DustyDrB said:
One thing that will make me shiver (like, actually god damn shiver) is when singers do that thing where they draw out one syllable of a word and warble it or...whatever. I don't know what you call it, so I'll have to find an example.
The technical term for all the obnoxious inflections is melisma. You could have just linked to any Mariah Carey song, as she's the queen of that noise.
I wholeheartedly agree with rough singing being more appealing as well. The main reason I hate American Idol and shows like that is that they sing songs which in their original incarnation were often legitimately great songs, and then they bring out some people with technically great voices but who have no singing personality. Like, they get flack for being pitchy and then they get told a bunch of trash about singing from the heart or gut or something. I don't know how I would describe it better but everyone either sings like they "have attitude" or "know heartbreak." All the singers I like sing in imperfect voices that suggest something hard to describe but nonetheless resonant with me, not some easily categorized attitude.
My supporting argument:
Mick doesn't have a great voice, but listen to how he holds his notes and how he barks his way through the chorus, and then compare with 99% of modern popular artists.
Technically good voices and interesting singing are not mutually exclusive. I submit Marvin Gaye, Cat Power, Beach House, the Beach Boys, and Neko Case as proof of that. It's that if I had to choose, I'd go with interesting over good every time
Also, most electronic/techno/house/trance/dubstep/etc tracks that just repeat one little hook with different volume or effects for ages and ages. Even worse is dubstep doing that before cutting to a patented whub whub breakdown. Repeating something over and over isn't an effective buildup in and of itself. It has to be done right, and most electronic people don't do it right in my book. Dubstep is again the worst because the breakdown is supposed to be the cathartic moment, but there was no buildup to it at all. It's just lazy and uninteresting music making in my book. I'd rather have well done buildup with no release then five minutes of whub whubbing.