Screaming is as much a part of rock 'n' roll for vocalists as overdrive is for guitarists.
It's part of the lexicon of nearly all the greatest rock singers. So as we celebrate the March 1 birthday of one of the greatest rock singers ever, The Who's Roger Daltrey, we began wondering who is the best screamer in classic rock?
With the help of our listeners on Facebook, we narrowed down the options to four: Daltrey, Janis Joplin, Steven Tyler and Axl Rose.
Yes, there are a lot of great screamers in rock. There's one of the originals, Little Richard, who screamed classics like "Good Golly Miss Molly" perfectly over seven decades!
There's AC/DC's Bon Scott and then Brian Johnson, who screamed exclusively for their entire careers.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney (inspired a great deal by Little Richard) screamed their hearts out on Beatles classics like "Revolution," "Oh Darlin" or "Yer Blues."
David Lee Roth made screaming fun in Van Halen!
There's Chris Cornell, who was known in the industry as "The Voice," thanks to his unique tone and damn near unlimited vocal range, like on Soundgarden's "Outshined"!
But Twitter only lets you put so many options in a poll
We decided to keep it with rock and roll—and specifically listener suggestions.
That's why we eliminated countless deserving metal guys, like Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson, James Hetfield, Tom Araya, Joey Belladonna, Phil Anselmo or Devin Townsend. Metal is its own separate thing; and we're not a metal radio station.
That leaves us with the above-reference four.
Daltrey, who inspired this exercise, for his iconic scream in "Won't Get Fooled Again".
Joplin for her legendary performance of "Piece of My Heart":
Tyler who simply melts faces with his performance on Aerosmith's "Last Child."
And who could forget Rose's chilling "You're gonna die!" on Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle."
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