28 minutes ago, Cameroni said:

 

Well, if you include songwriting it's not a contest really, as Elvis' songwriting was confined to writing a few words for some songs.

 

If you just take performance and singing though, Elvis is probably better than Mercury, in my view.

As far as voices many have been voted in as some of the best and a lot aren't worthy of the title. This shows how little many know what a good singer is. Elvis had a good voice for sure, as did Mercury but all around Paul Rodgers is right on top, and he's been voted in by people in the know. Steve Walsh isn't listed at the top but he's definitely in the top 5, as is Steve Perry. Some have distinctive voices, rock voices, like Gregg Allman (Scratchy but fit well), Rob Halford (good range and the top metal vocalist), Robert Plant (another good rock singer at the top), Ozzy (rough but another one that fit his music), Jim Morrison, Ian Gillan, Roger Daltrey, Axl Rose, and Ronnie james Dio.

 

Elvis is more a pop and rock and roll singer. The others more rock and hard rock. Perry was the smoothest, Steve Walsh and Rodgers the most range.

 

As far as women, Stevie Nicks, Enya (more folk than rock), Heather Findlay, Olivia Sparnenn, Ann Wilson, Linda Rondstadt and Grace Slick, among others. Hard to say who's best as the music is varied. 

On 8/11/2025 at 4:09 AM, fredwiggy said:

As far as voices many have been voted in as some of the best and a lot aren't worthy of the title. This shows how little many know what a good singer is. Elvis had a good voice for sure, as did Mercury but all around Paul Rodgers is right on top, and he's been voted in by people in the know. Steve Walsh isn't listed at the top but he's definitely in the top 5, as is Steve Perry. Some have distinctive voices, rock voices, like Gregg Allman (Scratchy but fit well), Rob Halford (good range and the top metal vocalist), Robert Plant (another good rock singer at the top), Ozzy (rough but another one that fit his music), Jim Morrison, Ian Gillan, Roger Daltrey, Axl Rose, and Ronnie james Dio.

 

Elvis is more a pop and rock and roll singer. The others more rock and hard rock. Perry was the smoothest, Steve Walsh and Rodgers the most range.

 

As far as women, Stevie Nicks, Enya (more folk than rock), Heather Findlay, Olivia Sparnenn, Ann Wilson, Linda Rondstadt and Grace Slick, among others. Hard to say who's best as the music is varied. 

 

Yah, I think Mercury had a very distinctive voice, and very high energy and intense. So that's why you can only take Mercury in small doses. Elvis however seems actually more of a middle of the road singer, inbetween the screaming intensity of hard rock but not as tedious as pure easy listening. As a result you can listen to Elvis almost ad infinitum, for all eternity almost, because he also varies his repertoire greatly. He  can do soft and sweet and close to hard rock intensity even.

 

That's why I almost see Elvis as the ideal. Whereas the hardrock and voices of the 70s are a bit too try-hard.

7 minutes ago, Cameroni said:

 

Yah, I think Mercury had a very distinctive voice, and very high energy and intense. So that's why you can only take Mercury in small doses. Elvis however seems actually more of a middle of the road singer, inbetween the screaming intensity of hard rock but not as tedious as pure easy listening. As a result you can listen to Elvis almost ad infinitum, for all eternity almost, because he also varies his repertoire greatly. He  can do soft and sweet and close to hard rock intensity even.

 

That's why I almost see Elvis as the ideal. Whereas the hardrock and voices of the 70s are a bit too try-hard.

 

The trick to good rock bands was very simple.  I still use it today in bars.  If you can not hear or understand the vocalist, then the band sucks as they are playing loud for a reason.

 

Elvis was not so much of a music vocal star as he could have been without his manager.  He was more known for his body and his shimmy.    When he stood still as the younger guy he was ok but the girls went nuts when he started moving the hips and groin area.  I respect him for what he did, but I was never a fan. He was too bubble gum for me.

 

Really hated his movies.

 

35 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

 

The trick to good rock bands was very simple.  I still use it today in bars.  If you can not hear or understand the vocalist, then the band sucks as they are playing loud for a reason.

 

Elvis was not so much of a music vocal star as he could have been without his manager.  He was more known for his body and his shimmy.    When he stood still as the younger guy he was ok but the girls went nuts when he started moving the hips and groin area.  I respect him for what he did, but I was never a fan. He was too bubble gum for me.

 

Really hated his movies.

 

 

That's absolutely true of course, there is no denying that it was 14 year old girls who made Elvis a superstar.  And clearly his exotic looks and sexually suggestive movements were a big part of that.

 

There were a number of coincidences that came together that made Elvis. That he walked into Sun studios for a start. That the receptionist remembered him. That records started to become mass media, radio and tv emerged.

 

However, I admire Elvis for sticking to his craft. He was incredibly productive all his life. He died at 42 but achieved more than most people in 5 lifetimes. I collected Elvis albums from 10 years old, had almost all the RCAs many Camdens, special concert prints, and to this day I put on Elvis albums where I don't even know the song. He recorded so much it's unreal.

 

I saw his films as a kid, so I loved Kid Galahad. Others were pretty bad, Kissing Cousins and such. But love him or hate him, he was true to his craft and incredibly productive.

 

When I hear heavy metal screeching singers, it reminds me of hysterical women, the long hair and tight trousers don't help. I also found people who love heavy metal to usually be the kids that were picked on, the dweebs and goody-two shoes. Never liked heavy metal or the try-hard 70s voices.

 

2 hours ago, Cameroni said:

 

Yah, I think Mercury had a very distinctive voice, and very high energy and intense. So that's why you can only take Mercury in small doses. Elvis however seems actually more of a middle of the road singer, inbetween the screaming intensity of hard rock but not as tedious as pure easy listening. As a result you can listen to Elvis almost ad infinitum, for all eternity almost, because he also varies his repertoire greatly. He  can do soft and sweet and close to hard rock intensity even.

 

That's why I almost see Elvis as the ideal. Whereas the hardrock and voices of the 70s are a bit too try-hard.

This is why my vote goes for Paul Rodgers. As good or better singer than anyone, wrote his own music, and some really good lyrics, especially in the ballads,and is still singing almost as well as he did decades ago.

There are a lot of different reasons, and some replies are spot on.
Being a musician and musicologist, I can pinpoint all the different reasons here :
- Rock generally failed to reinvet itself over the years. Not much purely new forms of rock n roll have been made since the late 90s. Metal music was interesting for a while, and is still is in some aspect, but ultimately all the bands try to sound the same rather than having their own sounds. Some notable recent exceptions are to be found it bands like Polyphia or 'solo' shredder artists from the IG / Tiktok era
- When rock came out, it was all new, people were blown away and never heard or seen anything like it (Jagger, Iggy, Jim Morrison...). Now it's just the music your parents or grandparents were listening to. It became safe and too common place due to rock music being used in TV advertisement, 90s onwards. 
- The internet and democratization of the DAWS meant that music become accessible again and that you could become a 'musician' without knowing anything about music (a bit like how Punk was at the beginning). It's easier to write a beat with 3 loops on your computer and getting people hyped about that, than it is to try to master an instrument like the guitar for years, just to end up sounding like the tens of thousands of other guitar players out there
- In the same line as what I was saying earlier, the 'new' factor wore off and the accessibility and affordability to instruments is now too common place; it used to be cool to play electric guitar. Nowadays it's still cool, but not as much as before. Everybody plays an instrument now
- New musical styles rose, in particular rap and EDM which are the two musical styles most popular in the West for young people (with Kpop and so on).  The demographics of young white dudes who might have been into Led Zeppelin back in the day are now listening to different micro-genres of rap and electronic music while idol groups or mega pop stars fulfill young teenager girls delusions about life and relationships (Taylor Swift, Kpop boys bands etc..) 
- Not to be underestimated : the worldwide rose of afro-american communities and  the US influence of rappers like Drake, the Weeknd, Lil Uzi, Travis Scott.... put black people music under the spotlight again. For example, a vast majority of the most popular artists in France are black French rappers while in the past, it was Gainsbourg , Ferré etc..

My prediction is that it's going to get worse in the foreseeable future. All the last big rock figures like McCartney, Neil Young, Dylan, Stones Pink Floyd, Rod Stewart etc... are going to pass away in the next 10 years or so. We will be left with 90s stars all pushing 60 or close to 70. People are going to gradually forget about all those bands. If AI really becomes the behemoth people make it to be, we might get endless new music and new hologram tours of those retired bands

On 8/5/2025 at 8:15 AM, MalcolmB said:

It is a long way to the top.

If this is rock n roll I want my old job back.