Who are the most over rated and under rated singers in rock and roll history? Why?

This is just one person's opinion

over rated- Robert Plant, Stevie Nicks, Paul McCartney a few others.. of course, they all had/have successful singing careers and I don't so who am I to judge??

Under rated - Bruce Dickenson, Robin Zander, Ronnie James Dio, Justin Hayward, Jeff Lynne

Why?? Just my tastes. I know really good singers in local bands that no one will ever hear outside of this area and they will never be heard on the radio or make million selling CDs, but they love what they do and have a big following. you've never heard of these people ( most likely) Bruce Foley from Guarenteed Irish or Jill West of Jill West & Blues Attack. They can really sing!

Over-rated

Kurt Cobain, studio magic is amazing.

Bob Dylan- don't you have to be able to sing to be a great singer?

Axel Rose- If GNR didn't have such a great guitar player, Axel would have gotten nowhere.

Robert Plant- ugh.. don't even get me started

Bruce Springsteen- I must be missing something.

Janis Joplin- If she was a great singer, so is my neighbors cat..

Under-rated

Tom Waits- under-rated, and over looked in general

Mike Patton- most people were so distracted by the song epic they never even noticed he could sing.

Roy Orbison- As somebody mentioned before, he was more talented than elvis, just didn't have the looks.

Elvis Costello- You know, the Elvis with talent?

Lou Reed- Different is good.

I think Mick Jagger is the most over-rated of all time. I loathe the rolling stones.

And the most under-rated would be Harry Nilsson. Practically nobody has even heard of him!! But he's definitely in my top 10 artists of all time.

Under-rated:

Stevie Nicks

Peter Green

Mark Knopfler

Ian Anderson

Jimi Hendrix

Lindsey Buckingham

Meat Loaf

All of them have a unique quality to their voices. They may not be 'perfect' singers, but each one's vocal style fits the songs they sing.

this question is all personal preference.

overrated artists

Tom Petty...i love his songs, i just think his voice is bad

Bob Dylan...of course

Brian Wilson....leader of one of my favorite bands, but he used a lot of tricks to make his voice sound that good.

Neil Young....great music bad voice

Ted Nugent....

underrated artists

Roy Orbison....probably had the best range in any male singer. was an ugly man so he never got the kind of exposure elvis got. would probably never make it today cause of his looks

Freddy Mercury had a huge voice

Robert Plant has one of the most unique voices i've heard

Kurt Cobain isn't really known for his voice but he actually has a really good range and a unique style of singing.

The Best R&R singer of all time has to be John Lennon. He had a raspy voice that was great for screaming or he could make it real smooth for acoustic songs. that guy had a great set of lungs considering he smoked his face off.

underrated:

Mike Patton (undoubtedly the most talented singer of our time)

Layne Staley

Brian Tatler

Ian Gillan

Ronnie James Dio

Sebastian Bach (NOT the composer)

Shannon Hoon

Mathias Nygard

Chuck Schuldiner

overrated:

Angela Gossow

James Hetfield

Steven Tyler

Kurt Cobain

ZP Theart

Over rated - Axel Rose

Over rated- Chris Cornell. I just don't see it.....

Under rated- Cedric Bixler Zavala. The Mars Volta is his band, he has a phenomenal voice. I thought it was a girl at first, it's so beautiful.

Over rated- kirk cobain, he was a horrible singer, good song writer tho.

underrated- mike love, he has a great range (he's a beach boy)

The most over rated is Elvis. He was so popular because he was the Marilyn Manson of his day with all his "lewd sexual hip shaking" as they called it back in the day. But I have listened to him a few times and his voice is horrible. A close second would be Prince. Great guitar player but horrible singer.