MR

For me it would be Mickey Thomas and Jeff Soto. I heard Mickey sing Journey on Youtube and saw Jeff sing with them at Riverbend. I will NEVER go see the current so called Journey ! I think both singers are excellent.

Depends on your definition of "underrated."

Yeah, to me, Mickey Thomas is underrated. Jimi Jamison is underrated. He's right there with anyone, anyone at all. Including Steve Perry and Lou Gramm. But he's not as famous as they are, and therefore doesn't get named as often on best singers lists as Perry and Gramm are.

Dennis Deyoung. He's the best singer from the 80s based on the totality of the circumstances, i.e., based on talent, range, and longevity (a couple guys might have a slight edge on him in the former 2 categories, but like a great consistent athlete, I'd rather have many years of greatness instead of a few years of sublime perfection).

The guy's voice is literally ageless. He has always conducted himself like a pro (his spates with Styx are he-said/he-said type events). In doing so, he's taken fantastic physical care of himself, and it has paid off as he performs in his later years. But you never really hear him mentioned among the 80s vocal greats, even among fans of this genre (that the mainstream music press likes to malign).

Anyway, if I were picking a singer's team, DDY would be my first pick by a landslide. Perry, Gramm, and all those guys would be distant alternate choices for me. And I'm definitely a bigger Journey fan overall, so it really has everything to do with my admiration and respect for what DDY has been able to accomplish.

Kevin Cronin

Danny Vaughn of Tyketto and Jeff Scott Soto

Jon Oliva of Savatage and Jon Oliva's Pain. I don't know how good he is these days, but he used to be great-- so much emotion in his voice.

Mike Reno and Bobby Kimball. Perry's legend still looms large in part thanks to the DSB revival. Yet for some reason, these artists don't get their due. On the rare occasions Reno is mentioned, it's usually a cheap jab that he no longer fits in his red leather pants. But this guy still delivers. Kimball has bad nights (even god awful ones), but still has one of the most unique deliveries in rock. Just as Perry ingeniously borrowed from Cooke, Bobby took a little from Ray Charles, a little from Janis Joplin, and combined it into a one of a kind voice.

When I think of "underrated" I think of singers that are not recognized for their talent as singers - rather than being underappreciated, which seems like a lot of the suggestions in this thread. If I was to think of singers off the top of my head that are underrated - or not given enough due for their singing talent - I would think of people on the far opposite of the names in this thread. For example:

Eddie Vedder: He is an underrated singer, IMO...Lots of people make fun of Eddie and blame him for the whole mumbling clenched jaw singing style of the 90s. In reality, Eddie has a pretty damned fantastic voice, and he's quite an accomplished singer.

Dave Mustaine: I think Dave has a very strong, controlled, and unique voice. He's written off by lots of people for his odd phrasing but he actually has a pretty great singing voice.

Colin Hay: The Men At Work frontman is another guy with a very unique voice that tends to mask his ability. He's got amazing range, control, and tonality to his voice. Lots of people just dismiss him as the "Down Under" guy.

Jeremey wrote:Me !

Behshad wrote:

Jeremey wrote:Me !

LOL, I'm not so sure I'd put my name out there as "underrated," there's probably more people out there that would say "overrated" than anything else

They're not underrated in their home country (Australia), but two amazing vocalists (very different styles) that never got much recognition in America are Jon Farnham & Jimmy Barnes.

I also think Eric Martin is underrated.

How about David Pack? Great soul and great power to his voice, and not much of a mainstream name. I'd LOVE to hear him collaborate with Daryl Hall or Bill Champlin. Those are some white boys with soul!

Plus, he still sounds great today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDPa49FNCF0

No downtuning. Some live warts here and there. But plenty of power and soul.

Ehwmatt wrote:How about David Pack? Great soul and great power to his voice, and not much of a mainstream name. I'd LOVE to hear him collaborate with Daryl Hall or Bill Champlin. Those are some white boys with soul!

Plus, he still sounds great today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDPa49FNCF0

No downtuning. Some live warts here and there. But plenty of power and soul.

How about Joey Tempest !?

I may get ripped for this one, but I think Pat Monahan from Train is an underrated singer. Check out his CMT Crossroads episode with Martina McBride or any of the Zeppelin cover stuff on YouTube. His stage presence is a bit off-putting for some, but the guy has a great voice.

UncleKG wrote:They're not underrated in their home country (Australia), but two amazing vocalists (very different styles) that never got much recognition in America are Jon Farnham & Jimmy Barnes.

I also think Eric Martin is underrated.

Agree, big time. Except in Japan, they still love him there. LOL SonyJapan has gotten at least 4 Mr Vocalist albums out of him, so far......in the last few years.

Was just listening to an oldschool song of his on my IPOD called Confess............hella good stuff.

http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/a ... 90,00.html

UncleKG wrote:I may get ripped for this one, but I think Pat Monahan from Train is an underrated singer. Check out his CMT Crossroads episode with Martina McBride or any of the Zeppelin cover stuff on YouTube. His stage presence is a bit off-putting for some, but the guy has a great voice.

Perhaps in his early days, but his songs are too faggy and annoying for me to even come close to stomaching these days.

Train had a couple nice songs in the late 90s/early 00s (namely, Drops of Jupiter and Meet Virginia). Their new stuff is unrecognizable and completely faggy.

Justin Hayward and Jeff Lynne. Not great singers but very consistent over their careers.

Ehwmatt wrote:

UncleKG wrote:I may get ripped for this one, but I think Pat Monahan from Train is an underrated singer. Check out his CMT Crossroads episode with Martina McBride or any of the Zeppelin cover stuff on YouTube. His stage presence is a bit off-putting for some, but the guy has a great voice.

Perhaps in his early days, but his songs are too faggy and annoying for me to even come close to stomaching these days.

Train had a couple nice songs in the late 90s/early 00s (namely, Drops of Jupiter and Meet Virginia). Their new stuff is unrecognizable and completely faggy.

Train may have gone on to become a great (timeless) rock and roll band had they stayed consistent to their earlier sound and rock heritage but all I've heard from them over the past five years has been the same needy pop references in seemingly every single released - yeah, we get it, young people eat up references to 80's rock bands in their songs (Mr Mister, Journey, Winger, ad infinitum). That and their transition to the current trend of white boy jamaican style rhythmic rapping in most of their verses makes me reach immediately for the radio dial. As Matt mentioned, some of that early stuff was fantastic, and they've done some of the best Zeppelin covers I've ever heard early on in their careers. That may not be a popular opinion, but it's just this guy's...Obviously they're selling lots of records and appealing to a wider audience than their earlier efforts.

John Lawton of Lucifer's Friend/Uriah Heep/Rebel fame. John never won over the David Byron die-hards, and it's their loss. I also like Heep's current singer, Bernie Shaw.


Jeff Scott Soto.


To me, guys like Thomas, Pack, Kimball, etc., aren't underrated because they did enjoy some time at the top with the bands they were once part of. Their voices are heard on classic rock FM. They don't resonate with the kiddies because the young 'uns want to hear bands like Linkin Park, Five Finger Death Punch and A7X.

William Hung.

Jeremey wrote:Dave Mustaine: I think Dave has a very strong, controlled, and unique voice. He's written off by lots of people for his odd phrasing but he actually has a pretty great singing voice.

Really? Megadeth is one of my favorite bands but I wouldn't ever consider him to be underrated. Perfect for Megadeth? Absolutely.

Mustaine > Hetfield, by far.

verslibre wrote:Mustaine > Hetfield, by far.

I used to like Hetfield's voice, prior to the Black Album when he started trying to sound more like a trained singer or whatever you want to call it. He lost the edge.

conversationpc wrote:

verslibre wrote:Mustaine > Hetfield, by far.

I used to like Hetfield's voice, prior to the Black Album when he started trying to sound more like a trained singer or whatever you want to call it. He lost the edge.

Metallica ain't worth dick past Master Of Puppets except for a few songs on ...And Justice For All.

OTOH, Megadeth's Endgame was a badass return to form.

verslibre wrote:

conversationpc wrote:

verslibre wrote:Mustaine > Hetfield, by far.

I used to like Hetfield's voice, prior to the Black Album when he started trying to sound more like a trained singer or whatever you want to call it. He lost the edge.

Metallica ain't worth dick past Master Of Puppets except for a few songs on ...And Justice For All.

OTOH, Megadeth's Endgame was a badass return to form.

I really like "...And Justice for All". Despite the poor production (I really wish they'd remaster that thing) and I even really like half of the songs on the Black Album. Anything after that, up until "Death Magnetic" really blows chunks, especially "St. Anger". I could've recorded a better demo album than that in an empty bathroom with an old mono cassette recorder using a pair of tin cans and a guitar with two strings.

I really enjoy Megadeth's last few albums, from "United Abominations" through "Thirteen".

conversationpc wrote:

Jeremey wrote:Dave Mustaine: I think Dave has a very strong, controlled, and unique voice. He's written off by lots of people for his odd phrasing but he actually has a pretty great singing voice.

Really? Megadeth is one of my favorite bands but I wouldn't ever consider him to be underrated. Perfect for Megadeth? Absolutely.

True, I guess I mean he's typically lumped in by the general public as a "thrash singer" which he is and he does well, but to me he's always had a better voice than what that generalization would imply, so underrated in that respect.

Jeremey wrote:

conversationpc wrote:

Jeremey wrote:Dave Mustaine: I think Dave has a very strong, controlled, and unique voice. He's written off by lots of people for his odd phrasing but he actually has a pretty great singing voice.

Really? Megadeth is one of my favorite bands but I wouldn't ever consider him to be underrated. Perfect for Megadeth? Absolutely.

True, I guess I mean he's typically lumped in by the general public as a "thrash singer" which he is and he does well, but to me he's always had a better voice than what that generalization would imply, so underrated in that respect.

And he's a friggin' monster rhythm guitarist and one of the best overall in the business, in my opinion. Those teeth-shattering riffs are what really makes that band.

conversationpc wrote:And he's a friggin' monster rhythm guitarist and one of the best overall in the business, in my opinion. Those teeth-shattering riffs are what really makes that band.

The Mustaine-Friedman-Ellefson-Menza line-up was the best in thrash at the time, too. The only other band in the same league was Anthrax (with Belladonna, not Bush).

verslibre wrote:

conversationpc wrote:And he's a friggin' monster rhythm guitarist and one of the best overall in the business, in my opinion. Those teeth-shattering riffs are what really makes that band.

The Mustaine-Friedman-Ellefson-Menza line-up was the best in thrash at the time, too. The only other band in the same league was Anthrax (with Belladonna, not Bush).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gas8jSoff4

Always loved Dave Meneketti's voice back in the 80s and 90s. Very powerful voice. Then again, I think the Y&T was entirely underated as a band.


Oh............And Rust In Peace is the freakin' best. That lineup was simply incredible at the time.