musician vs. instrument

as i was driving into work today, Beyonce's song 'Halo'. the song itself is really good, Beyonce has a brilliant voice. then i got to thinking, Beyonce and people like her are not musicians, for they do not write, they are purely an instrument. the have a voice coach who tells them how to sing, a producer who making the backing band, and a write to give them lyrics. the only thing they have is a voice, which is still an amazing gift, but everything else is spelled out and bound. they, being wealthy contracted vocalists/bands, only have to do what is on the paper. after thinking about all this i appreciated starting bands, and bands that write all their own material. bands like white stripes, and anything Jack White does for that matter, Metallica, Radiohead, and a bunch of the big bands that could higher all the needed help. granted there is always a producer here, but a lot of musicians are becoming musician/producer. and the ones that aren't are bringing in people like Rick Rubin to guide the helm. i would be really interested to have a line up of the top bands/singers of 08/09 and see of the albums released who wrote their own material, both music and vocals. i bet everyone would be surprised who would step up to be real musicians.

on a side note, i really wish U2 would stop making music/performing. i saw them on SNL and it was a joke, bono kneeling giving parents advice on raising their children. i wonder if they write all of their own material?