Monkey_Driven wrote:I'm not as familiar with the recording/producing process as many others here, but doesn't the crediting of songs come down to the individuals involved?
Generally yes, but in the end it's just whoever the band decides to credit, and sometimes that's not always reflective of who actually contributed to the authorship of the song. "Lennon/McCartney" is like this.
PJ are generally pretty clear about who wrote what, though with Vs., Vitalogy, and DM, they credit the whole band, even though we know to some extent that that's not really the case (Vitalogy especially has a handful of songs that are clearly Vedder compositions).
If BOB is credited on something, it probably means he actually worked on it, since it hasn't really been their practice to give their producer co-writer credits until Watt came along. If not, I'd imagine his contributions are limited to suggestions and minor instances of "composition," similar to how each band member kind of "writes" their own part (i.e. Mike's solos) even when they're not given author credit on the song.
I think the reason Watt kind of rubs people the wrong way is because he seems like the kind of producer that inserts himself into the creative process in a way that makes him feel like a bit of a fixer/song doctor-- not quite on the level of a Desmond Child or a Mutt Lange, but closer to their end of the spectrum than to, say, the Albini end, where the producer is basically just creating a documentary of the band.
Personally I'm way more bothered by the sound of the record than I am by the writing credits.
