Top 100 Living Songwriters
Paste Magazine has an article this week trying to pin down the top 100 living songwriters. Now, I am a list gal myself, but would not wish upon myself the task of quantifying the best living songwriters.
But, being the ever-emboldened music writers that they are, they rose to the challenge:
100 T-Bone Burnett
99 Outkast
98 Jay Farrar
97 Josh Ritter
96 Jimmy Cliff
95 Patti Smith
94 Sam Phillips
93 Joseph Arthur
92 Alejandro Escovedo
91 Drive-By Truckers
90 Nick Cave
89 Victoria Williams
88 Parliament
87 Lyle Lovett
86 Sam Beam (Iron & Wine)
85 David Bazan (Pedro the Lion, Headphones)
84 They Might Be Giants
83 Fleetwood Mac (Buckingham, Nicks, McVie)
82 John Darnielle (The Mountain Goats)
81 The Flaming Lips
80 Pink Floyd
79 Stephen Malkmus (Pavement, Silver Jews)
78 Robert Pollard (Guided by Voices)
77 Bruce Cockburn
76 Will Oldham aka Bonnie "Prince" Billy
75 Ron Sexsmith
74 Over the Rhine
73 Julie Miller
72 Michael Jackson
71 Vic Chestnutt
70 Alex Chilton (Big Star, The Box Tops)
69 Merle Haggard
68 Allen Toussaint
67 Conor Oberst
66 Charles Thompson (aka Frank Black/Black Francis) (Pixies, The Catholics)
65 Bill Mallonee (Vigilantes of Love)
64 Andy Partridge (XTC)
63 Richard Thompson
62 Sting
61 John Hiatt
60 Jimmy Webb
59 Jack White
58 Sly Stone
57 Morrissey
56 James Brown
55 Dolly Parton
54 Aimee Mann
53 James Taylor
52 Paul Westerberg
51 Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham
50 Public Enemy
49 Cat Stevens
48 Gillian Welch / David Rawlings
47 Sufjan Stevens
46 David Byrne
45 Jackson Browne
44 Al Green
43 Ryan Adams
42 Loretta Lynn
41 Ray Davies
40 Burt Bacharach & Hal David
39 Led Zeppelin
38 Kris Kristofferson
37 Smokey Robinson
36 Beck
35 Steve Earle
34 John Fogerty
33 Pete Townshend
32 Leiber & Stoller
31 Carole King
30 John Prine
29 Tom Petty
28 Robbie Robertson
27 Radiohead
26 REM
25 Chuck Berry
24 Jeff Tweedy
23 Elton John / Bernie Taupin
22 Lucinda Williams
21 Lou Reed
20 Van Morrison
19 Patty Griffin
18 U2
17 Holland - Dozier- Holland
16 David Bowie
15 Willie Nelson
14 Stevie Wonder
13 Paul Simon
12 The Rolling Stones (Jagger/Richards)
11 Randy Newman
10 Prince
9 Joni Mitchell
8 Elvis Costello
7 Brian Wilson
6 Leonard Cohen
5 Paul McCartney
4 Tom Waits, Kathleen Brennan
3 Bruce Springsteen
2 Neil Young
1 Bob Dylan
Thoughts? Objections? Grievous omissions?
posted by heather @ 7:02 PM
37 comments
37 Comments:
Patti Smith @ 95 seems EXTREMELY unfair.
And the dead?
Here's a short list of my favourites, in no particular order...
Blaze Foley
Buddy Holly
Townes Van Zandt
Johnny Cash
Gram Parsons
"Legs to walk
Thoughts to fly
A restless tongue to classify
All born to grow and grown to die"
"Rex's Blues" - Townes Van Zandt
"At my window
Watchin' the sun go
Hopin' the stars know
It's time to shine
Daydreams
Aloft on dark wings
Soft as the sun streams
At days decline"
"At My Window" - Townes Van Zandt
Pretty words...pretty words.
Neil Finn comes to mind right away (he wasn't on the list, right?).
Jeff Tweedy is 19 spots higher than Ryan Adams.
Discuss.
Where is Ray LaMontagne? Outkast, really? Come on. How does Josh Ritter make it but not Ray LaMontagne or Damien Rice?
I was pleased to see Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Patty Smith and Leonard Cohen and Sam (Iron and Wine).
Paul McCartney and no Lennon!?
There's no Lennon because it's the greatest LIVING songwriters. Made the same mistake myself...
This list bothers me. Where's Pearl Jam/Eddie Vedder?
Mason Jennings?
Billy Corgan?
Pete Yorn?
Oasis?
Eddie and Billy should be on there. You CAN'T tell me that Outkast is better at writing songs then Pearl Jam or the Pumpkins. Oasis along with those two previously mentioned wrote the defining songs of the 90's, but I guess that doesn't matter...
No Vedder/Gossard. I discredit this list.
No Corgan, either. WTF.
at first i tought, no Muddy waters, no Willie Dixion. no Johnny Cash, no Gram Parsons. but remember people, some of you mentioned some of those people. but then again it is Living people only. So my first objection would be no Pearl Jam, or howevery you wanna break the band down. pearl jam should be in the top 10, if not top 5. Now, i think we can talk a little more prefrence then blantent oversight. frank black- why cant we have this man on here? next, he may be sorta new, apperian in just 1999 but Jim James diserves a spot. Yo La Tengo needs to be on here almost as much as pearl jam. The Black Crowes, and possably M. Ward. I'm sure their are more i could ad to my list, but thats what i've got for now- along with my crappy spelling
"Pink Floyd" comes in at only #80? I'll just say "they should be "a bit higher up on the list."
Billy Bragg should be in here somewhere; I'm not sure who I'd knock out, but still ...
What about Guy Garvey from Elbow? Not the most famous choice, but to miss him out when he's the best British songwriter in years is criminal.
I really dislike these lists. Especially ones that are so subjective.
Since they are opinion, they are essentially not worth the paper they are written on. (or 1's and 0's they are computed with.)
Who's to say that this list of 100, which happen to be all english language, are any better than say, some french, german or japanese songwriters? Shouldn't it be listed as 100 living english speaking songwriters?
And don't get me started on them being actually ranked from 1 to 100. If you're going to do lists like these, at least leave them as a whole, for people to sift through and create their own personal order.
I can think of a dozen artists easily that I would put on a list like this, in place of many who are on it, but it's pointless.
My personal favourites are just that.
Billy Bragg would easily replace Conor Oberst.
This list is heavily Boomer-ized, therefore you see very little finesse regarding newer writers.
I'd add Rhett Miller, Billy Bragg and possibly even Josh Rouse. The Pearl Jam folks make sense too. I'd lose (or at least severely lower) Robbie Robertson. And c'mon, Paul Westerberg deserves higher than #52!
It's stoopid making these kinds of lists!
These lists are crazy tuff. I agree that there may be some inclusions here that aren't yet deserved. I really enjoy Josh Ritter, but I'm not sure he has been around long enough to know if he can remain consistently this good.
The glaring omission for me is James McMurtry.
I'm glad to see Dave Bazan and Sam Beam. However, No Pearl Jam= bad list, you could even just throw Eddie on there and I would be fine. Also, I would put Joseph Arthur much, much higher on this list, top 25 at least. My other additions would be Peter Gabriel, Ian "Jethro Tull" Anderson and Ray LaMontagne in favor of some of the other indie darlings.
I agree with 90% of those included on the list, but some of them have just not paid their dues yet. And the order is a little out of whack. And by song, do they mean in its state at the end of the production, or the stripped down, raw song itself? Kris Kristofferson should definitely be higher on the list, along with Jagger/Richards. Neil Young is incredible, of course, but number 2 is a bit much for a self-admitted simple man. I believe Garcia/Hunter were not included . . . and of those newer artists included, I am pleased to see Ryan Adams on there. When I first saw the topic of this entry, I looked away and scrolled down to make sure number one would be who I hoped it would be . . . yes sir, Bob Dylan. As long as they have number one right, I can overlook the rest, I guess.
Neil Diamond??
eddie vedder?
The Good= Seeing Brian Wilson in the Top 10
The Bad= the living half of the Lennon/McCartney team only comes in at #5? No way.
Prince better than John Fogerty or Ray davies? Doubtful...
without Van Morrison in the top 3 this list is a total waste of time - lost all credibility. move on.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I was pleased to see Ryan Adams on there and surprised he was so high. The man doesn't get the credit he deserves because he pushes a lot people's buttons - people just don't seem to care for him as a person and discredit his music at the same time.
How about Patty Griffin? Lesser known than many of the people on the list, but amazing never the less. We could have this discussion forever.
never mind, i'm an idiot. patty griffin is on there. now i feel better.
#43 my ass, especially with U2 so high. No complaints with #1 though.
Simply put, a better list could have been developed by a group of three year olds. Maybe its just me, but do people consider word play and punning undesirable? Maybe it shows a lack of intelligence on the part of the audience. Honestly, no dave matthews? Pink Floyd taking up the rear? Dont get me wrong, there are some great acts on this list, but really the order, especailly top ten seems as though they had names on the wall and threw darts to decide who went where. Call me crazy, but I guess intelligent rock is a bad thing???
how about canada's Gordon Lightfoot and Detroit's own Bob Segar?
Josh Rouse, Sam Beam, Vedder, LaMontagne? I'd even consider Brian Weil.
It's good to see Andy Partridge on there, but Ray Davies at only 41?
Come on, is there a more perfect pop song that "Waterloo Sunset"?
Not to mention "Days", "Lola", "You Really Got Me", "A Well-Respected Man" and I could go on and on.
He should be in the top ten, if not the top five, at least.
It just proves my theory that the Kinks are the most criminally ignored great band from the British Invasion.
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the blatant omition of possibly THE greatest lyricist out there today: Dave Mathews. I know what you're thinking: "hell no!" but come on, listen to the albums "Everyday" and "Busted Stuff" and you'll know why. Lyrics don't have to rhyme and/or make sense to be absolutly mind-blowing.
Oh yeah, John Mayer too. He's vastly underrated as far as I'm concerned. Just because he started out sort of popish. Listen to "Split Screen Sadness" or "Come Back to Bed" if you please.
to make a list like this is fucking absurd but whatever catches our attention i suppose. I was stoked to see ryan adams and patty griffin so high, but would have loved to have seen jrouse,evedder, and jim james of mmjacket. I am a tad indifferent to Beck (possibly due to his ego bullshit and his recent concert i saw in which he fell to pieces). But ooooo well...Jeff Tweedy: deserved top 10.
Does this list try to tell us that Adam Duritz is dead?
Where the heck is James MErcer (Shins), Ben Gibbard (Death Cab For Cutie) and Colin Meloy (The Decemberists)?
I don't think springsteen and mccartney should be in top 10.
Tom Waits, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen are the best of all
cmon man outkast?? really?
man, what happened to OASIS?
what happened to sid vicious?
metallica?
pearl jam?
cmon and paul mccartney at #5??
he deserves more
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