It's pretty obvious why they get all the attention, everyone in this thread has already mentioned it. Instead I'm going to pick on the whole "least talented person on the stage" thing. Perhaps, in the bands you listen to the singer is the least talented among them, but this is certainly not the case all the time. Any decent singer brings his/her own sound into the band and fills an essential role in conveying the messages in the music. Again, listening to pop/rock... sure I guess the singer could well be the least talented member of their band. Furthermore, singing is not just a natural talent, there's nobody who just decides to start singing professionally all of a sudden and ends up being successful. It requires proper technique and practice to sound good just like anything else.
Because to most people without any musical education the singing of a song is the most prominent component, because they can actually identifiy it's components. The actual music is just a mix of funny sounds to them.
A couple people mentioned the fact that vocals are more important than other parts of the song, am I the only person who actually prefers to ignore the lyrics completely?
Depends on the band, really. It's mostly thought that the singers write the songs, arrange the music and sing the lyrics. They're also the front of the band because someone needs to be the focus of the media attention and field the interviews and control the crowds and keep the fans happy. They get the most credit because they're supposed to be the ones who actually do the most work.
However, this is slightly antiquated and bands don't really work like that under a record label, sadly, but the record label at least makes people think that the lead singer is doing all the work.
Like I said, it depends on the band. The more popular bands/artists/rappers/whatever else generally just let the record company do everything for them, including the songwriting and music arrangement, hell, most of the time they don't even have to go near a recording studio because they can just hire someone else to do the hard stuff for them, like most pop stars do, why the hell do you think everything is auto-tuned now? It's to make it harder to tell if they got a substitute singer in.
Although the smaller, lesser known groups do still have to do things the hard way. I actually find the most honest artists in the electronic music areas (Industrial, especially) because most of them are control freaks who have to DJ live a lot to supplement their income. Smaller bands generally do a lot of the work the hard way, so it's mostly traditional for the lead singer to be the "lead singer". As in, they do all the font man/front woman work I mentioned above while the other members sit in the background and collect an easy paycheck.
Also that whole "least talented" part was a little strange. There's a lot of identity and skill involved with being a good singer. Firstly a good singer will bring identity to a song and a GOOD singer can drastically change the mood of their style to heighten the emotional impact of a song.
Those should show you how someone can cross the line from "singer" to "vocalist". I could give more examples (Jessicka Addams made a drastic change when she moved from JoJ to Scarling) but I think those are good enough for my point to me made.
Singing is not naturally a talent, necessarily. A lot of singers learn to sing through lots and lots of practice and learn to control their vocal muscles. Technically, most people can "learn" to sing.
And technically people can "learn" to play guitar/drums/bass. What's your point? Are you saying it's easier to sing than play guitar? Because if so then I can tell you right now that's complete and utter bullshit.
Voices are more recognizable than instruments. I, as a non-musical person, can hear the difference between two different people singing. Even if they sing the same thing. If two guitarists or drummers play the same song, I won't be able to tell them apart. This means that for most people, the vocalist is the personality of the band, because it's the most recognizable part of the band.
It's all in the name: frontman. Obviously they will be 'ogled' more, but nobody knowledgeable in music will give that person 'all the credit' unless they actually deserve it. My experience at concerts is that the singer gets the attention because they are singing, but there is a tonne of worship of the other members if they are talented.
For me I don't think the vocalist gets all the credit, but I've found that the vocalist is the make or break person for me. If I don't like the singer's voice, the music behind it can't make me feel better about it.
So I know for a fact you've all listened to a song that consists of guitar, drums, bass and vocals and what really bugs me is the fact that people "oggle" the singer the most. Could somebody please explain the logic behind this if anything the singer is by far the least talented person on the stage.
I understand completely that there is a certain style to singing and amking your voice do stuff can be difficult but in my eyes it's a natural born talent. (you can either sing or you can't. that sorta thing) I also understand that to be able to sing in tune can be learnt but it's nothing like just being able to do it naturally.
EDIT: For those who mentioned it I know a lot of bands where the drummer does the composing. (off the top of my head "Three Days Grace" and "Avenged Sevenfold".
Singing is not naturally a talent, necessarily. A lot of singers learn to sing through lots and lots of practice and learn to control their vocal muscles. Technically, most people can "learn" to sing.
And technically people can "learn" to play guitar/drums/bass. What's your point? Are you saying it's easier to sing than play guitar? Because if so then I can tell you right now that's complete and utter bullshit.
No, not at all! I know it's difficult to learn to sing, and much more so to train those muscles than to learn the manual dexterity to play guitar. I've done both and I know. I was just pointing out that singing is not *necessarily* pure talent.
Voices are more recognizable than instruments. I, as a non-musical person, can hear the difference between two different people singing. Even if they sing the same thing. If two guitarists or drummers play the same song, I won't be able to tell them apart. This means that for most people, the vocalist is the personality of the band, because it's the most recognizable part of the band.
My mate is a guitarist, until my sister took over (and made them some sweet deals) he was band manager. He organised the band, he writes their music (and writes lyrics along with the singer and the drummer). At the end of the day he gets his fair share of the money (the largest cut right now, but since he does the most work...) and his fair share of fame.
Sure the fans scream for the singer (in fairness he is a great performer, really good) and he definitely gets the most attention from them, but when you talk to the professionals they know who writes the music.
They're all pretty integral to the band, don't get me wrong. Sure the singer gets more face credit but that's because he is the face. When he performs it's him performing for about 85%+ of the song. My mate takes the solos (since he's the lead) and isn't a shoddy performer either but he's not as eye catching as the singer.
I guess what I'm trying to say is it's part of the vocalist's job; they're there to catch the audience, to impress and put on a show. Everyone contributes, definitely, but the singer, the vocalist, is normally the no.1 performer and so in the fans eyes at least gets the most credit.
Because with most bands, you could replace the guitarist, drummer and others and few would notice. This singer however, your replace the lead singer and well... Its an entirely different band. As harsh as this sounds but the singer is the band. They're the leader, they're the ones raking in the cash, they're the face, they get the credit.
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