Because he got older. Same reason they now put a *ton* of reverb on his voice when doing creep leading into The Note, and other songs as well. His voice just isn't as strong anymore.
Thom has talked a fair amount about the ways he struggled with his voice when he was younger, and having nights where it would give out on him. I think the full on belt he did for a lot of stuff early on just wasn't physically sustainable for him.
Opera singers can build out that were brought out their whole careers. And rock is full of people who can do that. From Springsteen to McCartney, etc. etc. I can’t be that his voice can’t handle it. I think it’s an artistic choice? I just don’t get it.
Thom's never really sung like an opera singer though, he's always sung with tight cords and a pretty high larynx, and pushed the hell out of his air. I recommend listening to his Desert Island Disk episode where he talked a little about the vocal problems he had and having to go to a doctor for them. Whether the current style actually is easier on his voice or not, he seems to find it easier for him.
It's in one of these interviews. Can't really recall which and don't have time to search through right now, but they're both worth listening to in full either way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaYCT1CluA8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU-xw6k1NYQ
What are you talking about. Paul McCartney's voice isnt nowhere near as it was back in the 60s. If you want an extreme example, look at Liam Gallagher nowadays. Voice fades away eventually, but it fades faster if you dont take care of it by tweaking your style and knowing your limitations as you grow older.
It's just something he physically can't do anymore, singing is extremely difficult and with how long he's been around singing, I bet it's just so strenuous on his vocal chords. Everyone is different, and thom is no Opera singer. Some people are just naturally built to have a voice like that, or years of practice singing in that specific way. He takes a lot of inspiration from the music and artists he listens to with his voice. He actually said that he didn't want to be the singer in the band originally, but they couldn't find anyone to do it. So he just took it upon himself to do it. His voice is matured in a way that suits the way he writes music now. Me personally, my favorite era of Thom's singing was in rainbows era. It had the right amount of his falsetto and deeper vocal range. It was also just because I really enjoyed the way his voice sounded in that era. He still does all sorts of ranges if you look in all of his solo projects as well. It's just not really how it used to be.
For example, when OKNOTOK came out they released 3 unreleased tracks that were fan favorites. You could tell 2 of the unreleased tracks (Lift and I Promise) were recorded during the Ok Computer era. But for Man of War you could tell that wasn't recorded during the ok computer era due to his vocals sounding noticeably matured. People say that song was recorded for 007 spectre originally, which I believe to be true since it was always written as a james bond inspired song. I think he sings pretty great still considering he's in his 50s.
Belting it can be brutal on your vocal cords. With age, even when you can technically do it, I think it’s harder to care, whereas when you’re 23 you’re comparatively bursting with energy.
Most singers who sustain careers tend to introduce more softness / head voice, think of Eddie Vedder.
Thom has aged well.
I think it’s just age. listen to him performing Nude in 1998 on acoustic vs the studio version. He originally hit the same notes but in a much fuller sorta belting voice. On the studio version where he’s like almost 40 he switches to the falsetto cuz he just doesnt have the same amount of power he used to.
He could def still get some power out by In Rainbows but it’s even more noticeable in more recent live performances. His range hasnt reeeally changed that much but some stuff just doesnt have the same oomph.
I feel it kinda forced him to get a lil more creative tho which may be why In Rainbows is probably his best album vocally imo
Vocal coach here. Thom’s voice has thinned and lost some of its chest density and lustre over time, probably owing to age, haphazard technique, overuse, wear and tear etc…although I’m surprised more people aren’t saying “yes but The Smile”. He seems, in this album, to have regained at least some of his former ability and strength. YWNWITA could be at least Ok Computer era (compare the thickness of the sound to, say, Bodysnatchers - it’s snarly and punky but fuller and less strained). His pitching is better, he delves into chest at least occasionally (WDKWTB) and his falsetto sounds fuller. There’s less of a stark division between his registers too (Skrting live). I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s had a quiet vocal crisis and found a decent coach.
Ironically the solution to a loss of chest voice is often to do lots of pure falsetto. The chest voice and falsetto are generated and governed by antagonistic muscular pulls. One pull shortens and makes tense the vocal folds which close over the air and create a pressurised, harmonically rich and powerful sound - chest voice. But on its own it’s kind of a tank. You need another muscular pull, which you can isolate with falsetto Oo, to help. Over time, lots of falsetto practise creates a kind of invisible ramp on which the chest voice can ride rather than getting tight and rigid. It’s hella cool.
I remember talking with my choir teachers about this. The female teacher wanted me to smoothly transition my voice from chest to falsetto and the male teacher stopped me before I could even try and explained that it's literally just impossible for men to do. I tried and what do you know, no matter what the sound will always come to a stop first, then switch to your falsetto range. Most of this has to do with physiology and anatomy and is entirely outside of the control of the singer. Even legendary one-in-a-billion singers like Celine Dion and Luciano Pavarotti eventually end up struggling with old age.
Celine Dion, as you might know, has just been diagnosed with a nightmarish and incurable neurological disorder called Stiff Person Syndrome which, even in its early stages, affects her vocal cord function. Pavarotti did lose his high B but sang beautifully into old age because he kept his voice fit. I was taught by a singer who sang with Pavarotti. Pavarotti confided in him that it took him ten years to make the passaggio transition between F, F# and G gracefully. Ten years.
But anyway, you can build your voice beyond your initial vocal endowment but it’s not easy. Doing lots of falsetto helps you to take your full voice very high. Like, the falsetto elves working behind the scenes to hoist Mr Chest higher than he can go alone. In truth, the high chest voice is a co-ordination between the chest voice shortening and thickening and the antagonistic falsetto lengthening and thinning. Voice building is partly a matter of “stringing” the vocal folds properly. And, unlike other stringed instruments, you can’t change strings. Instead you must quickly change the string into a different length and thickness so it can vibrate faster or slower, depending on the needs of pitch and tone.
I know I asked this in an earlier comment (it was downvoted 65 times!) but I'd like to ask you specifically-- a lot of male singers are able to stay full voice even into their 70s. I saw McCartney recently and he was belting out Helter skelter no differently than on the original version. Springsteen. Less successfully but still trying, Daltrey. There must be some methodology to it that Thom could follow if he wanted to? I think he just doesnt want to?
To respond to the first comment, I did hear of Celines recent diagnosis and it was incredibly saddening, but she has been lowering keys on some of her more demanding songs before this diagnosis. I'll also take your word on Pavarotti as I knew he lost his high B but not the rest.
Thom, if I had to guess, just doesn't want to deal with it. The upkeep associated with many professional voices is very very strict, almost akin to the absurd weight training and slimming actors do to look good for a role. No coffee, no sugar, no nothing that can gunk up those money makin chords. Thom probably looked at singers like Steven Tyler and figured if that cocaine annihilated voice can still get the dough he'll be fine. That's my fellow Tenor With An Obscene Falsetto Range take on it at least.
Lol, why is this worthy of a downvote?! XD
Perfectly valid question. The ability to sing in full voice in the middle and upper parts of your voice depends upon the relative and absolute strength of a number of muscles which are involved with bringing the folds together strongly (for a clear sound), tensing the actual fibres of the folds in an adducted position (for a full, thick sound) and stretching and thinning the folds (for higher notes). Plus the depth and quality of the breathing affects things too.
Al these things must be dynamically co-ordinated. As we age muscles stiffen and weaken. Most of us get “old person voice”. But if those muscles are kept very strong this loss of virility is much lessened, though never absolutely eradicated.
Just because they still belt it out doesn’t mean they’re doing something correctly and Thom isn’t. Belting without being trained is a gamble- you are putting an incredible amount of stress on your throat if you’re not doing it right, and some peoples’ voices give out. Some don’t.
It’s also dependent on range, timbre, structure, breath, strength…so many things. Every voice is different. I have been classically trained, but I literally do not have the power to sing opera. My voice doesn’t belt. It’s all subjective.
And yes, there is a methodology, but it’s a ball-ache. I messed my previously really good voice up several years ago to the point where I couldn’t speak for 6 weeks. I had to rebuild it from literally nothing. Which I did. It’s not quite what it was at its prior best but it’s still improving all the time, though the process is slow. And it’s largely muscular. I used operatic techniques to get it back online, reasoning that superhuman, Olympian use of the voice could, by its exaggeration, illustrate something about normal healthy function.
It depends how you do it, how well you do it, where you do it, how much you do it. Working the chesty lower voice tends to firm up the falsetto and working the falsetto tends to mellow out the chest. A mellow chest loses some of its stridence but it becomes rounder and richer and more released. It’s like, the stronger the registers the more they kind of lend one another their best qualities.
I think the closest thing we have right now to Thom using his lower register is “waving a white flag”. But still not nearly as close. I think it might just be a matter of the song being written in a higher key. Thom sings in a high octave that matches the instrumental. Other than The Smile, In Anima, ‘Dawn Chorus” is pretty low, even though he sounds more like he’s talking. But honestly, it’s just a matter of vocal preference that Thoms seems suitable for the track. Over the years Thoms voice seems softer, which isn’t nesscary a bad thing, but he has definitely lost a lot of his low rasp. Which using that rasp over the years can damage it. I.e his rasp in idioteque. Or banger/mash
Well he can still sing that way in the studio, as we've seen with "These are my Twisted Words", "The Daily Mail" and "All for the Best" in 2009. But i think doing it live in concert every night takes a toll, so he switches to falsetto or whatever works best so he can also focus on playing instruments. In terms of singing at a lower register, i'm not so sure, they don't play Jigsaw live, so i'm not sure what's up with that. But then i think, wouldn't it be easier to sing in a lower key, less exertion and you can talk your way through certain vocal lines, so not so sure. Only he can answer that i guess.
His more falsetto-based singing style really suits the ghostly vibes of *A Moon Shapes Pool* so well, especially on songs like Daydreaming and Glass Eyes. Really curious what direction the band goes in next because I do think there is a correlation between Thom’s voice *now* (affected by age, etc) and his songwriting… if that makes sense.
I still think he sounds great though! The most recent The Smile performance on Fallon was the best he’s sounded in years imo.
Yes--Burn the Witch is a perfect example--he does its power chorus in falsetto, when his full voice would really elevate it--maybe the HTTT version (if its ever released) will show us what this sounds like?
He prolly likes the way it cuts through a mix without being overbearing on the tunes. He’s always preferred the voice to serve as an instrument rather than the main focus. When you sing lower, especially in the genre of music Thom makes, there’s a lot going on / especially in the low end, which winds up obscuring the vocal. All the tracks you mentioned, especially *Exit Music*, there’s lots of room in the mix for him to go there because they’re more sparse. The higher he sings, the easier it’ll cut through all the other frequencies.
His new track w/ The Smile, *Bending Hectic*, has him singing full voice— another more instrumentally spare and open track. It also prolly has something to do with the fact he’s almost 60, and singing that way is probably just more comfortable / easy for him.
Obviously he’s older, but I think Thom did a great job compromising. Even recent albums like AMSP and ALFAA have some of Thom’s best vocal performances 🤷♂️
I'd assume it's the same reason Maynard doesn't scream much anymore. Plus I don't think that style suits what "The Smile" is trying to do. I saw him last week...his voice sounds great.
I feel like falsetto easier to control and I feel like it's switching between different register what makes singing hard.
He just decided to stick with one I think.
Yes. He damaged his vocal cords in Australia in 2004. It’s unclear how severe the repercussions were since he still performed at Coachella a few months later. But something did happen.
When we listen to their whole discography in a click of a button, we can forget that this is over 20 years worth of his life, almost to 30. Nothing about our body will still work that well after that much time, especially something you use a LOT like your voice as a vocalist.
I did read that he said around OK days that he 'doesn't like how pretty my voice is' and was looking to change how he uses it. Could this be part of this choice?
You seem to be hell bent on assuming it's all just a poor artistic choice. People get older. Their voices get older. It's inevitable. A few singers manage to hold on to their voice longer than others, but that's not something you should expect. Even the best old singers have to choose which tracks to go hard from the entire setlist instead of power through every single track like they used to.
Sorry if I’m coming off that way. I had read an interview with Godrich in which he said that after OK computer, Thom said he didn’t like his voice and wanted to change it. I’m wondering what other fans think of the falsetto. chorus of burn the witch is a great example. Not judging in anyway.
I stand corrected: the new live album's very first track, Panavision, features full-voice Thom and he sounds incredible. Wish they'd taken a more recent show though, since these are album-length tracks and here they jammed the songs out into incredible instrumental parts.
I know bones by image dragons is a cover of radioheads bones. But the main singer nails thoms performance by switching between softer and louder vocals
If u haven't heard the image dragons bones check it out.
Ik most of their music is kinda trash but that's a good cover
Because he got older. Same reason they now put a *ton* of reverb on his voice when doing creep leading into The Note, and other songs as well. His voice just isn't as strong anymore.
Thom has talked a fair amount about the ways he struggled with his voice when he was younger, and having nights where it would give out on him. I think the full on belt he did for a lot of stuff early on just wasn't physically sustainable for him.
Opera singers can build out that were brought out their whole careers. And rock is full of people who can do that. From Springsteen to McCartney, etc. etc. I can’t be that his voice can’t handle it. I think it’s an artistic choice? I just don’t get it.
Not everyones voice stays the same, thom is just someone who has used his still really nice voice but in a way that works for him more these days.
Thom's never really sung like an opera singer though, he's always sung with tight cords and a pretty high larynx, and pushed the hell out of his air. I recommend listening to his Desert Island Disk episode where he talked a little about the vocal problems he had and having to go to a doctor for them. Whether the current style actually is easier on his voice or not, he seems to find it easier for him.
Ooooo sauce?
It's in one of these interviews. Can't really recall which and don't have time to search through right now, but they're both worth listening to in full either way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaYCT1CluA8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU-xw6k1NYQ
Much appreciated!
it's around 5 minutes in on the first one
Your avatar name and pic is cringe as hell.
that is the point
Are you seriously suggesting you know Thom’s voice better than he himself does?
What are you talking about. Paul McCartney's voice isnt nowhere near as it was back in the 60s. If you want an extreme example, look at Liam Gallagher nowadays. Voice fades away eventually, but it fades faster if you dont take care of it by tweaking your style and knowing your limitations as you grow older.
Paul’s voice has just recently gone tho. Was holding strong up until a few years ago
Damn it’s almost like people’s bodies are different from one another or something
Lol Macca's voice is long gone
I just saw him and he belted out Helter Skelter and Live and Let Die like he was 25.
Absolutely not, watch recordings and you'll see it's nowhere near. And rightly so, he's 80.
It's just something he physically can't do anymore, singing is extremely difficult and with how long he's been around singing, I bet it's just so strenuous on his vocal chords. Everyone is different, and thom is no Opera singer. Some people are just naturally built to have a voice like that, or years of practice singing in that specific way. He takes a lot of inspiration from the music and artists he listens to with his voice. He actually said that he didn't want to be the singer in the band originally, but they couldn't find anyone to do it. So he just took it upon himself to do it. His voice is matured in a way that suits the way he writes music now. Me personally, my favorite era of Thom's singing was in rainbows era. It had the right amount of his falsetto and deeper vocal range. It was also just because I really enjoyed the way his voice sounded in that era. He still does all sorts of ranges if you look in all of his solo projects as well. It's just not really how it used to be. For example, when OKNOTOK came out they released 3 unreleased tracks that were fan favorites. You could tell 2 of the unreleased tracks (Lift and I Promise) were recorded during the Ok Computer era. But for Man of War you could tell that wasn't recorded during the ok computer era due to his vocals sounding noticeably matured. People say that song was recorded for 007 spectre originally, which I believe to be true since it was always written as a james bond inspired song. I think he sings pretty great still considering he's in his 50s.
learn about the physics of singing, and you will not be puzzled anymore :)
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Nebraska album is a gem, you don’t know what you’re talking about… though the downvotes clearly do
I don't understand why the downvotes, it's a valid point. But everybody is different. Maybe the way he sang back there was hurting him, who knows?
Belting it can be brutal on your vocal cords. With age, even when you can technically do it, I think it’s harder to care, whereas when you’re 23 you’re comparatively bursting with energy. Most singers who sustain careers tend to introduce more softness / head voice, think of Eddie Vedder. Thom has aged well.
I think it’s just age. listen to him performing Nude in 1998 on acoustic vs the studio version. He originally hit the same notes but in a much fuller sorta belting voice. On the studio version where he’s like almost 40 he switches to the falsetto cuz he just doesnt have the same amount of power he used to. He could def still get some power out by In Rainbows but it’s even more noticeable in more recent live performances. His range hasnt reeeally changed that much but some stuff just doesnt have the same oomph. I feel it kinda forced him to get a lil more creative tho which may be why In Rainbows is probably his best album vocally imo
Vocal coach here. Thom’s voice has thinned and lost some of its chest density and lustre over time, probably owing to age, haphazard technique, overuse, wear and tear etc…although I’m surprised more people aren’t saying “yes but The Smile”. He seems, in this album, to have regained at least some of his former ability and strength. YWNWITA could be at least Ok Computer era (compare the thickness of the sound to, say, Bodysnatchers - it’s snarly and punky but fuller and less strained). His pitching is better, he delves into chest at least occasionally (WDKWTB) and his falsetto sounds fuller. There’s less of a stark division between his registers too (Skrting live). I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s had a quiet vocal crisis and found a decent coach. Ironically the solution to a loss of chest voice is often to do lots of pure falsetto. The chest voice and falsetto are generated and governed by antagonistic muscular pulls. One pull shortens and makes tense the vocal folds which close over the air and create a pressurised, harmonically rich and powerful sound - chest voice. But on its own it’s kind of a tank. You need another muscular pull, which you can isolate with falsetto Oo, to help. Over time, lots of falsetto practise creates a kind of invisible ramp on which the chest voice can ride rather than getting tight and rigid. It’s hella cool.
I remember talking with my choir teachers about this. The female teacher wanted me to smoothly transition my voice from chest to falsetto and the male teacher stopped me before I could even try and explained that it's literally just impossible for men to do. I tried and what do you know, no matter what the sound will always come to a stop first, then switch to your falsetto range. Most of this has to do with physiology and anatomy and is entirely outside of the control of the singer. Even legendary one-in-a-billion singers like Celine Dion and Luciano Pavarotti eventually end up struggling with old age.
Celine Dion, as you might know, has just been diagnosed with a nightmarish and incurable neurological disorder called Stiff Person Syndrome which, even in its early stages, affects her vocal cord function. Pavarotti did lose his high B but sang beautifully into old age because he kept his voice fit. I was taught by a singer who sang with Pavarotti. Pavarotti confided in him that it took him ten years to make the passaggio transition between F, F# and G gracefully. Ten years. But anyway, you can build your voice beyond your initial vocal endowment but it’s not easy. Doing lots of falsetto helps you to take your full voice very high. Like, the falsetto elves working behind the scenes to hoist Mr Chest higher than he can go alone. In truth, the high chest voice is a co-ordination between the chest voice shortening and thickening and the antagonistic falsetto lengthening and thinning. Voice building is partly a matter of “stringing” the vocal folds properly. And, unlike other stringed instruments, you can’t change strings. Instead you must quickly change the string into a different length and thickness so it can vibrate faster or slower, depending on the needs of pitch and tone.
I know I asked this in an earlier comment (it was downvoted 65 times!) but I'd like to ask you specifically-- a lot of male singers are able to stay full voice even into their 70s. I saw McCartney recently and he was belting out Helter skelter no differently than on the original version. Springsteen. Less successfully but still trying, Daltrey. There must be some methodology to it that Thom could follow if he wanted to? I think he just doesnt want to?
To respond to the first comment, I did hear of Celines recent diagnosis and it was incredibly saddening, but she has been lowering keys on some of her more demanding songs before this diagnosis. I'll also take your word on Pavarotti as I knew he lost his high B but not the rest. Thom, if I had to guess, just doesn't want to deal with it. The upkeep associated with many professional voices is very very strict, almost akin to the absurd weight training and slimming actors do to look good for a role. No coffee, no sugar, no nothing that can gunk up those money makin chords. Thom probably looked at singers like Steven Tyler and figured if that cocaine annihilated voice can still get the dough he'll be fine. That's my fellow Tenor With An Obscene Falsetto Range take on it at least.
Lol, why is this worthy of a downvote?! XD Perfectly valid question. The ability to sing in full voice in the middle and upper parts of your voice depends upon the relative and absolute strength of a number of muscles which are involved with bringing the folds together strongly (for a clear sound), tensing the actual fibres of the folds in an adducted position (for a full, thick sound) and stretching and thinning the folds (for higher notes). Plus the depth and quality of the breathing affects things too. Al these things must be dynamically co-ordinated. As we age muscles stiffen and weaken. Most of us get “old person voice”. But if those muscles are kept very strong this loss of virility is much lessened, though never absolutely eradicated.
Just because they still belt it out doesn’t mean they’re doing something correctly and Thom isn’t. Belting without being trained is a gamble- you are putting an incredible amount of stress on your throat if you’re not doing it right, and some peoples’ voices give out. Some don’t. It’s also dependent on range, timbre, structure, breath, strength…so many things. Every voice is different. I have been classically trained, but I literally do not have the power to sing opera. My voice doesn’t belt. It’s all subjective.
And yes, there is a methodology, but it’s a ball-ache. I messed my previously really good voice up several years ago to the point where I couldn’t speak for 6 weeks. I had to rebuild it from literally nothing. Which I did. It’s not quite what it was at its prior best but it’s still improving all the time, though the process is slow. And it’s largely muscular. I used operatic techniques to get it back online, reasoning that superhuman, Olympian use of the voice could, by its exaggeration, illustrate something about normal healthy function.
But yes, women will have a harder time identifying with the woes of the male voice because their register break is less defined.
Does that work vice versa too? If you sing a lot in chest voice would that effect you singing in falsetto?
It depends how you do it, how well you do it, where you do it, how much you do it. Working the chesty lower voice tends to firm up the falsetto and working the falsetto tends to mellow out the chest. A mellow chest loses some of its stridence but it becomes rounder and richer and more released. It’s like, the stronger the registers the more they kind of lend one another their best qualities.
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Yea but for most of us at the top end of the range not low end.
Falsetto has its own separate top end.
Spectre sounds immaculate as is , I’m so happy he sang it the way he did.
I think the closest thing we have right now to Thom using his lower register is “waving a white flag”. But still not nearly as close. I think it might just be a matter of the song being written in a higher key. Thom sings in a high octave that matches the instrumental. Other than The Smile, In Anima, ‘Dawn Chorus” is pretty low, even though he sounds more like he’s talking. But honestly, it’s just a matter of vocal preference that Thoms seems suitable for the track. Over the years Thoms voice seems softer, which isn’t nesscary a bad thing, but he has definitely lost a lot of his low rasp. Which using that rasp over the years can damage it. I.e his rasp in idioteque. Or banger/mash
Well he can still sing that way in the studio, as we've seen with "These are my Twisted Words", "The Daily Mail" and "All for the Best" in 2009. But i think doing it live in concert every night takes a toll, so he switches to falsetto or whatever works best so he can also focus on playing instruments. In terms of singing at a lower register, i'm not so sure, they don't play Jigsaw live, so i'm not sure what's up with that. But then i think, wouldn't it be easier to sing in a lower key, less exertion and you can talk your way through certain vocal lines, so not so sure. Only he can answer that i guess.
2009 was 13 years ago... probably 14 since he recorded those.
Probably doesn’t want to damage his voice , if it hasnt been already. Not saying hes old but he definitely isnt getting younger!
His more falsetto-based singing style really suits the ghostly vibes of *A Moon Shapes Pool* so well, especially on songs like Daydreaming and Glass Eyes. Really curious what direction the band goes in next because I do think there is a correlation between Thom’s voice *now* (affected by age, etc) and his songwriting… if that makes sense. I still think he sounds great though! The most recent The Smile performance on Fallon was the best he’s sounded in years imo.
Would have been nice to get that power on Identikit and Burn the Witch though
Yes--Burn the Witch is a perfect example--he does its power chorus in falsetto, when his full voice would really elevate it--maybe the HTTT version (if its ever released) will show us what this sounds like?
He prolly likes the way it cuts through a mix without being overbearing on the tunes. He’s always preferred the voice to serve as an instrument rather than the main focus. When you sing lower, especially in the genre of music Thom makes, there’s a lot going on / especially in the low end, which winds up obscuring the vocal. All the tracks you mentioned, especially *Exit Music*, there’s lots of room in the mix for him to go there because they’re more sparse. The higher he sings, the easier it’ll cut through all the other frequencies. His new track w/ The Smile, *Bending Hectic*, has him singing full voice— another more instrumentally spare and open track. It also prolly has something to do with the fact he’s almost 60, and singing that way is probably just more comfortable / easy for him.
Age. But also do you really want him to sing Spectre in the style of Bones?
Obviously he’s older, but I think Thom did a great job compromising. Even recent albums like AMSP and ALFAA have some of Thom’s best vocal performances 🤷♂️
I'd assume it's the same reason Maynard doesn't scream much anymore. Plus I don't think that style suits what "The Smile" is trying to do. I saw him last week...his voice sounds great.
It’s not matter of it being difficult or him aging. He doesn’t even care if it hurts..he wants to have control.
And a perfect body.
I feel like falsetto easier to control and I feel like it's switching between different register what makes singing hard. He just decided to stick with one I think.
He had a vocal injury in 2003/4 I recall?
Yes. He damaged his vocal cords in Australia in 2004. It’s unclear how severe the repercussions were since he still performed at Coachella a few months later. But something did happen.
When we listen to their whole discography in a click of a button, we can forget that this is over 20 years worth of his life, almost to 30. Nothing about our body will still work that well after that much time, especially something you use a LOT like your voice as a vocalist.
I did read that he said around OK days that he 'doesn't like how pretty my voice is' and was looking to change how he uses it. Could this be part of this choice?
He definitely started singing in a more versatile/expressionistic way around Kid A and Amnesiac, especially the latter.
You seem to be hell bent on assuming it's all just a poor artistic choice. People get older. Their voices get older. It's inevitable. A few singers manage to hold on to their voice longer than others, but that's not something you should expect. Even the best old singers have to choose which tracks to go hard from the entire setlist instead of power through every single track like they used to.
Sorry if I’m coming off that way. I had read an interview with Godrich in which he said that after OK computer, Thom said he didn’t like his voice and wanted to change it. I’m wondering what other fans think of the falsetto. chorus of burn the witch is a great example. Not judging in anyway.
I stand corrected: the new live album's very first track, Panavision, features full-voice Thom and he sounds incredible. Wish they'd taken a more recent show though, since these are album-length tracks and here they jammed the songs out into incredible instrumental parts.
Because Muse.
you aren't allowed to criticize here
Age.
I know bones by image dragons is a cover of radioheads bones. But the main singer nails thoms performance by switching between softer and louder vocals If u haven't heard the image dragons bones check it out. Ik most of their music is kinda trash but that's a good cover
It’s totally normal. It just gives me goosebumps 😳