An unexpected top 10

So I've been working on my application to study songwriting at Belmont, and one of the questions is about your favourite songwriters. I thought I'd poke through my iPod and see which songwriters crop up the most. The results were interesting:

Blink 182 – 106
George Michael – 46
Beatles – 33
Jack Johnson – 31
John Mayer – 31
Queen – 30
Craig David – 29
Will Smith – 27
Muse – 27
RHCP – 25

The presence of Blink 182, George Michael and John Mayer is no surprise to me. Chances are I will list them as my three primary influences. Queen and RHCP were a big part of my teenage years, and still influence my glam rock and funk rock leanings respectively. My love of RnB and rap is neatly surmised in Craig David and Will Smith, though Eminem, the Neptunes and various others almost made it on the list. Jack Johnson makes sense, even if I don't see him as a big influence stylistically, because there is some similarity of style with my acoustic stuff.

What I was surprised by was how high on the list the Beatles are. Many of you may know my opinions on the Beatles, but for those that don't, here's a quick summary: they're overrated, not in their impact, obviously, but in their quality. They were good songwriters, but were prone to awful lyrics, especially early on (I Wanna Hold Your Hand, for example). I don't like Lennon or McCartney's voice, or what I know of them as people. The only one who seems to have been a tolerable human being was George Harrison.

I especially dislike many of the arrangements, which are frequently twee or don't suit the song, for which George Martin is often to blame. Sometimes the arrangements are perfect - Back In The USSR is a simple surf rock song with a simple surf rock arrangement; there's an uncomplicated but majestic brilliance in the string quartet of Eleanor Rigby; the casual cool evoked by the stunning drum pattern of Come Together borders on the iconic. I don't think my reaction against them is based on their popularity, although some small part of it might be. Ultimately, I appreciate them as songwriters, if not as a band (interestingly, I recently came to the same conclusion about ABBA).

There were lots of bands who affect my writing I was surprised to see not on there. Oasis, for example, have had a massive influence on me, as well as a lot of 80s, funk and pop rock - Alanis Morisette, Bryan Adams, Crowded House, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Bon Jovi, Santana etc., not to mention modern stuff, obviously disadvantaged by fewer albums - Goo Goo Dolls, The Darkness, The Kooks, Orson, The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, Incubus, Keane, Lenny Kravitz, U2, Rooney. There's not a lot of old school stuff or a single musical theatre writer in there, like Cole Porter, Andrew Lloyd Webber or Stephen Schwarz (although he just misses out). Jazz is not represented, no Joe Sample, Jamie Cullum, Dave Koz... I deliberately left out neo-classical soundtrack music, otherwise Howard Shore, Hans Zimmer and John Williams would dominate.

I suppose it's the nature of a top 10 list, and obviously, I've only included songwriters, so there are other singers and performers missing. But still, my tastes are quite varied while the list is quite narrow, and if you'd ask me to guess beforehand, I'd have definitely got it wrong. Anyway, feel free to contribute your own top 10 lists.