There are some people out there who don't like female singers. This is something I've never been able to understand. To say nothing of the ignorance of blunt, nuanceless blanket statements, those people are missing out on some of the best screams in music. I don't mean high pitched horror movie screams, I mean rock n' roll screams. We're talking the opening of Immigrant Song and Welcome To The Jungle here. Screams of rebellion. Kim Shattuck of the Muffs can scream along with the best of the them and my personal favorite has always been Oh Nina, a song that I'm sure was built solely for the purpose of allowing Kim to scream as often as possible.
Still, as much as I love Kim and Oh Nina, and even Immigrant Song, my all time favorite screams are June Carter's during Jackson, live at Folsom Prison with Johnny Cash. He brings her up on stage, she says the single most embarrassing thing I've ever heard on record (more on that in a second), then takes the first verse himself. Which is fine. Johnny Cash is one of the greats. But the song hits another level when June starts her first verse. She attacks it, growling into the first line, turning her gravelly voice into a weapon. By the time she gets her second verse, she just lets loose, letting each new line grow in the back of her throat. The effect is visceral as the words are more felt than heard.
The fact that this performance comes immediately on the heels of her initial comments makes it even more striking. A transcription of the exchange: Johnny: "I like to watch you talk." June: "I'm talkin' with mah mouth!" and she starts to say something else, but Johnny (seemingly out of embarrassment) quickly cuts her off saying to the band: "Alright, let's do a song." She went from "I'm talking with my mouth!" to one of the most cutting vocal performances I've ever heard. Wow.
The Muffs' Oh Nina
Johnny Cash and June Carter's Jackson
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