in relative terms when it comes to poetic technique. With that said, nonsensical of course isn't the same as complex and none of this is a qualitative judgement as that's a matter of taste. If we're being asked to generalize (which is very problematic), then yes, we can probably follow this to some extent as a stylistic matter through both genres.

Also, I think rock is a more encompassing label, so just comparing the number of great lyricists may be unfair. Rock certainly has masses of simplistic lyricists.