Jimi Hendrix gets #1 guitarist of all time in Rolling Stone

Hethrir · Post by **Hethrir** » 2003-09-08 04:45am

It always amazes me how ordinary guitarists (such as Jimmy Page, Kurt Cobain, Jeff Beck) get ahead of the likes of Satch and Petrucci. AND how the hell does Hammet get ahead of his far superior teacher, JS??

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-09-08 12:52pm

While there's no doubt that Jimi Hendrix deserves this posthumous award, I have several compla... I mean comments:

1. TOM MORELLO AHEAD OF BRIAN MAY??? What the heck? Oh, at least May can strike back IIRC. But if a "Best Rock Vocalist Ever" puts Zach De La Rocha ahead of Freddie Mercury, it's an attack upon a dead man.

2. Why is the metal genre almost unaccounted for?? Where's Ross "The Boss" Funicello of Manowar, Tom "Angelripper" Such of Sodom, Quorthon of Bathory, Thomas "Samoth" Haugen of Emperor and for that matter, Jon Nödtveidt of Dissection?? Say what you want about this type of music, but it certainly sets harsh requirements to guitarists. If the mainstream doesn't like metal, it's their loss. (okay, the absence of Samoth and Jon Nödtveidt might be explained by the fact that both of these people have been convicted of murder - not that this reduces the credibility of their musical abilities the slightest)

3. I have one thing to say: At least the guy from Poison isn't in there.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2003-09-08 02:01pm

Simon H.Johansen wrote: 3. I have one thing to say: At least the guy from Poison isn't in there.

C.C. DeMille could whoop Jack White any fucking day of the week. That's really not saying much, but......
an then there is fucking Joni Mitchell!!!!! (#72????).... glorified rythim guitarist! and where the hell is Slash???!!!??

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2003-09-08 07:33pm

Hethrir wrote:It always amazes me how ordinary guitarists (such as Jimmy Page, Kurt Cobain, Jeff Beck) get ahead of the likes of Satch and Petrucci. AND how the hell does Hammet get ahead of his far superior teacher, JS??

Don't know, but Hammet definitely deserves to be in the top 20, especially after the kickass shredding he did at the Metallica concert in Toronto this year where his solo for "Blackened" was unreal. He doesn't do the crazy styles & sounds effects of Van Halen or Satch but the guy plays clean kickass solos at lightspeed.

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-09-08 07:35pm

Col. Crackpot wrote:an then there is fucking Joni Mitchell!!!!! (#72????).... glorified rythim guitarist! and where the hell is Slash???!!!??

Fucking hell, you're right. No Slash? WTF is up with that shit?

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2003-09-08 08:28pm

David Gilmour? #82? Rolling Stone, thou art crunchy toilet paper!

The Cleric · Post by **The Cleric** » 2003-09-08 09:52pm

I love Metallica. The albums just before Blackened were pure speed, and they sounded good live.

Sriad · Post by **Sriad** » 2003-09-08 10:10pm

At least Zappa is on the list. There would have been trouble.

zombie84 · Post by **zombie84** » 2003-09-08 11:56pm

Hendrix truely is the guitar god. No one else comes close.

Yngwie Malmsteen has some good stuff but its mostly just self-indulgent guitar masturbation. His strategy is "if i cram as many notes as humanly possible into a single song, people are bound to respect me".

I have no idea why Kurt Cobain is on there. I like Nirvana but their reputation is rediculous. Not only was he a shitty singer, his guitar playing was rediculously sloppy. Of course that was Nirvanas style (the dirty-sounding "grunge" sound), but its an insult to guitarists to have him on the list at all, and so close to the top.

Eddie Van Halen, Kirk Hammet, Dave Murray would be runners up.

'Course its hard to be objective--are the people who play really fast and complex stuff necessarily better than the people who play slower but deceptivly simpler stuff like Bob Dylan? I guess not, but we can only judge by what we hear i guess.

And does this list only comprise accustic and electric? In other words, are bassists included? Bass is a legitamet guitar form, and one of the most underrated. Most bands have such a low bass that its useless to them, and even more dont give their bassists anything other to do other than just provide a barely-noticable background fill.

Two of the greatest guitarists of all time, on par with Van Halen, Hammet and Murray are Steve Harris and Joey DeMaio--both of them bassists. If you ever thought being a bassist meant you were never going to be a real part of the band think again and listen to Iron Maiden and Manowar--the bass is oftentimes more prominent than the guitars, and in Manowars case, the bass itself is utilized as a second guitar, complete with solos.

Drewcifer · Post by **Drewcifer** » 2003-09-09 01:34am

Interesting list...

How'd Joan Jett make the list? And where's Adrian Belew? And shit, Les Paul invented the solid-body electric guitar for chrissakes (along with finger-tapping, multi-track recording, the list goes on), seems like he should have scored higher. The list is quite curved by Alt Rockers like Jack White etc.

Cobain may have been a sloppy player, but so was Jimmy Page. The thing about some of the guys on this list is that they may not have been amazing guitar wizards, but they changed the way rock and roll was played, like Cobain and Page.

I would have included less of the metal virtuosos too. Buddy Guy and BB King can say more with one note than some of those guys can with 1000 notes.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2003-09-09 04:04am

This is crazy. Kurt Cobain did nothing at all worth note on the guitar. He was known as being incredible grunge writer, but his guitar skills were very basic. I watched him play a couple lead notes in "Unplugged," and he couldn't do much. In fact, if you listen to his leads in songs like "Smells Like Tean Spirit," his solos consist of playing the EXACT same notes that his vocals sing in. It's sort of like those MIDI songs that have notes play instead of the vocals, that's what Cobain did in his solos. Pretty unimpressive.

I can't believe he made the top 20 guitar players of all time. This list is fucked up. They gave Randi Rhoades # 85

and Brian Setzer isn't even on the list. Give me a stinking break.

Boba Fett · Post by **Boba Fett** » 2003-09-09 04:04am

That list was made by a half deaf ass.

Who the fuck cares about this stupid list? Children around 10?

Enough said...

Hethrir · Post by **Hethrir** » 2003-09-09 04:06am

aerius wrote:Don't know, but Hammet definitely deserves to be in the top 20, especially after the kickass shredding he did at the Metallica concert in Toronto this year where his solo for "Blackened" was unreal. He doesn't do the crazy styles & sounds effects of Van Halen or Satch but the guy plays clean kickass solos at lightspeed.

Most certainly Hammet deserves to be in there, but above Satch?? My main concern is not that some people made it, simply that they are above other better guitarists.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2003-09-09 04:21am

Interestingly, #44 Scotty Moore was Elvis' first guitar player.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2003-09-09 08:39am

fan wankerey at its best. a bunch of soul patch wearing leather pants school newspaper wannabes circle jerking around their cd collections in an orgy of gen-X self-importance. [sarcasm reaches boiling point] Fuck i'm suprised they didn't include that whiney vegan assclown from REM. He played a mean mandolin in Losing my religion after all.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2003-09-09 08:53am

Now, I happen to like much of REM's music, but I see, and agree with, your point. I just can't get over Cobain being in the top 20...

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-09-09 09:21am

zombie84 wrote:Two of the greatest guitarists of all time, on par with Van Halen, Hammet and Murray are Steve Harris and Joey DeMaio--both of them bassists. If you ever thought being a bassist meant you were never going to be a real part of the band think again and listen to Iron Maiden and Manowar--the bass is oftentimes more prominent than the guitars, and in Manowars case, the bass itself is utilized as a second guitar, complete with solos.

Doesn't Joey DeMaio actually hold the world record for fastest bassist in the world?

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2003-09-14 09:34pm

Speaking of guitar goodness, I just found out that there's a G3 concert date in Toronto in a couple months. G3 meaning I get to see Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and Yngwie Malmsteen wail away on their guitars all night. Time to get myself some nice seats at Massey Hall for the concert.

Slowhand · Post by **Slowhand** » 2003-09-14 10:58pm

It is abundantly clear that the *ahem* writer of this artical needs to be led around back of the Rolling Stone offices and shot in the back of the head. The notion of lumping two guitarists from the same band together in consecutive places is idiotic.

I've got no real problem with the first four, but the rest is fan wanking at its worst. I hope that the fleas of a thousand camels infest the collective crotch of Rolling Stone magazine.

GrandMasterTerwynn · Post by **GrandMasterTerwynn** » 2003-09-14 11:31pm

Well, yes I understand Hendrix. He deserves the slot. But as others have said . . . how the hell did Kurt Cobain end up on that list? Me arguably one of the worst guitar players the world has ever known, could literally play better guitar than he could. For that matter, how did half those guitarists end up on there?

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-09-14 11:37pm

GrandMasterTerwynn wrote:Well, yes I understand Hendrix. He deserves the slot. But as others have said . . . how the hell did Kurt Cobain end up on that list? Me arguably one of the worst guitar players the world has ever known, could literally play better guitar than he could. For that matter, how did half those guitarists end up on there?

Because their bands are really, really popular?

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2003-09-15 08:35am

Dalton wrote: Because their bands are really, really popular?

and then there are the gutarists from bands that existed breifly and are knows only by lanky, unshaven record store clerks whose condecention knows no bounds.

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Jimi Hendrix gets #1 guitarist of all time in Rolling Stone

Re: Jimi Hendrix gets #1 guitarist of all time in Rolling St