Bono - U2 I love Bonos lyrics cause they always tend to be so blobal. he leaves them so open ended that even though 99.9% of U2 songs have one specific meaning Bono writes in such a way that it's easy for the listener to relate to the lyrics in their own personal way.
Robert Smith - The Cure Possible my favorite lyricist. He's the only guy I've heard that in 3 consecutive songs can write lyrics reflecting the deepest sorrow, the darkest anger, and the most bubbley happines and not lose any flow on the album
David Usher - Moist/David Usher seriously underrated in my opinion in Canadian music. The way he sings his lyrics may have alot to do with the appeal. I don't know, they just come across alot of the time as angelic or ghostly. I love it.
David Pirner - Soul Asylum Nothing to deep here with Dave. He useually writes in story telling form and I like it. It's simple and it works. He's just really good.
Those are probably my 4 favorites. To be honest I've never really found Axl's lyrics to be all that interesting, even back when they were my favorite band(currently 2nd fav.) To me they're nothing overly deep about them nor is there anything that seems overly emotional. All the emotion I get from Axl comes from his voice which as we all know kicks some serious fucking ass. I guess that's why I've never been a huge fan of the Gn'R ballad.
No doubt Axl writes good lyrics an melody but based soley on the lyrics I wouldn't rank him in my top 5. Though he does have some absolute moments of brilliance such as Coma and Locomotive.
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