Top 5 Song Writers Of The 80's

Agree completely with Springsteen, Prince, Byrne, and Westerberg.

Others I would nominate, in no particular order:

Elvis Costello
Marshall Crenshaw
Tom Waits
Grant McLennan/Robert Forster (Go-Betweens)
Bob Mould/Grant Hart (Husker Du)
d boon (Minutemen)
Lou Reed (his best solo work was done in the 80s, IMO)

Finally, Lucinda Williams first came on the scene in the 80s, but did not produce her best work until the 90s. She is at or near the top of my list of top songwriters of the 90s.

Mark Knopfler
Noel Brazil
Paul Simon
David Byrne
Neil Young

Tom Waits, Sam Phillips, Prince, Dylan, Costello

Some very good choices above. I'd agree with a bunch o' 'em. And I'd like to add: Roddy Frame (of Aztec Camera), Mike Scott (the Waterboys), Paul Buchanan (the first two -- and best two Blue Nile discs, I believe, were released in the '80s), Paul Weller (with the Style Council), and the great songwriter and guitarist Tom Verlaine. That's five, but I don't feel good about having left out Thomas Dolby, a terribly good songwriter who I was lucky enough to see a few months back. Seen from this decade, the '80s don't look too bad, do they? I'm gonna go play an Aztec Camera disc. Thanks for putting the notion in my head.

Peter Prescott (Mission of Burma, Volcano Suns) - incredible intelligence and perspective, timeless observations on life. Artful and honest.