Character of voice overcomes actual vocal talent?

I don't know whether to laugh or feel "disturbed" by this thread.........or for that matter, that I'm even responding.

Our tastes, and the deeper reasons for our individual tastes responding to different factors where "art" and creativity are involved is a complex and very personal thing, as is, how an "artist" chooses to present their abilities and talent to us mere mortals. We are all entitled to an opinion on anything but to be overly judgemental of someone for any reason, when we have not "grown up" in their shoes is something we don't have any right to claim.

Niks has never been a classic or technical vocalist, but, she has that "something" that fitted the moment and to be honest, I'd take her performances (past and present) over much of what is being produced these days.
 
gecko zzed said:
I think I would have liked it better had she been part of the backing vocal ensemble, with someone else taking the lead. Or maybe she could have shared the lead with someone.
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It would have been even better if she just didn't sing...at all. :D

Just had a conversation with my buddy in California the other night...and he said he was listening to some vinyl albums of Fleetwood Mac from the Bob Welch years...which we both agreed were better than what came later on.
One of the things we both commented on was how much we couldn't stand listening to Stevie Nicks, and we both agreed that Christine McVie had the better voice, but Steive was cuter (back then) and she didn't play any instrument, so she got center stage.

She sang OK when she was younger and when she was part of Buckingham Nicks...but her voice went to shit very quickly, IMHO...and it became like a goat with soar throat..and the performance above certainly underscores that...IMO. :)


Oh...and yeah...she should have pulled way back and let the kids have the spotlight...but I guess when you get real old, you crave that attenuation you use to have even more.
 
ausrock said:
We are all entitled to an opinion on anything but to be overly judgemental of someone for any reason, when we have not "grown up" in their shoes is something we don't have any right to claim.
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Stop judging us. You have not "grown up" in our shoes.
 
Before you insult someone, walk a mile in their shoes.

That way, when you do insult them, they're a mile away....AND you got their shoes!

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RFR said:
I just wish someone would "autotune" her face. :D
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This might be the funniest fucking thing I've read this year. :laughings:
 
RFR said:
I just wish someone would "autotune" her face. :D
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You do realize that she is nearly 70 years old...

I don't mean to come off like a fan, because I'm not. But I do think it's a little unfair to give a 67 year old woman shit for not being as hot as she was 45 years ago and not being on top of her game while she is having fun with some school children.
 
I hate Fleetwood Mac with every cell in my body. And I hate young or old Stevie Nicks's voice. To me she has the worst famous female voice there is, and that band embodies every thing despicable about "rock" in the 70s. But goddamn, young 70s Stevie Nicks was hot. I won't deny that.

She aint Nancy Wilson hot though.
 
Farview said:
You do realize that she is nearly 70 years old...

I don't mean to come off like a fan, because I'm not. But I do think it's a little unfair to give a 67 year old woman shit for not being as hot as she was 45 years ago and not being on top of her game while she is having fun with some school children.
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Come on man, relax. I can't make a joke?
:D
 
RFR said:
Come on man, relax. I can't make a joke?
:D
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It's not just you, it's the whole thread. Between the comments about attention seeking (as if Fleetwood Mac didn't just end a year long world tour selling out arenas, 9 months ago), to the way she looks, to the fact that what little vocal ability she had is waning. She is an old woman, statistically she'll be dead in 5-7 years. Dio's vocals took a shit in the last year or so of his life, nobody bothered to point that out.

Rock stars in their 60's aren't going to look as good, play as good or sing as good as they did in their 20's. As we've noticed this year, they will all be dead soon.
 
Greg_L said:
I hate Fleetwood Mac with every cell in my body.
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I think you might not feel the same way with the early/original FM lineup.
They only went total Pop-Rock when Buckingham and Nicks joined up...which is also when the whole world jumped on the FM bandwagon.

My girlfriend at the time had a girl-crew that always hung out together (it use to be a PITA at times, when I wanted to be alone with her)...and ALL of them, were insane over "Romours"...and played it to death.

Farview said:
It's not just you, it's the whole thread. Between the comments about attention seeking (as if Fleetwood Mac didn't just end a year long world tour selling out arenas, 9 months ago), to the way she looks, to the fact that what little vocal ability she had is waning.
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FM would sell out even if they were geriatric and in the '90s...it's just like so many other mega-bands from 40 years ago.
I think much of it has to do with people figuring it may be their last time on tour, and they want to say they were a part of it.

AFA Stevie Nicks voice...I wasn't judging her by how she sounds now...I always hated the sound of her voice, and I have to agree with Greg that she has one of the worst famous female voices of all time...even going back to "Rumours" when she was on top of her game.

Granted, a lot of people think different.
I will say that I think she sounded much better than she was whenever she sang with someone else....but alone, that goat vibrato she does turned me off a long time ago, not just now when she is 70.
 
RFR's "auto tune her face" line was classic. Has nothing to do with Stevie Nix, Stevie Wonder, or Stevie Winwood. It was just funny.

"Auto tune her face". Fucking line of the year so far. :D
 
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She's clearly lost the top end of her range from the 30 seconds I watched. No highs left. Life gets like that. And she's 67, I think. And where the hell else was she supposed to stand? If she'd tried to stand anywhere else she'd have been told "No, get out the front!" That's where singers stand. Since time immemorial. As for the second guessing of her motives... some of you guys have superior powers to me, clearly... :D
 
I'm neutral on Fleetwood Mac. I don't hate them, I don't love them. They have a few tunes that I find really interesting in the way they were produced. I think there are a couple of Lindsay Buckingham songs I like, but I couldn't name them.

One thing I always have liked, though, are Fleet Mickwood's drum parts.

On many of their tunes, he doesn't just play what most drummers would instinctively play, with something based on the snare on 2 and 4, etc...He comes up with some really cool original parts on his toms and plays out of the box while still being in the pocket and keeps the groove while playing with feel......I can keep going. I got a hundred cliches that nobody understands. :D
 
Armistice said:
And where the hell else was she supposed to stand? If she'd tried to stand anywhere else she'd have been told "No, get out the front!" That's where singers stand. Since time immemorial.
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Right.. even if they stuck her in a booth behind a curtain off to the side, the whole audience would just watch the booth all night.
 
Farview said:
It's not just you, it's the whole thread. Between the comments about attention seeking (as if Fleetwood Mac didn't just end a year long world tour selling out arenas, 9 months ago), to the way she looks, to the fact that what little vocal ability she had is waning. She is an old woman, statistically she'll be dead in 5-7 years. Dio's vocals took a shit in the last year or so of his life, nobody bothered to point that out.

Rock stars in their 60's aren't going to look as good, play as good or sing as good as they did in their 20's. As we've noticed this year, they will all be dead soon.
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There are exactly zero people on this board who have ever rose to that level of success.
 
MrUserNameIV said:
There are exactly zero people on this board who have ever rose to that level of success.
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This is the stupidest anti-criticism defense ever. It assumes that no one can have a valid opinion. For one, obviously, none of us are as successful as Stevie Nicks. We're not as successful as the Kardashians either. Are they great? Are they artists? Can we not dislike them? Secondly, you don't have to be successful at something to have an opinion on it. I'm not an NFL quarterback, but I know that throwing interceptions is bad. I'm not a master chef, but I know when I think something tastes bad. If we're not professional chefs, do we have to just accept that everything tastes good?
 
On the subject of Character/Talent...

1. I'm not sure I'm that convinced talent is a thing - I think its more a product of practice and the will to learn.
2. Someone having character is far more important to me than technical ability. Someone mentioned Kurt Cobain (who was actually a great singer by the way) his voice had character and his guitar playing had character. Another example was Joy Division - instantly recognisable and had character.
3. If everyone could play like Yngwie and sing like Rob Halford rock music wouldn't be interesting. People pushing the limits of what they have makes shit interesting.
4. On Stevie, her voice sounds kinda cool, its got a kind of husky slurry quality to it that I like. I don't give a shit that she doesn't sound like Adele and that she doesn't sing through an auto-tune.

I hate the sound of auto-tuned to fuck, compressed to death vocals/guitars and drums that all sound perfect. It doesn't sound like a musical performance. It sounds like when the computers in 1984 churn out memorably melodies for the proles to sing along too.... which I suppose is exactly what it is.
 
JDOD said:
On the subject of Character/Talent...

1. I'm not sure I'm that convinced talent is a thing - I think its more a product of practice and the will to learn.
2. Someone having character is far more important to me than technical ability. Someone mentioned Kurt Cobain (who was actually a great singer by the way) his voice had character and his guitar playing had character. Another example was Joy Division - instantly recognisable and had character.
3. If everyone could play like Yngwie and sing like Rob Halford rock music wouldn't be interesting. People pushing the limits of what they have makes shit interesting.
4. On Stevie, her voice sounds kinda cool, its got a kind of husky slurry quality to it that I like. I don't give a shit that she doesn't sound like Adele and that she doesn't sing through an auto-tune.

I hate the sound of auto-tuned to fuck, compressed to death vocals/guitars and drums that all sound perfect. It doesn't sound like a musical performance. It sounds like when the computers in 1984 churn out memorably melodies for the proles to sing along too.... which I suppose is exactly what it is.
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What he said. Except if everybody played like Yngwie I'd have to procure myself an MP40.
 
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