[AdamCalifornia]

Only Grunge rock is considered here.

We consider only their vocals and vocal abilities.
This is not about how good they were as frontmen, composers, lyricists, etc.
This is not about their physical appearance, showmnaship, leadership, etc.

Kurt Cobain

Chris Cornell

Layne Staley

Layne Staley

Eddie Vedder

Eddie Vedder

 

[freakydrew]

Shannon Hoon
Chris Cornell
Mark Arm
Kim Gordon
Eddie Veder
Layne Staley
the order changes depending on my mood

 

[S Smith]

Layne Stanley with Mad Season.

 

[madmax7]

Cornell, hands down! Not sure What he is doing now though heh..... His new "style" is horrible.

 

[Iniamyen]

As a vocalist, it's not even a contest - Chris Cornell stands way better on his own than anyone else on the list.

 

[Oggranak]

Eddie Vedder. No one can give such a raw, emotional performance, and I don't just mean in grunge. He's my favourite vocalist, period.

I happen to know my friend's opinion on this, and he prefers Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees).

 

[milkweg]

What?! I'm the only one that voted for Kurt Cobain? He had the perfect voice for Grunge. Raspy.

 

[karthur]

Cornell is not so much Grunge but old school metal with a grungish twist...therefore I'd have to go with Cobain or Vedder....

 

[bungle]

Staley for me - love the sound of his voice. Cornell probably has the best talent. I really like Soundgarden, but he would score higher with me if he used his low voice more instead of his high, breaking-up voice.

 

[Rhinosaur]

Have to go with Cornell in his prime too. His vocals on Superunknown and the Temple of the Dog album were great. Shame his voice isn't so great any more (by comparison at least).

 

[bakercj93]

My vote goes to Cornell for any Rock genre, period. The man's range and power are incredible, and I've yet to hear a singer as cathartic as Cornell. Such a unique voice.

(I was commenting on his earlier stuff - he clearly doesn't have the range he used to anymore)

 

[Happy Camper]

Neil Young

 

[AdamCalifornia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by karthur /img/forum/go_quote.gif Cornell is not so much Grunge but old school metal with a grungish twist...therefore I'd have to go with Cobain or Vedder....

Yes, Chris Cornell could sing almost anything: grunge, metal, hard rock, ....
Obviously, I've voted for him!

We consider here only grunge bands, and therefore grunge lead singers.
(Therefore no Robert Plant, Paul McCartney, .... .)
However, if some of those grunge lead singers were singing in NONgrunge bands
we take this fact into consideration while voting.
Perhaps some of them showed better voice and vocal abilities while singing in a NONgrunge rock band.

A good example is Scott Weiland. Was he a better Grunge singer (Stone Temple Pilots)
or a hard rock singer (Velvet Revolver)? See here.

 

[VicAjax]

just to be a contrarian, i'm going to vote for Mark Arm of Mudhoney.

 

[milkweg]

This guy was grunge before the genre grunge even existed.