The punk singer Elton John said no one could imitate: “His voice reeked of hurt and anger”
While being able to sing puts you in good stead for being considered a great frontperson, genres such as punk rock don’t necessarily require the same thing of you or work in the same way.
Punk is all about rawness when it comes to the delivery, and being able to deliver something in a commanding and captivating manner is obviously going to work much more in your favour than being able to hold a reasonable tune. For example, the Sex Pistols wouldn’t have caused such a commotion if Johnny Rotten had had a good voice on him and a range that covered multiple octaves; they’d have completely crashed and burned.
Punk vocalists quite often settle on this particular sound as a result of the fact that they’re not particularly talented in this manner, and it certainly wouldn’t harm the overall feel of their music if they chose to swap out a howl for a pristine falsetto.
On the other hand, you could argue that some pop singers are able to make themselves a little more gruff and rough around the edges when belting it out, and hearing those in the pop world roar and bellow doesn’t necessarily seem out of place when applied; it simply seems like an outburst of passion.
Elton John is a prime example of someone who was able to deliver with a little more ferocity from time to time, even though his regular voice has something of a sweetness to it. Take ‘Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)’ as an example of John’s range, where he’s making something tuneful in the verses and transforming into an animalistic version of himself when belting out the first full day of the weekend in the chorus.
However, there was one punk vocalist whom John himself became obsessed with, and despite the fact that he doesn’t have the same chops or range as a more traditional vocalist, he was almost inimitable in terms of his own style. Speaking during a joint interview with Bono in 2003 for Interview Magazine, the two singers came to discuss the merits of The Clash’s Joe Strummer, whom John simply couldn’t deny the qualities of.
“Joe had that rare quality that two other singers we’ve lost in the last year, Nina Simone and Johnny Cash, both had,” John proclaimed, putting him alongside two wildly different vocals who had their own unique charm and varying levels of technical competence. “Whatever he sang affected you because it was just so raw. His voice reeked of hurt and anger.”
He then went on to provide his favourite example of where Strummer’s voice is at its most impactful. “Take his version of ‘Redemption Song’ on Streetcore,” he suggested. “Just him alone, with an acoustic guitar. He just makes it his song.”
Whether singing his own material with The Clash or covering Bob Marley, Strummer had a voice that was instantly recognisable and added so much character to everything he did, and as far as punk frontmen go, he’s perhaps got the best combination of passion, snarl and emotion thrown in. What more could you ask for?
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