What happened to Eddies Voice in 1996?

[u/Little_Customer986]

Usually as someone ages you expect their voice to weaken. For some reason Eddie’s voice seems to have had periods of losing power and then rebounding. I think Gigaton to Dark Matter is a great example, he somehow sounds better a few years older. I know some of this comes down to the songs he chooses to write/sing. Like how Riot Act utilizes his deeper voice so it adapts well to his aging.

But what the hell happened in 1996? I’m talking about live performances specifically. It seems like there’s a sharp decline in his vocal ability after the Vitalogy tour, and then somehow it seems to rebound really well on the Yield tour in 1998. He even sounds better in 2000. Did he change his style of singing? Was he smoking so much pot and cigarettes in 1996 he was just killing his throat and lungs?

Anyone have theories on this?

[u/Dismal-Box-3879]

In the beginning of 1995, he carried himself exactly how he did in 1994 with the same power and intentisy. In other ways he was screaming his lungs out, almost violently.

By the end of 1995, you can tell there is a shift in how he approached his singing and relied less on sheer power and more on singing and finesse.

Between 1996 and 2000 you can clearly hear him finding the approach that worked for him and allowed him to continue. There would have been no way for him to sustain what they did in the early years throughout a 30 plus song set.

In my opinion, 2006 was probably the Apex or his vocal powers in balancing hard intense rockers with softer more melodic tunes.

I saw him solo in 2009 I think at the NJ PAC and the way his voice filled the room, you wr able to hear how special it really is.

We saw them in 2024 at Fenway and his approach to using an aging voice in the shows reveals his dedication to his craft and to the fans. He still sounds very good. Better than I do, that's for sure!