody else, but you know, that's the obvious. Well, I'll tell you after, cause I got to do my other ones. So.

Michael (27:50.765)

What was your other one? Okay. But I do have to say, why'd you leave your keys up on the table? Cause I wanted to, right? like, yeah. Like they're deeper than what do you think they are on the surface? Cause they're very like political and they sing a lot about the genocide in their home countries, in their home country and stuff like that.

Sebastian (27:59.457)

Why? Because I wanted to, right? His lyrics are also very fascinating too. Like if you actually dive into the lyrics, there's yes.

Sebastian (28:15.628)

Yeah. Well, he's from the warring torn areas of, these are meaning, yes. Yeah.

Michael (28:20.065)

Armenia, right? Like Armenia, was it Armenia? Yeah. So I don't think life's all that grand there sometimes. So they try to bring awareness, which is cool. They have the platform to do it. So you know what, step up and do it. That's just sort of how I look at it. lot of these, a lot of singers that get kind of shit for being political, but there's ways to do it where you don't like search, doesn't such a good way. And then back in the day, Neil Young kind of maybe did it not in a cool way. Like it's just.

Sebastian (28:36.353)

Yeah.

Michael (28:49.401)

You know, there's just, there's ways to use your platform for good attention and awareness to things or like, I don't want to sound like a bit of a Dick, but like how Bono kind of got with everything. You know what I mean? Like he's just everything. No, me, I never even thought to put them on my list. Um, great singer. I don't know. Honorable mentioned to Bono, but just that the cause is kind of just started to overshadow the music. And I think that for that, for me, it turned me off.

Sebastian (29:02.638)

He's not on my list by the way, but I had an inkling of it. Yeah. Yeah.

Michael (29:18.777)

Like it really turned me off of YouTube. It's just like, no.

Sebastian (29:20.31)

You still have to have your song sound good. And like the true test, that's pretty mean of me to say, but when you're so focused on the message, then the message is like slapped in your face and people will probably not receive it very well. Because the message has to be there, but it can't be the main thing. I don't think if you really want people to understand and follow what you're trying to say.

Michael (29:26.841)

Well, they haven't. Yeah.

Michael (29:44.825)

Mm-hmm.

Sebastian (29:44.993)

allow that message to be there, but don't slap it in the face of the people. Unless you're trying to make a statement, then whatever, right? So my partner and I were having this talk the other day about subtext, for example, right? And subtext in movies is, know, what is really being said underneath the actual words that are being said. And Serge uses so much subtext in his. So why'd you leave the keys up on the table? Because I wanted to, or because you wanted to.

Michael (30:03.331)

Yep, sure.

Sebastian (30:13.826)

So it's not actually about that, right? There's a lot of subtext underneath that, right? It's like there's a deeper thing that he's metaphoring, so to speak. So this is wild. So Serge Tankinen is Armenian American, okay? He was born in Lebanon to Armenian parents. They relocated when he was seven to Los Angeles due to the civil war in Lebanon. But he's Armenian as well.

Michael (30:40.249)

Yikes.

Sebastian (30:42.798)

So he was born in Lebanon, raised in the United States, but he identifies with his Romanian roots. He's widely recognized as a Romanian American. In recent years, he has actually moved to New Zealand. So look at all the multiculturalness that he has embodied in his soul from all these different places. He's lived in Lebanon, obviously been in Armenia, America, New Zealand. So yes, yeah.

Michael (30:59.755)

a lot. Yeah.

Michael (31:05.464)

Mm-hmm.

And the melting pot that is Los Angeles, well, different cultures there. And then you go to New Zealand and then just hanging out with hobbits. Right.

Sebastian (31:14.67)

Yeah, or the indigenous people there, the haka, whatever it's called that they do on the haka. Is that right? Yeah. So yeah, Surge, awesome, awesome singer. Highly recommend. It's not for everybody because some people are really... Yeah.

Michael (31:19.991)

Well, yes. Yes, the Hawkeye. That's amazing. The Hawkeye's amazing.

Michael (31:30.889)

No, some songs are a little out there. Like, my kids kind of went through a phase of, you know, obviously it was like chop Suey and aerials. And I think deer dance, if you, if you've ever heard deer dance, deer dance is awesome. yeah, there's some other one with a, but a jet or something, I don't know, airplane, whatever. Doesn't matter. Aerials is good. Yeah. I think I said aerials. Okay. Next up another dead guy, unfortunately.

Sebastian (31:40.184)

Great song. Great song.

Great song. B-Y-O-B, great song.

Sebastian (31:51.946)

Aerials. Did you say aerials? Yeah. Yeah.

Of course.

Michael (32:00.099)

kind of the American version of Gordowney. Now if I say that, what would your guess, like just think of an American artist that, no, it wasn't Bob Dylan. I was kind of, when I first thought of that, I'm like, he's probably gonna say Bob Dylan. It's Tom Petty.

Sebastian (32:03.01)

Okay.

Sebastian (32:06.92)

boy, I don't even know.

Bob Dylan.

Sebastian (32:18.292)

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, that's actually tracks. Yeah.

Michael (32:21.304)

Right? Kind of a little more, cause Dylan's a little more kind of like, um, like not poetic. That's the wrong word. Poetic is the wrong word, but he's just a little is a singer songwriter as petty was more folk. Thank you. More folk. then petty was sort of more like Southern Americana with that bluesy slash with the country vibe. he, you know, again, petty sang a lot about America, all the down home stuff, wholesome things and

Sebastian (32:33.026)

More folk, folky.

Michael (32:49.805)

You know, like even just the album Wildflowers, that dude was a raging mess. He was getting divorced, like his life was in shambles. And then he writes Wildflowers. Like for me, everything else doesn't matter. Wildflowers is like this gem that for me just keeps on giving.

Sebastian (33:07.534)

he's got like an uber distinguishable voice too. Like if you hear Tom Petty, you're like, that's Tom Petty. Like it's.

Michael (33:10.744)

Yes.

Well, you can't say, I think that might be whoever. No, that's Tom Petty. There's no one else that sounds like Tom Petty. Say like the same thing with Downey. No one else can sound like Gore Downey and nobody can sound like Tom Petty. And that's such a unique thing because so many singers can, you know, everybody kind of, especially nowadays, everything kind of the same. Everyone enunciates the same and the same tones. And these guys didn't care about that. They just wanted to write.

music that was close to their heart.

Sebastian (33:44.461)

They knew like the Tom Petty's and the Gordon Downey's, they knew what their vocal abilities were and they knew how it fit with the music that they were writing for maximum brilliance in their songwriting. So yeah, Tom Petty's great vocalist, so unique. Yeah.

Michael (33:51.833)

Mm-hmm.

Michael (33:57.687)

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Michael (34:04.387)

Just go listen to just the song Wildflowers by Tom Petty. It's just like, whoa. Anyways, yeah.

Sebastian (34:09.838)

Wildflowers. Okay. I have two. So my next one is Deceased as well. He arguably might be one of the greatest singers slash frontman ever in the history of hard rock and metal.

Michael (34:13.753)

Do you have no dead? you have no, you have Chris Cornell. You have two. All right.

Michael (34:29.855)

ooh, ooh, can I guess, can I guess, can I guess? I'll let you finish, don't tell me, but I wanna guess when you're done.

Sebastian (34:34.124)

Yes, okay. He was so unapologetically him and he didn't give a F. He just went on stage and did his thing.

Michael (34:40.313)

Mm-hmm.

Sebastian (34:49.224)

His voice, vocal ability, like he just sang. He just sang and it was amazing. Like he was so... They did a movie about him.

Michael (35:01.155)

Guess who I thought it was. think I'm pretty, yeah, I was gonna say it's Freddie Mercury. yeah, that dude is, my God, like I'm not a huge fan. yeah, like I'm not a big Queen guy. Like it's just their music isn't for me. Like it's just not. But holy crap, that guy's saying.

Sebastian (35:03.0)

Freddie Mercury. I should've let you guess, but Freddie Mercury. Arguably the greatest hard rock slash metal singer of all time, so.

Sebastian (35:17.792)

Yeah, because the one thing I love about Queen is like, what do you classify them as, as a band? Like, are they hard rock? Are they metal? Are they disco? Are they pop? Like, they went into all of these places. Like they...

Michael (35:28.161)

Are they pop? Yeah. Or are they all of that into one giant bowl of soup? Right? Yeah.

Sebastian (35:35.34)

They are. And that's the beautiful thing about Queen is like, you don't know what genre you're going to get in any song. Like they're all, there's some songs that like are pretty hardcore, in terms like, you know, like, Stone Cold Crazy, that's a metal song.

Michael (35:46.06)

yeah.

Michael (35:49.849)

Dragon, I think Dragon Attack, that's pretty metal-y too. Yeah, right?

Sebastian (35:53.337)

Those are metal songs, right? And then you get both me and Rhapsody, which I don't even know what genre that song is. It's such a wild song, right? But just, has this ability to like, his octave range is huge. His tenderness is amazing. He's connected to every single syllable that he sings. He's got that mouth that's just so good for singing. It just opens so wide. And he just gave it a hundred percent every time he decided to sing.

Michael (35:58.585)

I don't know, man.

Michael (36:13.795)

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

Michael (36:21.443)

Yeah.

Sebastian (36:22.24)

And so how do you not just enjoy his music or the music of Queen or his singing? So, yeah.

Michael (36:26.465)

Yeah. Have you ever watched Live Aid? I think it was in 85.

Sebastian (36:32.16)

I watched the... Yes. So I saw the movie, I saw him in the movie Bohemian Rhapsody when Rami Malek plays him, which by the way, if you haven't seen Bohemian Rhapsody, go watch it. It's amazing. Like it's such a great, great, great show. But he did the Live Aid in the movie and there's a YouTube video of the side-by-side. So it's Freddie Mercury in Live Aid and Rami Malek doing it. And it's like, it's...

Michael (36:33.101)

It was like, it's like a half an hour set. wasn't very long. my God. Like, wow.

Michael (36:42.062)

Mm-hmm.

Michael (36:57.389)

Sebastian (37:01.726)

eerie on how similar he nailed everything. Like even the subtleties of how he walks around the piano and how he addresses the audience, where he's wearing, because he was wearing a white shirt in the concert, I believe, with like a little, what's it called, band around his arm, think, it's the bicep, I think. So even that is like placed exactly the same way. Like it's just, it's so on point. Yeah, they definitely took their time. Yeah, they wanted to make sure that it was respected in that way. So

Michael (37:02.861)

Really? Good for Remy.

Michael (37:11.799)

Yeah.

Michael (37:17.582)

Yes.

Michael (37:20.953)

I love that. Yeah. When they, when they get it right. Yeah.

Michael (37:30.745)

That's awesome.

Sebastian (37:31.254)

Yeah, Freddie Mercury is up there. I have a couple of honor mentions, but you got to do your last one still, I think.

Michael (37:34.859)

I do. So this is my last, he's been dead for a long time. Which funny how my list is like, know, 60 % dead people. But anyways, so when I first got into music, when I was a wee lad, was whatever, 12, digging through my dad's record collection, on albums where I thought the covers looked cool. well, obviously, and I still do.

Sebastian (37:58.047)

I mean, judge a book by a cover. Come on.

Michael (38:01.481)

I don't think I have the album cover here, but whatever. So my dad had this album. It was called weird scenes inside the gold mine and it had, it was by the door. So I'm going to talk about Jim Morrison. I've Jim Morrison is he's my guy. So yeah. really? That's crazy. So I found the record. put it on and I think my dad made me put headphones in and I think the first song that came on, he made me listen to light my fire. And I was like, okay, it's fine. But then I'm like,

Sebastian (38:14.924)

I considered him, I massively considered him, yeah.

Michael (38:30.041)

For whatever reason, I wasn't into music yet, but I saw this one song. was like 11 minutes long. It was called when the music's over. Like, Oh, people can make music. That's that long. was like, wow. Like that's how, that's how little I knew. So I put it on. And that's literally that's like, Holy like I just sat there and I was like, wow. And then I think I picked up the wreck, the needle and I brought it back and I did it again. And then I think I did that for like an hour straight.

Sebastian (38:42.154)

And that's where the birth of long songs manifested for Mike.

Michael (39:00.222)

And yes, please.

Sebastian (39:00.494)

Let me ask you this or let me make this comment. Do you think your love of long songs is more from a therapeutic standpoint because it takes you, like if you listen to Lexa Turner, by the time you get into the song, it's over. Because it's a two minute song, three minute song, right? Do you feel like you have to allow that space for the lyrics and the melody lines and all of that to like really infiltrate your psyche to really get you into that song?

Michael (39:12.813)

Yes. Yeah.

Michael (39:25.293)

Yeah, I like it when a song takes its time. Yeah, it sort of starts you here and then it just sort of builds you up to all the like, especially when the music's over, it builds you up. His lyrics are off the wall. They're weird. He's high on whatever everything and none of it. Right. So it. And I started paying attention to words and I didn't understand what he was writing. And I'm like, what is all of this? Like it just.

Sebastian (39:29.568)

It puts you on a journey, right? Yeah.

Sebastian (39:42.56)

He's a 60s, 70s child, like, of course.

Michael (39:54.349)

Like he's got his poetry book that I read when I was young, when I was young too. And just like, man, like that guy could write like nobody and his voice haunting, which I blew that one. I said that earlier by accident, but yeah, super haunting, mysterious. And you know, he performed for a while with his back to the crowd and he just, he was like this rebel in a time where music was still, you know, the Beatles were kind of going, the psychedelic was coming.

Sebastian (39:57.935)

he's very poetic. Yeah. Yeah.

Sebastian (40:13.421)

Yeah.

Michael (40:20.633)

But everybody was still kind of wearing their ties and suits and looking good. And he's just out there in a pair of like leather pants and a shirt, like a pirate pirate shirt, given her, and he was angry and he put anger into his vocals. And I think the doors were the first metal band, a metal hard rock band. There are songs that would, if you didn't have the organ and you put like just be straight on metal, like crystal ship, uh, there's a whole bunch, you know, I wrote house blues, you name it, whatever. But.

Sebastian (40:27.17)

Just giving her, yeah.

Sebastian (40:38.338)

Yeah.

Sebastian (40:41.774)

It'd be a straight up metal song.

Michael (40:50.423)

Man, Morrison for me, like I listened to when the music's over today. Like I took my daughter to swim practice and it just randle me came on and she's like, can you turn this off? I'm like, no. I'm like, it's not been listed. I've heard the song stop. It's a journey. Yes. And you're getting the keyboard solo in the middle too. And, yeah, it's just.

Sebastian (40:52.77)

Yeah, doors are great, man.

Sebastian (41:02.486)

You will listen and appreciate Jim Morrison. Yeah.

Sebastian (41:11.436)

There's something dynamically amazing about his voice, like when he just says the words of the songs, like he just, like the deep resonating, you know, rudders on the stone. Like he has this ability to, you know, just craft the vocal lines so that you really get pulled into the song. So he's, yeah, he was amazing.

Michael (41:21.752)

Yeah.

Michael (41:30.265)

Yeah. And, and there's songs where I like the sex appeal, like as a young person, you know, um, I didn't know anything about that, but even like light my fire. It's just like, Whoa, like is how provocative, like the stuff was. And he wasn't beating her on the bush about it either. was, you know, was kind of like ACDC singing about sex. Really go figure. It's you know, um, you know, cause um, you know, whatever. But, uh, but yeah, Jim Morrison, like just.

Sebastian (41:37.388)

Yeah.

Sebastian (41:53.294)

Well, you know.

Michael (41:59.573)

Again, gone way too soon. guess he drank himself to death. just is what it is. Right. He. It was right.

Sebastian (42:04.83)

It was a reckless time too, that era, right? Like people just didn't have a sense of being in control or didn't care to, they just like wanted to just live. They wanted to live. Yeah.

Michael (42:14.797)

He's just having, he hadn't a good, having a good time and he ended up having a real, a real problem that he couldn't, he couldn't shake. just couldn't shake the bottle. And to do that by 27 is hugely, you know, unfortunately talented. Like it takes a lot of effort to put a lifetime of drinking.

Sebastian (42:22.072)

Yeah.

Sebastian (42:32.224)

I urge somebody and you know we've done this on another podcast like years ago, but I urge people to actually Google how many famous celebrities have passed away at the age of twenty seven and it's actually mind boggling. It's it's for whatever reason twenty seven is like the year. I don't understand. It's just it's one of those weird things in life. So yeah. I have.

Michael (42:42.051)

Ooh, that club is big. That's a long list. Hey man. Yep.

Michael (42:51.321)

It's just, yeah, exactly. Okay, honorable mention, sir.

Sebastian (42:54.998)

I have a couple of honorable mentions. So I'm not a Judas Priest fan. I don't listen to a lot of it, but how can you not talk about Rob Halford? Probably one of the best vocal ranges ever in metal. Him, Ronnie James Dio as well is an honorable mention. I'm not a big Dio fan either. Like I stopped listening to Black, but he can sing, yeah. I wanted to talk about Axl Rose really quickly. So not anymore.

Michael (43:11.449)

Bad dude could sing, Yes.

Michael (43:19.853)

That dude cannot sing. Not anymore.

Sebastian (43:23.414)

Not anymore. If you've seen any of his stuff recently, it's what the... There's a couple of TikTok videos just with his isolated vocals when he's on tour and you're like, this is not good. I think the problem with Axel is he never learned how to sing properly. So his voice is now wrecked from not being able to like actually properly sing. And a lot of his like...

Michael (43:26.099)

Michael (43:34.029)

Ooh, yikes.

Sebastian (43:52.931)

Gurgle comes from forcing his cords together, which isn't healthy. No. And the last one, we got to kind of talk about Robert Plant a little bit as well.

Michael (43:56.931)

That doesn't sound good.

Michael (44:03.277)

Yeah, he was, he was my original fifth, but I was just like, you know what? I only like sort of mid seventies plant when he kind of, when he had his vocal surgery and. absolutely. He's iconic. Yeah. Yep.

Sebastian (44:12.628)

I mean, he's iconic, right? So he'd be number six on my list, honestly. Like to be fair, I would put him at number six. So yeah.

Michael (44:22.295)

You know, in a band of like, they were just, they're monstrous. It's Led Zeppelin, but it's Robert Plant. A couple honorable mentions for, yeah, well, a couple, my first one's Amy Winehouse, another 27 casualty. That woman, man, that woman, she did, she had, and she drank herself to death. She was like the female Jim Morrison. She just was just haunted and just, man, just,

Sebastian (44:27.948)

Yeah. Did we miss anyone? Is there anyone that's good? Yeah. What's your honorable mention? Sorry.

Oh yeah, she died at 27 too, didn't she? Jeez.

Sebastian (44:50.668)

Yeah, she was pretty connected.

Michael (44:51.955)

vocals for days. three of the Beatles. We'll leave Ringo out because his voice isn't even though I love when I love it when this yellow submarine and stuff like that when Ringo sings his voice is awesome. But to compare yourself with Lennon McCartney and Harrison.

Sebastian (44:56.355)

Yeah.

Sebastian (45:09.218)

You made a comment to me the other day, like Harrison is probably the better singer out of the three of them, but like he's not known as the singer of the Beatles really. It's like it's either Paul McCartney or John Lennon.

Michael (45:12.439)

Yeah, I think so.

Michael (45:18.677)

Or John Lennon or yeah, yeah, exactly. So George didn't get his, lot of, well, she's number seven. and then what was my last one? had one and then I lost it. no. Michael Hutchins from in excess. You know, another guy that. Rought with problems his whole life and he decided to take his own life near at the end there, but man, that guy had some pipes and he could sing and.

Sebastian (45:22.466)

Wait, so Yoko Ono didn't make your list?

Sebastian (45:27.755)

boy.

Sebastian (45:35.224)

That's a good poll. Yeah.

Yeah.

Sebastian (45:46.06)

Yeah, I had one other one I forgot to mention too, Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden.

Michael (45:48.953)

Sure. I was waiting for him or James Hetfield. I'm proud of both of us for.

Sebastian (45:56.341)

I don't, okay, we have talked about this before. don't think, okay, specifically for James Hetfield, I don't think that a lot of Metallica has good lyrics or good vocals. I think Metallica is so based on the rift in the music that the vocals are, like vocals have never been a standout except for a handful of songs. Like maybe nothing else matters, Unforgiven, but Bleeding Me. But like I don't look at James Hetfield as like a good vocalist. Like he does his-

Michael (46:09.951)

It's all ref baby.

Michael (46:15.959)

Yeah. Bleeding me, sure. Right?

Michael (46:22.979)

Ronnie.

Yeah

Sebastian (46:25.644)

He does this thing in Metallica and that's the thing in Metallica, but you're not going to see Metallica to be blown away by the singing. You're doing it for the music, the construction of the song as a whole, Yeah, so my issue with Bruce Dickinson, and I understand why people don't like him as a vocalist because he's very, I don't think, and we have also talked about this, I don't think they give him a lot of choice.

Michael (46:33.111)

No.

Of you're there for the energy, that's right.

Sebastian (46:53.548)

Like when Steve Harris gives him the script, basically fit this into this. And he's like, what are you kidding me? Yeah. So he does a lot of like a lot of words and doesn't. So sometimes the vocal melody lines kind of get lost in the information that Steve Harris wants him to sing, you know, cause like look at rhyme of the ancient martyrs. Look at the lyric sheet of that. Like that one song has more lyrics.

Michael (46:56.151)

Yeah, here's your novel. Yeah, here's 40 pages. You got to fit this into eight minutes. Pardon me.

Michael (47:05.613)

Yep.

Michael (47:12.375)

Yeah. I was just going to say, my God, it's like, it's like looking at the Odyssey or the Iliad or something.

Sebastian (47:21.824)

than an average band will have on their entire album, just in one song. And you're just like, you're asking Bruce Dickinson to like memorize thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of words just for one concert. It's just astronomical, right? So, but again, Iron Maiden is very vocal or is very musical driven. It's not much about the vocals. So, so.

Michael (47:32.078)

Yeah.

Michael (47:44.671)

Yeah. And, the tour, our main 50th anniversary tour starts tomorrow. I believe in Budapest run for your lives. And it's, it is a celebration of the first nine records from album one to, to fear the dark. And they're going to play stuff they'd never played. Apparently that's the rumor. So setlist will be revealed.

Sebastian (47:52.525)

Here we go.

It's a legacy tour, I think. That's it.

Sebastian (48:02.222)

Kind of a legacy, yeah.

Michael (48:10.819)

probably tomorrow afternoon once they finished playing. think, Budapest, like I said. without a doubt I'm gonna look because I'm really, I'm curious to see if they're gonna bring out some stuff that's rare, right? Like, you know, to tame a land or some deep, I hope they go deep. I just don't want to, yeah, like just stuff they, exactly, yes, stuff they'd never play and just.

Sebastian (48:15.084)

And Mike will look at that about a minute after it goes live.

Ha ha ha.

Sebastian (48:31.193)

boy.

moon child gangland

Michael (48:40.907)

or even bring back like Remember Tomorrow or 22 Acacia Avenue, something just something fun, Phantom of the Opera. yeah, so that's our top five list. That is our favorite. That is our favorite list. I'll put it, it'll be in the show notes anyway. So please, yeah.

Sebastian (48:47.182)

Real deep cuts there. Yeah.

Sebastian (48:59.092)

And again, it might change in a week.

Michael (49:01.719)

it'll change tomorrow. Absolutely. So that's our show for this week. And we will be back next week with who knows, something else that's gonna be Seb's idea. So we will see. So thank you and good night.

Sebastian (49:09.816)

something else. We'll see.

Sebastian (49:17.293)

Bye!