@bdp24:
"I know when I make my own statements (as apposed to Marty making his), I should use the term "my favorite" instead of "the best". But to tell you the truth, I choose to do that for a reason: I do it when I feel to do so is the only way I can make the point I am trying to make as dramatically as possible"
Well, OK-- at least you're aware of what you're doing. But there is so much hyperbole tossed around online and so many posters actually seem to believe that 1) if they like something it must therefore be "great" and 2) that art is a competition, like sports, that whenever I see such language used, I automatically assume the poster is just another aesthetically naive individual and move on. Others will no doubt respond differently.
@roxy54:
"...this is America, and in the USA, everything must be a contest, and there MUST be a number 1, a winner. That's probably one of the most unattractive things about American culture..."
So true, unfortunately and the stubborn persistence of this cultural attitude is evidenced by the "Best Of" category in this very forum!
As to Marty Stuart's assertion, well, that's a matter of taste. If one is going to hold up Tom Petty, then why not J. C. Mellancamp? Seems to me, JCM is every bit as good a songwriter as TP. And it seems to me that it could be argued that neither is a better songwriter than Springsteen.
For the record, none of them are favorites of mine. I don't have a horse in this race. My point is that I don't see, from a critical standpoint, how M. Stuart's assertion holds up, except as an expression of his admiration for T. Petty.
... which brings us ful circle, back to the tendency for us to automatically conflate what we like with what is "good"...