'Underneath'
There's a lady plays her fav'rite records/On the jukebox ev'ry day/All day long she plays the same old songs/And she believes the things that they say/She sings along with all the saddest songs/And she believes the stories are real/She lets the music dictate the way that she feels.
In 1980, I was 10 and still listening to Rick Springfield.
In 1980 I was 15 and was listening mostly to music my college-age brother was listening to: Pink Floyd, The Cars, The Police, Devo....
I really didn't start buying a lot of albums of my own until I graduated from high school. I bought a lot of David Bowie and more Pink Floyd. Then I started getting into "college" music after hearing a college radio program on Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground in 1985.
In 1980, I was five, and I'm pretty sure I was in love with that Elvira song. Ooom-papa-ooom-papa-maw-maw.
My brother was a big Joy Division fan in high school (and Devo, Gary Numan, The Dead Kennedys...). Of course, that was when he wore all black.
My sister-in-law occasionally emails me and my sister to apologize for him (when he plays her something he used to subject us to repeatedly). Landscape's "Norman Bates" was the latest.
I respect the enormous impact that Joy Division had on my chosen subculture. Thank you, Ian Curtis, for helping create the modern Goth movement. I just wish I liked your voice.
For the brief period that my brother sung in a crappy garage band, I told him he sounded exactly like the lead singer in Joy Division. He took it as a compliment. It was not.
I dunno - I like Ian's voice. I mean, I think it works for the band.
I have strange dislikes for certain vocalists. Ian Curtis, Thom Yorke (but I liked him on the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack), Mick Jagger ... oh, and the Ian Curtis clone who fronts Interpol. Ugh.
Do you like Tow Waits? Bob Dylan? Lou Reed?
Just curious, as those are probably the most commonly cited male vocalists when someone says "I hate his voice."
Let's see - who are the female vocalists that are polarizing? Victoria Williams? Maybe Kate Bush?
I love Tom Waits, I like Lou Reed, and I despise Bob Dylan. I adore Kate Bush ... aaaaand can't remember who Victoria Williams is.
Um, I waffle on whether or not I like PJ Harvey, but think Bjork and Tori Amos are awesome. I like Amanda Palmer. (Her music. I've had to stop following her on Twitter because it made me want to shake her and tell her to stop being a clueless idiot.)
Many adjectives (and adjectival phrases), good and bad, could be used to describe the music of Pink and the Sugababes. "Sickly sweet" is not one of them.
Word. Also, I'd like to see that reporter tell Pink that she's an "empty-headed diva" to her face.