What was the worst band or singer you’ve ever listened to?

zachimusprime44@lemmy.world to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 46 points –
118

Really surprised that no one's mentioned Yoko Ono.

She's really not that bad if you've ever heard Linkin park.

Is there a band called Yoko Ono? I ask, because I'm fairly sure there isn't a singer.

Not a good singer, for sure. Here's her wikipedia page, and if you want to hear her "singing", check out the Beatles documentary "Get Back".

Did you honestly think from my comment that I didn't know who Yoko Ono was?

I was saying that whatever noises she makes, she isn't a singer. Therefore she doesn't qualify for a mention in the "worst band or singer" category.

I couldn't tell, so the gamble was either I get whooshed, or I help someone become one of today's lucky 10,000. I guess I got the former, lol.

Tom DeLonge : Blink-182

Never hit right for me. Terrible voice. Nasally and whiny. Wanna be punk. Men in their mid to late 20s singing about the drama only a 15-year-old in high school would care about or experience. It was weird.

I had no issue with Billie Joe Armstrong and Greenday. I really enjoyed their career and catalog.

Old school blink (Cheshire cat, dude ranch) Mark and Tom had a good interplay, and we're each suited to the songs they sang. They may still do that but I can't listen to anything newer than Mark, Tom, and Travis show

Someone I know listens exclusively to the Beatles on the car radio. From all the Beatles hype, it should feel like a party, but instead it feels like you're listening to jingle commercials during the whole ride.

Probably doesn’t help that they’re so popular that their music was licensed and became synonymous with commercials.

Same thing with the doors and all things Vietnam.

Oh my God THANK YOU! You just described exactly how I feel about them and I've never been able to really figure out why they bothered me.

Corey Feldman's Angelic 2 the Core is without a doubt the worst album I've ever listened to. It is not just mediocre or underwhelming, it is not just a "miss," it is actively and unforgettably horrible. Definitely worth checking out.

Anything by Corey Feldman at this time is valid. Like, I know they say to follow your dreams and everything. But there's also the part where realizing that you're not fit for that particular dream and you could maybe try something else.

Someone should tell him.

angelic 2 the core is one of the only albums i've ever listened to that is so bad i enjoyed listening through the whole thing. i feel like most people understand that feeling with movies, but this one album is the only time i've felt it with music.

The worst recorded sound that I have ever heard was Kurt Cobain doing a mic check on a Nirvana live bootleg. Like a tortured cat with laryngitis.

BEanS, bEAnS, BEanS,

JEsSiE ATe soMe bEanS,

SHe wAS HapPY, HapPY, HAppy

ThAT SHe aTe SOMe beaNS

The best thing about Nirvana is the Foo Fighters.

MOR version of Nirvana with a less dead singer so they can tour.

I wouldn't say the Foo Fighters are any kind of Nirvana, let alone a MOR version. There are a lot of significant differences between the two. Probably the biggest one being that the Foo Fighters have a decent number of songs that are listenable from beginning to end, whereas Nirvana only ever came close once with Lithium, but still fucked it up by making the bridge vacant gaze, drooling mouth agape level stupid.

Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band. It's essentially unlistenable.

It ain't easy listening, but there's nothing else like it. Pretty interesting how it was made.

Can't agree more. I've got it in my collection but (after many years and many attempts) I simply can't make heads or tails of it.

It's so goddamn janky that I was floored Safe As Milk was normal 60s fare.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, best band ever, but boy is Kiedis a bad vocalist. Kudos perhaps for not doing auto tune.

Fleas energy made up for it and the songs are all bangers so it kind of pushed you over it. But if you keep focused on the vocals it's shit.

Smashmouth

Because unless you saw them live, where the lead singer was probably drunk, they're a legitimately good band with a solid discography. It's not even a Nickelback / Creed situation where the common consensus is to shit on them - they're just overexposed for their few top-100 hits.

"All Star" in particular is a self-aware criticism of people who give people shit for listening to Smash Mouth.

Anyone remember The Fall?

Rest in peace, Mark E Smith, but fucking hell that was awful, but in a brilliant way

Thanks man

Miraculously it kinda worked for the fall.

The Shaggs, but I enjoy them anyway.

Who needs musical talent? Or … y’know… basic knowledge of music and musical instruments?

Linkin Park and Papa Roach. 2 okISH bands with the worst singers in music history. Shit gives me headaches.

Scruffy the cat.

Just the shittiest music. They were bad enough that despite it being over thirty years since the single listen I had of the one album I had, they still stand out for being bad.

Can't stand the voice on Matt Bellamy from Muse. I could probably tolerate them with a different singer.

Worst concert, REM when they were starting out.

Recorded voice that irritates me the most? Dead Kennedys.

I am, personally, pretty tolerant of imperfect singing if the song is good, think a whole lot of bands just let the best singer they have sing, instead of finding someone who can really sing, and that's OK.

It's funny. I know Jello's singing isn't great, yet I absolutely love his warbling voice.

Biafra is... Something. I can't say whether or not it works in Dead Kennedies, but IMO it works just fine in Lard. I think that for the ethos of punk music--not pop punk, but the real shit--he's pretty good.

I mean, his voice is perfect for Police Truck and Moon Over Marin but every now and again I'll just... Stop while listening and think "ugh"

Freespirit Graham.

My father used to book acts for a local club, and this guy played there once. He was awful. There's no nice way to say it, he just really wasn't very good. He played and sang songs that nobody recognised, and did it badly. To make things worse, he was paid, but went around with his hat at the end of the set asking people for money. Needless to say, he didn't get a good reception.

About a year or so later, my father booked another singer, and it was the same guy going under a different name. The music night was popular, so there was a decent sized crowd already there when he walked in, and quite a few of them remembered him. My father asked him what he was doing there, and he said that he thought it was worth a try.

He was told to leave without playing, as the people who remembered him were already annoyed, and weren't the type of people to suffer a fool kindly.

My answer may not quite fit the topic. But I'll share anyway.

In the late 20-teens, ZZ Top and John Fogerty we're touring together. My wife and I saw them on the Jersey Shore (thanks VetTix!) and Fogerty opened the show and absolutely killed it. Then ZZ Top played and Billy Gibbons just didn't have it anymore. We left early.

Several weeks later they played Jones Beach Amphitheatre and thanks to VetTix we got to go again. Once again Fogerty knocked it out of the park and Billy was just not up to snuff.

It was sad.

Interestingly, Billy Gibbons is featured on one of the tracks of Slash's new album Orgy of the Damned. That track is the perfect fit for Gibbons and it holds together beautifully.

When I heard the Tool cover of No Quarter and found out the original was by Led Zeppelin I gave that version a spin too. My disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined.

Reason being that I really like the Led Zeppelin vocalist. But his performance on that song is just unbearable to me.

The Tool cover though, absolutely amazing!

Puddle of Mudd and definitely Wes who's last name I don't give a shit to spell out.

Their 15 minutes of fame were long pass in the 2000s and they're one of the shit pillars that came to be known as butt rock.

(FYI, I hold different views than this instance)

TL;DR: for me it's current russian warsongs and covers of 80-90s classics that put the opposite meaning into them. Polina Gagarina, Shaman are the most known artists due to being banned from YT, but there are dozens of them. What and why - I'd try to explain in following paragraphs.

They don't feel either inspired or honest, most of the worthy artists don't want that mark in their resume so it's left either for newbie artists or oldies who fear they are losing relevance. The western-in-everything 'Я русский' is the only catchy tune local media empires could produce, others are even more cringe like '333', they don't even compare to what repressed guys did and do.

Surprisingly, the same notion is shared with my relatives who do support the war (unlike me) or at least our men there. We still have a tradition of singing along the songs of old over the table when we meet with our elders, or over the fire if camping or meeting in the countryside, mostly soviet songs with inclusion of 90-00s. And itso happens there's none of the promoted ones in the menu.

But that also tracks with the concerts on the TV we sometimes put on. It's all older stuff by mostly aging artists. The contemporary russian music culture, as I suppose, was castrated by some sort of negative selection and I can't think otherwise.

And what is really embarassing for me personally to hear is appropriation of songs that are either anti-war or asking for changes (namely KINO's ones) sang in this day and this year by those who support both the regime and the war on state TV. That's like this one republican guy just one hair width from discovering what RatM's songs are about. There's some second-hand shame you want to wash off in a bathroom right after hearing.

Imagine dragons - cutthroat. I dislike imagine dragons as it is, but this song is so bad it sounds like a bad parody of a shitty song.

Calum Scott easily. That one song that kept playing during every commercial break drove me to madness. It's that "You Are The Reason" song that Kay Jewellers used for one of their commercials, and my God it was the most overplayed shit in the universe while it was still airing and made me despise that song. I hated the sappiness and I hated the stupid-ass high pitch he would constantly sing in throughout the whole song. It's the one and only Calum Scott song I listened to. Kay Jewellers always picked the worst and most ear-piecing sappy songs for their commercials. I have never listened to another one of his songs, and I don't plan on ever doing it. Song is nothing but him sounding like a pussy who cries and whines around woman trying to get them to like him. And keep in mind, this was on every day, on every commercial break. I could never go even ONE DAY without hearing that effing song on my Roku. I was, at one point, seriously contemplating ripping my ears out if I ever heard it on my TV again.

Hearing that song practically every single day on every goddamn commercial break made me unbelievably angry. Thank God Kay have stopped playing the commercial with that song included, it drove me absolutely insane every time I heard it on a commercial break. I got sick and tired of hearing it very quickly. Sometimes, it would get so overplayed in one day that I wished I was deaf on numerous occasions. That song has just turned me away from the artist entirely as I bet all of his songs are cringeworthy, sappy songs with him singing in an ear-splitting high pitch. "You Are The Reason" is a full-blown assault on the ears.

Never listening to another one of his songs again after that. One of his songs was bad enough.

And here's the commercial if you are wondering: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Tu_eMQuKGk

Not quite the answer to your question, but Cafe Tacvba. Great music, lousy singer, like that guy says about Red Hot Chili Peppers. Jesus Christ.

I saw Hole play a show years ago and their opener was this god-awful band called Imperial Teen.

Hands-down the worst band I've ever seen.

Now, if you ask about the most disappointing concert I've ever seen, it was the Smashing Pumpkins' Horde Fest run. No one's showing up to hear you mix bongos into your songs and experiment with your music live.

Did Imperial Teen play Yoo Hoo? I've always liked that song.

A support band for Madness. To call them crap would be an insult to all the genuinely crap bands out there. They went through crap and came out the other side. Then they went through whatever level of shitness that was and came out the other side. I don't think anyone applauded them, except when they stopped making whatever ungodly racket they were making and went offstage. I've never been more relieved to hear a bunch of unmusical talent-free potty-mouthed morons finally STFU.

Trickhay on YouTube... Learned about him when he posted an ad on Craigslist looking for a singer for his music. He's become an inside joke for my SO and I. I think my favorite is "hoop dance".

I went to see The Offspring and Sublime (with Rome).

Offspring was pretty good though the arena had horrible sound. Sublime was hot garbage with Rome singing. The only thing saved it was the crowd knew all the words so we were all drowning out his shit singing.

i think untitled black is by sault has some of the most unemotional bland pathetic excuse for vocal delivery ive ever heard. it makes the entire record sound like a corporate mandated album

couple of songs are decent tho, like wildfires and the one with michael kiwanuka, but everything else is plagued with uninspired lyrics and mindnumbingly boring instrumentals. on top of flat "i was going to close in 5 minutes but a customer just walked in" vocals

There many songs that I hate more than anything by the Carpenters but they are the only band with bad songs that I've had the misfortune of listening to more than one bad song of. I can't stand the treacly, cutesy bullshit they put out.

I would also put the person who sang " ON THE WINGS OF LOOOOOOOVE" on here but I can't be arsed to look them up.

They have bad songs but oh my God she can sing like an angel. Always just spot on.

Guns and Roses in '91 or so. God I loved them so, every song. When we got a chance to see them in OKC, with some band I'd never heard of, Crashing Gourds?, something like that.

We were tripping acid and the crowd was wild, should have been fun. They came out 2-hours late, screamed shit into the microphone, beat their instruments and left. Sometimes I couldn't even tell which song they were playing, that bad.

And worse, the opening band, who later became wildly popular, was apparently booed. We were late and had missed them.

Yeah I saw them around that time and they were awful here too. Also the venue had really bad sound.

I have a perhaps unreasonable dislike of The Best Day by Atmosphere.

I've watched so much german trash tv where people sing that nothing on this planet can shock me

Pink Floyd is underwhelming for a band commonly labelled as "prog rock". Most of their stuff is forgettable, albeit Alan Parsons Project came off it, so I guess it's not irredeemable if it inspired something genuinely good.

Pearl Jam's cover of "Last Kiss" can fuck off forever. Turned me off the band for a solid decade.

I despise The Macarena in ways I cannot put into words.

As general commercial acts... probably Tad? They were a proto-grunge band that did nothing interesting and vanished once Nirvana took off. They tried being 'heavier than God's balls' and utterly whiffed at out-heavy-ing the then-struggling thrash-metal market. Honestly, not even Slayer thought they could top Reign In Blood, and it wasn't until 1994's apparently fantastic heroin glut that albums like Jar Of Flies and When The Kite String Pops started really challenging the limits of chugga-chugga music. Destroy Erase Improve reset the scoreboard in '95, but nobody noticed until years later.

I didn’t care for Last Kiss, but I did like that they released it for charity and made $10 million for Kosovo refugees.

This is an interesting analysis. 'Heavy' is a nebulous enough concept in music that being so definite with assertions like this is basically inviting contention. It can only ever really be a discussion as opposed to anything concretely absolute.

... as opposed to the objective "worst" in the root question?

Yeah, that's fine.

I'm just saying there was plenty going on between '86 and '94 to challenge the limits of chugga-chugga as you put it. And I won't argue against Destroy Erase Improve being a watershed album, and I'd even consider it a respectable stance if you want to say it might be the heaviest record ever if that's your opinion, but it's not like it's an unquestionable monolith that no other records from around or before then could stand up to.

How has no one mentioned Tom Waits.

He has some good songs, but his voice sounds like a alley cat with a stomach full of garbage who won't let you sleep. I know that it's the point for some ppl, but I can't stand it.

I love his music, voice included, but if you don't like the voice please listen to the early stuff before he got so rough. I honestly like those records better. The Asylum Years album collects a bunch of the good ones. ETA - or Ol'55 I think has so many good ones, including the namesake song.

Off topic but I watched him play piano and sing on some late night show a long time ago and oh boy did he look like he was on heroin, nodding off.

He's on key and in tune though, same as Dwight Yoakum. You may not like their voice, but they are excellent singers.

Janis Joplin is I think the best example of cat screeching in tune, on beat, in key. I find her both great and near unlistenable.

I have been fighting my way through the "1,001 albums you must listen to before you die' list, and there have been some truly terrible albums.

New York Dolls, debut album

Brian Eno, my life in the bush of ghosts

Marquee Moon, television

Slade, slayed?

Sugarcube, life's too good

Barry Adamson, Oedipus Schmoedipus

Animal collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion

Heaven 17, Penthouse And Pavement

And the worst album I have ever heard on my life, king of garbage music Lou Reed and his garbage band of notmusic and pretention: The velvet underground, The Velvet Underground & Nico

Music is subjective, I like some of the albums you listed, but I agree that the 1001 list is trash full of terrible albums. I made it through 142 before giving up.

aha a fellow 1001 albums listener. im currently doing it too. the heaven 17 album is one of my favorite discoveries. ill drop my 1 star ratings here let me know if i hate one of your favs lol

rolling stones debut

cheap thrills by big brother

gorillaz debut

young americans by bowie

untitled black is by sault

461 ocean boulevard by eric clapton

Damn! I haven't gotten any of those yet, but I think we might need to fight a little when I do! I'll save this and get back to you!

new 1 star album, 461 Ocean Boulevard by Eric Clapton

Really? Wow.

New one for me: treasure by the cocteau twins

i can see why thatd be 1 star for someone, i thought that album had some good songs though

I've only rated the velvet underground and nico album one star because I personally don't consider it actual music. Because of that, I have a hard time rating music I "just don't like" as one star because it's recognizable to me as music. So, I rated this one two stars.

I was surprised to see you rated a Clapton album so poorly because I like him (musically) quite a bit. We have really different tastes, and I think it's cool to know there is stuff that absolutely is not for me that is a five star album for someone else

im only around 200 in so there will be more ! ill updated my comment if i get any more 1 stars

I like a fair amount of Bowie, but Young Americans is a truly grating song.

Animal collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion

For anyone else who had a visceral "fuck right off" reaction to such slander, check out This Town Needs Guns's Animals and/or As Tall As Lions's self-titled album.

And-- you felt robbed by the twee album from Bjork's first band? "Birthday" alone is reason to respect that record. Get your head on straight.

album from Bjork's first band

Yeah, I tried. I just couldn't enjoy it all. Maybe I have pedestrian tastes or just don't "get it," but whatever the case, all of those were very unenjoyable to me.

I was actually at a function last night talking music with a group of folks, and a couple folks chastised me for not liking the velvet underground with Nico album as well. It's all good; I'm not claiming to be a music critic or anything and y'all still get to love albums I can't stand

Animal Collective, there is an artist I felt like I got conned into buying

Either Tom Petty or Geddy Lee. Both of their bands would be greatly improved if they didn't sing.