Best Rock and Roll Songwriters - Week One

Dear Readers,

I thought it might be fun to compare notes on which Rock Bands or solo Artists we think are the best songwriters. To this end, I have compiled a list of some of the biggest names, the legends; I each week I will take two of them and argue the merits of each and choose the band or artist I consider to be superior. I will have to objectify the criteria somehow - some system that would perhaps try to assign some weight to areas such as lyrics, composition, volume of work and originality. I am sure that the list of bands I have selected for this competition will not make everyone happy - part of the rationale that I used in the selection process was based upon whether or not I owned enough of each band's music (so that I could go back and listen to the best of each) to make a reasonably well informed argument concerning whichever band is deemed to be the best. Here is the list I came up with:

The Animals
The Beatles
The Beach Boys
The Doors
Elton John
The Rolling Stones
Bob Dylan
Joni Mitchell
Neil Young
Crosby, Stills and Nash
Chuck Berry
The Eagles
Led Zeppelin
Credence Clearwater Revival
Eric Clapton
Blondie
Bob Marley
Bruce Springsteen
The Clash
Buddy Holly
The Grateful Dead
Jimmy Hendrix
The Kinks
Nirvana
Patti Smith
Pink Floyd
The Police
REM
Simon and Garfunkle
Lou Reed
Pete Townsend
David Bowie

So what do you think?