Bands with two singers

Is this the thread where I say that Prolapse were the best damn band ever?

Scottish Mick rambles, speak-singing, inscrutable snapshots of life; Linda Steelyard brings sweet but ice-cold melody and occasional acerbic scorn for humanity in her own spoken sections. Sometimes they alternate verses, sometimes they intertwine; onstage, both instrument-less, they seemed to be almost arguing: tense and blank through each other's sections, until the music explodes into a thick shared chorus, each struggling to be heard above the other. Beautiful.

If someones mentioing Prolapse, then I'll mention Tse Tse Fly, two vocalists there...

Bob Wratton has always worked best with second singers, in The Field Mice, Northern Picture Library and Trembling Blue Stars. On the final FM album he and Anne-Mari swap vocals, sometimes solo, sometimes harmony, sometimes an octave apart. It does seem he gave his most personal lyrics to someone else to sing (such as "Willow"). Was he embarrassed to sing them? Not sure, he's not exactly talkative about that sort of thing.

Other bands with two distinctive singers - Squeeze (Difford going for the gritty end of things, such as "Cool for cats", then Tilbrook for everything else). OMD (McCluskey is the main voice, but Paul Humphreys has sung singles - "Souvenir", "Forever live and die", "Secret" - and makes a good contrast), Hot Chip (if they sing together it's often an octave unison, do they do harmonies together?). That'll do for now.

Carcass, for the first three albums.

Bee Gees had Barry singing one part of a song and Robin another part on a lot of their songs, Robin often handling the more weepy, emotive/emotionally unhinged sections, sometimes it's hard to tell them apart though

Stars. The guy has a really warm, balmy kind of voice, then the girl's voice is like an even lovelier female equivalent. Similar to BJ Nelson mirroring Green in 'A Little Knowledge' by Scritti Politti.

I think the Bros mention upthread might refer to When Will I Be Famous, when you could hardly tell the two lead vocals apart, although the fem singer wasn't a member of the band (and was righteously annoyed at lack of credit when the song was a hit).

The Go Betweens. Grant sang the sweet lovelorn songs and Rob sang the spikier, more melodically challenging ones. Yet, as it turned out (if you believe Robert Forster's account), Grant was the ur-hipster of the group, who subscribed to The New Yorker and whom Rob would pump for knowledge about the situationists, art movements etc. Their voices (and demeanours) certainly suited this arrangement, though. It was fairly rare for G&R to sing together on a song ('As Long As That' is a good one where they do) and funny that they never harmonised together, which seems a bit of an open goal if you have two lead singers.

X is probably the best male/female version of this

There's older examples too, but it's mainly down to "It's my song, I'm going to sing it", so there's Ronnie Lane in both the Small Faces and the Faces - and Ronnie Wood too (he sang "Ooh la la") which leads us to each Stones album having a Keef song.

Of course there's The xx.

The Cars had two singers. Not exactly sure how it was decided which song Ric Ocasek would get over Ben Orr, as they sounded pretty similar (to my ears, at least.)

Fairport Convention

pop will eat itself.

of course the fact that graham just ranted through a megaphone various slogans does not really equate to singing ..

then again, clint didn't really do much more to be honest.

but still, they were a band in which there were 2 front blokes having a go at the vocals.

X is probably the best male/female version of this

― Binders Full of Mittens (President Keyes), Thursday, October 25, 2012 6:44 AM (39 minutes ago) Bookmark

i would say the same about Low.

X
The XX

Fire on Fire have two primary singers

Stereo Total does this to a degree. I really like the interplay between Francoise and Brezel on songs like "Automatic Music" and "Mehr Licht".

Mastodon have got the nasal-sounding guy and the other guy that switches between singing and gruff bellowing

of course the fact that graham just ranted through a megaphone various slogans does not really equate to singing ..

by the last couple of albums Graham was singing properly, not just playing the foil, and mostly sending Clint to backing vocals on Graham's songs. (which, by the end, so outweighed Clint's that he insisted on breaking kayfabe on their collective credit)

Eno has always emphasized the give and take of two vocalists. That's why a lot of his songs and the stuff he produces has call and response vocals.

B-52s had the girls in unison and Fred the blurting counterpoint. Similar thing going on in Sugarcubes. This, like Fugazi or X or the xx, is the more interesting dynamic to me. Less "the guy who wrote the song sings the song" and more bands with two singers.

Mekons have four or five singers.

Blonde Redhead seem to split vocal duties according to who wrote the song, or who has most invested in it. The ratio was about 50:50 until Penny Sparkle, on which Kazu sings eight and Amedeo just one, plus one duet. This was their first album to be panned, although maybe those two facts aren't connected.

To answer Nick's original RFI, they both play multiple instruments (guitar/baritone guitar/keys). Only Kazu sometimes sings without an instrument to hide behind. Dynamics-wise, a caricature would have Kazu as the 'heart' of the band, in touch with emotions, comfortable expressing them and self-identifying as someone who needs to do this. Amedeo would be the more reserved 'head', the craftsman (known to turn up at the studio earlier than the cleaners) whose singing carries extra emotional weight because it doesn't come easy to him.

They Might Be Giants are the only one where both singers are on equal footing. There are a lot of bands where one singer is the main guy and the other gets about a quarter of the vocals - XTC, Swans, Ween...

lol I just realized that Barenaked Ladies fit this description

My usual answer to anything on ILM: Zappa. He sang lead on some of his stuff from Freak Out! onward, but almost always had a Dynamic Male Vocalist in the band for songs that required more talent: Ray Collins and sometimes Roy Estrada, Lowell George, Flo & Eddie, Napoleon Murphy Brock and George Duke, Ray White, Adrian Belew, Bobby Martin, Ike Willis.

In Fugazi, Mackaye is the main singer, and Picciotto is the extraordinary punk foghorn, who was originally deployed as an equivalent of the foil in hip hop - i.e. he's Flavor Flav to Ian's Chuck D. Sort of.

Q and Not U have two different singers and follow a similar pattern, but maybe reversed (in that Chris Richards' is the more sing-songy voice, while Harris Klahr's is the more shouty one).

lol @ all of you for not mentioning Depeche Mode (baritone swagger vs baritenor fragility)

Scott Kelly and Steve von Till in Neurosis. Great vocals, however I gotta admit I struggle to keep them apart. Love the band, though.

Shearwater did this for a few albums, with Will Sheff playing the world-weary-cowboy(-and-occasional-hysterical-diva) to Jonathan Meiburg's ethereally-pretty-choirboy(-and-occasional-hysterical-diva). They also harmonize real purty & play/writesongson different instruments (Sheff gtr, Meiburg piano), seems like it was a pretty fruitful partnership (...and Okkervil River's only gotten worse with Meiburg gone, so)

Fleetwood Mac is another example of a band where whoever wrote the song sang it, for the most part.

Royal Trux co-wrote all their songs, but in general Jennifer sang the heavier, sleazier stuff and Neil sang the more soulful, melodic stuff.

They Might Be Giants are the only one where both singers are on equal footing

The Libertines

Definitely a weird sub-set is a band like the Cars, where one guy wrote all the songs but didn't sing them all. Richard Thompson did that, too. He wrote the songs, but Linda sang a lot of them.

Like Sparks also?

Comus also used two vocalists with contrasting styles, Roger Wootton's weird/unhinged and Bobbie Watson's pretty/ethereal each being deployed when necessary.

CARCASS!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plZJwxsLKq8

"Ashes to ashes / dust to dust"
"DILUTED WITH WATER / AND SPRAYED ON CROPS"

Like Sparks also?

But Ron never sang; there are a few songs on the first two records that Earl Mankey sang, but for the most part Russell sang everything.

I know, was commenting on the "weird sub-set"

Well, they are that.

Just saw this, Sick: "Please don't just list them; write a sentence or two describing how they work together."

Early Carcass makes an amazing use of a sort of call-and-response type of vocal trading between the lead singer, who uses a viscious, snarling, higher-pitched abrasive rasp, and the second singer, who does a version of cookie monster that's less overtly aggressive and more just kind of detachedly growly. It's addictively catchy, and the vocals sound exuberant despite the grisly subject matter (most of which is impossible to make out without a lyric sheet anyway).

Eleventh Dream Day was another good male/female combo in the line of X. Both Rick Rizzo and Janet Beveridge Bean not only alternated leads, but frequently appeared as back-up to the other as well.

If you search my old username from 2005, you'll find 10,000 posts just like the one above.

The Who. Townshend tended to sing the less-aggressive leads until around Tommy, when he walked into a session to find Daltrey nailing the falsetto on "See Me, Feel Me" that Townshend wanted to sing. He still continued to sing the reflective songs/lines, but they were no longer his exclusively.

Entwistle sang what he wrote, with a handful of exceptions (one being the Townshend-penned "We Close Tonight," the only instance of John singing a Pete song). And Moon sang lead when a particular comedic role was called for ("Bell Boy"), to humor him ("Barbara Ann"), or because of his range ("Jaguar").

Wishbone Ash
Blue Oyster Cult (2+)
Deep Purple MK III and IV

oh yeah. meant to add "They are the only ones I can think of"

Everything But The Girl. I've always liked mixed-gender leads of this sort, sometimes combined and sometimes alternating. (The wikipedia infobox on this duo lists their genre as "alternative rock, new wave, sophisti-pop, lounge, trip hop, alternative dance, house, chill-out, dance, pop rock, ambient, electronic, smooth jazz, electro", which accurately if not concisely sums up their style)

Human League. Not all fans of this band liked when they added the two girls, but I think their deadpan vocals perfectly offset Phil Oakey's enthusiasm

Obv. more than two singers, but lots of early Beach Boys tracks used Brian/Mike lead-vocal tradeoffs to great effect, like "I Get Around" or "When I Grow Up".

Bongwater: Ann Magnuson took the lead on many songs, but I think they're at their best when Kramer sings with her.

Madness: Suggs & Chas Smash

Lots of 2 Tone stuff. Specials, Beat ...

ian matthews/sandy denny my favorite example of this, trading off within songs like meet on the ledge, bird on a wire

The Walkabouts

Sleater-Kinney

And then there's Sloan, where all four members are singers and songwriters, and Teenage Fanclub where there's three singers and songwriters,,,

Those are different animals, a la Fleetwood Mac, Drive-By Truckers, etc.

the prids, and similarly mates of state, where both singers are often in unison

Nu-metal-meets-Depeche-Mode example: Linkin Park!

that Gotye guy (because Australia is always five years behind the rest of the world)?

if you weren't five years behind Australia you might know that all of his songs apart from one written as a duet have one or fewer singers

Tears For Fears

early Lemonheads

Wild Beasts are maybe my favourite two-singers band at the moment, because they’ve got two such extravagant singers, and they’re not afraid to unleash either of them, whilst, at the same time, also knowing when to use them subtly. There’s a lot less of the whooping abandon of Two Dancers on Smother, but their voices are still both tremendously sensual. Sometimes one will sing a whole song alone, and other times they sign different parts, trading lines or verses, or one taking over for a chorus. Hayden’s is a fragile, glass-made thing like a decadent, delicate sculpture of Anthony Hegarty’s intonation, and Tom’s is a chestier, sourdough concoction, somewhere between David Sylvain, Paul Heaton, and Guy Garvey. Both are capable of whooping yelps of pleasure or pain, of dazzling skips across and beyond your expectations. I suspect the vocal tools at Wild Beasts’ disposal have seriously influenced their sound; they could never in a million years make music like Oasis. When the two of them sing together, properly dueting with each other, I swoon. Live, they don’t just trade vocal lines, but also instruments, each playing bass and guitar and keys (and possibly other stuff too).

Dolly & Porter
Tammy & George
Loretta & Conway

Mullican & Nesbit
Peters & Lee
Foster & Allen

Mulligan and O'Hare

... obv. an amalgam of

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4115/4793304556_1e5620358b.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/6126Z4sXGWL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Let me not be the one who mentions Abba.

What I'm getting from the OP is those bands where two singers switch off for a 50/50 or 60/40 split. "Oh, this is a Bob song, I like the Grant songs." or "I'm more of a Joe guy though the Mick songs are okay."

Even though the Beatles are discounted because George popped in on each side, it's still a John/Paul band. I guess the criteria could be "Can you make two mixtapes with one vocalist on one side and the other on the other?"

Oh, here's one that hasn't been mentioned: Uncle Tupelo. I remember trying to cobble together a mix tape back in the mid90s of tracks from A.M. and Trace, trying to make another UT album. Kinda worked, kinda didn't.

Here's my quickie. Where you at, dmr?

http://open.spotify.com/user/pplains/playlist/1cAqnCc620p9BTwdT4IERJ

The Ramones (1 Joey, 2 Whoever's on Bass)

This could go on forever.

I still can't quite tell which ZZ Top songs Dusty Hill sings.

― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, October 25, 2012 9:10 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Going Down to Mexico, parts of Heard it on X, Tush,Apologies to Pearly, Balinese etc. he's got a higher voice than Gibbons

Grateful Dead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIs5StN8J-0

I can't think of many bands with a male and female singer who I really like. Royal Trux maybe? Quasi I used to like too. B&S as well... actually no this is bullshit...

It should be pretty obvious by now that the point of this thread isn't "just list a load of bands with two singers" because that's something any idiot could do and not interesting in the slightest.

Thanks for finally bringing that 11th Commandment down, Moses.

Please don't just list them; write a sentence or two describing how they work together

^^^ Original poster. I mean fascinating as just going 'Low' is...

Guy song more than Ian in Fugazi, when you count em up

I still can't quite tell which ZZ Top songs Dusty Hill sings.

― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, October 25, 2012 9:10 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Going Down to Mexico, parts of Heard it on X, Tush,Apologies to Pearly, Balinese etc. he's got a higher voice than Gibbons

― One Way Ticket on the 1277 Express (Bill Magill), Friday, October 26, 2012 8:50 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I never feel guilty about reposting this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq7z3j-8L04

Looking at Husker Du footage, it annoys me how much the other seems to have to butt in with unnecessary backing vocals.

Has anyone mentioned Slowdive yet?

In metalcore/post-hardcore/screamo, two vocalists is very much A Thing. I could probably name upwards of two dozen bands where one dude does the screaming and guttural death metal growling on the verses, while a second dude does the choirboy crooning of the choruses. In fact, it's so much A Thing that there's critical shorthand for it in the genre - it's called "good cop/bad cop" vocals.

I was about to mention Sum 41, but I was really thinking about 311.

There's a lot of this in pop too, I'm thinking of Take That and working downwards from there, but nobody seems to have mentioned that kind of Girls Aloud / Boyzone thing. It's not exactly hip and trendy but it does count. :)

More than two singers in most cases though. And often only one 'good' one...