Lana on Rolling Stone's list of Best Singers of All Time

[GeminiLanaFan 49,044]

I can’t with Celine anymore  She used to have an incredible voice, when she was on top and trained her voice like a professional athlete (circa 1995-98; not that it was « healthy »: it needed her to sacrifice a lot to keep up with « conquering the world »). But since the 2000s, she relies too much on a nasal performance that I can’t stand. 
anyways, back on topic… I see those lists as an intellectual exercise rather than one that will please everyone or one I will agree with. I’m glad Lana is there, though she doesn’t have the most « powerful » voice, I find her voice and lyrics much more touching than some « bigger » voices on that list (I sure would have ranked her higher). The top 10, I cant disagree with even if I rarely listen to a complete album by any of the divas on there. Nina Simone being there sure is a highlight to me. 

[West Coast 45,794]

49 minutes ago, cherrytropico said:

help why is billie eilish on this list  

Whispers are the new whistle notes. 

[slang 1,532]

24 minutes ago, letterblue said:

......................why are they even on the list at all? Leonard and Bob can't sing for shit.....  i'm crying.....what were the qualifications here?

Well if you're like György Ligeti (Musical composer), you might say something like "Lou Reed's a pioneer in microtonal singing"; if you're an average pop consumer, you might just say he's out of tune or flat. He couldn't have been tone deaf, however, because the stuff he did around his voice on guitar was next level and generally beautiful. Bob and Leonard suffer for age effects, but still glad they chose to sing. 

 

BTW (to anybody that knows), was K. D. Lang or Annie Haslam on the list (I don't remember them)? The reason I ask is that I conceptualize them as cyborg-augmented (in a good way) Karen-Carpenter type voices (whom I did remember on the list).

[West Coast 45,794]

7 minutes ago, GeminiLanaFan said:

I can’t with Celine anymore  She used to have an incredible voice, when she was on top and trained her voice like a professional athlete (circa 1995-98; not that it was « healthy »: it needed her to sacrifice a lot to keep up with « conquering the world »). But since the 2000s, she relies too much on a nasal performance that I can’t stand. 

Céline has always had a "nasally" quality to her voice, it's not a post-2000s thing, it's a thing from the getgo... her vocals are still crystal clear and she can belt even in her 50s. Are you okay? 

[cherrytropico 11,076]

also taylor being above lana is strange…i’ve never seen taylor do anything like heart shaped box, off to the races, shades of cools, stargirl interlude, salvatore, cola bridge, tired of singing the blues, etc. she rarely does anything interesting with her voice; she has stable live vocals, something lana usually isn’t the strongest in, but her voice is nothing special. her edgy 1989 era when she did a lot of growls was fun, but besides that she has a basic voice, unlike lana who sounds soulful, rich,  bold, and unique. if we’re talking about originality and influence no doubt lana is above taylor. 

[West Coast 45,794]

I'm sorry, but Céline Dion being absent from this list is complete and utter BS. I'm not saying this because of my Quebec bias--she is a music purist. She's never stopped taking vocal lessons, and doing the most to keep her voice healthy and strong. Even past her prime, she's always sounded pitch perfect. She's a top 10 vocalist amongst Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin and that's the end of it.

 

She's literally 54 years old and the only thing preventing her from performing still is a rare disorder, she would still be on stage as we speak if it weren't for that.

[GeminiLanaFan 49,044]

15 minutes ago, West Coast said:

Céline has always had a "nasally" quality to her voice, it's not a post-2000s thing, it's a thing from the getgo... her vocals are still crystal clear and she can belt even in her 50s. Are you okay? 

I really don’t like nasal voices 

true, she always had that nasally quality to her voice like you said, but it wasn’t as proéminent as it is now IMO. 
im from Canada and Celine is considered a national treasure and someone you should worship and kiss the ground beneath her feet and even though I used to love her, I really can’t stand her anymore. 

[West Coast 45,794]

3 minutes ago, GeminiLanaFan said:

I really don’t like nasal voices 

true, she always had that nasally quality to her voice like you said, but it wasn’t as proéminent as it is now IMO. 
im from Canada and Celine is considered a national treasure and someone you should worship and kiss the ground beneath her feet and even though I used to love her, I really can’t stand her anymore. 

That's fair, Céline has a nasally voice, but I reckon that she doesn't always sound nasally and she can outdo 98% of that stoopid list. 

[GeminiLanaFan 49,044]

Just now, West Coast said:

That's fair, Céline has a nasally voice, but I reckon that she doesn't always sound nasally and she can put outsing a 99% on that stoopid list. 

Celine has had incredible music performances, that’s for sure (To Love You More is my fave from her ever). 
and to be fair, she should have been somewhere on that list. But I guess Rolling Stone didn’t think she fit the « originally / depth of catalog » or wherever other criteria.
 

[West Coast 45,794]

1 minute ago, GeminiLanaFan said:

Celine has had incredible music performances, that’s for sure (To Love You More is my fave from her ever). 
and to be fair, she should have been somewhere on that list. But I guess Rolling Stone didn’t think she fit the « originally / depth of catalog » or wherever other criteria.
 

Some of the people on that list are either dead or past their prime (like Céline) surely listing her as one of the best wasn't farfetched was it? 

[TrashMagiq 58,573]

another obvious rage bait ranking article by the rolling stone  they know what they’re doing tho cause I’m seeing this article everywhere lmao

 

anyways Mariah should’ve been higher! 

[prettywhenimhigh 49,329]

LMFAO at dio being #165 and ozzy being #112 even tho I'm a ozzy stan

[cherrytropico 11,076]

11 minutes ago, TrashMagiq said:

anyways Mariah should’ve been higher! 

her being #5 is disrespectful  should be in the top 3 with whitney & aretha 

[BartenderDeco 19,636]

1 hour ago, cherrytropico said:

help why is billie eilish on this list  

she’s a great vocalist 

[Dark Angel 202,292]

it's pretty pathetic that such a well-known publication such as rolling stone feels to need to purposely start controversy while also pandering to pop artists who just simply aren't as talented as other singers of today or of yesterday, i don't care how famous billie eilish or taylor swift is, how many tickets they sell, or how much impact they're making in today's world, they have no business being on a "best singers of all-time" list, i feel like this list should be reserved for those who have a very obvious and above-average singing talent, so leonard cohen and bob dylan are strange choices, because they're more well-known for their songwriting

i'm glad lana is here though, she really is one of the most unique vocalists of our time, even if her voice or vocal-styles have come across as unconventional at times, but i think that's what makes her voice special as well

[Deleted Member 23,728]

it’s so funny how bob dylan is on here because it’s quite widely known and accepted that he is not a good singer, it’s always been his songwriting and storytelling. they should’ve just called the list best musicians of all time atp

[Vertimus 9,557]

1 minute ago, lilac heaven said:

it’s so funny how bob dylan is on here because it’s quite widely known and accepted that he is not a good singer, it’s always been his songwriting and storytelling. they should’ve just called the list best musicians of all time atp

He did sing very well all throughout 'Nashvile Skyline,' one of the shortest albums ever released by a major artist. 

[Dark Angel 202,292]

this may some oddly specific but are layne staley/chris cornell on this list? if not, that is insane

[prettywhenimhigh 49,329]

19 hours ago, Surf Noir said:

this may some oddly specific but are layne staley/chris cornell on this list? if not, that is insane

 

yes chris cornell is #80 right above one of my country's legends

I didn't see layne's name but I might have missed it there's a lot of people

[bluechemtrails 26,746]

The RS list is so random and wrong, especially considering the critics' ratings.

 

For these 200 singers, I've created a better (but still not perfect) list that takes into account the artist critics score on albumoftheyear.org (and also the score of the singer's main band, if that's relevant), which I think is the average critics score of the albums.

 

If you take the pure score, no matter if the singer has only one or hundreds of reviews, Lana would rank 86th out of those 200 singers.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1c1tk-GM60v6b_Im4mhmnKy6kbpuX-76_/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=106546559258394160245&rtpof=true&sd=true

 

But if you also take into account the number of reviews, which means that the score becomes more stable as the number of ratings increases, Lana would rank 54th here!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_v8BrCHlRyeQmBmRPh9SHcOdO1ivqWgs/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=106546559258394160245&rtpof=true&sd=true

I think this list is more fair and objective.

 

Of course, there are some weak points here, for example, modern singers have much more reviews in smaller magazines, while in earlier times the reviews were perhaps a bit stricter. And there are less or no reviews for non-English artists (like Édith Piaf) and so on.... There are certainly some singers with better scores who are not on the RS list at all.