It seems to me that those posting here come with differing points of view:
(1) Musicians
(2) Hobbyists
(3)Those in-between
I respect those views. EX: If I, as a hobbyist, say an artist is great, a musician will most likely say that artist is "skilled". This is a point of contention here, I believe.
I believe I was put off initially by the OP's title. "Lousy vocals". This really got under my skin.
The reason it got under my skin was, the very thought of saying "lousy vocal" implies that one has NO appreciation for artists that aren't tonally correct and/or have less than optimal vocal range/ability.
This term "lousy", should have been the subject of one poster's response..."panties in a bunch".. IMO. A more appropriate term could have been, "less than stellar"? Get my drift? This would have been more acceptable to all and much less offensive to everyone!
The preface for this thread was (wrong) in it's wording by all accounts. It doesn't take into consideration the passion an artist has that can transcend spotty vocals and can make their song better than another, that may have perfect vocals.