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 and the Elite Eight round have come and gone, and the Final Four round is almost over! Today it's Freddie Mercury of Queen against Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Audioslave.
You can vote only once per matchup (once per device, that is). Remember that, as with any music 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: Robert Plant (64.34 percent) Loser: Bruce Dickinson (35.66 percent)
Today's Samson Greatest Rock Singers Final Four Matchup (2 of 2) Freddie Mercury Vs. Chris Cornell
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."
CHRIS CORNELL
Born: July 20, 1964, Seattle, Washington Associated Acts: Soundgarden, Audioslave, Temple of the Dog Website:chriscornell.com
Quote: "To me, music shouldn't be ego-driven. When you go out on stage and play songs, it is. But when you're sitting in a room, writing songs, it's a completely different process. It's a completely different place. It's a creative place, a musical place. It has nothing to do with who likes what."
Voting Closed!
Winner: Chris Cornell (51.51 percent) Loser: Freddie Mercury (48.49 percent)
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