10 years after his death, 10 artists inspired by Elliott Smith

Ben Folds: Folds famously wrote the track 'Late' in tribute to Smith - having been good friends since 1998. "I was playing all the same shitholes he was," he told Rolling Stone in 2004. "The lyrics of the song are about people who are sharing your experience too - 'Oh, Elliott Smith did this club last night, and he sat in that same room and read all the shit about dicks and asses on the wall.' Poets like to talk about how they look up and see the same stars, and I think rock musicians all look up and see the same dicks on the walls."

Beck: Speaking at a memorial concert for Smith back in 2003, the 'Sexxlaws' star said: "The good thing about his songs is they're so well made, they're so crafted and meticulous, they can weather even the most feeble rendition."

Metric: The Canadian synth-pop stars have recorded a pretty glorious rendition of Smith's 'Between The Bars'. Speaking to Under The Radar in 2006, frontwoman Emily Haines said: "I fuckin' love Elliott Smith so much. You can imagine a few circumstances tweaking a little bit differently and he could just be like 'that guy totally gets things but he's OK still'. He didn't go shallow and he managed to find a way to see the dark side without having it destroy him."

Flaming Lips: Dedicating the classic 'Waiting For Superman' to their old friend Smith at a festival in 2011, frontman Wayne Coyne said: "‘This next song is a song that we normally would not play at a festival because it reminds us too much of sadness. But sometimes my singing about it, hum… we get to where we understand a different dimension of our unbearable sadness. We were on tour when we heard the news that our friend Elliott Smith had died, and I don’t think we will ever really know if he took his own life or whatever the actual circumstances were. But there were plenty of times when we were around him when we felt as though he was waiting for an answer, and he was waiting for something that was gonna come along and may be make everything bearable for him. And we can’t wait, we have to try to make right now, bearable enough, that’s all we can do, we don’t know what the fuck we’re gonna do, so this song is about everybody who has ever felt like this moment is too much, and hope that you can get to the next one."

Madonna: In 2006, Q Magazine asked Madge which song of the last 20 years she most wished that she'd written. Her answer was of course 'Between The Bars' - a track she recently covered at her SecretProjectRevolution event in New York, calling it "a call-to-action and give people a place to voice their own creative expression to help fight oppression, intolerance and complacency."

Eels: Speaking to Vice about his relationship with Smith, Eels man Mark 'E' Everett said: " Elliott lived in the neighbourhood and we were on the same label and he was discovering all the same stuff I was discovering about the business and its dark side. I really struggled with it and Elliott was even less prepared to deal with it than I was. I had a hard time, but he was absolutely unequipped for it."

Biffy Clyro: Speaking about his influences with the Teenage Cancer Trust in 2011, frontman Simon Neil said: "I really get a lot out of great lyricists and beautiful song writers. I love Elliot Smith and Bright Eyes and people like Fleetwood Mac and the Beach Boys are hugely inspiring and will be for generations to come."

Conor Oberst: It should come as no surprise that the Bright Eyes and Monsters Of Folk hero is a huge Smith fan. Speaking to All Things Considered in 2003, he said: "Sometimes when you're not feeling good, you have to listen to really sad music like Elliott Smith's. He wrote the sweetest, saddest, most gentle songs. I listen to Elliott Smith's songs when I can't find anyone to talk to on the phone...through his music, [Smith] had the ability to answer feelings in others that he was unable to answer in himself."

The National: It is widely believed that the line "you're a needle in the hey," in the beautiful 'Fireproof' from the brilliant Trouble Will Find Me is a tribute to the wonderful track of the same name from Elliott Smith, which is nice.

Noel Gallagher: Speaking to Q Magzine in 2009 about his lyric writing skills, the Oasis turned High Flying Birds star said: "If I can write great lyrics, brilliant, but it’s not something that I ever worry about. The words are just part of the ingredients. They don’t fall out of the sky easily for me, I must say. They’re a real pain in the arse for me. If I were a lyric writer, like Elliott Smith, fuck me, I’d have had 28 albums out by now."