Noodles, the Offspring guitarist, recently sat down with AXS TV alongside his bandmate, Dexter Holland, and discussed how the Carpenters singer Karen Carpenter had unique vocals and excelled in reflecting her raw emotions, even in radio-friendly tracks.
It might be easy to yell, scream and use raw vocals when you’re playing an average hard rock or punk rock show, but when one’s singing much more ‘adult contemporary’ tracks, it might be a tough job to reflect raw emotions. However, as argued by the Offspring bandmates, Carpenter seemed to excel in that.
While discussing whether there were any acts they liked but contradicted their punk spirit, Noodles quickly mentioned the Carpenters and continued by saying how unique Karen sounded, as she had the talent to reflect her emotions in a way that only a few excelled. His bandmate, Holland, then carried on, also praising the singer, stating how she could reflect the darkness or heartbreak in her voice unfiltered.
Noodles on whether there were any ‘adult contemporary’ bands they liked:
“Oh, the Carpenters, love the Carpenters. Karen Carpenter was an amazing singer. There was something in her voice I don’t know how to explain it; because she’s singing these songs that are very adult contemporary, but if you listen, there’s more to it. There’s grit in there; there’s some darkness in her voice that really speaks to human nature.”
Dexter carried on:
“You can call it [Karen’s vocals] haunting. There’s something when she sings songs about like ‘love gone wrong’ or whatever, like the way she can really project that heartbreak, she makes you feel like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can really tell what she’s feeling in this song.’ So, she really brought it.”
So, it’s apparent that Karen was more than your average radio-friendly singer who sang about love and all the other things that appealed to mainstream audiences. Noodles and Holland noted how special she was and how she could easily make anyone feel her whatever she wanted to reflect.
