Yeah me too man, I think we’re always our own worst critic but that’s what drives us to get better. I know if I sit down and play a riff for awhile I start to add more and more stuff making it more and more technical. One thing I learned to take into consideration is when to be complex and when not to be, like the thing with the vocals. There needs to be a balance in music, meaning one thing needs to be in the foreground at a given time while everything else needs to back that up in the background. Writing a well balanced song is knowing what will be in the foreground at that given time. The things you mentioned above determine what will be in the foreground. The fastest, most technical, melodic part will always take the foreground. If the vocals or another instrument takes the foreground, the right thing to do is back it up. Just as if you were going to do a guitar solo, you wouldn’t want the bass player and drummer to try to do a solo also. You would much rather have them back you up. As you can see it’s a give and take relationship when you work with a band. So you don’t have to write everything so crazy to have a good song, it’s cool to play something simple too. If not just write an instrumental. Trust me you’ll always have time to show off your skills and shine. There will always be people who will talk sh*t, that’s part of it, just don’t dwell on it too much and worry about writing good music. If the other guys in the band aren’t happy with what you put to the music then you should look for people who will.

About the lyrics, if they come before the music is written don’t be afraid to check them out. Usually you will find hints in there that give you an idea of what to play on the guitar. i.e. If the lyrics are sad and somber, it would be a good idea to write a slow sad riff that sounds depressing. Of course you can do the opposite if your writing a comical song. But it’s good to have the lyrics and the music say the same thing, if not the song is incomprehensible and most likely won’t be a “hit”.

A stab at your question. It sounds like every other song on the radio. Hopefully you got a few songs on there that have some of your ideas. Otherwise it’s not worth it.