All of this discussion is making me wonder what Jeff Gutt might have been able to do on self titled 2010...
Great point. It absolutely could have gone in either direction and unfortunately, we will never know. However, I think great discussions have been had on this website recently where when we discuss the 2010 album people are absolutely making the important distinction between the music and the melodies, which are two completely different things. My understanding with STP on how they arrange songs is that overall, Scott was responsible for the lyrics and melodies while the rest of the band creates the music. Of course there are exceptions to this rule, but I think most bands do follow this formula.
I always felt Scott shined when there was more room in the song. Atlanta, Hello It’s Late, and Creep are good examples. When you have what we had on the S/T 2010, Scott really didn’t have much room there and it seemed as if the music was written in such a way that it would dictate the melodies without them even existing yet.