I'm pretty sure I saw someone mention Chino. You should check again.

Asta!!

Maynard James Keenan, from Tool and A Perfect Circle, and Marilyn Manson.

Zac Maloy - lead singer of the now defunct Nixons

Thom Yorke and Billy Corgan, just cuz theyre so unique, although Eddy Vedder is pretty good too.

Colin Meloy from The Decemberists

Mick Jagger

Maynard James Keenan of Tool/A Perfect Circle
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails
Thom Yorke of Radiohead
Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins
Tom Petty of, well, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Mikael Åkerfeldt - Opeth / Bloodbath
Maynard James Keenan - Tool / A Perfect Circle

I concur. And with Mikael, that includes his growl. It's just wicked.

Howard Jones from KsE rates up there too!

Alrighty-
Freddie Mercury was absolutely without peer
Mike Patton is utterly astounding
Ian Gillian - Anybody who can front Black Sabbath and play the lead in Jesus Christ Superstar is AOK in my book.

Other than that-
Robert Plant
Peter Gabriel (Old Genesis era was the best)
Chris Cornell

Fianlly, Tom Waits isn't exactly rock, and isn't what most folks would call a great singer, but there's something about the way he sings which really does it for me.

william shatner. the man!

Wayne Coyne
 

Mike Patton
MJK
Lenzig (Cephalic Carnage)
Mikael Åkerfeldt (but mostly from his work in Bloodbath)
Dimitri (The Dillinger Escape Plan)

....

Brian Vander Ark (The Verve Pipe)
Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots)

I liked Scott Weiland back in STP and Chris Cornell when he was in Audioslave, but regardless they brought their awesome voices along with them into their new "super-bands."

Chris Cornell though, man, that guy has such a powerful voice. It's amazing. I wish I had that man's voice, god. His voice peels paint off walls.

How about Eric Clapton too? He sings damn well!


Oh yeah, one new one. The dude from Sevendust. That guy has a really good voice too. Aswell as the singer for Slipknot. You'd be surprised - on Slipknot's slower tunes that guy has a pretty damn good voice.

I would have to say David Gilmore from Pink Floyd. Listening to that stuff while drunk is the best feeling on earth. Better than masturbation.

Ok, here's my picks, but with special designations:

Best Rock Vocalist Living: Chris Cornell (dude's got chops)

Best Rock Vocalist Past: Freddie Mercury (dude had range)

Rock Vocalist I Want Fronting MY Band: Scott Weiland (great frontman)

Rock Vocalist I'd most like to hang out, get drunk, and pick up chicks with: Steven Tyler (there's no substitute for experience - and the gift of gab)

Could name many others I totally dig, but these are the ones that stand out the most to me.

Thank you for your time............and a great thread!

matt barlow is god
geddy lee, bruce dickinson and halford are good too

maynard from tool, or scott weiland(spelling?)

Maynard from TOOL

second would be Brandon Boyd from Incubus

Brandon Boyd of Incubus

Mike Patton of twenty million bands, most notably Faith No More (and an influence to Brandon, to no surprise)

Freddie Mercury of Queen (AMAZING voice)
Maynard James Keenan of Tool/APC (not many people's voices soar like his)
Cedric of Mars Volta (really weird vocalist, but I love his style)
Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys (his voice just oozed with soul)
Darryl Palumbo of Glassjaw (another unique/weird vocalist, but his style is awesome)
Thom Yorke of Radiohead (great voice, even though it always seems to depress me)
Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters (I think he's very underrated as a singer)
Chris Martin of Coldplay (his voice usually puts me right to sleep, it's so peaceful)


I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of the rest off the top of my head.

Corey Taylor - Slipknot/Stone Sour
Chester - Linkin Park (gotta love this dudes voice)
Lajon - SevenDust

i know slipknot doesnt really fit in the "Rock" setting but metal is close enough :D

john garcia from kyuss, brandt bjork rules too

w. axl rose

mike muir from suicidal tendencies

chino, duh



and, uhmm, jello biafra from dead kennedys was pretty cool


how bout layne staley (probably killed the spelling), cant believe i almost forgot him

Jerry Cantrell
Layne Staley
Hmm..
Robert Plant has a good voice too.
edit: oh yeah Biafra was great.

Johny Cash is the best, he has that voice that just eats at you. I swear the guy could pull a tear from a rock.

Thom York
Chris Cornell
Bono
Maynard

Russell Allen from Symphony X has just about everyone on tone, power and range. Kind of like Dio with more depth, tone and stability.

I would have to go with Axl Rose, Perry Farrell, and Ben Harper (the guy does some amazing stuff).

Hetfield rocks it out no doubt - listen to anything from the S&M album by Metallica - especially No Leaf Clover, can't tell me the vocals in that song aren't the best damn thing you've ever heard.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned ol' Billy Corbin either (Smashing Pumpkins). Very interesting voice. I like it a lot.

Brandon Boyd
Frank Sinatra (can't believe no one else has said him yet)
Thom Yorke (my boyfriend's favorite, he has biased me)

Brandon Boyd easy. His lyrics are brilliant and his skill as a vocalist and a musician are unrivaled in rock music. The man really knows what he's doing.

the vocals that you refer to were dubbed in the studio. ever heard the un-doctored version? ouch. i do love the metallica though, S&M just wasn't a great vocal performance by James.

Corey Taylor - Slipknot
Phil Anselmo - Pantera
Burton C. Bell - Fear Factory
Page Hamilton - Helmet
Maynard - TOOL
Jim Morrison - The Doors
Jon Fogerty - CCR
Ben Burnley - Breaking Benjamin

As much as I love ol' Reznor, Patton wins hands down.
Honorable mention:
Maynard of Tool
Cedric of The Mars Volta (formerly of ATDI)

James Hetfield
Lemmy Kilmister
Alexi Laiho

As you can tell...i prefer the gravely, sometimes impossible to understand vocals... :D

^ The cool thing about James is you'd think he was screaming his lungs out sometimes but he's not. He just has a natural growl to his voice that sounds loud even without a great deal of effort in the projection department. If he really was screaming like that he'd have no voice by now. You can kinda tell when ya see live performances he does it almost effortlessly.

How many people have said Steven Tyler so far? What about Geddy Lee?

Asta!!