Opera singer Luciano Pavarotti died earlier this month. While most pop music fans probably didn't follow his career very closely, his --and opera's--influence on pop music is unmistakable. For every great singer like Neil Young who once sang, "you were born to rock, you'll never be an opera star," there was someone, usually in the heavy metal field, who secretly dreamed of all that vocal power and bringing it to the people.

For those of you with no interest in opera, but who still wish to annoy your neighbors with lots of over-emotive bellowing, we offer the following:

Freddie Mercury of Queen: Freddie Mercury killed Kurt Cobain. Not on purpose. But, according to KC, Freddie's dedication to uplifting crowds with his sports arena anthems made KC's own career feel like a fraud. The smart thing to do would have been to join a Queen cover band and experience the thrill first-hand. But then there wasn't a grunge rocker alive who could hit those notes that made Freddie the Queen.

Rob Halford

With Amy Winehouse's father-in-law calling for a boycott of her music, you can imagine the great new material Ms. Winehouse could work up for her next album. Oh, the anger and the indignity! Songs about innuendo and the press, drugs and sobriety, weight issues and family relations, the list is long and mighty. If Amy decides to apply herself, there can't be a sophomore slump. If anything, she's been given the gift of controversy. Anything she sings will be analyzed, scrutinized, 24-hour Martinized! (A really excellent dry-cleaning process I must say).

But when it comes to parents, not everyone is a natural born Sylvia Plath. So, should Amy decide to take on her stepdad, she can always sidestep things ever so slightly with a cover!

Here are the five I would consider if I were Amy Winehouse. Though, last check in the mirror, I was sadly still me.

Fleetwood Mac--"Oh Daddy": This is the kill them with kindness technique. No one would see this coming. "Why are you right when I'm so wrong?" 

If you've been keeping up with your Yahoo! news, you've read about the woman who belted the guy at a karaoke bar for attempting to sing a Coldplay song. Now I know all about irrational behavior. Especially when it comes to music. But Coldplay? In the wrong context, they might be a little dull and irritating, but a call to violence?

Now I know millions of people love Billy Joel. Millions of people also enjoy running, so as a species we're an odd lot. But even if you love Billy Joel, you can't tell me you love hearing other people sing his songs. And there's just something about hearing a Billy Joel song being sung by someone doing it noticeably worse than Billy Joel himself that makes violence the only solution. I mean, you can ask that person to stop. But they won't. You must hit them. Hard. For everyone's sake, knock them unconscious.

One of my favorite party games is to ask what is each person's least favorite Billy Joel song. This usually takes hours. Every time the game seems to be

You knew this was coming. I warned you. I'm a man of my word and so few ideas that I've got to milk every threadbare, half-baked concept and hope to get it done before mom comes home and kicks me off her computer. Mama's looking fine today!

So songs with the word September in them--not as many to choose from as I would've liked. Kids today simply aren't using the calendar to its full potential. Sure there's a band called Thursday, but the dearth of great "Thursday" songs is appalling. Especially for such a swell day. If I had my druthers, there would also be many more songs championing the wonders of daylight savings time. But, alas, I just work here.

David Blue--"These 23 Days in September": Somebody clue this dude in. I don't know if his mom was trying to save money by buying economy-priced calendars, but there are 30, count 'em, days in September. But I like this guy, who also recorded as S. David Cohen. Even better, I liked the one review of this album where the reviewer pointed