Who was the first band to incorporate screaming vocals?
 

I figured this would be an interesting question to ask.

Screaming as in SCREAMO screaming or a random burst of excitement?

Quite a vague question, screaming in what sense? Its utilisation as an instrument in its own right or simply a singing style?

Well, what screaming do you speak of? Earliest I have is Rites Of Spring, but I'm sure screaming existed before that.

The Beatles.
or Radiohead.

:crazy: Radiohead?

screaming throughout the entire song. not just a shout which was typical in hardcore punk like minor threat and stuff

Not my words, but a damn good answer


Screaming vocals have been used in various forms in many genres of music...not just metal
mostly used as avant garde and experimental in the use of the voice itself as an instrument - it has been used by composers for movie scores as well as opera and classical

The use of screaming has been integral in punk and hardcore to show a more direct approach and harshness to the lyrics instead of being melodic

Screaming in Heavy Metal was used in Led Zepplin by Robert Plant who tried to compliment his vocals with the riffs of Jimmy Page but came to prominence during the explosion of 80's thrash metal... It should however be noted that the vocal delivery of thrash metal is incredibly diverse; some bands such as Anthrax use much cleaner vocals, early Metallica uses very hardcore punk influenced vocals while other bands such as Slayer use more demonic screaming.
James Hetfield's thrash metal rasp was harsh in contrast to Rob Halford's heavy metal high notes, but creatures like Glen Benton of Deicide tore out their larynxes to summon images of decaying corpses and giant catastrophic horrors..

Screaming in some subgenres of heavy metal music is typically demanding and guttural. The Cookie Monster-like death growl is common in death metal. Separate forms of extreme metal vocalization can be found in black metal with a higher-pitched shriek and grindcore with either a "pig squeal" vocalization or a high pitched shriek similar to, but less throat-oriented than, black metal vocals.

Death metal, in particular, is associated with growled vocals. Death metal, which tends to be darker and more morbid than thrash metal, features vocals that attempt to evoke chaos and misery by being usually very deep, guttural, and unintelligible. Although the vast majority of death metal bands use very low, beast-like, almost indiscernible growls as vocals, many also have high and screechy or operatic vocals, or simply deep and forcefully sung vocals. Vocalists in this style have a distinctive sound, growling and snarling rather than singing the words. Making ample use of the voice distortion box, they sound as if they had gargled with hydrochloric acid.

The progressively more forceful enunciation of metal vocals has been noted, from heavy metal to thrash metal to grindcore. Post-hardcore and screamo screaming is sometimes similar to that of metal, although many screams are imbued with a more vulnerable, emotional tone.

As emo/screamo moved into the mainstream in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the amount of screaming in any given song or album could vary widely from band to band, with some bands eschewing the technique altogether or using it very infrequently, often at climaxes of songs. Emery, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Matchbook Romance, and Story of the Year are examples of bands achieving widespread success who only occasionally made use of screaming.

Although, there are bands who play screamo in the vein of bands that were around in the early to mid nineties, such as Funeral Diner, Saetia, Orchid, City of Caterpillar, etc. These bands are also known as screamo bands, but use a more intense, high-pitched scream, and usually have screaming for a whole song.

Nu metal sometimes employs screaming. It also includes shouting and rapping as well as various other styles of vocals. Jonathan Davis screams in most of Korn's earlier songs. Limp Bizkit singer Fred Durst screams and raps in most of Limp Bizkit's songs, especially in their first album. Linkin Park's singer, Chester Bennington screams in some of the songs on their records. On latest record called Minutes to Midnight in a song he screams for 18 sec.

Many other nu metal bands employ a stronger use of screaming in their music as well as more concrete metal influences (Often Groove Metal and Industrial Metal) bands such as Spineshank, Slipknot, Ill Nino, Mudvayne, Killswitch Engage and Static-X to name a few.

Pink Floyd made use of high pitched screams on their "The Wall" album and even the Beatles screamed "Helter Skelter"
on the White album

The inward scream is a more recently developed vocal technique, often used to create the 'Pig Squeal'. A consistent growl can be obtained by breathing in, firstly to obtain a gurgle. Making the inward breath more forceful by pulling in air using the diaphragm, one can imitate extremely low growls and high shrieks for extended periods of time, which would be impossible to obtain whilst exhaling. Positioning of the tongue during inward screaming can produce the high overtone heard during a pig squeal. Inward screaming has been used as early as 1994 by the Canadian death metal band Cryptopsy. Despite being almost effortless and relatively painless to perform, there is a downside: Inward screaming places a huge amount of strain on the performers' vocal cords, which can be damaged beyond repair due to overuse of this technique.

Screaming and growling can damage the vocal folds if not done carefully as in the case of Avenged Sevenfold ; however, some feel that the raw passion expressed through these vocal stylings may be lost when modulated by deliberate precautionary techniques.

Many of the hardcore metal bands consider it a sign of status to lose one's voice, one that only the most dedicated can achieve..

Glenn Branca

:laughing: And they call ME a fanboy...

:p:

The Thom yelps in Climbing Up The Walls are pretty epic.

Fortune Teller-Hot Cross is the first screamo song I remember really liking.

Refused were the first I heard

The Beatles screamed in Helter Skelter and Why Don't We Do It On The Road.

I feel that I might be wrong with this, but bands like Slayer had allot to do with it. More so Pantera though (starting with Cowboys From Hell that is, not the glam era with Terry and Power Metal with Phil) Like if you look up "I'm Broken" for example or "This Love" or "Cowboys From Hell" you'll hear much of the screaming and growling you're probably looking for.

wut.
Radiohead came around in 1985, Rites of Spring formed in 1984. If you think of screaming as a vocal technique in a general sense, I say Little Richard did a pretty good job at screaming his butt off. That was in the '50s. The Beatles screamed in Why Don't We Do it In the Road and Helter Skelter (as previously mentioned), and some thrash metal or early black metal bands must have been screamin' and growlin' before 1984.

The earliest I band I can think of to do stereotypical screaming is Cromagon.

That was... unusual. And it's from 1969?

Yep. Beats out most other screaming by several decades

this is so oddly futuristic. it seems unfathomable that it's over 40 years old. decades ahead of its time.

This is a really cool and informative thread. Kudos.

I see wikipedia tagged them outsider music (obscuro). Feel bad for them, guys, isn't that a term for artists that suck so hard they need their own genre?

naa, it just means their sound is too unique to classify. what would you call them?
I'd have to go with experimental, as vague as that is.

Proto-progressiveceltavantgardepsychscreamoblackdoomcore

A french band i think they are pretty good in the ''screamo'' genre

Sed Non Satiata '' les hommes sans visage''

But they don't predate Caledonia (1969).

Holy **** that is cool!

They're almost black metal in their sound. They'd probably be comfortable in the Nordland with Swedish black metal, if you ask me. But I am just starting to get into this kind of metal, so I am no expert...

I'm sure there was some pretentious artfart who utilized screaming as the primary vocal element of a song at least as early as the 1900s. Obviously you also have blues- someone mentioned Little Richard, also could throw in Howlin Wolf; Early Heavy Metal (which was basically louder Blues) in the lates 60s/early 70s to today. But, since this is the Hardcore section I'm gonna assume the first Hardcore screamer is what you meant.

They're not even a hardcore band really but The Screamers started in 75 and this one (recorded in 78 I think) is probably their best known song:



Then there's the obvious, Rites of Spring who started in 84:



And, while they're not screaming throughout the song there's The Sonics who recorded this in 58:



Supposedly they were a lot more "screamy" live but their mixer guy wasn't haven't it while in the studio.

Edit: This thread is from 2008?!

There were a lot of great screaming bands during the Cro-Magnon era but none of them got a recording contract. They were too far ahead of their time.

While not as harsh as Cromagnon:



Sounds like hardcore vocals to me.

Here's a better example of Gerry Rosalie's screaming vocals in my opinion - pretty much on the level of Little Richard in his prime. This was from 1965.

Their cover of "Keep a Knockin' " is among one of the best.



Now for a prime example of classic extreme R&B shouting from the classic days, I think this ranks among the Top 3 in my book, and I also feel a major influence on Rosalie's killer vocal style.



Getting back to Punk/Garage Punk, this one-shot single from The Grifs shows that the singer must have had some major damage to his vocals. I keep coming back to this song, but ever since checking this on a Back From the Grave collection, I'm seriously hooked.



Very extreme for the time.

Although Middle Class has the distinction of having what's called the First Hardcore record back in 1978, I feel that for this section, I can point to Minor Threat as being the solid standard for screaming in Hardcore. The Minor Threat EP was originally released in 1981.



Black Flag also set a major standard of vocals with screaming rage. The most influential era was their Damaged era with Henry Rollins. The album was released in 1981.


X Ray Spex seriously stood their ground with this classic feminist Punk Classic. Poly Styrene turns John Lydon's great vocals into just pure whines by comparison.




Maybe not the first band all together, but possibly the first Oi! band to make a serious influence on that scene, and one that made screaming vocals a standard for it. 1981.


Maybe not exactly screaming, but Crass' messages were pointed out to the listener by some of the most influential shouting in Punk. First released recording, 1978; this song, 1981.


Throbbing Gristle started around 1976 - this is a 1980 performance that showed that despite not being well known (at the time), they had an effect on those who heard them. Not everything was a screamer, but they were intense.


1980 saw the legendary Einsturzende Neubauten unleash their sound for the first time. Blixa Bargeld's shout turned into an influence with many singers.

You know I wish it would allow me to edit my stupid question I'm meaning what was the FIRST BAND TO INCORPORATE ALL SCREAMING INTO ALL OF THEIR LYRICS I don't need to know about bands that were in the day that the term cutting a rug was a common saying for dancing. I'm meaning what band influenced people like Pantera to scream and growl with their lyrics. Not literally just scream but to growl and scream the lyrics to the song. You know who were the pioneers of that genre of vocals?

If you're talking about heavy music with screaming (as opposed to blues music that may have incorporated screaming), the oldest I know of would be Cromagnon, who have already been mentioned. As for punk music, I'm sure it was screamy right from about '76 onwards.

I'm saying Aerosmith