Head Voice/Wailing Tier List (1,348 views)

[clem]

For the purposes of this thread, head voice/wailing is any head register singing, with a hard, vibrant tone, rather than a soft, lilty one (but still without any chesty component or emulation of a chesty component). Heady mixes of the Brian Johnson/Axl Rose variety aren't really applicable for this thread.

S Tier
Refers to
- Glorious head voice, making full, extensive and expressive use of this tone in their head register.

A Tier
Refers to
- Impressive and demanding head voice singing. Consistent, with no intrusive flaws.
- Spectacular head voice singing of melody lines on certain vowel sounds, but can't really deliver lyrics well in this register.

B Tier
Refers to 
- Impressive head voice singing that sounds a bit laboured or ungainly.
- Head voice singing that gets the best out of fairly unadventurous melodic lines. It's melodically plain, but they're hitting the notes very well.

C Tier
Refers to
- Head voice singing that is entirely serviceable, though quite unrefined/underwhelming. It's simple stuff, and they're doing an alright job.
- Head voice singing that brilliantly handles single, disembodied notes, but carries little-no melodic lines in this register.

D Tier
Refers to any of
- Head voice singing that is a bit frail/shaky.
- Head voice singing of simple melodies that sounds laboured/ungainly, but is otherwise decent. They're making hard work where there shouldn't be.
- Head voice singing that is extremely limited in application, though otherwise decent.

E Tier
Refers to
- Very flawed head voice singing, deficient in most respects, but can still hit some digestible notes in this register.

F Tier
Refers to
- Unpleasant head voice howling, with little purpose or control.

[galaxyseal]

Beyoncé for S Tier imo. Some of my favourite examples of hers are "***Flawless" and "1+1" (especially live)

[Seb]

Prince S tier

That is all

[clem]

Justin Hawkins for S Tier

Ian Gillan, Corey Glover, Young Phil Anselmo, Michael Sweet, Matt Bellamy, Cedric Bixler-Zavala for A Tier

Rob Halford, Hansi Kursch, Jon Bon Jovi for B Tier

Young Bruce Dickinson, David Lee Roth, Mike Patton, Prime M. Shadows for C Tier

Bret Michaels, Reunion era Bruce Dickinson for D Tier

Kurt Cobain, Dio for E Tier

[Rodney Blazershorts]

I think Bruce is more “wail-y” than Hansi, who’s definitely in the chest-pulling school.

[clem]

Dec 5, 2021 0:26:09 GMT Rodney Blazershorts said:

I think Bruce is more “wail-y” than Hansi, who’s definitely in the chest-pulling school.

Hansi does have some lit compressed heady scream passages though, like "Harvester of Souls" and "Road of No Release".

[Deleted]

S-Tier:
Harry Nilsson
Barry Gibb
Robin Gibb
Maurice Gibb
Andy Gibb
Prince

A-Tier
Elvis Presley
George Harrison

F-Tier
Johnny Cash

[Rodney Blazershorts]

I really don’t think Elvis is what you would call a wailer

['S]

Wailhouse Wok by Welvis Wesley

[Henny Macc]

Jan 27, 2022 1:34:19 GMT Rodney Blazershorts said:

I really don’t think Elvis is what you would call a wailer

Nor is George Harrison, for that matter. Dude was a super relaxed, gentle singer the vast majority of the time, and his highest non-falsetto note was like a one-off C5 as far as I'm aware.

[clem]

I've never heard Elvis use what I'd call wailing, and his head register in general never sounded all that developed to me.

[brutalism]

S-Tier - André Matos

[innuendo]

Dec 4, 2021 15:34:45 GMT clem said:

Justin Hawkins for S Tier

Ian Gillan, Corey Glover, Young Phil Anselmo, Michael Sweet, Matt Bellamy, Cedric Bixler-Zavala for A Tier

Rob Halford, Hansi Kursch, Jon Bon Jovi for B Tier

Young Bruce Dickinson, David Lee Roth, Mike Patton, Prime M. Shadows for C Tier

Bret Michaels, Reunion era Bruce Dickinson for D Tier

Kurt Cobain, Dio for E Tier

I agree with Ian Gillan being A tier. I'd also add prime Robert Plant in that tier

[innuendo]

Mr. Roger Taylor could be S tier for his incredible head voice high notes, but he didn't really sing lyrics, since they're basically "AAAAAAAAH" or "IIIIIIIH". So I'd give him a solid A tier