Andy may be better than KD its hard to tell, also feel that Dustin is great but relies heavily on his band to push his material to another level. I think we can agree that they are all great... I love kevin devine but he isn't in my top 5 like Brand New, Thrice and Manchester.
I was going to go on a limb and say that his response may have been a reaction to you making a hot take using the word "better", rather than "prefer", "favourite" or something more appropriately subjective. Given that it's hard to ever say music is objectively better, especially when comparing one new song to huge, respected discographies. But now I see he does want to argue about "better"...so never mind. Guess you guys can argue about who is a better song writer or band, what era of each of their's is superior, etc.
Ok guy. I get what I said was a hot take. But I will stand by that this song is far better than "cute". And I definitely think Andy is better than Jesse. For example, Andy has never written anything close to as bad as "The champ goes down like a clown in the second round" Or the "withered and bony, exposed for a phony" line. I will give you the KD bit though, I love KD and he is one of my favorite songwriters. I still think Dustin can be too heavy handed. Anyways lets just agree to disagree I suppose
I Can Feel a Hot one and the final two tracks of METN are some of the most powerful songs I've ever heard.
Wait, really? Those four dudes all write similar music, have similar audiences, and have extremely impressive catalogs. Any real disagreement over who's 'better' is a matter of taste, not a matter of credibility. And I would guess that given the fact that KD and Andy are close friends who have a project together, and that Andy and Dustin just went on a solo tour together, and that Jesse is best friends with KD, they themselves would think your comment is absurd. I love all four of those songwriters. And they all love each other's music. Ranking them is one thing; acting like there's a self-evident order with Andy Freaking Hull at the bottom of the list is a different thing entirely.
If I had to guess, if you asked Dustin, Jesse and Kevin about Andy Hull's songwriting ability, every one would say he's better than them. They all would say that about the other ones- there's a mutual respect and love between all of them, by all accounts. It's just so weird to me to think that fans would be so hostile about a subject like that.
Andy's approach to writing is so much more oblique than the others', especially DK. Seems weird to say one is obviously better than the others when they're all great writers and it's all a matter of how clearly you want to hear someone write about a subject.
Was technically my fault for claiming Andy as the better songwriter. I was being defensive and lashed out. I would say I prefer his writing to the others, even if I love all of their writing in different ways.
It also depends on how much output and how much diversity you're looking for. Andy/KD/Dustin have all juggled vastly different projects all at once. Jesse has given us three absolute classic records, but has also been more sparse than the other three, and hasn't (to my knowledge) branched out nearly as much. How you feel about the side/solo projects will have a big bearing on this conversation (and is why Andy and Dustin would be at the top of the heap for me, personally). But the point is that they're all clearly musical peers. It's not like comparing apples to oranges here. I think they'd all be insulted at the notion that fans were using their music to degrade any other one's (and rightfully so).
If you like all of Andy's output (and I do), it'd be easy to say that he's a more well rounded and diverse song writer than the other three. Although Dustin's solo and worship stuff would give him a massive argument as well. 'Better' is subjective, for sure. But I wouldn't blink at anyone saying any of the four were the best, because they're all fantastic.
Nah, Andy's vocals arnt nearly as good on that record as the last three. Nobody sings anymore just seems like a lot of imitating, didn't have their own voice yet. It's my least favorite Manchester record but it's still good
I think it's because I'm not a fan of his voice past METN, which was spotty. He's such a great songwriter it'll never stop me from loving the band, but I liked his more smooth vocal style.