Freddy Mercury had the best Heavy Metal voice EVER

[Taverner]

I'm not a Queen fan, and I wretch at the sound of Bohemian Rhapsody.

But I gotta give credit where credit is due. I just listened to Live Queen Killers and Mister Mercury was the absolute best Metal voice ever.

[Guava Jelly]

1. Freddie Mercury had the best voice ever!!!

The man had such a range!!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=OwlOZ-W9x6g
Somebody to love

He may be the greatest vocalist of all times!!

[Little Wing]

2. Tom Araya disagrees

as do the majority of metalheads :D

[Taverner]

3. Well then they're WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!

[RevolutionaryActs]

4. Not a queen fan?

I'm sorry, I can longer associate with you. :P

[Taverner]

6. Oh I like some of their stuff

Fat Bottom Girls is a fave of mine...

But BohoRap is like nails on a chalkboard for me...

[RevolutionaryActs]

7. Ah, I see. You're ok then.

We can still be friends. :D


Let us go be merry, and frolic together once again.

[skygazer]

5. He had a great voice period

Helluva range. I'm an unabashed Queen fan - I thought they were brilliant.

[evlbstrd]

8. I have a hard time with "Best Ever" in most things.

I'll put Freddie up there with Zeppelin's Plant, though.

[mtnester]

19. My hubby and I play "Make up the Band" games...

with categories..example...

Best Lead singer, arena rock genre...dead, fronting a band with the best(dead)arena rock drummer. Add a drummer if you feel it is necessary...

It makes for interesting debate and conversation....especially during long trips :)

No one can deny when the foot pedal gets kicked on Sweet Child Of Mine....we have the "Best Riffs/Guitar Solos" conversations too...same categories (alive/dead/metal/70's/80's, etc)

We also do I Can Name That Tune in ___ notes...then we hum it/air drum it/air guitar it.

We do not limit it to rock...we do jazz, Motown, funk, rap/hip hop...etc.

OK, we talk about music ALOT :)

[evlbstrd]

25. Damn!

I guess you do.

[Va Lefty]

9. I think Freddie Mercury was the greatest "Frontman" , but

Rob Halford is THE voice for Metal!

[Alexander]

10. He had a range of 3 and a half octaves.

Most singers would kill for that.

If half the shitty bands and corporate Queen-wannabes today (You know who you are, Killers, Chem Romance) could sing half as well as Mercury, I might actually start listening to popular music.

[Oeditpus Rex]

11. Depends on what you consider 'heavy metal'

I don't think even tunes like "Stone Cold Crazy" and "Tie Your Mother Down" are really heavy metal. I'd call 'em "hard rock."

The thing with Freddie was two-fold: One, he had serious pipes. Two, he knew how to use 'em — how to treat a song. Listen to "Stone Cold Crazy" and "Melancholy Blues" back to back; he went from frantic to love-making, and did both better than just about anybody.

Not to mention that he could hold 100,000 people in the palm of his hand.

[Book Lover]

12. But Queen was never metal

I think Freddie was the absolute top, cream of the crop when it came to voice talent, but Queen simply did not make metal music. They were never that hard.

[Squeech]

13. Disagree

The Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack albums were definitely metal, at least May's songs (and Taylor's too-- although he didn't have Mercury's raw chops, his voice was arguably more metal-friendly).

Later in their career they got looser and sillier and more into pop culture genre mashups.

But it also depends what you consider "metal." My own definition excludes the blues box, no matter how loud and distorted, so "Tie Your Mother Down" doesn't count, although "Death on Two Legs" does.

[Book Lover]

16. See, I would never call Death on Two Legs metal, either

I don't think it's hard enough. YMMV.

[Alexander]

15. "Stone Cold Crazy" isn't metal? It was covered by Metallica.

Not to mention about 10 songs by Queen, pre-"Bohemian Rhapsody", definitely qualify as metal, at least if Black Sabbath can be called "metal" as well.

Queen's hard to classify - they dipped into a lot of genres - and while I wouldn't call them a metal band per se (more like a prog rock/glam rock mix), some of their songs were definitely metal.

[Book Lover]

17. No, I wouldn't call Stone Cold Crazy metal

no matter who covered it. All in the eye of the beholder...

[matcom]

14. "Metal" Voices? PPPFFFTTTTT

that title would go to THIS MAN

[mtnester]

18. Freddie had a fantastic voice, but best metal? Have you ever HEARD of

Ozzy Osbourne? He IS the voice of metal..

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

21. Freddie's better than Ozzy.

In fact, I think Ozzy's on record saying as much.

[mtnester]

24. Pure voice? Yes....the sound of metal?

Queen was more rock, not metal....Dio is more metal than Freddie...

I guess what I consider old school metal may be different than others.

Who - not metal
Zep - sorta metal but not really...hard rock for sure
Black Sabbath - grandfathers of metal
Rush - alternative metal fusion rock
Floyd - their own category..metal/alternative/theater/rock/?
Beatles - not metal...not even the White Album years
AC/DC - hard rock, not metal, not just rock
Queen - rock/theater rock
SRV - blues rock
Hendrix - new age metal hard rock blues fusion (again, his own category)
UFO - alternative rock
Judas Priest - Metal (think I will get Diamonds and Rust Live out...vinyl...and play it) :)
Social Distortion - punk rock (threw them in cause I am in a current listen/love-fest with them)

[SlavesandBulldozers]

23. and of course who could forget the Wizard.

what a metal voice, man. wow.

[graywarrior]

20. There is no one like Freddie.

Awesome voice, incredible performer. Saw Queen in Boston in the mid 70's. Unbelievable.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

22. depends on what you call metal.

check out Phil Anselmo on "Fucking Hostile", Maynard James Keenan on "Third Eye", Chris Cornell on "Slaves and Bulldozers", Mike Patton on "Jizzlobber". Of course Halford, or that dude from Iron Maiden fall into the strange pitchy stuff of metal that I can't really stomach - so, again - metal being different things to different people.

No I think you're talking about Rock singer, of which Freddie is certainly in the top eh, 10.

[VforVicarious]

26. Freddie Mercury=Metal?

Eh, not quite. I like Queen and all, but I don't think of them as metal, and Freddie certainly did not have the best "metal" voice

For my money, I gotta go with Bruce Dickinson. The Human Air Raid Siren PWNS all



Run to the Hills!!

[Blue-Jay]

27. I wouldn't call what Queen did "Heavy Metal".

Freddy had a wonderful voice, though. Brian May kicked ass too, but it was never "Heavy Metal".