[Wolfstar]

The pseudo-black stylism that includes screeching, trilling, 20-notes-per-syllable, falsetto and other vocal gymnastics crammed into virtually every song by even the few gifted singers around today is a huge turn-off to me. The purity of the music is buried under the weight of such vocal theatrics. Sometimes simple and understated really are better. It also doesn't help that so many "artists" these days can't sing a note, so they rely on recording studio wizards to manufacture their voices. No matter who the "artist" is, they all wind up with the same mechanical sound. And it doesn't help that all the female vocalists look like cheap hookers, and the males look like the broken-down winos I'd see on the Bowerie in lower Manhattan when I was a kid.

[Revolting cat!]

The pseudo-black stylism that includes screeching, trilling, 20-notes-per-syllable, falsetto and other vocal gymnastics crammed into virtually every song by even the few gifted singers around today is a huge turn-off to me. The purity of the music is buried under the weight of such vocal theatrics. Sometimes simple and understated really are better.

I couldn't have said it better. The funny thing is that what you call "pseudo-black stylism" has been most often heard on recordings by, gasp, black, and mainly female, vocalists. Go figure! Very annoying to us, very impressive to the musically illiterate. I seem to recall that Valerie Simpson of the late years Motown duo Ashford & Simpson had her part in inventing it.

(This is off the pissing match topic but I couldn't help commenting on your excellent observation. Cheers!)