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Old 07-14-2017, 06:47 PM
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Originally Posted by Gregsynthbootlegs View Post
It's definitely painful to hear Jon sing on the SWW Tour. Poor guy. The effort was there and the passion was there - but the voice was completely broken. He's lucky he didn't permanently damage his vocal cords on that tour.

Slightly different take on Jon's shot voice. If Jon didn't constantly smoke - his voice would be much closer to his prime years (early 90s) and his technique would not have slipped.

The reason his voice is completely awful today has nothing to do with the improper singing he did in his early career, or the SWW Tour vocal trauma. All those events happened in the early/mid 80s. Proof? Take a listen to his singing on the New Jersey album and the tour that supported it. His voice and singing were steps ahead of what he was doing on previous albums (and tours). His technique was a bit better as well. He worked with a coach during that time and his singing on a technical level got better throughout the late 80s into the early 90s. He relied less on a "throaty" chest-pulled tone (which strains the vocal cords) and started mixing more head voice into his belts. Take a listen to his singing on Keep The Faith and those amazing live performances he did throughout 1992 and 1993. There's a change in his singing style - it's a bit less raw and more refined.

While he wasn't the most technically accomplished singer, he did build up a solid enough technique in the early 90s to be able to sing pretty much anything in his catalog and sound great. The trouble is that he started constantly smoking in late 1994. That took its toll on his voice starting in a subtle way - vocal stamina issues:

While he was still singing great on the 1995 tour overall and sounded great - there are some subtle signs that the smoking was causing early permanent damage. One sign that some people have (correctly) pointed out was the thinner and lighter tone he started getting. His range was intact and the belts were still strong, but there's awkward moments throughout the tour where he forces his mid range notes (trying to pull chest higher up to hit notes with power) and either misses his mark or sounds really rough. The smoking also started reducing his vocal stamina live and making his register switching and blending less than stellar. These negative effects were further developed on the 1996 leg. When you combine a long tour with an unhealthy smoking habit (which then beats at your vocal cords) it's just a disaster waiting to happen.

One positive thing that the 1986-1987 vocal blow out did, was it forced Jon to get a vocal coach and some training to be able to keep his instrument intact. If Jon continued to sing in the same style as he did pre-1988, he would likely have no singing voice within a decade.
Sorry, I don't agree with any of this!!!

First off, I don't blame the Slippery years for taking Jon's voice... I blame the Slippery years, the New Jersey years, and even the Keep The Faith years... A decade of strain, bad technique, and abuse is what I blame. Jon screaming with his high pitched signature scream throughout the entire New Jersey tour is what I blame...

Like any other damaged muscle, you can pound the heck out of it when you are young but it will definitely catch-up with you later on in life... Age also takes on a natural regression in most men as well... It's a fact that most male voices deepen with age. I do agree that smoking is the worst thing Jon could have done but I don't think it's the contributing factor... His voice was already declining before he started smoking...

I recently went to a Brett Michael's show and also watched some recent footage of Sebastian Bach and it's all the same for them too...

Back in the 80's, Rock Stars didn't last this long and I don't think Jon was looking 35 years ahead.. If someone told a 23 year old JBJ, "if you continue to sing like this, you probably won't be able to sing 35 years from now", He was probably like, "who cares, as long as I could make it to 20 I'm good" Just saying!!!!
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