Just recently been listening to the interview with Ian mcculloch of Echo and the Bunnymen on Six music.
I don't think I've ever heard anyone so Scouse. Yet, when he sings....not a sausage. Sounds like the Queen.
How does that work then?
Notable exceptions, inclusions and other ponderings below 🙂👍
singing voices rarely have accents unless done deliberately like the proclaimers.
Glasvegas
Flight of the conchords
James skelly from the coral sounds a bit Scouse
Ian brown
The jam
John lydon
Elton John.
Fontaines DC
Lancashire Hot Pots .....
His accent is average for a Scouser.
Jimmy Somerville
Cerys Matthews.
Dolores O'Riordan.
‘Mon the Biff
Wurzels! (although Tommy Banner is a Scot 🤔)
Kate Rusby.
Been like that since the Beatles sang in US accents.
The very worst for this is
RICHARD ASHCROFT.. from Wigan. His singing accent is a totally unlistenable US drawl.
I do love the bits in the Charlatans old songs when Tim Burgess' proper accent comes out.
Maybe not considered "song" by many, but one of the reasons I like a bit of grime is they rap in their own accents and don't try to sound American. eg. Kano
I can't say that a lack of accent bothers me, but fake working class or "ghetto" accents make me want to kill.
The other side of this coin is the people who sing in such god-awful regional accents that it makes you cringe.
I’m talking about you, Gerry Cinnamon.
The Unthanks
Shane Macgowan.
Shaun William Ryder.
Gerry Cinnamon.
Yeah!
er.. who?? 😆
Yeah!
er.. who??
Can this possibly be?
Am I more niche than Debz?
edit: You should check him out Dez
His rendition of “Wee man, ah’m gonnae pump yer Maw” is particularly moving.
Both the best example of regional accents, and the definative comment on the subject...
... you're not from New York City, you're from Rotherham 😀
Good call binbins. Even the guitar riff is in a northern accent on that 😀
I couldn't believe it when I first heard paloma faith talk
The Lafontaines
Gerry Cinnamon.
Yeah!
er.. who??
Stone Roses tune innit.
Compare and contrast. It actually makes me laugh and cringe at the same time
Richard Ashcroft is cringe-worthy on many levels. His solo stuff sounds like a 6th former wrote it in the bedroom at his mums
I'll have to listen to that Ian McCulloch interview. The bloke is an absolute genius! He's hilarious in the dryest manner possible. Also bloody brilliant live!
Gerry Cinnamon's singing is ok. Bit like Ivor Cutler 🙂
Or Arab Strap. Though not really singing, mostly
Been like that since the Beatles sang in US accents.
No doubt some singers put it on, but why do accents generally get 'put off' as soon as they open their singing gob?
Seems that (generally speaking of course) accents fall to the side and a kind of general nothing-accent prevails. Singing in English at least.
Joss Stone is surely the worst offender. She's from Kent, went on an American tour, then came back sounfding like she was born and raised in Miami
Talking of Miami.... another unashamed regional accent...
shire green mate, via hillsbrough please.
arctic monkey and their Sheffield spoken finest.
In defence of the likes of the Beatles, the music they listened to as teenagers was American rock and roll, and they just copied the sound. (See also: Lulu, The Rolling Stones...pretty much every UK rock and roll band of the early 60's)
Most of them stopped, Penny Lane ( off the top of my head) isn't exactly a Southern US drawl...
Hip Hop is bad for it, This is two white dudes from Berlin I think...
Billy Bragg.
Nigel Blackwell.
Mark E Smith.
Even Noddy sounds a bit Midlands sometimes.
I remember the first time I heard Adele open her mouth in an interview 😱
Wurzels! (although Tommy Banner is a Scot 🤔)
He lives a couple streets away from me and I've had a few chats with him when walking the dog or picking my daughter up from school.
The first time I spoke to him blew my mind as I never realised he was Scottish, I had grown up with my grandad playing Wurzels records so was expecting him to be proper west country!
Joss Stone is surely the worst offender. She’s from Kent, went on an American tour, then came back sounfding like she was born and raised in Miami
She lived in Devon for a few years too, her mum used to have a cafe/music studio in the town I grew up in.
[i]In defence...[/i]
No need imo. Doesn't detract from their incredibleness. Anyone who disagrees is wrong 🙂
Mark E Smith
Ledge.
🙂
We always used to joke that The Rose Of Avalanche came from L.A.
The Leeds Area.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone so Scouse. Yet, when he sings….not a sausage.
My Gf's sister west-of-scotland accent vanishes whenever she's ordering food in a restaurant
G
Singing vowels are different to spoken vowels. Open vowels are preferred to closed ones and usually consonants aren't as defined as in speech either (see Chris Cornell who really slurred his consonants). The accent can be difficult to bring out fully all the time. For example Alex Turner's shines when he does the half-rap thing and isn't 100% singing, even if it's just on a single word or part of a word.
Apposite lyrics
See I quite like Gerry's use of weegie
I particularly smile at the use of the word flair in the track belter, it's different to hear local vocab/accent
The Virginmarys ..from Macclesfield .
Interesting thing I happened across that reminded me of this thread.... seemingly styles of music themselves have accents - music styles evolve out of the linguistic rhythm of the accent and dialect of the culture that creates them. So if someones singing accent is deferent to their speaking accent it can be because the cadence of the music style/genre they are singing imposes an accent on the singer.
Brian Johnson - AC/DC. We he talks I have to concentrate to make anything out, but love their work 🙂
I love most regional accents too. Although some do put my teeth on edge . . . 😉
Somebody mentioned Ian Brown ... singing in tune would be as start. TBh I don't care what accent he uses - but if you have one job to do etc ....
"Shane McGowan" sounds like he's from London in interviews, and sings like he's from Cork.
Eddie Reader
Karine Polwart
Heidi Talbot
It’s one of those things that is really more noticeable in rock music, in folk/roots music regional accents are much more apparent, possibly because of the nature of the music being played.
Interesting vid about the scotch snap.
The Aspects - Bristolian
Goldie Lookin Chain - Newportonian
Benjamin Zephaniah - Brummie
