Bands vs Singer-Songwriters

Do you listen more to bands or to individual songwriters? A study of my CD collection has revealed I have more albums by bands, but not by a large margin. A few years ago I thought bands were the only legitimate form of music; I couldn't stand the idea of solo artists. Now though, I think I listen more to singer-songwriters than bands. When I say "singer-songwriter", I don't just mean some earnest, acoustic guitar-strumming, ballad maker; I'm talking about multi-instrumentalists and people that have a backing band, as well.

I reckon people that perform and have more control over their own songs, are able to create a more personal feeling in their music. I'm more likely to "connect" with individual songwriters than to the music of a group of people. Bands seem to treat songs differently because there's usually only one or two people that have had input into the lyrics and meaning of a song, and the more people involved the less personal it becomes. I'm not knocking the idea of bands - I like them, but if I wrote songs I don't think I'd want other people messing with them!