The best singer in The Beatles, according to Courtney Love
Everyone has a favourite Beatle. Paul McCartney seems to take in the most votes, beloved for his generous lyrical contributions to the band and his down-to-earth personality, while George Harrison amassed a wide range of fans through his undervalued songwriting talents and his image as the so-called shy Beatle. Each member has their fair share of advocates proclaiming them to be the best member of the Fab Four, and even Courtney Love has weighed in on the topic.
Spawning out of the 1990s alternative rock scene, Love became a pioneering figure in the grunge scene as the frontwoman for California-born band Hole. She led the group singing about doll parts and demonology, her voice surrounded by raw guitars and sludgy drums. Love remains well-known for her stellar vocals, as well as the controversy that surrounds her public image.
Love is certainly one of the most well-known voices to spawn from the grunge scene, a fact she once reflected in a list of her favourite vocalists in music history provided to Rolling Stone. After initially placing Nirvana frontman and her former partner Kurt Cobain at the top of the list, Love crossed his name out and replaced it with her own, crowning herself as her own favourite singer of all time while placing Cobain in the second spot.
But if you take a look a little lower down the list, it also reveals Love’s pick for the best singer from the Beatles. Perhaps expectedly, songwriter and bassist Paul McCartney ranks highest on Love’s list, coming in 14th place, just behind Mick Jagger. McCartney would certainly be most people’s pick for the best singer in the Beatles, lending his voice to some of their most well-loved songs.
The Liverpudlian lyricist gave us the melancholic ‘Yesterday’, infusing his vocal delivery on the track with all the remorse called for in his lyrics, but he was also comfortable leading on more upbeat tracks, on their bouncy, harmonica-driven debut and the rocking and rolling ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’. McCartney showed off an ability to bend his vocals to the requirements of each song, perhaps bolstered by the fact that he had penned a lot of them.
Over half a century since the Beatles broke up, McCartney still remains one of the most familiar voices in music, beloved by fans worldwide. However, his songwriting partner and fellow vocalist John Lennon wasn’t too far behind on Love’s list. The rhythm guitarist came in just behind McCartney, sharing 15th place with Dusty Springfield.
Lennon lent his vocals to just as many iconic tracks as McCartney, often showing off a more raw, rocking ability behind the microphone. Lennon led on complex tracks like ‘Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)’ and ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, on the iconic ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’, and, later, on solo tracks like ‘Imagine’. His voice is just as recognisable as McCartney’s.
As the two lead songwriters and singers for the biggest band of all time, it’s a difficult toss-up between Lennon and McCartney. This is reflected in Love’s list, which places the two Beatles side by side, but McCartney narrowly pips his songwriting partner to the post. As the voice behind a slew of the most beloved songs of all time, it’s easy to see why. Perhaps McCartney really is the best Beatle.
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