TIL that the very distinctive vocal style employed by the lead singers of bands like Pearl Jam and Creed (among many others) is called "yarling"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecl8F2C-Yjw

246 points · 51 comments · view on lemmy.world

51 Comments

scytale@piefed.zip · 53 pts · 254d (8 replies)

We just called it the Creed voice even though Pearl Jam came out first.

SirSamuel@lemmy.world · 35 pts · 254d (4 replies)

Creed is just the diet Christian Rock version of Pearl Jamb

Ele7en7@lemmy.world · 41 pts · 254d (1 reply)

Ah yes, my favorite kind of door jamb, the pearl.

SirSamuel@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 254d

godDAMNIT

I'm leaving it up

KnitWit@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 254d (1 reply)

Pearl Jamb of God

maccentric@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 254d

I’d check it out

pwnicholson@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 254d

Ray Charles beat them all (kinda, sometimes)

MadTV did a good skit about this years ago

https://youtu.be/FhEpv14L-b0

mirisgaiss@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 253d

bunch of people I know have been calling it "underbite rock" for years, making the face and doing the voice just kinda go together

kambusha@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 254d

War leaf. War leaf. War leaf ayyy.

Hackworth@piefed.ca · 27 pts · 254d (2 replies)

I enjoy both hearing and performing the yarl, ya know, in moderation.

affenlehrer@feddit.org · 16 pts · 254d

One verse of yarl a day is okay. Might even be beneficial if it's red yarl.

DolphinMath@slrpnk.net · 5 pts · 254d

Agreed. If every song I heard had it, I’d grow tired of it, but that’s not been the case for a long time (if ever).

salacious_coaster@infosec.pub · 13 pts · 254d

When I was a kid, I called it "mumbly-whine"

shalafi@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 254d (1 reply)

Huh. I called it "singing through your teeth". That's how I karaoke 90s songs! Had no idea there was was a word for it.

victorz@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 254d

I'd say stop doing it, but since it's karaoke it's almost like you have to do it.

rainbowbunny@slrpnk.net · 12 pts · 254d (5 replies)

I watched the video and still don't understand why she wants / wanted to get rid of yarling. She makes points but it's just a different sound overall rather than a "worse" sound IMO. It makes the bands she references feel iconic and unique.

absentbird@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 254d (4 replies)

Because it kills the resonance and shrinks the sound. She explains the reasons with examples and everything.

rainbowbunny@slrpnk.net · 12 pts · 254d (1 reply)

Yeah she did say that but still it's just different, not bad. I don't understand why it would be bad. Lots of artists have unique differences and I appreciate that

verdi@feddit.org · 4 pts · 253d

Grifting Youtuber vs Eddie Vedder 😏 I think I know which one I prefer. This is yet another slight on the working class bands of the 80s and 90s. What's next, no more growls in death metal? Everyone has their schtick.

Fucking youtube grifters...

blarghly@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 252d

Because it kills the resonance and shrinks the sound.

How does she know that that is people's objective? Like, if your band is trying to have a Pearl Jam sound, it makes sense to sing like Vedder.

Like, you can say X, Y, and Z about what "good" singing sounds like, and yet Bob Dylan is one of the most iconic singers since the invention of recorded music.

GeneralEmergency@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 253d

"Yeah but she's a woman" - Lemmites

Sunsofold@lemmings.world · 8 pts · 254d

'Don't do that thing that these several clearly successful musicians do because it'll make you sound weird.'

Having a word for it is fun but this woman is a dunce.

aesthelete@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 254d

"distinctive"

user1234@lemmynsfw.com · 5 pts · 254d (1 reply)

A buddy of mine called it emphysema rock back in the day and that term has stuck with me through the years.

ripcord@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 254d

But that doesn't make sense

interrobang@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 254d

I just thought I disliked most grunge

Turns out there's a name for exactly what I don't like about it!

200ok@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 254d (10 replies)

I wonder why some people seem to change their voices when they sing

tacotroubles@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 254d (2 replies)

I'd assume its to achieve a certain style that they the singer find pleasing or complementary to the rest of the bands signature sound.

Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 254d

My favorite band with the most distinctive vocal sound is The Blood Brothers… They stopped the band very young and it makes total sense why—you can’t vocalize like that for too long without completely frying your voices.

200ok@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 253d

Oh fair, yeah.

athairmor@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 254d (1 reply)

So you’d rather they just talked?

agedcorn@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 254d

NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 253d (1 reply)

Fashion. British acts go through eras of sounding American, then sounding as British as possible, then American again.

200ok@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 253d

That's a good point, yeah.

Miaou@jlai.lu · 2 pts · 254d (1 reply)

Often happens when speaking different languages too.

200ok@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 253d

That's a great analogy

southsamurai@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 254d

There's a lot of necessity there. Our natural speaking voices use the throat and lungs in a different way than any singing techniques. And, there's multiple ways of using them to get a desired sound.

So there's some degree of style involved, but past a certain point you have to change your voice to sing rather than just speak in tune (which is still a valid thing of its own)

Kolanaki@pawb.social · 3 pts · 254d (9 replies)

What's the style of singing Chris Cornell, Kurt Cobain, and some other grunge singers have called? 🤔

Would those also be yarling?

dontsayaword@piefed.social · 10 pts · 254d

I don't think those two yarl at all. Nor do they have similar singing styles at all really.

Rothe@piefed.social · 7 pts · 254d (1 reply)

The style of Kurt Cobain doesn't resemble Chris Cornells (and vice versa) at all though.

Jarix@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 253d

The charismatic voice is working with the university of Alabama(I think it was) to understand metal and Rock singers vocal techniques. Chris Cornell has come up many times in those videos

She has done a lot of videos on them and, as professionally trained opera singer and vocal coach, is very much a fan of what that end of the vocal pool has done

Worth checking out some of her videos. Certainly better than whoever the hell this idiot is

Wigglesworth@retrolemmy.com · 4 pts · 254d (4 replies)

Cornell fries his vocals(lightly) to reach high notes.

Cobain fries his vocals because he can't sing.

edit: ok, fine, cool off, I apologize. I didn't mention that Cornell uses a decent amount of falsetto, and exceedingly well, I might add. Best singer of the 90's for rock was Layne Staley, followed closely by Scott Weiland.

Still tho, love Cornell. Not even joking tho, Cobain works fine in a high intensity band and probably would've done great at hardcore. I just find him kinda forced on slow tracks.

Worst? Henry Rollins. Henry Rollins himself will tell you he can't sing and has on camera.

Kolanaki@pawb.social · 13 pts · 254d

Technically, niether one of them can sing. Anymore.

ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 254d

Cobain doesn’t fry. His voice naturally went there without being forced to.

_Nico198X_@europe.pub · 1 pts · 254d

my god, Weiland was beautiful. too bad he was a train wreck.

Jarix@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 253d

Henry Rollins + William Shatner.

It's excellent and shouldn't be.

Can't get behind that from the Has Been album

shalafi@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 254d

Yeah, I would say so.

NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 253d (1 reply)

I absolutely hate the thing Eddie Vedder does and it was kind of a rift with my housemates at uni, who were too unsophisticated to understand The Jesus & Mary Chain like me. If everything is so emotionally intense that you might just die at any moment, then nothing is.

He was good on Twin Peaks The Return though.

redhorsejacket@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 252d

too unsophisticated to understand The Jesus & Mary Chain like me

DylanMc6@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 252d

it's not a tv studio

certified_expert@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 251d

Isn't that like 100% of what Shakira does?