billy deliberately switching from his regular voice into "the voice"

[Bread Regal]

you know. the one that is often described as being "nasally". it almost reached the point of self parody around machina. i sometimes wonder why he would switch to another really unappealing vocal style, between gish and siamese dream. just seems like a weird artistic decision to make.

[Shallowed]

Yeah that was a big, big barrier to overcome when I was getting into SP. Most people can't get over his voice on the band's popular songs, but sheeeesh, it's nothing compared to Machina.

[Shallowed]

What's a good 93 or 94 show where Billy sings nice and doesn't just scream no matter what song it is?

[DemonUnicorns]

I think Metro '93 record release is pretty strong vocally.

[panda show]

Originally Posted by DemonUnicorns

I think Metro '93 record release is pretty strong vocally.

uh, no.. he's all over the place, mostly singing off-key and struggling to hit any high note.
I think a really great performance from 1993 is this one (it's acoustic, but whatever): https://archive.org/details/tsp1993-...a.promo.flac24

also, I talked a bit about billy's voice in another thread

Originally Posted by panda show

@billy vocals

billy's "problem", for, pretty much the last 15-17 years is that he started training his voice like professionals do.. I remember reading somewhere that in 98 he started going to a vocal coach who pointed out to him that his whole life he wasn't singing properly and that his singing voice can go a lot higher.. and you can really see a difference in his singing after that, especially on adore, he sings higher than ever before, with a totally different approach than before.
so what does this have to do with his singing for the past 8 years?

well, practicing singing gave him the ability to reach high notes a lot easier, for example in 1993 his voice would become distorted and crackly when singing high notes.. listen to the 1993 metro dvd, his vocals really are shit, he's almost always singing off-key, but he's singing with a lot of energy and passion so nobody cares.
the only bad thing that has happened in the past 7 years is that billy stopped using a 'nasal' approach to his singing and tried to use his natural timbre which sounds pretty bad. and let's not forget that he is aging and his timbre changes naturally. he still sometimes gets a bit of that nasal tone, but you'll never hear his voice screeching on geek usa like it did in 94, or how it did on BWBW back in the day.

[Ram27]

for pretty much the last 15-17 years

His voice has been shit and the band shit for longer than it was good now.

wow

[Mals Marola]

the band didn't exist for like 7 of those 15 years tho

[DemonUnicorns]

Originally Posted by panda show

uh, no.. he's all over the place, mostly singing off-key and struggling to hit any high note.

I completely disagree. He doesn't sing perfect the whole show, but then again, I don't think he ever has. There are a handful of songs were he sounds perfectly fine in that performance.

[Elphenor]

I love the super nasal Machina vocals

Vocals had a different style but were great on every SP album up until ZG

[T&T]

Originally Posted by Mals Marola

the band didn't exist for like 7 of those 15 years tho

I completely disagree.

[redbreegull]

Originally Posted by panda show

uh, no.. he's all over the place, mostly singing off-key and struggling to hit any high note.
I think a really great performance from 1993 is this one (it's acoustic, but whatever): https://archive.org/details/tsp1993-...a.promo.flac24

also, I talked a bit about billy's voice in another thread

I think I responded when you posted that previously. Overall this an accurate take on what happened to him. Interestingly, his voice benefited immensely in the Adore era right after he took the lessons. Both live and on the album, he moves seamlessly between his old and new vocal style and it sounds great and makes him a much more dynamic singer. Then on Machina he veered back towards his old style... Personally I don't hear Machina being more nasally than MCIS, but anyway, after that it was all down hill. In addition to him trying too hard to sing in a style that doesn't work for him, he has also lost a significant amount of his natural ability over time. His voice is actually much, much lower now than it was when he was young, and it has become harsh and thin sounding as well.

[slunken]

also his new music sucks cock

[panda show]

it sucks cock partly due to him not singing the way he did 20 years ago

[teh b0lly!!1]

his chicagokid vocals were great

#worldsonfire

[Funbags]

I'm listening to Tiberius right now and his singing is fine. The problem is more the way he's been mixing his vocals since Zeitgeist; with a honky mid-range eq. Scoop out his vocals and he's half way to classic Corg.

[franzel]

I think he deliberately parodied himself on Rock On... you know the part where he sings "where do we go from here, which is the way that's clear". I always thought that was pretty cool :-)

[Elphenor]

I actually love how that sounds give me all the nasal

[Mals Marola]

Originally Posted by franzel

I think he deliberately parodied himself on Rock On... you know the part where he sings "where do we go from here, which is the way that's clear". I always thought that was pretty cool :-)

yeah

then whatever jokey "spooky" thing he was doing in lucky 13 actually became his "new vocal style" pretty much

who would have thought

[redbreegull]

Originally Posted by Funbags

I'm listening to Tiberius right now and his singing is fine. The problem is more the way he's been mixing his vocals since Zeitgeist; with a honky mid-range eq. Scoop out his vocals and he's half way to classic Corg.

Nah both things contribute heavily to why he has sounded like shit over the last decade, but his singing is not good. Everything these days is delivered in this horrible, tinny, deadpan drone. He's totally lost the ability to be an emotive singer or do anything interesting with his voice at all. The one thing I can say is that live Zeitgeist-era was the worst and he has slowly been working out a lot of the obnoxious affectations he put on incessantly during that time period. Now his singing is just numbingly boring and hollow, but he has learned to pronounce consonants again.

[Disco King]

I like his weird nasally voice. I dunno, I usually like strange vocalists.

What the fuck is with his SP2 voice, though? He sings like he has a wah pedal in his mouth these days. He went from "nnggaaaaahhh!" to "owh wah wha ya owh."

[Cool As Ice Cream]

it's soul

[thedeadofnight]

His SP2 voice with the false-vibrato is the most annoying thing ever

[ninsp]

The albums would be a thousand times better if he sang like he used to. I love his screech. The "nIIIIIIIIIghtmare rides on" is one of my favorite vocal lines ever.

[great poster]

Originally Posted by ninsp

The albums would be a thousand times better if he sang like he used to. I love his screech. The "nIIIIIIIIIghtmare rides on" is one of my favorite vocal lines ever.

some people have said before that age plays a part in his shitty new voice he uses for SP2, but when he was singing with Manson a little while ago he sang like he did in the late-Adore/Machina era. he's perfectly capable of using that voice, but he just chooses not to.

[Ram27]

He could've put the full Brixton show on the MCIS reissue, but he just chooses not to

[topleybird]

Remember how much everybody hated Billy's vocals on the studio "Wound"? I actually liked the shrill desperation in his voice there; I think it adds something.

HATERS TO THE LEFT
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