10 Greatest Classic Rock Songwriters

Leonard Cohen is where rock music first started getting the recognition as a genre not just for meatheads but for actual intellectuals. While starting out as a folk songwriter, Cohen went on to become one of the finest romantics of the modern age. That wasn't the plan from the start though.

Before Cohen became a songwriter, he was actually a well-seasoned poet whose career focused on writing fiction. As he worked his way through the 60's, he gained greater appreciation for the rock lyric and decided to forego his publishing career to write songs. What came to pass were some of the most vulnerable rock lyrics ever written from the lovelorn descriptors of "Suzanne" to the love triangle present in "Famous Blue Raincoat."

While many have sung its praises in the past, Cohen's masterstroke has to be "Hallelujah," where he sees the connection between two people as a form of spiritual longing and how a relationship's devastation can leave the love-sick misguided and cold.

There had been fantastic songwriters to come before Leonard Cohen, but no one had the ability to describe human emotion in such a transparent way. After Cohen, the rock lyric became vulnerable and more human.