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Deft incision into the most salient argument at hand.
However I think there is a case in pt. that are exceptions that might make us have to re-examine your otherwise very helpful rule that (as I hope I'm doing justice to in paraphrasing) at the least, good rock/pop vocals (and I agree that the mise-en-scene of the vocals make or break all acts) should have aggression, or, failing that, *assertiveness* in them. And white folks (of which I'm one) can't legitimately claim that black folks didn't do it each and every instance, better and before, them. The one seminal, exception that I'm wrestling w/ myself over though is:
--Nick Drake
His vocal assertiveness is unworldly in its understatedness. As unworldly as Robert Johnson, et al, were, themselves, I've yet to hear anything Drake's vocal style (never mind his guitar)owes to the blues. Some of his arrangements? Yes, certainly, based in Jazz. But his vocal delivery?-- all his own. "Black Eyed Dog"...sure, inspired by the intellect of Johnson. But a mere aping of the original? Absolutely not. The first earth had ever heard such a thing.
