10 classic rock songs with terrible vocals
For any singer, the studio may be one of the most daunting places in the world. While you might be able to have some help whenever there’s a note slightly out of your range, there are only so many effects that can be applied before you have to start showing your stuff behind the microphone. There are definitely some bright spots to be found throughout history, but artists like Bob Dylan and Metallica weren’t at 100% when recording these tracks.
That’s not to say that any of these songs are inherently bad. From a written standpoint, there are some real gems to be found amongst all of the songs on this list, only for more than a few vocal blemishes to appear. Even though the track itself might sound fine, the vocals could have used more than just one more pass.
Then again, no artist is looking to go into the studio to create a bad take. It always depends on where they are in the mixing process, and sometimes the best takes come from when they aren’t performing at their peak, either due to their voice being shot or them partying all night the night before and deciding to go into the studio to hit the song one more time.
In many cases, those imperfections end up becoming part of the song’s identity. A cracked note or a strained delivery can add a layer of vulnerability that a technically flawless performance might lack. It’s often those rough edges that make a track feel human, capturing a moment that couldn’t be replicated if the artist tried to smooth it out.
That’s especially true for artists who prioritise feeling over precision. Whether it’s Dylan’s nasal drawl or the raw intensity of a metal vocal pushed to its limits, these performances resonate because they sound lived-in rather than polished. In the end, it’s not always about hitting every note perfectly, but about making the listener believe every word.
Either way, the vocals are definitely not going to earn any awards for the most technically gifted performance, but that doesn’t seem to matter. All of them were going for emotion over singing expertise, and if there’s one thing to be said about every one of the performances, it’s that they weren’t going to give their audience anything but honesty.
10 terrible vocal performances:
‘Shock Me’ – Kiss
For the first few years of Kiss, Ace Frehley was always the lone wolf when it came to singing. He may have written a lot of famous guitar licks for the band, but there were only a few times when ‘The Spaceman’ could be seen let out of the cage on the microphone. Once he summoned the courage to actually sing, it wasn’t like he was going to reach Freddie Mercury levels on ‘Shock Me’.
While Frehley’s vocals on the song definitely have their own unique character to them, they aren’t exactly the most competent vocal chops in the world. Compared to the powerhouse vocals of someone like Paul Stanley, Frehley ends up sounding closer to what you would hear out of some New York wise guy trying to bum a few cigarettes off you as he waits for the subway train.
It’s also equally strange considering the severity of the song’s lyrics, being inspired by when Frehley was electrocuted live onstage and had to come back and finish the concert with a hand still numb. That kind of story deserves a booming song to be written around it, but considering Frehley recorded most of the song while lying on his back, chances are he wasn’t as confident as he let on.
‘Cook of the House’ – Wings
No one will argue with Paul McCartney in a band like Wings. Despite being a full band that McCartney built around himself, there’s no way that anyone was going to win an argument about musical direction to an actual Beatle. It was always about what McCartney wanted at the end of the day, but he did pass the mic around for Wings at the Speed of Sound…and the world was introduced to Linda McCartney’s voice.
While not as strange as hearing Yoko Ono for the first time, Linda’s song ‘Cook of the House’ struggles to kick into high gear because of how monotone she sounds throughout the track. The song itself was never supposed to be anything special, with lyrics that may as well be throwaway lines about what an unassuming housewife does as her husband goes off to work every day.
A surface-level topic for sure, but something that would work with a decent vocal around it, only for Linda to fumble her way through the track rather than break any new ground. Having her on the album and playing keyboards made for amazing pieces on albums like RAM, but ‘Cook of the House’ is proof that Linda always worked well when used as a sonic texture rather than the central focus.
‘Numb’ – U2
In a perfect world, a lot of rock fans would prefer if no one in U2 opened their mouths to speak. Although Bono may have a golden voice by rock standards, what he decides to use his voice for half the time has made more than a few people get migraines due to how many times their eyes have rolled into the back of their heads. Everyone deserves some time in the spotlight, but The Edge’s turn on ‘Numb’ feels more like a musical joke than anything original.
Since the band were used to embracing new dance textures on Zooropa, it wasn’t out of the question for someone else to take the mic. Then again, it’s hard to even call what The Edge is doing singing, per se, instead mumbling most of the words to the song while pieces of glitchy industrial-style effects swirl around him throughout the song.
While it boggles the mind why they decided to release this as a single, the more tragic part of the song is how well The Edge can sing normally, blossoming into a fine backup vocalist throughout his career. If he can knock it out of the park when doing a solo version of a song like ‘Love is Blindness’, why the hell did they have to settle for a tone that sounds like a particular bored rock and roll sex robot?
‘They’re Red Hot’ – Red Hot Chili Peppers
Anthony Kiedis is the ultimate example of an artist who turned himself into a good singer. He was already toeing the line between being an MC and a singer at the beginning of Red Hot Chili Peppers’ career, but once he started quoting his heart, he began to understand what can be done when he actually tries to carry a tune. Right at the end of their classic album Blood Sugar Sex Magik, the band suddenly decided to throw all good taste out the window.
Pulling from the Robert Johnson classic, ‘They’re Red Hot’ feels like the kind of song that should have been thrown out after listening to it for ten seconds. Instead of being reverent towards the blues song, the band decides to play it at what sounds like quadruple speed, and Kiedis sings like some kind of disturbed man on a city street, trying to prey on whatever sorry sap comes his way.
Even though it at least leaves the album off on a lighthearted note, that doesn’t mean that the song is any good. It just means that the band have a sense of humour, and given how they approach the classics, maybe it’s best to leave the jokes for the live show instead of on the finished record.
‘Frantic’ – Metallica
There’s a good case to be made that nothing on Metallica’s St Anger deserves to be called a classic. The album is rightfully panned for a reason, and the amount of questionable production choices certainly doesn’t help that much. While everyone and their mother might poke fun at the amount of headaches they got from Lars Ulrich’s snare drum, the greater offender might be what James Hetfield did on the song ‘Frantic’.
Of all the tracks on the album, the opener has been one of the least offensive tracks throughout history, which is saying something, given how wretched the vocals are. After going through rehab and working on himself, vocals weren’t a priority for Hetfield anymore, leading to him not caring about what notes he hit when it came time for him to deliver the chorus and scream his head off to anyone within earshot.
Even more damning is the footage from Some Kind of Monster, where Bob Rock hears the version that made it onto the album and neglects to do anything to fix it. He may have gone into another voice for a second, but just because it sounds different than the usual routine doesn’t mean it’s worthy to be put on the album.
‘Tommy’s Holiday Camp’ – The Who
Every song The Who released had a distinct personality, depending on who was singing. While Roger Daltrey could always carry the band with the sheer muscle behind his voice, both Pete Townshend and John Entwistle had a lot more grit behind their vocals than a lot of people gave them credit for. Keith Moon was always the court jester of the group, and any chance of him getting behind the microphone was only as a gag half the time.
Given the complex story going on in Tommy, the band already needed the best of everyone, including every band member taking on different characters in the story, depending on which song they were singing. After Tommy is free of his physical limitations, the holiday camp that he opens is headed by Moon’s comical impression of his uncle, which ends up sounding like a carnival ride ripped from hell.
Although the song was meant to have a slightly off-kilter tone to it, the amount of strange noises in the song is no match for Moon, who practically wails over the top of everything and sounds like he could either be a clown or a sexual predator depending on how you’re listening to it. Tommy already has a tragic ending to close everything out, but ‘Tommy’s Holiday Camp’ is your first clue that everything isn’t quite right.
‘Inside Out’ – Traveling Wilburys
Bob Dylan never claimed to be the greatest singer in the world. Ever since he started in the industry, Dylan based himself on artists like Woody Guthrie; he always considered having the voice of the everyman rather than trying to reach the same guttural sounds of blues singers. There were limits on Dylan’s range, though, and the worst way for him to show his stuff is when he’s placed against singers who know what they’re doing.
Since The Traveling Wilburys were meant to be put together by a bunch of rock star friends, a lot can be forgiven when Dylan is singing in the round with everyone. As the band tried their hand at a second record, though, Dylan’s voice on ‘Inside Out’ is incredibly lacklustre, especially once the backing vocals of Jeff Lynne and George Harrison come in to add their sonic sheen on top of everything.
It’s even more noticeable in the chorus when Tom Petty comes in, sounding like the kind of thing that Dylan was probably going for, except it’s actually in tune this time. Dylan may do his best whenever he steps up to the mic, but seeing him next to Harrison and Lynne feels like Mark Zuckerberg trying to get in the ring with Mike Tyson.
‘This Old House’ – Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
It seems like sacrilege to put a band like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young on a list like this. The harmonies on their albums are the stuff of legend, and their chemistry has become the basis for harmony singing for the next generation of musicians to study. When they decided to come back together for their comeback album, American Dream, the production robbed them of one of their trademarks.
Then again, Neil Young’s lyrics on this song are poignant to this day, telling a gripping tale about big business coming into your property and trying to repossess your house. Once everyone harmonises on the chorus, the production does them absolutely no favours when everything is pushed to the front and never lets up.
The best CSNY albums have had every band member blended equally, but it’s hard to even listen to the other instruments when it sounds like everyone is screaming into your ear. For an album that was meant to bring every member of the group back together for one last ride, this feels more like someone trying to recapture the magic by turning all of the microphones up as high as possible and hoping for the best.
‘Don’t Leave Me Now’ – Pink Floyd
It’s always a bit of a challenge for any singer making a concept album. If there are a lot of different characters to voice, it’s going to be a nightmare trying to turn your voice inside out to make sure everything sounds independent from the other song. Since Roger Waters vowed to have an eye over everything on Pink Floyd’s The Wall, we got the recorded sounds of him having a breakdown…and it’s more hilarious than it is pitiful.
In the context of the album, Pink has started to close himself off from society, and after scaring away his groupies, he’s wondering whether he has anyone left who will care for him. As he sees everyone walking out of his life, he starts crying to himself, which sounds like the kind of dramatic showboating that would come out of a second-rate actor trying to cry for the first time.
Waters is certainly no actor, though, and the amount of vocal acrobatics he’s using feels pitiful for the wrong reasons, making the whole thing sound like a comedic character trying to be serious. His pain might be absolutely real, but there’s a difference between writing about your personal pain and being able to deliver that kind of song effectively.
‘Dark Horse’ – George Harrison
There are generations of musicians who still reference what The Beatles brought to the vocal department. The Everly Brothers and The Beach Boys have their place in history, but hearing John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison harmonising is among the most seamless vocal sounds in rock history. Harrison may have been the glue behind those voices, but there was only so long he could sing before he started to crack.
Right after overcommitting himself and going through a lengthy divorce, Harrison contracted laryngitis right before he went into the studio for his next album. Recording time doesn’t pay for itself, so Harrison carried on to make ‘Dark Horse’, leading to one of his greatest songs being croaked out by a Tom Waits-style vocal delivery.
While the vocal crack certainly gives the song character, it only makes the rest of the track feel much more sad given where Harrison was in his life. His world was starting to fall apart around him in every other aspect of his life, but this was the only time when his gift for vocal perfection began to fail him.
