i have to say pearl jam. eddie vedder's voice makes me goosepimpley and jeff ament's bass playing is how i want to be on the bass.

Tricky one.

As a song writer Mike Patton has to be up there.
So does Mikael from Opeth.
Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys is also pretty damn good.

Can't really decide, but Patton might pip it.

Uhm... That's a hard one. Ã…kerfeldt, I guess...

Hmmm, my top 5 individuals would consist of: Devin, Mike Patton, Dean/Gene Ween, John and John of TMBG, and Tom Waits, in no particular order.

I'd also have to give Trey Spruance (Mr. Bungle, Secret Chiefs 3) and the late Chuck Schuldiner (Death) honourable mentions in the songwriting department...

Mikael Akerfeldt, Burton C. Bell...loads more!

I'd have to go with Steve Vai and Jordan Rudess. Unique and in total control.

Bob Dylan.

Tom Waits

Bob Dylan.

Haha amen! I wear my Bob Dylan shirt more than any other shirt I have

I'd also have to give Trey Spruance (Mr. Bungle, Secret Chiefs 3) and the late Chuck Schuldiner (Death) honourable mentions in the songwriting department...

Trey Spruance definitely deserves a nod - if not for his work with Bungle, then definitely for his work with Secret Chiefs 3. His composition skills have come a very very long way!

Mmh yup', Dev' is #1, so:
#2 I'd say Patton, oh, and Spruance for None Of THem Knew They Were Robots, and pretty much all Bungle.
and #3 Gotoh Masafumi : Singer & rythm guitarist from Asian Kung-Fu Generation. I usually don't really like the actual "rock" scene (by rock I mean whatever crap pop with some guitar in it played relentlessly 20 times a day on the radio) which often slides to emo or punk, or soulless electro-crap, there are so much names that I can't remember... Simple-plan maybe ? All I know about them is their single but it REALLY annoys me, Cold Play was cool at first, but after 20 times the same song with just different titles... and so many other), but AKG works well with me.
It's a Japanese rock band that makes great tunes, nothing epic like Dev', nothing technical either, the singer hasn't the vocal range of Dev' nor Patton and I guess I couldn't stand the lyrics if I could understand (mostly talking about love or something), it's 'just' pretty good songwriting and chords progression, cool harmonies or dissonance here and there, some songs are more catchy, some more mmh "deep" ?, etc etc...
(look at itunes for some videos and lives)

These days?... Hmmm, gotta be Meshuggah or Necrophagist.

It's hard to choose.

..honorable mention:

i've had to think long and hard about this one, but i reckon Adrian Belew is the man.
after hearing his solo stuff and loving it, i recently discovered king crimson and their currently blowing me... away

..honorable mention:

yeah, what a genius.
...and i have to mention that im going to see the eric bell band play tonight.

..honorable mention:

I don't know who he is but....
goddamn those moustaches