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Lee's the most important member of the band, imo, the best guitarist (well, O'Rourke technically was, but you know...) and the best vocalist, by a wide margin. I think Kim's vocals worked really well in their early days, the skronky more no wave-influenced stuff; I think she has tried to refine her vocals a bit as the music has also become a bit more refined and -- for a lack of a better word -- "mature". I think it took her a few albums, "BOYS GO TO JUPITER GET MORE STUPIDER" sounds a bit out of place for example. BUT once she got to Nurse, and I LOVE YOU GOLDEN BLUE, she really hit a high point. Kim's songs have pretty much been my favorite on the last 3 albums actually.
Thurston has always been consistent but hasn't really changed much throughout the years. You can pretty much expect him to sing the same notes he plays on guitar, as Lee even joked about on that one chat that one time, heheh. No, really, he's always been sassy, often double-tracked, and most of his vocals don't really wow me, nor do they disappoint me. I do think some songs on Dirty had this self-consciously "cool" aspect to them that was a bit annoying, but they seemed in jest. He's very consistent, like a guy you can always rely on, but sometimes doesn't leave the biggest impression either. Reliability and stability is very important.
Lee always leaves an impression. He's actually a bit unpredictable, but he always is very smooth in his delivery. He seems in control, even when delivering lines like "ANY YOU FREAKS OUT THERE EVER REMEMBER LENNY?" He really nailed some kind of scummy NYC STORY OF A JUNKIE thing there, for sure. I think his vocal is what makes SKIP TRACER and IN THE KINGDOM and so on, really memorable tracks. His songs are the ones I always look forward to the most, and often are my favorite song on the album. I can never think of an album where the Lee song is my least favorite, at least.
He sings like he plays guitar: sometimes wild and "untrained" sounding, but always smooth and very in control. Honestly, my favorite Lee vocal is on their Beefheart cover for "Electricity" -- which, by the way, is by far the best Beefheart cover ever -- a lot of people would have done a pure Beefheart emulation (which is impossible to do in a proper way), his handling of the material is nothing short of genius honestly.
I also like Lee's solo albums the best.
All in all, though, each member really brings something completely unique to the table. And while sometimes I wish Lee sang more songs, then perhaps the "Lee songs" wouldn't be as special. You just know every album will have one or two "Lee songs" and those are always special moments for me. His songs are always the most magical, all the way around, to me. One thing, though, it's pretty difficult to sing and play guitar, and I feel like perhaps his playing is the most complex, too, which may add to why he doesn't sing that often.
I've heard before he almost left the band because he wanted "genetic" on Dirty and Thurston wouldn't allow it. Is that true? I still haven't gotten around to reading Goodbye 20th Century, isn't the story in there? I am very curious about this, especially since Genetic is better than any song on that album...
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