100 GREATEST SONGWRITERS OF ALL TIME (REACTION)
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Larry Graves AKA Canadian Studmuffin is from Trenton Ontario Canada and has been creating original videos on TH-cam since February 2006. I have many videos on rock music, including reaction videos.
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The most glaring omission is Jeff Lynne.
how is Taylor Swift a better song writer than Kate Bush ?? oh that's right RS knows best !!🤣
Gordon Lightfoot
This list is a joke without Gordon Lightfoot.
Lennon and McCartney are seperated because together they would have to be higher than Dylan and this is rolling Stone after all!
Jeff Lynne should be there.
Top 40. So many great songs. The recent ELO albums have been quite good.
Madonna has never written a song by herself in her entire career. So, if any of the songs to which she made songwriting contributions truly warrant her inclusion in this list, surely it could only be as part of a team. Somehow, Carole King fails to make the list except as part of a team, despite writing several extremely famous classics WITHOUT Gerry Goffin, while Madonna is given the entire credit for songs largely written by others who this list fails to acknowledge at all. Make that make sense!
The idea that Madonna is a more significant songwriter than George Harrison is laughable, and would be particularly galling to Harrison if he were alive, given how much he despised her as a colleague.
Just the fact that Taylor Swift is in here instead turns my stomach.
The days of original groundbreaking songwriters has well passed.
This is why I stick to the classics. It was the renaissance age of songwriting.
There were at least three glaring omissions: Roger Waters (Pink Floyd), Ian Curtis (Joy Division), and Frank Zappa.
Nothing from prog rock: Ian Anderson, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Jon Anderson, Jeff Lynne, and Roger Waters all wrote great songs. Same with Kate Bush, JJ Cale, Donovan, Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, Sting, Tracey Chapman, Stephen Stills, and Warren Zevon,
No PG? Rolling shame. How many times have I had Carpet Crawlers in me head?! Oh right, R Kelly is wayyyyy better 🤔
I would put Lennon at Number 2 and McCartney at Number 3.
Not really my cup of tea but the guys from ABBA should be way higher.
Bjorn and Benny are absolutely brilliant. I love ABBA
Yeah! Abba and Bee Gees should be top-20!
Missing; Justin Hayward from The Moody Blues. Jon Anderson from Yes. Pete Ham from Badfinger. Steven Wilson from Porqupine Tree and solo.
All very worthy for sure. Pete Ham was such a great talent. What a waste.
Because R$ is a farce.
Tom T. Hall above Abba? Immediately I'm angry. But then again I knew I would be. Bee Gees are criminally low. I'd drop Dylan down to 3. I'd include Jeff Lynne and Partridge/Moulding from XTC. Stephin Merritt from Magnetic Fields, Neil Finn from Crowded House and Split Enz. Waters/Gilmour. I guess we'd have to deconstruct the term songwriting to understand some of these picks. Does having a lot of hits immediately make you a great songwriter? Interesting.
Yes on the Andy partridge and Colin moulding.
ABBA should be in Top 20 -- easily. Brian Wilson in the Top 5. Seriously, Marley is better than Wilson? Another stupid list! And there are 20 brilliant Tin Pan Alley songwriters who should be on this list: Berlin, Gershwin, Porter, Cahn, Van Heusen, etc. They are all worse than Green Day? What a joke. And NO GORDON LIGHTFOOT? For shame! He belongs in the Top 10. How soon they are forgotten...
Bad enough having Madonna on the list at alll but to have her higher than Petty and Harrison is a crime.
It depends what the criteria is though doesn’t it? Madonna has certainly had more success even than George Harrison as a solo artist. Are we judging based on commercial success, how artistically good the songs are considered to be, or how much influence they have had on the rest of music?
Madonna‘s influence on music and popular culture is much bigger than either Tom Petty or George Harrison as individuals.
Surprised at the lack of Martin Gore from Depeche Mode or Robert Smith from The Cure. Pet Shop Boys are also criminally underrated in these things.
Where's Page & Plant?, Kate Bush???????
Hi Larry. Great video from you again. Some interesting choices in there. I would have thought Jeff Lynne might have made an appearance as he was so successful
All the best. Dave✅✅
Another entertaining video, Larry. So many great songwriters that 100 is probably not a long enough list. Glaring omission for me is Warren Zevon.
Should be called "Top 100 english speaking" songwriters!
Peter Gabriel? Kate Bush? Sting? Tracey Chapman?
I would definitely add Mike Scott from The Waterboys
Hello Larry. One name i haven't seen turn up in the reactions so far is Graham Gouldman, writer of a lot of 60s hits (Yardbirds, Hollies, Herman's Hermits, Mindbenders, Mockingbirds) not to mention his output for 10cc.
I love 10cc and have their first few albums.
How does Richard Thompson not make this list? Ridiculous.
Yes, Richard Thompson is a great songwriter. And he has maintained his quality songwriting over the decades, whether it’s with Fairport Convention, his albums with Linda, or his solo work.
Just for 1952 Vincent Black Lightning
I put RT at number one, but as per my comment above, this is really a list of hit singles and the people who wrote them, and not actually meant to be a list of great songwriters.
Damn, Rolling Stone turned into a joke for real. Taylor Swift??? Seriously??? Billie Joe Armstrong? What has he done beyond recycling Buzzcocks riffs? Pathetic.
Glad to see Morrissey and Marr and R.E.M. on the list. Would’ve been cool to see Robert Smith of The Cure, Sting, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel and Martin Gore of Depeche Mode.
Definitely missing Damon Albarn from Blur/Gorillaz he is one of the most accomplished and varied songwriters still going today. Would also put Connor Oberst of Bright Eyes.
I don’t think it’s weird to separate McCartney and Lennon. A lot of their Beatles songs were individually and McCartney also takes the edge solo-wise for me 😊 glad they both made top 3 though. Personally Bowie should have been a lot higher in my opinion.
Lyrics solo wise by far John, melody and song composition goes to McCartney
Benny and Bjorn 🎉GET IN THERE!🕺🏽 I’ve been on an ABBA kick recently. Good list although I would have Lennon higher than McCartney. From that list I would have Bob Marley and Brian Wilson in the top 5….maybe…. I’ve already forgotten much of the list. Some others I like that were left off are:
Bon Scott
Jimi Hendrix
Black Sabbath
Marc Bolan
Ian Curtis
Billy Bragg
Shane MacGowan
Jello Biafra
Phil Lynott
Ice Cube
Midnight Oil
Iron Maiden esp Steve Harris
Judas Priest
Paul Hewson - Dragon … not Bono
and….that’ll do for now
Todd Rundgren hmm
I would have Hunter/Garcia more up on the list, R. Kelly not on the list, and I believe the reason Lennon & McCartney are separated is because of their solo songwriting careers, and in Paul's case, Wings.
Laura Nyro "probably influenced more successful songwriters than anyone " Elton John, 2007. In November 1969 Nyro songs were at 1, 2 and 10 on Billboard. Rickie Lee Jones rates her as America's best songwriter and Alice Cooper rates her higher than Lennon McCartney. Nyro's influence of artists across genres is astounding, just some are: Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, Paul Stanley, Peter Buck (REM), Steven Schwartz (Wicked), Kanye, Patti Smith, Todd Rundgren, Elton John, Narada Michael Walden (Mahavishnu Orchestra) , Morrissey, Kate Bush, Suzanne Vega, Elvis Costello, etc, etc. You can see short youtube discussions of Nyro by Elton John/Elvis Costello, Todd Rundgren, Alice Cooper, Sara Bareilles, Narada Michael Walden who went on to become songwriter and producer for Whitney Houston. Nyro was David Geffen's first artist under management from 1968 - she features heavily in the doco Inventing David Geffen, who considered her the greatest artist on the planet. Nyro's 2012 induction into the Rock Hall of Fame is the most watched - Bette Midler's unedited speech is phenomenal. The two other great professional songwriters apart from Max Martin of the last 50 years are Dianne Warren and Desmond Child, who named his son Nyro. The 'carpenter's wife' in Dylan's Tangled up in Blue is a reference to Nyro. When Dylan first met Nyro at a party thrown for Janis Joplin by Clive Davis, the first thing he said is ' I love what you do' and then they retired to a side room to chat. When Paul Simon taught songwriting at Columbia he told his students not to listen to Nyro because she broke all the rules of songwriting. Dylan was the cultural icon, Simon was the great craftsman and Nyro was the great innovator. The Djokovic, Nadal and Federer of songwriting. Nyro passed in 1997 from ovarian cancer aged 49.
MIA: Neil Sedaka, Krieger/Morrison (The Doors), Page/Plant (Led Zeppelin), Marriot/Lane (Small Faces), Clarke, Hicks, Nash (The Hollies), Gene Pitney, Jerry Reed, Hoyt Axton, Brooker/Reid (Procol Harum), Michael Nesmith, Ham/Evans (Badfinger).Stephen Stills, Roy Orbison, Moulding/Partridge (XTC) Warren Zevon, Jeff Lynne
A list one can never agree on.
I really look for something different when thinking of songwriters than Madonna or Jay Z.
I'd add Richard Thompson, Paul Weller and Andy Partridge & Colin Moulding (XTC), as well as Joe Jackson. Also Kate Bush definitely is missing.
Omitting Page & Plant for me is understandable. Honestly, lyrics were not their strongest skill.
Bacherach/David. Ray Davies
Lennon and McCartney should be there together and they should be number 1 their solo careers should be separate and they still would be in the top ten
Rolling Stone definitely haven't got time for Jethro Tull. How can you leave out Ian Anderson? The Abba boys would've been in my top 20 for sure. Can't complain about the top 3 though. They are the best songwriters of all time. Surprised too that Bryan Ferry and Warren Zevon have been omitted and of course, Page & Plant.
Bowie at 39? Later.
Cool video. Always love the ASMR long-form runs of the great Larry Graves. I'm seeing Dylan tonight for the first time!
Hope you enjoyed it! Glen Kellaway saw him last year and he said he was great!
Holland Dozier and Holland were great songwriters. Tom Petty is way too low. Paul Simon definitely top 10. He was prolific, varied, and melodious. Dylan sounded like ass but was tremendous writer. Peter Gabriel is missing as someone mentioned below. Donovan, Bob Seger and Lindsay Buckingham also belong on the list somewhere.
Gordon Lightfoot should have been somewhere on the list
Of course some of my favorite songwriters are missing here. The biggest omission for me is John Denver. John Denver never makes any of these lists and he’s written some huge hits. He’s the only songwriter I know who has two songs that have become the theme for two different states. Also Jim Croce, Harry Chapin, Lionel Richie, CSN, Ed Sheeran, John Mayer, Chris Martin, Queen, Carly Simon, Chicago, Garth Brooks, and Phil Collins should be on this list.
Taylor Swift yay!!!
So underrated and underappreciated!
On second thought....I really, really really want her to go away....corporate drivel 🤮
Lennon/McCartney should’ve been #1 - Paul McCartney #2 - John Lennon #3.
Very enjoyable. Thank you, Larry. For me the most glaring admission would have to be Warren Zevon. It's so sad that his legacy is fading away. And as you mentioned how can Led Zepplin not be in the top 100? Eric Clapton too.
gordon lightfoot where is he ? not in top 100? if you could read my mind ? wreck of the edmund fitzgerald ? early morning rain? carefree high way? need i go on
Freddie Mercury should have been on this list
Would’ve loved to make room for Ian Anderson, Andy Partridge/ Colin Moulding from XTC and Ian Hunter. I think David Byrne , Peter Gabriel deserved a mention as well. But overall a good list for Rolling Stone and #1 was absolutely correct, it’s gotta be Dylan
Since no restriction was specified to musical genres, surely Andrew Lloyd Webber should be there, probably in the top 10? At least one Lloyd Webber musical was performed on Broadway every night for 44 consecutive years! Classic songs include Memory, Don't Cry For Me Argentina, I Don't Know How To Love Him, The Music Of The Night, etc. Webber wrote the music and had collaborators to write the lyrics, most famously Tim Rice.
What about Cole Porter, then?
The age of great pop songwriting was the 50's, 60's and 70's. People like Paul Williams, Carroll King, Carley Simon, Paul Simon, Gordon Lightfoot, even Willy Nelson...
Taylor Swift should definitely not be on that list
Glen's going to be happy about who's at #1! SPARKS and TOOL and RUSH and dare I say even KING GIZZARD would be on my list!
But still, they didn't do too bad of a job on this list. I understand their choices. It's not how my list would go!
Given that most Rolling Stone lists are garbage, I was actually surprised that this list was semi-respectable overall. Yes, there are some questionable inclusions, silly ranking choices, and glaring omissions… but that’s a given. (I think they purposely make these lists controversial so they will generate more clicks.) I was glad to see the nod for Paul Westerberg, even if I would personally put him much higher.
He would never make it on a Rolling Stone list, but Paul Weller deserves to be recognized even if he isn’t well known to American audiences. His songs from The Jam are enough to place him high in my rankings, but he also wrote several hits for the Style Council and has had a very successful 30+ year solo career.
Here are some of my favorite songwriters:
- Warren Zevon
- Russ Ballard
- Vic Chesnutt
- Mike Batt
- Pete Townshend
- Chuck Prophet
- Albert Hammond
- Tuomas Holopainen (Nightwish)
Glad to see relatively high placings for my favorites Ray Davies & Leonard Cohen & can't argue with # 1. Think Jeff Buckley would have been near the top had he lived.
With just a single album it would be hard to justify. He should have had a huge career.
Taylor Swift shouldn't be in the top 2,000,000.
I believe the reason why they separated John Lennon and Paul McCartney was because they both had solo careers, just my opinion. 😎👍
Lennon over Macca.
john denver should be top 10 and paul McCartney should be #1 easily. paul williams should be on the list and burt bacharach both high on list but this list is put together from younger generation l am sure.
Yeah, I forgot John Denver. Amazing songwriter! I didn't notice Bacharach wasn't on it. But thank God Babyface is on the list. Another great one is David Gates.
Hard to argue with Dylan at 1. Personally I would have Lennon ahead of McCartney
No Tori Amos?
Have you done any of your own lists?
btw i agree with you about Sparks.
Yes, many lists on my Canadian Studmuffin channel through the years including a songwriters top 10 a few months ago... th-cam.com/video/FwQCH6fi6Wc/w-d-xo.html
Did I miss David Byrne??? Is that a glaring error
These are nearly all song writers from the 50's onwards or from some ethnic slot but if something's good it's good for ever so George Gershwin and Cole Porter aren't even considered? Or Sammy Cahn, Or Duke Ellington or Rogers and Hart - when all of them out class all these guys on the list melodically, structurally and lyrically? I'm from rock roots but the talent of the names I've just mentioned can't be denied and their stuff seems eternal; to miss all of them off this list is not just unjust it betrays the philistine roots of the compilers.
"Lists are good, lets make a list.." Michael Scott to Pam in Dream Team episode Season 5 the Office.
I'll fall over dead if Jonathan Richman Makes it. Yep still here.
Serge Gainsbourg should be on the list. He was the man in the french music scene in the 60s and also 70s, he wrote for many other artists and whole soundtracks for movie and has a very poetic but also controversial (scandalous) way of writing songs. One of his written songs won the eurovision song contest, and his hit with his girlfriend Jane Birkin was the first non english number one in the UK.
Bob Gaudio, Peter Hammill, John Lydon, Minnear/Shulman, Kate Bush, Roger Waters, The Weeknd, Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel deserved to be there instead of guys like Madonna, Kanye or Taylor Swift.
I get why there is no Plant/Page (half of their songs are lyrical thievery from old country and blues artists).
The Notorious B.I.G. was great but for such a short-lived career, someone like Black Thought (with such a great and long catalogue) should have been instead. André Benjamin/Big Boi should also have been instead of Eminem probably. Heck, maybe even Kendrick should have been there instead.
I also think James Taylor, Petty, Waits, Newman, Prince and Costello should have been way higher.
Stevie Wonder and Brian Wilson should have been #6 and #5 respectively, and Paul Simon should have been #1 with Dylan being #2 and McCartney being #3.
This is really not even intended to be a list of the greatest songwriters. This is simply a list of hit singles and the people who wrote them. That's is the only reason why I'm not incensed by it.
Try to imagine a list that was actually about songwriting but left off Richard Thompson. Yeah, I couldn't either.
Given all the pairs on the list, I agree it was weird to separate Lennon and McCartney. But given that they did, I would have swapped the order.
Two people I knew would not be on that would be in my top 10 are Ani DiFranco and Eddie Vedder.
Hi Larry. One guy who should be on any great song writer list would Elias McDaniel [ Bo Diddley ] inventor of the Bo Diddley beat one of the most covered and imitated Rock and Roll song writers ever. Willey Dixon should have been way higher every Blues and Rock and Roll band pretty much ever has covered his songs. Chuck Berry should have been higher as well for many of the same reasons.
Did I miss Pete Townsend on the list? If so that's an awful omission. I don't have a problem with splitting Lennon and McCartney. I would rank McCartney #1, Lennon #2, and Ray Davies #3. After that I would have to give it more thought. Brian Wilson, Pete Townsend, David Bowie and Elvis Costello would all be top ten. Bob Dylan would likely land in lower half of top 20 for me. I wouldn't rank Page and Plant too high. They lose points for how many times they directly lifted from old blues songs without giving credit. For me they are about the sound they made and the performance more than the songs per se. Harry Nilsson would rank very high for me as well. I would remove all the rap-ists because I don't consider it to be music. This list was not as horribly bad as some of the other recent ones you covered. I have no problem with Dylan on top even though I don't personally rank him that high. I respect him more than I enjoy him.
I’m very surprised but also very glad that Lou Reed was included here. 👍😁
I find it curious that R Kelly and Kanye West make the list despite their transgressions - an uncharacteristic bit of “separating the art from the artist” from, of all publications, Rolling Stone magazine. It’s rather ironic, given how glaringly obvious the influence of ideological considerations that have nothing to do with music always is on their “greatest of all time” lists. I can’t imagine either performer would appear anywhere on the list if they had done the things they’ve done, but didn’t also tick certain boxes the compilers of the list were desperate to tick, to the extent that it trumps any other consideration.
Taylor Swift is on there but Nick Cave isn't. Make that one make sense.
Cue comments from all the older people being sniffy about Taylor Swift! No generational prejudice going on whatsoever - and these same folks wouldn’t be very happy if young people dissed their favourite music from the past.
The American perspective finds the American number one, of course. Lennon and McCartney (in any order) is the only correct choice for number one and two.
I would've put Stevie Wonder in the top 5
For a once in lifetime happening, Rolling Stone has put Paul McCartney before John Lennon in something. Jann Wenner would have fired columnists for less
Ok, so I’m kind of satisfied with the list. I agree they should have group Lennon/McCartney together. It would have been nice if they had Crosby Stills and Nash on the list, and it shocked me that Page and Plant wasn’t on the list.
Brian Wilson should be top 5
No Paddy Mcaloon.!
Whats up with that?
agree with you paul simon could be number 1. Imagine if you could lock paul mccartney, elton john and paul simon in a room see who comes out with a song first
Yeah, it’s seriously a dumb idea to separate Lennon and McCartney. I guess Paul was above John because he’s alive and therefore he has a wider discography.
It really doesn’t make much sense to include them only as a duo, given that the majority of their most highly regarded songs were written by one or the other, not both. They aren’t a songwriting duo in the mould of Goffin and King or Rogers and Hammerstein. “lennon and McCartney” is largely a legal fiction for the purposes of publishing.
They each deserve a place of this list, as individuals. They would do so, even if you only included what they each wrote after the Beatles broke up. But if you include the dozens of great songs that each wrote, solo, for the Beatles, but were misleadingly credited to “Lennon and McCartney”, it’s beyond question.
Im up to number 29. hoping its paul mccartney and bob dylan and john lennon 1 and 2 and 3 either way. agree elton john and taupin should have been higher. neil young in the top 10 too. love ray davies too
Cohen has to be in the top 10
also why not seperating Lennon and McCartney, when they had such big solo careers with good songwriting aswell
No Sting? That's quite peculiar
In time Cohen and Prine will reach their proper places.
Thanks for another entertaining list Larry. For me the greatest omission is Todd Rundgren. Look forward to the next one!
This was a good list for once. Although Tom Petty being #59 was way too high. Hes top 15 for me.
You mean way too low.
Yep, Petty would be #2 on my list.
No Page / Plant...
No Lee / Lifeson / Peart...
No Roger Waters...
Also,
No Robert Pollard...
No Bob Mould...
I know they're not household names, but they deserve a shot to be on this list.
Enough glaring omissions to fill half the list, not to mention positions on the list. But one songwriting team not mentioned deserves mentioning - the duo who in their heyday were touted as the next Lennon-McCartney…Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford of Squeeze.
No Page/Plant? and they have Madonna?
When he didn't crack the top 30,I knew Warren Zevon wasn't going to be included. RS just doesn't get it.
I agree as Zevon is in my top ten but he seems to be fading from collective memory fast. Maybe someday a popular film or video game will use one of his tunes and he can be rediscovered.
It makes sense to me to have Lennon and McCartney separated since they both had such prolific solo careers
I’d put Nick Cave in there but he’s not really on Rolling Stone’s radar. I wonder when this list was made? The Swift entry stops in 2014. I suspect she’d be ranked higher now post Folklore and Evermore.
Ron of Sparks #1!!!
Did you see Paul McCartney? Dress up is him in his music video?
Am I mistaken or did they leave out the guys from Queen? They Freddie and Brian should at least be on this list for sure. Of course Ron Mael will always be number one for me.
Rolling Stone always hated them
Did I miss something was George Harrison on this list
Yes.
By the criteria they seem to use, Robert Lamm from Chicago wrote most of the hits in the seventies, somewhere around 10 to 15. Just sayin...
Yes, Robert Lamm Definitely Belongs On This List!! He And James Pankow Are In The Songwriters Hall Of Fame!! Rolling Stone Apparently Couldn't Give A Crap!!
Rolling Stone lists aren't questionable--they're listicles!
If John Phillips is being excluded from these lists because of nefarious deeds (which I don’t disagree with at all by the way) - why is R Kelly on here?
Also, Noel Gallagher should have made the cut. As well as Page/Plant, Gordon Lightfoot, Stephen Stills, Roger Waters/David Gilmour, Syd Barrett, Peter Green, Lindsay Buckingham. A lot left off.
Hey Larry I'm curious why you put out videos like this on this channel instead of your CSM channel. I'm assuming there is a strategy involved to maximize viewership and engagement, but I don't understand it.
No strategy at all. I have two channels so I can usually put out two videos a day instead of one. These reaction videos started doing well on this channel, so I have just kept doing them as my viewers seem to enjoy commenting on them.