10 Rock Songs That Are A Nightmare To Sing
4. Spoonman - Soundgarden
Out of all of the premiere grunge bands emerging in the '90s, not every one of them was necessarily known for their amazing singing voices. Although we had our exceptions like Eddie Vedder among the ranks, someone like Mark Arm of Mudhoney wasn't exactly going to be winning American Idol any time soon. For all of the more slipshot deliveries though, Chris Cornell may have been the greatest rock singer of his (or anyone's) generation.
Considering the inherent goofiness of a song like Spoonman, the seriousness of this track pretty much lives and dies on Cornell's vocal performance to carry it along. It's not like it's in shaky hands or anything though, with Chris sounding like a Marshall stack is being played from the back of his throat. The notes that he's hitting might not even be that high from a technical standpoint, but the real strength comes in how he delivers it, putting the same aggression that you would put into a metal song.
Hell, it's not like fans didn't know this right out of the gate, with some of the moody ad libs he does just before the song gets started feeling like the calm before the storm. Though Chris may have been taken from us way too soon, we at least have this one amazing take to back on.