Floyd-less Gilmour

Worst Lyricists

Maybe Sting should start writing more instrumentals. The school teacher-turned-rock star topped list of the worst lyricists, thanks to lines that betray "mountainous pomposity (and) cloying spirituality,". Rush drummer Neil Peart is at No. 2, Creed frontman Scott Stapp at No. 3, Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher at No. 4, and soft-rocker Dan Fogelberg at No. 5.
Sting is condemned for such sins as using name-dropping Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov in the Police tune "Don't Stand So Close to Me," quoting a Volvo bumper sticker ("If You Love Someone Set Them Free"), and co-opting the works of Chaucer, St. Augustine and Shakespeare. Canadian rocker Peart's lyrics are considered "richly awful tapestries of fantasy and science," and Gallagher "seemed incapable of following a metaphor through a single line, let alone a whole verse."
Further down the ranks, Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant (No. 23) was derided for his Tolkienesque musings on Gollum and Mordor in "Ramble On."
Carly Simon (No. 31) was mocked for rhyming "yacht," "apricot" and "gavotte" in "You're So Vain."
Paul McCartney made No. 38, thanks in part to "Ebony and Ivory," his socially conscious duet with Stevie Wonder.
Love statistics? Check out the Blender list of 50 Worst Songs Ever.