Ennio Morricone without a doubt!
ROCK: Focus (Dutch Band with Jan Akkerman & Thijs van Leer), Mick & Keith from Rolling Stones, Lennon & Mcartney, Kurt Cobain, Deep Purple, Mark Knopfler, Neil
Young, Jimi Hendrix.
POP: Benny & Bjorn from ABBA, Bjrk, Madonna.
RAP: Dr.Dre (producing), RZA (producing), Marley Marl, DJ Premier, MF Doom.
SOUL: Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Isaac Hayes, Barry White, Isley Brothers.
And also look especially at the ELECTRONIC genre wich is more like classical:
Aphex Twin, Benno De Goeij (from Rank-1), Ferry Corsten, Thomas Bangalter, Liam Howlett, Chemical Brothers.
Producers: Phil Spector, Rick Rubin
these guys were/are all enormously versatile musically skilled musicians in their own right!

You forgot Lil' Wayne, Lady Gaga and Justin Beiber.

Phil Collins is probably one of the greatest rock drummers to have lived. His jazzy, complex drumming on albums like Selling England by the Pound or Foxtrot are nothing short of awe-inspiring. And he's a pretty good singer to boot.
Unfortunately, his pop music was just soulless baloney.
~ I am the tiny voice inside your head.

All joking aside
Phil Collins
The man is a great producer, song writer, drummer, and performer. He can play lengthy, complex prog rock and make sweet, catchy pop masterpieces.
Whether you're a fan or not the man cares about his music, isn't in it for fame or money, and worked his ass off for four decades.

Milano was to the Stones what Hamburg was to The Beatles. There is a lot of Celentano in Mick.
With Monica Bellucci:

Keith Jarrett would be one.
Also the guy who Mick his groove. Jagger met James Brown years later.

W. Axl Rose. One the surface he is crazy and eccentric, maybe he really is, but the man can create great music. The Chinese Democracy album is a masterpiece in modern rock that is not touched by anything in the last 25 years. The amount of detail of the music going on is staggering. Axl is a musical genius and it shows when you compare GNR work with Velvet Revolver and Slash's Snakepit. Axl was the mad genius behind GNR's greatest work in both the Slash and post-Slash eras.

Jethro Tull is one of the few popular rock groups that can be compared to the classics.
The OP is either a joke or infatuated with pop music, nickleback is pure garbage

Classic thread, especially when some of you took the TS seriously.

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I was going to say the late great Freddie Mercury - born into a privileged family, well-educated, musically and artistically gifted, loved having a good time (on and off the stage), shy and private in real life, died young.

Perhaps Andrew Lloyd Webber is the closest we've got to a modern Mozart. He's been around for decades and is virtually synonymous with musical theatre. Yes, I know his output has been limited in other areas, and Mozart wrote in every style for every audience, but I think the idea is valid.
Mozart's operas accounted for a large measure of his fame in Europe. I've been involved in musical theatre for 20-odd years and I don't know anyone who disparages the status of Lloyd Webber. They're not equal; they can't ever be. But they both have that inerrant sense of melody and that dramatic, sometimes playful skill in music that makes you sit up and listen. They never fail to surprise.
I saw a documentary in which a speaker claimed that Lloyd Webber was the "most influential artist to ever work in the genre of musical theatre" and I thought, "Hang on, what about Mozart?"
In their vastly different styles, I'd rate them almost equally in their influence on musical theatre.

So, Chunk, did you read my comment, above? 'Modern music' isn't necessarily three-minute pop songs - what about my list of modern composers of concert music? Or any others of your choice?

OP, are you beep kidding me? You put a list together of a bunch of mediocre rock bands, pop stars, and other sellout musicians and you want to compare them to Mozart? I bet every artist on that list (with the exception of a few) are NOT real musicians with any real musical capabilities. You would be surprised how many modern music acts get other professionals to write their stuff for them.
Besides that, none of them, NONE have any music talents comparable to Mozart's. They write, sing, and play very simple three-chord progression pop music. The only one that comes close to any admirable musical qualities might be Beyonce or Adele. Beyonce has a very powerful voice as does Adele, and Adele has a classic feel with traditional musical instruments in it. With that being said, neither of them still have the instrumental complexity or musical theory behind their songs that Mozart had.
Modern music with Mozart is so incredibly distant it's like comparing apples and oranges. You just can't compare them. Mozart is a classical music genius of a different era. Modern music is watered down crap put together to fit on the radio for three minutes.

Oughtn't we to be looking at composers of concert music, not rock/pop or whatever?
John Adams, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Thomas Ades, John Taverner, Judith Weir
Or even, because Mozart's music was part of the popular culture of the day, film composers like Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman, John Williams.

How can anyone compare modern day Pop/Rock singers and bands to Mozart or any of the composers of the Baroque, Classical and/or Romantic period.
If you're going to try you have to look at singer/songwriters and musicians who can write, sing and play their own instruments. Why is Beyonc on the list? She's a singer and that's it. She's not much of a writer or instrumentalist.
I would have included eclectic singer/songwriters like Tori Amos for example.

Obvious troll is obvious however I will answer this nontheless.
i will answer as well. i agree with those who said Lennon/Mccartney and of the two Lennon was much more talented IMO. one that i see as being great reminds me of Mozart in that he too has his haters and that is Yngwie Malmsteen
"Oh Penny, it's as if the Cheesecake Factory is run by witches"

Obvious troll is obvious however I will answer this nontheless. My votes for modern musicians (people who rose in the mid 70s to today) are Edward van Halen, Steve Vai, Dream Theater, Tosin Abasi, Misha Mansoor, and Jaco P.

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Michael Jackson!
Need harmonic brainwaves to soothe your diligent mind? click
bryanel.com
& relax!

Are you serious? Which modern artists are as good as Michelangelo? Andy Warhol maybe? Which modern writers are as good as William Shakespeare? Jacqueline Susann maybe? Get a grip, almost nothing of contemporary corporate American culture will be remembered centuries from now. But if people are still alive, Mozart will be known.

Steven Wilson.

Ok bud, now go roll out your mat and do your daily worship of Mozart. To think that there is nothing as good as mozarts music today is just idiotic and far too biased. I like Mozart and I acknowledge his greatness but I also have the open mindedness to recognize there are other musical geniuses in our day. If all your listening to is Mozart in this day and age then there's your problem.

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