GuitarWorld.com recently launched a new readers poll in partnership with Samson: the Greatest Rock Singers of All Time Readers Poll.
We're certain that, even though our core readership is mainly made up of guitarists from different genres, locations and age groups, you — like us — have strong opinions about the skills (or lack thereof) of some of rock's most legendary singers.
And although we had hundreds of rock singers to choose from, we decided to narrow things down to a mere 16 names, all of which were carefully chosen by Guitar World's editorial staff. We took great care in choosing what's essentially a Sweet 16 starting point. Rock singers from every decade, starting with the 1960s, are represented, as are several rock sub-genres.
Here are our 16 rock singers in alphabetical order:
Phil Anselmo, Randy Blythe, Kurt Cobain, Chris Cornell, Bruce Dickinson, Ronnie James Dio, Rob Halford, James Hetfield, Mick Jagger, Maynard James Keenan, Freddie Mercury, Jim Morrison, Ozzy Osbourne, Robert Plant, Axl Rose and Bon Scott.
From there, we drew singers' names out of a hat (It was, in fact, a Black Sabbath baseball cap) to help us create our opening 16-singer bracket, which is available for your viewing pleasure below. Obviously, none of these of singers are ranked or coming from a previously compiled list, so we chose purely random matchups to have as little impact as possible on the final outcome. We're actually pretty pleased with the way the bracket turned out.
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Round 1 has come and gone, and the Elite Eight round kicks off today! As always, you can vote only once per matchup (once per device, that is), and we'll post two or three matchups per week, continuing with today's Elite Eight shootout, Freddie Mercury of Queen against Ronnie James Dio of Black Sabbath, Dio and Rainbow.
Remember that, as with any poll, sub-genre might occasionally clash against sub-genre, so you'll just need to decide which singer has or had the most to offer within his genre and time period, which one has or had more natural talent or technical skill, which one had the biggest influence on other singers or rock in general — maybe which one was simply the stronger frontman.
Latest Results
Winner: Bruce Dickinson (66.56 percent) Loser: Mick Jagger (33.44 percent)
Today's Samson Greatest Rock Singers Elight Eight Matchup (3 of 4) Freddie Mercury Vs. Ronnie James Dio
FREDDIE MERCURY
Born: September 5, 1946, Stone Town, Zanzibar City, Tanzania Died: November 24, 1991, Kensington, England Associated Acts: Queen Website:freddiemercury.com
Quote: "We're a very expensive group; we break a lot of rules. It's unheard of to combine opera with a rock theme, my dear."
RONNIE JAMES DIO
Born: July 10, 1942, Portsmouth, New Hampshire Died: May 16, 2010, Houston, Texas Associated Acts: Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Dio, Heaven & Hell, Elf, Hear 'n Aid Website:ronniejamesdio.com
Quote: "Music, rock and roll music especially, is such a generational thing. Each generation must have their own music, I had my own in my generation, you have yours, everyone I know has their own generation."
Vote Now!
Winner: Freddie Mercury (60.76 percent) Loser: Ronnie James Dio (39.24 percent)
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