Robert Plant vs Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury was way better....and that's not slight to Plant.


Its just a reflection of how great Mercury was.

Plant's one saving grace as a vocalist was his scream. It sounded raw and powerful before he lost it sometime in the late '70s. Freddie Mercury is one of the few singers that could match him on that front. In every other aspect, Mercury was so much better than Plant that it's really no contest.

Freddie Mercury and it's not even close. This is coming from a big Plant fan.

Just weeks before his death Freddie recorded The Show Must Go On with the rest of the band and his voice still sounded incredible, as frail as he was at the time.

The Show Must Go On

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I like Robert Plant because the power in his voice and the sound of it.

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Music is subjective. Certainly you're not alone in being a fan of Robert Plant. I, myself, am a fan of Zeppelin and Plant's solo work. But, he is more of a vocal stylist than a singer.

Freddie Mercury is almost the gold standard for rock singing voices. I don't want to say there is no comparison, but there is little, purely as singers.

Now, as great a front man that I think that Mercury was (and again, maybe the Gold Standard for rock music), Plant is right there with him in that regard. When I think of a non-instrumentalist (or only lightly on instruments, particularly for live shows) front man, Mercury comes up, again, but so does Plant and only a handful of others (Jagger, Dickinson, Halford, Coverdale).

By "front man" I mean a leader, face, voice, who also contributes composition, particularly lyrics. Daltrey, for example, while a great singer for The Who, is harder to put with the others because the band was far more Townshend's than his.

straight men usually like plant more

gay men prefer mercury

it's a preference

Seriously? Mercury wins hands down. There are times where Plant's voice was utterly intoxicating to listen to(mainly Zep's debut album and Rock and Roll) but as his career went on in the band, his started noticeably lacking power and sounded screechy(I point to parts of Led Zeppelin III, Black Dog, Misty Mountain Hop, Over the Hills and Far Away, The Crunge, Dazed and Confused in Song Remains the Same movie, All My Love and Fool in the Rain. This just reflects on my listening experience of Zeppelin albums and there was a difference as their career progressed.

For Mercury, until he passed from AIDS, his voice always possessed power and range. His was in ways comparable to an opera singer, which was remarkable knowing he had a penchant for smoking cigarettes. One of his final performances, the studio recording of The Show Must Go On, is a testament to his consistency and longevity.

Also, I ultimately prefer Daltrey's raw style to Plant's, always consistent and slightly more country.

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I know some will agree and definitely disagree but what are your thoughts on the matter?

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This isn't nearly as close of a debate as what it's being made out to be.

Mercury performed opera during his down time. That's not something every rock singer can claim.

No other male singer during that era had Mercury's range or power. Oddly enough, despite being a homosexual his vocals were usually more masculine and commanding than Plant's.

There was an interview conducted with Bon Scott years ago which involved him commenting on Robert Plant and Led Zeppelin as a whole. Now I'm paraphrasing here, but Bon essentially likened Plant's singing style to that of a teenage girl.

While this quote might seem ludicrous to fans of Led Zeppelin, and it is admittedly hyperbolic, it's hard to deny that Plant's voice was not nearly as macho as many of his peers. Granted, this style allowed him to stand apart from other lead vocalists at the time, but I don't see how anyone in good conscious could place Plant ahead of someone like Roger Daltry of The Who, let alone Freddie Mercury.

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Robert Plant vs Freddie Mercury

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And I think Robert Plant's best songs (whether it be part of Led Zep or his own songs such as Angel Dance) blow away anything that queen came out with...in my opinion of course.

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So is the debate regarding songwriting abilities or vocal capacity?

Freddie Mercury on this sounds amazing

Father to Son

Just so many intoxicating riffs in the favor Zeppelin, just couldn't touch.