My Favorite Songwriters

I may sound like the proverbial broken record, but there's a reason I keep saying "it's all about the songs". That's because it is. Without great songs, it doesn't matter how good someone's voice is, or how blistering their solos, because those are not the ways we (or at least it's true for me) consume music. Music is given to us in song form, and being able to translate talent and ideas into great songs is a skill many either never develop, or they don't put enough care and craft into.

I know exactly what it takes to write a great song, and what is mere window dressing distracting us from a mediocre starting point. Writing songs doesn't just challenge you, it teaches you about the music you listen to. I can focus on what is important, because I know from experience what those elements are. Songwriting is a form of magic, conjuring a diamond from the ether. The greats make it look simple, but having an artistic voice that resonates with listeners is a rare feat.

Today, I will tell you about which songwriters have those voices. These are the writers who, time and again, have written songs that have made an impact on me, and sharpened those edges when time threatened to soften and erode the creases we mistake for smiles.

Jim Steinman

If I'm ever forced to pick the one person whose music has meant the most to me, who has spoken to more more than any other, and whose influence I feel is the strongest, it would be Jim Steinman. It was "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" which made me fall in love with music, and the two (at the time) "Bat Out Of Hell" records were everything to me for a long time. Now, it extends beyond that. I won't say everything he ever did was genius, but so many of his songs are what I think myself to be. I am melodramatic, I am sarcastic, I am self-deprecating, and so too are his songs. Jim's work has always been the overblown voice in your head narrating life as if it was a Broadway musical. Whether it's "Bat Out Of Hell", "Bad For Good", or even a forgotten gem like "Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young", Steinman's music is often the soundtrack to my soul.

Emerson Hart

For more than twenty years, I have maintained Tonic is my favorite band, and my faith in that has never wavered. Emerson's songs, both with Tonic, and on his solo album "Cigarettes & Gasoline", are the ones that propelled me to become a musician myself. I love the way Emerson builds rock songs from the simplest collection of notes, and how he manipulates the voicings of chord shapes one note at a time. There is a bluntness to his writing that can be taken as rudimentary, but it's an understanding of what does and doesn't need to be in a song. I love "Liar", even if the riff is just three notes. Like that, Emerson's songs are honest expressions that you don't need to gussy up an idea to make it seem more impressive than it is. Saying something plainly can often be the most powerful way. That's a lesson I often forget.

Elvis Costello

What is amazing about Elvis is his fearlessness when it comes to doing something new and different. His penchant for wordplay and sticky melodies in his early years are what I remain most drawn to, but "King Of America" is the record I may have learned more from than any other. Elvis is a songwriter who knew if you had a clever way to say something, it could cut through the tropes and conventions. Having a unique voice is just as important as knowing how to best use it. Whether you're telling a story or a truth, you need to spin a tale of interesting words well worth listening to. There are many stumbles along the way, but from "Alison", to "Oliver's Army", to "Man Out Of Time", to "Either Side Of The Same Town", Elvis kept pulling rabbits out of the hat long after we knew how the trick was done.

Tobias Sammet

There are few songwriters in the metal world who not only understand that a catchy melody is a good thing, but who can consistently write them. No one does it better, or more often, than Tobi. My journey into metal started when I heard "The Headless Game", and it continued as Edguy and Avantasia grew and developed. I loved the epicness of "The Pharaoh", the stinging heavy pop of "Dying For An Angel", and even some of the dark horse picks like the absolutely absurd "The Pride Of Creation". No one else has better illustrated that my loves of heavy guitars and hooky melodies can coexist.

John Popper

I was eleven when Blues Traveler's "Four" came out, and I didn't understand the underlying anger of the record. I also didn't understand why 'shiv-shank a yuppy' was a line on the next record. But that's actually the beauty of John Popper's writing. Whether it's an allusion to Cyrano in "Sweet Pain", or a nursery rhyme in "Let Her Or Let Go", he always throws a hundred words against the wall to see which stick. The sheer verbosity of his lyrics and melodies inspired me, and can still amaze me. Serpentine windings can lose their focus, but so many Blues Traveler songs manage to be frenetic while still being sticky tunes.

Jakob Dylan

You'll notice a theme here, where words are quite important to me. That is never more true than talking about Jakob Dylan, whose poetry on The Wallflowers' "Breach" showed me a new window into songwriting. We only need to look at "I've Been Delivered" to find all the inspiration we'll ever need. The abstract poetry is a marvel, and when it culminated in the line, "I can't fix something this complex any more than I can build a rose", I was sold. Music is wonderful, but it is incomplete without the right words to go along with it, and it is Dylan's poetry that most mirrors my own. From "One Headlight", to "Some Flowers Bloom Dead", to "From The Bottom Of My Heart", his songs have said more than words can say.

Jim Adkins

The most recent addition to this list, what Jim Adkin's songs do better than anyone else's is echo with emotional resonance. There is something to his voice, and the way it bends around simple pleas, that no one else quite matches. He was never better than when writing Jimmy Eat World's "Futures", an album that aches with both nostalgia for the past, and the pain we want to go back and feel again. But it's more than just one record, no matter how much I love it. The way "Dizzy" reminds us that having the world revolve around us would actually leave us reeling is fascinating, and so many of Jimmy Eat World's other songs know how to wring emotions out of even the steeliest of people. I'm rather awed by it.