I was just writing a draft for another blog post, listening to last.fm, and a particular song came on. Despite having an idea in my head that I really wanted to get down before I forgot, I had to stop everything to listen to it. And the thing is, it isn’t that great of a song, I just LOVE the guy’s voice. Few singers can effect me like that. I was actually thinking of this earlier today when listening to John Mayer. He is currently one of my favorite artists but I’m not sure that after a few years he will be someone I continue to come back to. He has unbelievably great songs, but he doesn’t have the voice that I look (listen?) for in a singer. What exactly is it that I like in a voice? I’m not sure how to describe it, maybe ‘raw’ or ’scratchy,’ but that makes me think of Bob Dylan and he is NOT one of the people I like. I also like voices with a haunting quality to them. I know that the accompanying music has a lot to do with how much I like a song, but it’s not always needed. Like I said above, the music or lyrics may not be that great, but if the voice is right it doesn’t matter.

Here is my list of great voices (with a good example(s) of why I like them so much):

Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) - “You Know You’re Right”

Bono (U2) - “Bullet the Blue Sky”

Gavin Rossdale (Bush) - “Glycerine”

Jared Leto (30 Seconds to Mars) - “Hunter” and “The Kill - acoustic”

On another note, I think my all time favorite song is “If You Leave” by OMD. I can’t say the lead singer has a great voice, but there is something about it that effects me. It could be the English accent (I have a thing for accents), but I have a feeling it’s more of a nostalga thing more than anything.

Who do you think has an amazing voice?