Post by Bink on Feb 28, 2023 2:05:25 GMT
John Joseph Lydon (31st January 1956)
Also Known as: Johnny Rotten
Associated Acts: Sex Pistols (1975 - 1978), Public Image Ltd. (1978 - present)
Vocal Range: D2 - B5
Voice Type: Bro it doesn't matter (He's a tenor tho)
{Vocal Summary}
God where do I start.
How about this… John Lydon is not a good singer. Not in any sense of the word.
The guy has absolutely no sense of melody, rhythm or has any good tone to back himself up. While he is most definitely a tenor, he sounds almost indisputably shaky in any note above C4. As you may be able to gather, this means listening to most of his stuff is tiring on the ears. Unlike most singers, John Lydon never really had a vocal peak, as even his high points would be low points for any other singer and instead tries to fill this up with random trills in his voice (especially in the early Public Image days), and when he's not sounding like a dying baby, he screams his absolute lungs out such as say every single Sex Pistols song.
So John isn't a good singer. But also like, who cares? This is the guy who fronted the Sex Pistols, what exactly were you expecting when I wrote this, I sure as hell don't think he cares? So like, yeah sure he's not a good singer, but he's also one of the most influential names in music history, these guys help start Punk. So while I will have a disdain for his voice. He's also John fucking Lydon. Come on man.
Oh yeah, cheers to Osmosis for helping me to not remove my own ears by helping out with some of these albums.
Written by Bink
God where do I start.
How about this… John Lydon is not a good singer. Not in any sense of the word.
The guy has absolutely no sense of melody, rhythm or has any good tone to back himself up. While he is most definitely a tenor, he sounds almost indisputably shaky in any note above C4. As you may be able to gather, this means listening to most of his stuff is tiring on the ears. Unlike most singers, John Lydon never really had a vocal peak, as even his high points would be low points for any other singer and instead tries to fill this up with random trills in his voice (especially in the early Public Image days), and when he's not sounding like a dying baby, he screams his absolute lungs out such as say every single Sex Pistols song.
So John isn't a good singer. But also like, who cares? This is the guy who fronted the Sex Pistols, what exactly were you expecting when I wrote this, I sure as hell don't think he cares? So like, yeah sure he's not a good singer, but he's also one of the most influential names in music history, these guys help start Punk. So while I will have a disdain for his voice. He's also John fucking Lydon. Come on man.
Oh yeah, cheers to Osmosis for helping me to not remove my own ears by helping out with some of these albums.
Written by Bink
Significant High Notes:
B5 ("Animal" Demo 1985, "Francis Massacre")
B♭5 ("No Fun")
A5 ("Good Things")
G♯5 ("Fodderstompf", "Theme")
G5 ("Death Disco")
F♯5 ("The Cowboy Song", "Love Hope", "Solitaire")
F5 ("Belsen Was a Gas" early demo)
E5 ("Fodderstompf", "Good Things", "Theme", "Warrior", "Where Are You?")
E♭5 ("Animal" Demo 1985, "Fodderstompf", "The Cowboy Song", "Love Hope")
D5 ("Bad Life", "Covered", "Cruel", "Fishing", "God", "Rules And Regulations", "Submission")
C♯5 ("Bettie Page", "Round", "Save Me", "Solitaire")
C5 ("Brave New World", "Corporate", "Covered", "Cruel", "Emperor", "Fodderstompf", "God", "Good Things", "Love Hope", "Open and Revolving", "This Is Not a Love Song", "Where Are You?", "World Destruction")
B4 ("Animal" Demo 1985, "Armada", "Bad Life", "Covered", "Death Disco", "Disappointed", "Emperor", "Fat Chance Hotel", "Four Enclosed Walls", "Happy", "Memories", "Sand Castles In the Snow", "Seattle", "Worry")
B♭4 ("1981", "Attack", "Brave New World", "Deeper Water", "Double Trouble", "Fodderstompf", "Francis Massacre", "Low Life", "Luck's Up", "Open and Revolving", "The Pardon", "Public Image", "Religion II", "Same Old Story")
A4 ("Armada", "Attack", "Bags", "Bettie Page", "Big Blue Sky", "Bodies", "The Body", "C'est La Vie", "Death Disco", "Disappointed", "Emperor", "Fat Chance Hotel", "Fool", "God", "God Save The Queen" various live performances, "Good Things", "Hard Times", "Holidays In The Sun", "Home", "Home Is Where the Heart Is", "Know How", "Low Life", "Public Image", "Religion II", "Reggie Song", "Rules And Regulations", "Save Me", "Shoom", "Spice of Choice", "Swan Lake", "Think Tank", "Unfairground", "U.S.L.S 1", "Warrior")
G♯4 ("Angry", "Annalisa", "Armada", "F.F.F", "Fishing", "Francis Massacre", "Happy", "Human", "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" various live versions, "I Must Be Dreaming", "It Said That", "Like That", "Lollipop Opera", "Love Hope", "Out of the Woods", "Poptones", "Under the House", "Reggie Song", "Shoom", "Terra Gate", "This Is Not a Love Song", "Tie Me To The Length of That","Whatcha Gonna Do About It" live From The Lesser Free Trade Hall 1976)
G4 ("1981", "Acid Drops", "Anarchy In The UK", "Angry", "Another", "Bad Baby", "Bad Life", "Banging the Door", "Bodies", "The Body", "Brave New World", "Chant", "Corporate", "Covered", "Cruel", "Death Disco", "Deeper Water", "Did You No Wrong", "Disappointed", "Double Trouble", "EMI", "Fat Chance Hotel", "Fishing", "Flowers of Romance", "Fool", "God", "God Save The Queen", "Hard Times", "Holidays In The Sun", "Home", "Home Is Where the Heart Is", "I'm Not Satisfied", "I Wanna Be Me" live, "Know How", "Luck's Up", "Memories", "No Birds", "No Feelings", "One Drop", "Open and Revolving", "Pretty Vacant", "Problems" live From The Lesser Free Trade Hall 1976, "Reggie Song", "Rise", "Round", "Sand Castles In the Snow", "Save Me", "Submission", "Spice of Choice", "Theme", "Unfairground", "Warrior", "Where Are You?", "Whole Life Time")
F♯4 ("Angry", "Another", "Bad Baby", "Bags", "Bettie Page", "Big Blue Sky", "Bodies", "C'est La Vie", "Did You No Wrong", "Don't Give Me No Lip, Child" live From The Lesser Free Trade Hall 1976, "Ease", "Emperor", "Fat Chance Hotel", "F.F.F", "Four Enclosed Walls", "God Save The Queen", Hard Times", "Human", "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" various live versions, "I Must Be Dreaming", "Memories", "New York", "No Fun", "The Pardon", "Public Image", "Rules And Regulations", "Same Old Story", "Satellite", "Seattle", "Seventeen", "Solitaire", "Swan Lake", "Terra Gate", "Think Tank", "This Is Not a Love Song")
F4 ("1981", "Acid Drops", "Anarchy In The UK", "Double Trouble", "EMI", "Flowers of Romance", "Hawaii", "Holidays In The Sun", "I'm Not Satisfied", "Lollipop Opera", "No Feelings", "Out of the Woods", "Shoom", "Submission", "Unlimited Edition" 1977 mix, "Whatcha Gonna Do About It" live From The Lesser Free Trade Hall 1976, "Whole Life Time")
E4 ("Albatross", "Bags", "Banging on the Door", "Bodies", "The Body", "Careering", "C'est La Vie", "Chant", "Death Disco", "Ease", "Emperor", "Fishing", "Four Enclosed Walls", "God", "God Save The Queen", "Good Things", "Happy", "Home Is Where the Heart Is", "Like That", "Memories", "New York", "Pretty Vacant", "One Drop", "The Order of Death", "Poptones", "No Birds", "Rise", "Round", "Satellite", "Seventeen", "Spice of Choice", "The Room I Am In", "This Is Not a Love Song", "Tie Me To The Length of That", "Unfairground", "Warrior")
Significant Low Notes:
E3 ("Albatross", "Bags", "Ease", "God Save The Queen", "Holidays In The Sun", "I Must Be Dreaming", "One Drop". "Poptones", "The Room I Am In", "Solitaire", "Unfairground")
E♭3 ("1981", "Track 8", "Whatcha Gonna Do About It" live From The Lesser Free Trade Hall 1976)
D3 ("Bad Baby", "Double Trouble", "EMI", "Go Back", "The One", "Out of the Woods", "No Birds", "Unlimited Edition" 1977 mix, "Where Are You?")
C♯3 ("Angry", "Belsen Was a Gas" early demo, "C'est La Vie", "New York")
C3 ("Anarchy In The UK", "Bad Life", "Chant", "Cruel", "Reggie Song", "Submission", "Terra Gate", "Whole Life Time")
B2 ("Angry", "Animal" Demo 1985, "Bags", "Big Blue Sky", "Poptones", "The Suit")
B♭2 ("Cruel", "Fool", "It Said That", "Under the House")
A2 ("Animal" Demo 1985, "Bettie Page", "Chant", "The Order of Death", "New York", "The One", "The Suit", "U.S.L.S 1", "Warrior")
G♯2 ("Analisa", "Animal" Demo 1985, "Human", "The Room I Am In", "Tie Me To The Length of That")
G2 ("Flowers of Romance", "Go Back", "Rise")
F♯2 ("Bettie Page", "C'est La Vie", "Corporate", "The Pardon", "Tie Me to The Length of That", "Warrior" live 2013)
E2 ("Big Blue Sky", "Theme", "Save Me")
E♭2 ("Shoom")
D2 ("Big Blue Sky")
.......................................................
Blue marks falsetto or whistle notes.
Green denotes harshly distorted passages.
Underlines mark notes that are obscured in the song mix.
Italics mark non-melodic notes.
Boldface marks notes that don't sound like absolute shit
Best Vocal Performances (oh god)
1. Big Blue Sky
2. Seattle
3. Low Life
4. Public Image
5. Save Me
{Album Ranges}
Sex Pistols:
Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols (1977): A2 - C♯3 - A4 Bink
Public Image Ltd:
Public Image. First Issue (1978): E2 - G♯5 Osmosis
Metal Box (1979): A2 - B4 Bink
The Flowers of Romance (1981): G2 - B4 - B5 Osmosis
This Is What You Want… This Is What You Get (1984): F♯2 - F♯5 Bink
Album (1986): G2 - A4 - D5 Osmosis
Happy? (1987): E2 - D5 Bink
9 (1989): A2 - C5 - E5 Osmosis
That What Is Not (1992): B♭2 - C3 - D5 - F♯5 - A5 Bink
This is Pil (2012): G♯2 - B♭4 Osmosis
What the World Needs Now… (2015): D2 - B♭4 Bink
Solo:
Psycho's Path (1997)
Red marks albums that are unavailable
Sex Pistols:
Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols (1977): A2 - C♯3 - A4 Bink
Public Image Ltd:
Public Image. First Issue (1978): E2 - G♯5 Osmosis
Metal Box (1979): A2 - B4 Bink
The Flowers of Romance (1981): G2 - B4 - B5 Osmosis
This Is What You Want… This Is What You Get (1984): F♯2 - F♯5 Bink
Album (1986): G2 - A4 - D5 Osmosis
Happy? (1987): E2 - D5 Bink
9 (1989): A2 - C5 - E5 Osmosis
That What Is Not (1992): B♭2 - C3 - D5 - F♯5 - A5 Bink
This is Pil (2012): G♯2 - B♭4 Osmosis
What the World Needs Now… (2015): D2 - B♭4 Bink
Solo:
Psycho's Path (1997)
Red marks albums that are unavailable
{Questionable Notes}
C♯6 ("Death Disco" yeah nah bro)
B5 ("Swan Lake" EEEEEEEE)
A5 ("The One", "Submission" S h i t t y)
G♯5 ("Careering" Bro got replaced by a seagull)
G5 ("Theme" No, "Reggie Song" [1] short woo)
F5 ("Cruel" I want you to stop)
D5 ("Seattle" Stupid sounding vocal slide)
C5 ("Like That" aimless yelp [1])
B4 ("F.F.F" Upwards slide, probably never reaches it [1])
G♯4 ("Phenage" brief trill, minimal sustain [1])
G2 ("Cruel" literal trail into nothingness)
C2 ("Warrior" live 2013)
B1 ("Big Blue Sky" [5], "The One" hmmm)
.......................................................
[1] marks yelps and short trills in high range or anacrusis and short dips in low range.
[2] marks notes of questionable identity that cannot be confirmed to be the singer in question.
[3] marks non-melodic notes that don't have a significant enough pitch to warrant inclusion.
[4] marks notes that possess uncertain pitch or have been pitch-shifted.
[5] marks notes that do not fit the previous criteria but are not of a substantial enough quality to warrant counting towards the singer's range.
C♯6 ("Death Disco" yeah nah bro)
B5 ("Swan Lake" EEEEEEEE)
A5 ("The One", "Submission" S h i t t y)
G♯5 ("Careering" Bro got replaced by a seagull)
G5 ("Theme" No, "Reggie Song" [1] short woo)
F5 ("Cruel" I want you to stop)
D5 ("Seattle" Stupid sounding vocal slide)
C5 ("Like That" aimless yelp [1])
B4 ("F.F.F" Upwards slide, probably never reaches it [1])
G♯4 ("Phenage" brief trill, minimal sustain [1])
G2 ("Cruel" literal trail into nothingness)
C2 ("Warrior" live 2013)
B1 ("Big Blue Sky" [5], "The One" hmmm)
.......................................................
[1] marks yelps and short trills in high range or anacrusis and short dips in low range.
[2] marks notes of questionable identity that cannot be confirmed to be the singer in question.
[3] marks non-melodic notes that don't have a significant enough pitch to warrant inclusion.
[4] marks notes that possess uncertain pitch or have been pitch-shifted.
[5] marks notes that do not fit the previous criteria but are not of a substantial enough quality to warrant counting towards the singer's range.
