Who was the best Seattle grunge singer?

Pearl Jam is kind of the opposite of selling out.

Before opening this thread, I knew people were going to say Andrew Wood. That dude couldn't even hold a candle to Staley, Cornell and Vedder. They aren't even in the same universe when it comes to vocals.
It's all personal, I found Andrew Wood mesmerising. If we're simply saying who has the best traditional range and tone, its obviously Cornell.
 
Not from Seattle but Scott Lucas of Local H is my favorite grunge singer
 
Cornell can actually sing the best. No contest. Though I prefer the stylings of the Layne/Cantrell combo much more, since I'm mainly a metal guy.
 
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Cornell can actually sing the best. No contest. Though I prefer the stylings of the Layne/Cantrell combi much more, since I'm mainly a metal guy.
Yep, Cornell had the best pure singing voice of them all but I absolutely love the combo of Staley/Cantrell.
 
These guys imo are just interesting.

None of them lived to see 60 (Be safe Eddie), all of them ridden with depression and substance abuse problems.. Despite being millionaires and huge celebrities.


And they all had incredible voices, and tons of personality.

So, the nominees


Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)
Layne Staley (Alice in Chains)
Chris Cornell (Soundgarden)
Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam)




My vote goes to Cobain. Dude had a crazy unique and powerful voice. He's also the only singer on the list that also had to play an instrument in every song, and did all the writinf.

Granted, because of this, Nirvana doesn't have near the composition skills and musical depth these other bands have.. But strictly talking singers I do believe he was one of the best to ever do it.
The correct answer is Layne Staley AND Chris Cornell.


Lock the thread now.
 
i enjoyed them all so why rank em.
 
Eddie first because Pearl Jam is my favorite band. But then Chris.. then Layne.. then Kurt.

To be fair, Kurt had the grungiest voice of them all though.. but I don't think it qualifies as the best.

pearl jam have an good music in the last ten years?

anything i should give a listen to?
 
pearl jam have an good music in the last ten years?

anything i should give a listen to?
There's only been two albums since the self titled one in 2006. The self titled one was really good and the Into the Wild Soundtrack from 2007 was amazing imo even though it was Eddie Vedder solo.

Backspacer was decent album and worth a listen. Not a huge fan of Lightning Bolt.
 
There's only been two albums since the self titled one in 2006. The self titled one was really good and the Into the Wild Soundtrack from 2007 was amazing imo even though it was Eddie Vedder solo.

Backspacer was decent album and worth a listen. Not a huge fan of Lightning Bolt.


thanks, i'll check it out
 
Layne Staley had the whole package for me. Power, technique and most importantly, emotion. Yeah, Chris Cornell's voice could peel paint off the walls when he was in his prime. But Layne just had the most unique sounding voice.

Growing up in the 90's, Alice in Chains basically got me through middle school and high school. With Soundgarden a close 2nd. Nirvana was too hit or miss and I never game a damn about Pearl Jam outside of "Black" and "Nothingman."
 
If you're talking strictly about the best singer from a Seattle band, none of the vocalists listed come even close to the ability Geoff Tate could do in his prime. I guarantee you he could sing any of these songs by the "grunge bands" (although I don't know why you'd want him to) but they would have had immense problems even attempting to sing his more challenging songs like Take Hold Of The Flame, Walk In The Shadows, The Mission, Suite Sister Mary, or Anybody Listening. Cornell had the range to attempt some of these songs but no the tone because he sounded screechy in the higher ranges while Tate had a powerful and still clean voice. Can you imagine any of these grunge singers attempting "Roads To Madness"? Cornell is the only one who might possibly have been able to hit the notes but as far as tone and timbre and doing it in a clean voice, forget it.

If these grunge bands wanted to cover the best Queensryche songs, again the instrumentalists would have had extreme difficulty. Cobain would never have even gotten out of the starting gate whereas Degarmo or Wilton could play Cobain's guitar parts in their sleep.

It's no mistake these bands all come from Seattle. After the success of the Empire album the record labels sent their agents to Seattle to sign more bands like Queensryche. They couldn't find even one. So they went ahead and signed grunge bands since there were plenty of them in Seattle since it doesn't take a rare group of musicians to play grunge like it does to write and play Queensryche music. When you lower the bar for ability by so much, then of course you find many more musicians who have the requisite ability to meet the new, lowered standards.

Can you imagine Cobain, Vedder, Staley, or even Cornell attempting this? The variety of voices needed, the clarity, cleanliness and rage with full power required would make it a nightmare for any grunge singer to attempt. Even their bands would have been humiliated in attempting to perform an accurate rendition of this classic:

 
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These guys imo are just interesting.

None of them lived to see 60 (Be safe Eddie), all of them ridden with depression and substance abuse problems.. Despite being millionaires and huge celebrities.


And they all had incredible voices, and tons of personality.

So, the nominees


Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)
Layne Staley (Alice in Chains)
Chris Cornell (Soundgarden)
Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam)




My vote goes to Cobain. Dude had a crazy unique and powerful voice. He's also the only singer on the list that also had to play an instrument in every song, and did all the writinf.

Granted, because of this, Nirvana doesn't have near the composition skills and musical depth these other bands have.. But strictly talking singers I do believe he was one of the best to ever do it.

While Cobain was a fascinating personality, he wasn't a great singer at all.

I'm biased towards him because he was a left handed guitarist like me, but if we're talking pure singing skills, Cornell is the answer.
 
Cornell and Staley are the most talented voice wise.


Cobain is the most talented.
I think Cornell stands above as a vocalist

But I agree with Cobain having the talent (and Sardonic wit) that makes Nirvana my favorite out of the 4.
 
If you're talking strictly about the best singer from a Seattle band, none of the vocalists listed come even close to the ability Geoff Tate could do in his prime. I guarantee you he could sing any of these songs by the "grunge bands" (although I don't know why you'd want him to) but they would have had immense problems even attempting to sing his more challenging songs like Take Hold Of The Flame, Walk In The Shadows, The Mission, Suite Sister Mary, or Anybody Listening. Cornell had the range to attempt some of these songs but no the tone because he sounded screechy in the higher ranges while Tate had a powerful and still clean voice. Can you imagine any of these grunge singers attempting "Roads To Madness"? Cornell is the only one who might possibly have been able to hit the notes but as far as tone and timbre and doing it in a clean voice, forget it.

If these grunge bands wanted to cover the best Queensryche songs, again the instrumentalists would have had extreme difficulty. Cobain would never have even gotten out of the starting gate whereas Degarmo or Wilton could play Cobain's guitar parts in their sleep.

It's no mistake these bands all come from Seattle. After the success of the Empire album the record labels sent their agents to Seattle to sign more bands like Queensryche. They couldn't find even one. So they went ahead and signed grunge bands since there were plenty of them in Seattle since it doesn't take a rare group of musicians to play grunge like it does to write and play Queensryche music. When you lower the bar for ability by so much, then of course you find many more musicians who have the requisite ability to meet the new, lowered standards.

Can you imagine Cobain, Vedder, Staley, or even Cornell attempting this? The variety of voices needed, the clarity, cleanliness and rage with full power required would make it a nightmare for any grunge singer to attempt. Even their bands would have been humiliated in attempting to perform an accurate rendition of this classic:




Why bring him up in a grunge thread?

We have a long Progressive thread ongoing and that is where Queensryche(When they were good) slots.

You talk about how these Grunge guys could not approach these levels, yet When Tate tried steering Queensryche into grunge, the music started sucking horrid balls.
 
What criteria? Vedder was clearly in the best band, Cornell clearly had a better voice. Never a fan of Alice in Chains, Nervana is alright.
 
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