Please don't sing us a melody

A fairly big pet peeve of mine is when when people sing along to pop songs (whether they be rock, hip-hop, country... whatever) in their "pretty voices."

Yesterday, one of my coworkers was singing very melodically along with the Beatles "I'm Looking Through You" in this soft, passionate way like it was "Yesterday" or "Amazing Grace". The problem is that the glory of the imperfections is lost; "You're not the same," instead of being this coarse, assertive holler that -ahem- fits the music turns into this loungey whine. Blegh.

My favorite part of "Build Me Up Buttercup" is the "WhhhhYYYYY do you..." Specifically, the "WhhhhYYYY" because it's a dry. strained exhale that just builds all the tension for the chorus. This part gets mauled by sing-alongs all the time. It's like the entire song is getting sold out in one second.

And these are the most fun parts to sing. So, I just cannot stand it when someone sings over them with their crappy, trying not to sound crappy crap crap voices. I mean, what fun is singing along with Bob Dylan if you don't contort your voice like a Cirque De Soleil clown... What's the use of a rendition of "Beast of Burden" without an accentuated imitation of Mick Jagger singing "Pre Ty Pre Ty Pre Ty Pre Ty."

There are people out there wasting the best moments of pop music with their classically-trained for karaoke voices; IT NEEDS TO STOP!