Tip of the hat to my brother for this topic… who doesn’t like a good scream/shriek/howl/yell from their favorite singers? Below is the first in a series of posts on my long list of faves and their best moments (in no particular order).
Bruce Dickinson (“The Number Of The Beast”, “Flight Of Icarus”, “Rime Of The Ancient Mariner”, “Moonchild”, “Run To The Hills”)
Personal favorite here would be “Icarus” as it was the first Maiden song I ever heard (saw the video) plus I have a funny memory about me trying to hit that note in chemistry class and failing poorly while my buddies got in trouble for their air drumming and air guitar mastery. But “Beast” gets a big nod due to its length and power.
Roger Daltrey (“Won’t Get Fooled Again”, “Free Me”, “Who Are You”, “Love Reign O’er Me”)
“Fooled” of course is the big one (especially due to the CSI theme) and comes at such a key point of the song, but that roar is ever present throughout “Love Reign O’er Me” and shows up menacingly during “Who the f___ are you?” and in the underrated solo cut “Free Me”. Great stuff from The Who frontman.
Ian Gillan (“Child In Time”, “Disturbing The Priest”, “Trashed”, “Highway Star”, “Fighting Man”)
And this is just a short list! Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan may be my favorite screamer by far and he’s got one of the craziest ranges of screams ever. “Child In Time” is ridiculously high, “Disturbing The Priest” (from his Sabbath days) is disturbingly unhinged, and “Highway Star” has some classics. Hell, let’s add “Speed King” on here too just for fun.
John Oliva (“Hall Of The Mountain King”, “Beyond The Doors Of The Dark”, “Power Of The Night”, “Hounds”, “Of Rage And War”)
Oliva literally scares the shit out of me- he’s got a great, clean singing voice but the more aggressive he gets the manic intensity comes out and he has the most ungodliest shrieks you’ll ever hear. He’ll belt out a great scream here and there but his occasional burst of AHHH sends chills up my spine (check out “Mountain King” for examples).
James Brown (“It’s A New Day”, “Mother Popcorn”, “Cold Sweat”, “I Got The Feelin'”, “I Can’t Stand Myself”, “Super Bad”)
Yeah, all fast stuff here and I’m leaving out some others but this would be one loooong post to include EVERYTHING. JB grunted, squealed, yelled, screamed, and was just in the moment with pretty much anything he sang regardless if it was uptempo or lowdown funk. Highly influential to artists like Prince, who can drop a mean scream as well.
ironriot.blog 
Summer of ’83. Walking out the door on our first trip to Florida at dawn, this was playing on MTV before we left! Do you remember the song that woke us up on the alarm clock that morning? I’m fuzzy…was it “Switchin’ to Glide”?
I’m with you on Daltrey’s Reign, only because its relentless. Even he said it’s super daunting and a challenge to do it every time. I love that he STILL goes for it!
Gillan is just stupid awesome. I remember thinking Child seemed kind of goofy the first time I really listened to it, but then after trying to mimic it after repeated listening since, I was like, who the heck is this guy! Amazed he pulled that off for at least 35 years! Now, it’s one of my favorites.
Olivia was so tasteful how he could make the scariest demon sound like the coolest rock star. Every time I think of the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit, I think of him screeching the Hall of the Mountain King!
And James Brown sounds like the most tuneful cat shrieking in its death throes! Caterwauling, indeed!
LikeLike
Actually, I remember it as “Sail Away” from Blackfoot. It was if the alarm kicked off right at the very beginning of that song and that riff cut through the dark and woke us out of a dead sleep. That song still reminds me of that trip (as does “Crusader” and “Love At First Sting”).
LikeLike
Yeah, and I could swear that the same thing happened with “Deam On” the next year. Or maybe it was another early morning trip….
LikeLike