This next issue of Rolling Stone magazine will include sheets of dead trees stacked and creased at a spine-like center with many words printed on them. (It’s a whole thing, ask your parents.) Sometimes those pages include words about musicians, and often those musicians are Jimi Hendrix, or Led Zeppelin, or the Rolling Stones, or the Who. (Again.) This pre-list-season list, then — timed to take advantage of your inner guitar-wonk while you are home for the holidays and in your childhood basement surrounded by boxes of old Guitar Worlds and dusty amplifiers — is possibly the most Rolling Stone thing ever to be assembled. Lo:
01. Jimi Hendrix
02. Eric Clapton
03. Jimmy Page
04. Keith Richards
05. Jeff Beck
06. B.B. King
07. Chuck Berry
08. Eddie Van Halen
09. Duane Allman
10. Pete Townshend
It’s annoying that I always forget that time stopped after Van Halen. To create the list, the mag polled esteemed guitarists and music insiders along with RS’s editors, if you are looking for someone to praise/blame for their choices. You can check out those voters — and the full list of 100 guitarists — at rollingstone.com.
In fairness, it’s sort of difficult to imagine an unqualified discussion of history’s greatest guitarists without a bunch of those names. And that is why a much more interesting list idea is The Top 10 Guitarists Who Aren’t Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Jeff Beck, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Eddie Van Halen, Duane Allman, or Pete Townshend. So let’s make that one? I’ll get us going with some candidates: Kevin Shields, Johnny Marr, Thurston Moore, J Mascis, Mick Barr, Mark McGuire, Ira Kaplan…
Let’s do this together, like a family. The floor is yours.
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brian may. very distinct guitar player.
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hahaha…why’d this get 10 thumbs down?!?! i hereby bow sir, hilarious:)
I wonder what a 10 Greatest Rolling Stone Lists on the Greatest Guitarists of All Time list would look like.
I think they had the same list from 5 years ago, except Eric Clapton was 3 and Chuck Berry was 2 (this is from memory so I could be wrong). Also, the fact that 3 of those guitarists were all in the Yardbirds (2 at the same time), only proves that “star players” does not equal a great band.
This should be called the 10 Greatest “Rock n’ Roll” Guitarist of All Time because they do not mention any jazz guitarist. Django Reinhadt, Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, Tal Farlow?
Mike McCready from Pearl Jam and Johnny Greenwood from Radiohead
Ronald Jones.
Ronald Jones for sure.
The best player to be in a band for less than five years and quit because he was worried about other members’ drug use.
How about Doug Martsch?
Mike McCready, Jack White, Dan Auerbach
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down voted!!! get off your pearl jam pedestal people
I find that the disclaimer “no offense” is far more believable when you DON’T call the person stupid.
I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m going to slam this door in your face.
i agree with jack white, dont know the first guy, but i wouldnt say dan aurbach is that that great he’s a riff man and songwriter not an amazing guitarist
Yeah, I love the Black keys, but there is nothing special about Aurbach’s guitar playing.
Totally agree about McCready and White, though.
title should read rolling stone’s 10 (OUT OF 100, BUT WE WONT ACKNOWLEDGE THE OTHER 90 TO GET YOU TO COMMENT COMMENT COMMENT)
so there are 90 guitarists on here not listed and “suggested” by amrit. johnny marr is on there. so is jack white, et al
Lil Wayne
True. I was really surprised he wasn’t on the Rolling Stones list. Feeling a bit cheated.
i pray thou jests, and if we were going hip-hoppers who can actually play an instrument i’d go with a lil known dude named Andre 3000, but THATS JUST MOI, bitches;)
yes i was joking. and i agree that andre 3000/big boi/organized noize created the most musical hip hop ever.
all rappers suck at real instruments compared to people who play rock music, a genre that depends on real instruments rather than samples. not to say that rappers aren’t musical people or can’t play instruments well. they’re just probably not as good as musicians in rock bands who do it day in and day out
haha, glad to have pontificated on another pointless subject noone cares about.
:) …ya never know these days, all these dolts roaming the earth thinking Kanye is a ‘genius’ etc…
lol, i don’t know though i may be a dolt acc to you.. i think kanye was/is a genius producer, and hes had some aight songs but he sucks pretty bad at being a human but you gotta love him at the same time but wait no fuck him… sometimes no but overall fuck him nah he aight… that pretty much sums up my thoughts on “yeezy” (fuckin hate that nickname btw).
yeah i got a friend who’s an old dj who LOVES kanye, we argue all the time and rip on all his FB Yeezy posts, i swear he posted that one fancypants video with the dancer girls like 20x, fucking annoying:)
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joey santiago from the pixies !!!
Frank Black maybe, his solo ‘riffage’ is all that.
john frusciante
definitely – frusciante is up there with the all-time greats in my book!
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Beck nothing and not influential? I agree that Knopfler is a great guitarist but Jeff Beck is a fantastically distinct player who pushed instrumental rock forward since the 70s. Remember this list is the top 10 guitar players, i.e. people who play guitar the best; not guitar players that people like.
Umm…David Gilmore from Pink Floyd? How he didn’t even make the Top 10 is beyond me…
Greg Ginn, Robert Fripp, John Mclaughlin, Kevin Shields, Thurston Moore, and Carrie Brownstein would all beat Jeff Beck in my mind.
But that would be thinking way outside the box. Those are the greatest anti-guitar player guitar players.
Uh it’s kind of unbelievable that Stevie Ray Vaughan isn’t on this list. Also, I definitely think for a Rolling Stone list Jeff Beck and David Gilmour should be seriously considered.
But I think Nels Cline, Mike McCready, Matt Bellamy, Johnny Greenwood, and Mark Knopfler are all constantly underrated.
wait, why did you get downvoted?
probably for suggesting that Matt Bellamy is underrated
matt bellamy is a damn good guitarist but if you took the korg kaoss pad out of his guitar, you’d realize he’s not doing anything that special. most people that think he’s some iconic player don’t actually know much about playing guitar.
But I think the Kaoss pad is innovative, which is definitely something to his credit. Much like Tom Morello doesn’t have any specific traditional guitar playing which is innovative, he has the record scratch thing along with his use of the Whammy pedal, etc which elevate him to the status he deserves (because that is truly innovative).
I can definitely agree that Muse’s music has gone way downhill and their lyrics are terrible, etc etc, but you can’t deny that Matt Bellamy is a great (and somewhat innovative) guitar player who for that skill, often doesn’t get the credit he deserves.
he’s solid, but he’s an idiot. IF he had a brain he’d have a second guitarist so he could concentrate on his precious crowd-wowing leads hehe, and also if he had a brain he’d get back to old Muse basics vs trying to make every fricking single a giant ANTHEM. Remember ‘Unintended’ Matty? Simple songs are still ok mr egomaniac, but kudos for your american trophy wife:)
Muse is unapologetically awful, seriously, fuck that band.
Top ten things to complain about this list
5) It’s not a list of the “greatest” guitarists (what does that even mean?) it’s a list of Rolling Stone’s favourite guitarists. Because if it was actually “Greatest” guitarists, none of these guys would be close, and Jimi Hendrix is – I’m pretty sure you could find objective evidence everywhere – not the most accurate, nuanced, or talented guitar player in history.
4) Meanwhile, Keith Richards?! The guy was a genius writer and arranger, but he’s not a better guitar player than Richard Thompson, I mean that doesn’t even make sense.
3) Pete Townshend?
2) Look I get what you’re doing, Rolling Stone. This is clearly a list of what you think are the most influential rock guitarists of all time, and also who happen to play music you like, right? But then…why would BB King make the top 10? Guys, be consistent.
1) And when you say “All-Time,” I mean right there…like, are you referring only to electric guitarists? Because this list seems to only account for 1950 forward…you really think BB king had more influence on modern music than Charlie Christian or Django? You’re wrong, you know that right?
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“Jimi Hendrix is – I’m pretty sure you could find objective evidence everywhere – not the most accurate, nuanced, or talented guitar player in history”
ok, i agree with that…but he’s still one of the biggest innovators. it doesn’t necessarily take nuance or accuracy to develop a groundbreaking style of playing and he certainly did that. you’re right that he could be a slop show but you’re way off base saying he wasn’t one of the best.
keith richards is a shit guitarist.
this list is a joke. “slow hand” may be iconic in his ways but he’s severely overrated. RS blows at lists like this.
I absolutely agree he is an innovator, but again…Charlie Christian invented one-note soloing on the guitar. Lenny Breau played the guitar in a style that very few if any guitarists have ever been able to replicate even remotely. And it’s not like everyone today plays like Jimi played. I mean, I don’t buy the hype as far as “groundbreaking playing” is concerned. What he does technically I don’t think is particularly different than what Robert Johnson predated him doing by about 50 years. Jimi had a fuzzbox. Meh. He was good! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying he is shit. But he’s not the greatest guitarist of all time. That’s BS.
Hendrix eclipsed all these old fucks you mention. I sense a repression here.
Good smart argument.
Also good point about old people this is a list of best of all time it should focus on youth.
Why does an intelligent argument get downvoted?
Jimi Hendrix isn’t even close to being one of the greatest guitarists ever? That’s silly. Your criteria are just as arbitrary as theirs.
I don’t, and wouldn’t make a list like this, so my criteria is non-existent. But if I did, I would at least aim to have some. This list is just a bunch of guitarists voting on their favourite guitarists. Tell me though, anyone…what makes Jimi Hendrix the best guitar player? Don’t get me wrong, I love his music. But what skills does he possess and how is his influence greater than the other guitarists in, let’s say (as rolling stone puts it) the history of music?
Well, you listed a few criteria (accuracy, nuance, and talent), but whatever. I think he was a great (possibly the greatest) guitarist because I think he made better music with his guitars than the other guys made with their guitars. That’s my opinion and I think a lot of people, including those of us who play guitar, would think it’s a reasonable opinion.
Rolling Stone actually had the “Greatest” guitarist list a few years back (maybe 2006) which was a bit more accurate. You have to remember, when discussing pop music, Rolling Stone’s greatest lists deal more with influence than with actual talent (although all 5 of the above are extremely talented). To put things in perspective, on their 2003 list of the “Greatest” 500 albums of all time, the Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks…. was listed around 15. Anyone who has listened to that album knows that it is extremely influential and definitely good, but 15th greatest rock album of all time good? Far from it.
I know, I read that list too…thing is is they would save us (read: me) a lot of anger if they just saved the hyperbole from the title. If they just called it “a bunch of popular guitarists vote on the most influential albums” that would be totally fine. When you call it “BEST OF ALL TIME” then I’m going to be immediately dubious. There’s no such thing as “best guitarist” so mybe can we all just stop wasting time pretending and start talking about actual things? And I LOVE lists. But these lists are stupid.
Tom Verlaine. Wilco Johnson.
tom verlaine was as average as they come.
The problem with RS is they’ve always been so solo-centric, never taking into account the concept of creating atmosphere or mood, which is mostly created by rhythm guitar, while the lead ends up layering on more of what was already there. Don’t get me wrong, soloing has its merits– I’m not advocating for its removal from rock–but maybe we should be more impressed by emotional impact rather than technical prowess. That being said, here’s some folks that land on my list:
Nels Cline(a soloist!), Dave Longstreth, Johnny Greenwood, Elliott Smith, Laura Marling, Aaron Dressner
I think I’d be more likely to name Bryce Dessner than Aaron, but good mention either way.
Eddie Van Halen is overrated. He’s technically good but has about as much soul in his playing as Steve Vai and all those other wankers – he only gets more credit because he plays pop songs. Give me J Mascis or Dave Navarro’s early Jane’s stuff any day.
no.
Wrong. Eddie’s as much an innovator as Jimi and yes, you’re right, he’s capable of writing pop songs as well as classic riffs, which makes him even more worthy of respect in my book.
That picture is getting a LOT of great mileage.
Everybody loves a list.
“Hey can you please hurry up and take my picture? I have a long day of eating deep fried children and being a sweaty cunt ahead of me. Does crossing my arms make me look defensive?”
you had me at deep fried children
Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Johnny Marr, Jonny Greenwood, David Gilmour, John Frusciante (peep the solo work), Joey Santiago (pixies), Jeff Mangum (simple, but more Seoul than Korea)
Well I agree with 4… BUT I do think they are missing, Roy Buchannan, Peter Green, Jeff Buckley (yes for guitar), Brian Setzer, *COUGH* Stevie Ray Vaughn and Johnny Marr to name a few.
I don’t know how or why Billy Corgan always gets looked over as one of the best guitarists of his generation, but he deserves to be on any “greatest guitarist” list that also includes Mike McCready, Tom Morello (though as inventive as he is, he kinda sucks at soloing), Jerry Cantrell, J. Mascis and other greats from the alt. rock era. And of course, this RS list ain’t such a list. It could’ve been compiled 25 years ago it’s so predictable. It’s basically your rock and roll dad’s fav guitarist list.
Tom Morello is great at the dj-type sound effects he developed on guitar…but they’re pretty easy to do with the gear he uses. he relies on a digitech whammy pedal…without it, he’s not much. i’ve seen several terrible live attempts from him at “soloing”. I will give him credit for the guitar tones on the first Rage record…they sound awesome.
Mascis kicks ass. “Where you been” was a huge deal.
thats true, Billy’s work from 90 through 96 was amazing, especially all the Mellon Collie stuff, can’t be denied. too bad he got a little ‘lost’ afterward, but that seems to happen a lot after big albums.
He peaked before MCIS. Siamese Dream era is one of the ultimate guitar achievements of the 1990s, hands down. And he still had some serious moments after MCIS – for all it’s rep as having been kinda lame, Zwan was a serious guitar album at certain points – the title track on it was one of his great achievements IMO.
And then after that…yeah he fucking lost it hard. But still, dude was the #1 mainstream rock guitarist of the 90s IMO. I get why people’d say Greenwood, but the grunge guys, as much as I like a lot of those bands, are not his matches.
Don’t they do this list every 6 months?
John Frusciante. Period.
elipses…get a clue.
Billy Corgan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzBVvD1vUvM
Shit, He’s a beast.
I almost missed the fact that he was soloing because he actually has hair here.
Wait, none of these guys (except Keith Richards) were even in the Rolling Stones.
Rolling Stones’s 10 Greatest Guitarists of All-Time
1. Keith Richards
2. Keith Richards
3. Brian Jones
T4. Dick Taylor
T4. Brian Jones
6. Dick Taylor
7. Ron Wood
8. Bill Wyman
9. Mick Taylor
10. Tracy Chapman
If RS wasn’t run by white male ex-hippies who think time stopped in 1983, this list would contain Rodrigo. Or Gabriela. Take your pick. No, seriously, Rodrigo is much better.
yyyeeeesssss
le trio joubran ;)
I am tired of RS blowing all these old white dudes who gentrified a bunch of Robert Johnson licks. Screwing around for six minutes on a blues jam does not make you a great guitarist, it makes you a passable one.
How about some non-dude guitar players? Kaki King work for anybody?
But instead we get the same tired players from the 60s and 70s. Too bad there is tons of original guitar work coming out of Mali, or all the innovators in noise and post-punk of the 80s and 90s. I would even take that butthole from the Mars Volta over fucking Duane Allman.
You had me until Duane Allman. Dude could slide very well.
I’ve played guitar for years, and I’m mostly with you on the blues guitar thing. Tons of people I talk to think that Clapton is incredibly overrated. However, Jimmy Page, while really derivative in a lot of respect, was incredibly creative in his use of the instrument for the most part. Pete Townshend deserves to be on a best songwriters list, maybe not in the top ten on this one.
Other options: East Bay Ray
This is an accurate list; however, Rolling Stone magazine should have created a more current list. Everyone on their list, though very talented, is an obvious choice, a list seen over and over, time after time. I wanna see bad asses like Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney), Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead,! Albert Hammon Jr. (The Strokes), and Tom Morello (RATM) – just to name a few.
BOTH the Strokes guitarist are near flawless, get ANY bootlegs of them and you’ll see how crazy great they are live, REALLY impressive.
Once again, RS goes out of its way to prove it is irrelevant.
They’re all the same and you know it.
CORRECTION: Eddie Hazel should be the entire list.
Eddie Van Halen, of course. Brian May. Carlos Santana has a very distinctive sound, though he’s not one of my favs as guitar player… The Edge.
And Steve Lukather, of Toto. When I was a kid in the early 1980′s I bought The Tubes’ album “The Completion Backward Principle” just for his guitar on just a few songs, most notable “Talk To You Later” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-rEVVAw3-0)
Carlos Santana is only a good guitarist to people that don’t play guitar. he’s a fucking hack.
yes he’s extremely boring, but it could be forgivable if he could just stop his clueless EGO from mixing his guitar leads so LOUD in the mixes of his stupid poppy (modern) songs. and the sound of his leads even sucks, vomit-inducing.
Jimi invented Metal and everything Rock knows about the guitar after 1970 came from his psychedelic twisting of what the instrument could do. I paid homage to Hendrix with a portrait called Purple Haze on the anniversary of his passing recently. You can see it at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/09/purple-haze-jimi-hendrix.html and tell me how the voodoo child’s music has influenced you!
Actually, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page invented heavy metal. They’ve even fought each other over who gets credit for it (the 1st ever heavy metal riff on “Beck’s Bolero,” which Page co-wrote with Beck in 1966). Jimi invented so much, but not metal.
Correction, I invented metal
i thought Eddie from Iron Maiden invented metal?
Craig Extine of The Old Haunts. Arpeggio genius!
No Prince?
Dude may be freaky but…well, that might move him UP the list.
I think your vuvuzuela is annoying but I agree with what you’re saying. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifp_SVrlurY
Everyone forgets Prince.
Kaki King.
Amen to that, brother.
errr, sister.
I had thought the GUITAR GOD was dead and buried as a concept……..
Jack White proved me wrong. Rolling Stone continues it’s alienation of anybody under 40 years of age.
Nice work.
RORY GALLAGHER. Johnny Winter. Rick Derringer. Roy Buchanan. Curtis Mayfield. Danny Gatton. Muddy Waters. Prince. Hubert Sumlin. Joe Bonamassa. Gary Moore. Bonnie Raitt. Springsteen (yes, ridiculously underrated as a guitar player but also suffers from RS overhype for everything else). And hundreds more worth consideration.
Finally someone mentions Mayfield
RANDY RHOADS SHOULD BE IN THE TOP 10!
Let’s be specific now: Greatest ROCK guitarist of all time.Also, greatest guitarist based on what? Technique? Originality? Diversity? Popularity? Originality, yes Hendrix. Technique Clapton or Page.
technique, steve vai. haters gonna hate, but it’s undeniably true.
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Oof. Boo.
Phil Keaggy.
Only Christians who have never listened to real music think he’s good.
Keith Rowe
Fred Frith
Bill Orcutt
Fennesz
Also, not trying to be rude, but everyone saying that Hendrix is an incomprehensible choice are trying too hard.
Marnie Stern
Dustin Wong
Marnie, pretty danged good. I haven’t loved her albums, but she was captivating live. It helps that she’s easy on the eyes too..but it’s hard not to walk away thinking “whoa”
In no particular order:
J. Mascis has to be mentioned in here, so I second/third whoever said J. Mascis
Doug Martsch
Stephen Malkmus
Graham Coxon
John Reis circa Drive Like Jehu and Hot Snakes
Bob Mould
Kevin Shields was already mentioned
Steve Albini!!!
John Schmersal when he was in Brainiac
Andy Gill
Ted Leo (Just listen to “St. John the Divine”)
Tyondai Braxton
Whoever plays lead in the Fresh & Onlys
The bass player from Lightning Bolt (yeah, I went there)
Steven Drozd because he’s a goddamn prodigy
Caveat: I don’t consider a “great” guitarist one that can break out a 10-minute solo, but one who writes songs I like.
Lindsay Buckingham.
Yes
Yes, fantastic lead/arranger. Despite that, I still get more shivers from Peter Green’s playing than Lindsay’s…
There is a very simple reasons why lists like these always seem like exercises in futility, and it’s because comparing an alternative guitarist to a metal guitarist, a punk guitarist to a hard rock guitarist, a folk guitarist to a blues guitarist are like comparing apples to oranges. They may all be of the same genus but they are not of the same species. How do you compare Jimi Hendrix to Joey Ramone? Jonny Greenwood to Eddie Van Halen? Chuck Berry to Neil Young?
The answer is that, unless you’re a jerk trying to sell magazines to baby boomers who don’t know who any of the musicians recording after 1980 are, you don’t. You should know better.
Besides the good suggestions above, Knopfler, Buckingham etc (Prince is also a good one). I’m going to go out there and say John Mayer, who seems to be the last musician working in the style of the guitar ‘hero’s’ certainly in the mainstream. Seeing how he is younger than any of the other names that crop up for the title.
There aren’t many guitar hero’s in the Indie/Gen Y musicians that have as much universal appeal as people like Hendrix had. The tricky thing with placing Johnny Greenwood with such a title is that he is part of a band, and isn’t really of the same ilk, Frusciante fits the ilk because like Hendrix although being in the band he contributes a significant amount of the music with his playing. Johnny on the other hand is part of a band that blends a lot of styles together, and uses a variety of instruments to create atmosphere, and it is much harder as a listener to discern the guitar parts in a number of Radiohead tracks post The Bends, maybe post Ok Computer, that would actually stand up by themselves without the rest of the band.
Do you know what I mean? The guitar ‘god’ was of a certain ira that isn’t really around anymore, bands are the thing now and what people can create as part of a band. I’m not saying that there isn’t any good players or that Johnny Greenwood isn’t a great player, it’s just not the same thing to say that any of these guys are ‘great guitarists’ in the sense of what Rolling Stone means. The sense of nostalgia, the old man pub audience, the classic rock era, that is Rolling Stone’s brand, your dad’s or grandad’s music. Rock and roll has evolved into different things since then, trying to appreciate new guitarists with the same eyes is undermining what musicians of the current generation are trying to do or be about. Does it REALLY matter in the grand scheme of things who is actually the ‘best guitarist’, isn’t it just about whether the track is good or not at the end of the day, because every guitarist has a track which we are bound not to like…
The greatest thing about Jonny Greenwood (no H btw, WINK, im a titanic Radiohead fan) is that his ego is so in check, that he literally doesn’t care about being the ‘old’ Jonny of early RH where he was the star of the show most the time. He’s more than happy to play keyboards, glockenspiel, weird old early synth toys, whatever works and is needed for the song. But i tell ya what, that lead for Paranoid Android is a MOTHER FUCKER, and will always be a mother fucker, it’s genius:D (and he nails it live every single time)
Does it have to be rock or blues? John Mclaughlin!
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Richard Thompson. Except he is old and white.
Kurt Cobain is on that list. Classic.
Brian Belllahahaha
No Kevin Shield and James “Blood” Ulmer = No Credibilty
By “greatest” they obviously mean the most over-played and well known on crappy classic rock radio stations.
I think it’s very funny how many people have complained saying that Rolling Stone hasn’t included any guitarist from the past 20 years or that there favourite guitarist isn’t listed. Check the whole list:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-guitarists-20111123
Guitarist that people on Stereogum were complaining that they weren’t on the list but they actually are:
Lindsey Buckingham
Thurston Moore
Steve Jones
Dimebag Darrell
J Mascis
John Frusciante
Robert Johnson
Jack White
John Mclaughlin
Johnny Marr
Jonny Greenwood
Mark Knopfler
Tom Morello
The Edge
Prince
Brian May
Carlos Santana
David Gilmour
Stevie Ray Vaughn
There. Now you know. When you list 100 guitarists, do you think that they can really make a list so nuanced that it takes EVERY single factor into account and makes the perfect list for everyone for ALL TIME? No. They simply made a list of 100 guitarists that they think are great (and they all are in some aspects) and Stereogum incorrectly only included 10 for people to complain about. Read the full list and everyone should at least be satisfied that there are new and old guitarists on there.
They include them at the very end to throw a bone to those who say they aren’t relevant anymore. “See, we included one of your kind on our list! They’ll just never be as great as the geniuses from the 60s!”
I still see no Colin Newman. “Lowdown” and “Pink Flag” (song, but from the album) pretty much invented sludgy post-punk ala Mudhoney, Nirvana, McLusky, etc., while “A Touching Display” created post-rock in 1979.
If someone says Mudhoney and Nirvana were grunge I’ll stab them.
Mudhoney was grunge.
No. Mudhoney and Nirvana were punk. If you can tell me either band sounds like Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, or Stoned Pimple Toilets, then your argument can hold water.
Subpop invented the term “grunge” to describe Mudhoney, but Mudhoney and Nirvana were much more influenced by bands like the Wipers, Dinosaur Jr., the Pixies (applicable to Nirvana only), Black Sabbath, Flipper, and the Stooges.
Grunge is just as nebulous a term as “indie,” so I beg to differ with you Mr. Wastlander.
So I argue that there was no “grunge.” Alice in Chains and (especially) Soundgarden were basically metal, while PJ was basically Led Zeppelin modernized and STP was watered-down PJ.
Just go read “Our Band Could Be Your Life,” it contains many life-lessons.
But I upvoted you to make you happier on this fine weekend.
I think the sludgy post-punk/grunge/whatever else you want to call it sound of Mudhoney, Nirvana, and some of the other Seattle bands was much more based off Black Flag’s My War album. If anything you should probably complain about Greg Ginn not being on the list
This is true also, but reinforces the point that Nirvana and Mudhoney were “punk” more than anything. Greg Ginn does belong on the list as well.
However, Nirvana’s Black Flag influence kind of begins and ends with “Bleach.” I’d say Mudhoney (and Nirvana) were much more influenced by the Stooges, but you definitely have a valid point.
I’d also put Duane Denison (Don’t know or care if I got the spelling right, but of the Jesus Lizard) on the list. All the credit goes to David Yow, but Denison’s guitar work is phenomenal.
I also really dig Dmitri Coats guitar work, with Burning Brides’ first album especially, and now with OFF! (where he’s essentially Greg Ginn part 2), but I don’t think an “all time” list of guitarists should include him.
I’m pretty sure this whole list was just mean to spark violently righteous indignation amongst the readers of websites like stereogum. Kind of juvenile, but hey, ’tis RS.
Neil Young never gets his due as a guitarist — not even from a 60s-nostalgia rag like RS. Do Down by the River and Cowgirl in the Sand mean nothing?
Neil is a guitar monster. Cortez and Hey Hey, My My are in their too.
i no u guyz arent gunna agree but can i say: ratatat – both of dem
Johnny Greenwood of Radiohead needs to be up there for sure.
The Edge.
Do you recognize the sound instantly as his?
Is there a sound from a guitar like it before him?
Have others copied it for decades now?
It is among the more original, interesting, and compelling sounds?
He never gets the credit from regular people, but talk to other guitarists and he’s always in the top 25.
yes, his name was Keith Levene
I think you mean The Edge’s guitar tech.
haha…all you have to know about the Edge vs the other greats is how sadly he did NOT fit into the group on the It Might Get Loud ‘movie.’ He’s great at his style for sure and he’s come up with some amazing stuff, but seeing him try to play slide guitar next to Jimmy Page is just a joke hahaha.
Paul Verlaine!
Joey Santiago!!
Johnny Greenwood!!!
Marnie Stern!!!!
Andrés Segovia. That is all.
This is probably the most sane opinion in this comment thread.
Robert Quine from The Voidoids is the absolute best
Nope
robert fripp is superior to anyone in that list, or previously mentioned in these comments
This post was one snarky comment after the next. All true statements, tho.
Dean Wareham of Galaxie 500 / Luna is my personal favorite. His solos are always otherworldly.
Nels Cline
Robert Fripp
Frank Zappa
Prince. http://youtu.be/ifp_SVrlurY also nels cline. http://youtu.be/djzslrQrTyI
Alex Lifeson?
I can’t believe the list doesn’t have any of the following:
Josh Homme
Chris Whitley
Bradford Cox
Ian Williams (Battles)
Dylan Carlson (Earth)
Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance)
Brendan Canning + Kevin Drew
Lee Renaldo (I’ve seen SY live, and I honestly think he’s a better guitarist than Thurston)
Kevin Shields
I LOVE Atlas Sound and Deerhunter, and I think Bradford Cox is one of the most overall creative musicians/responsible for some of the best music made within the last several years. But no way is he one of the 100 best/most iconic/however you want to say it guitarists of all time, and I honestly think he would be the first person to agree. Come to think of it, neither are all of the other people you mentioned, with the possible exception of Kevin Shields. The list may be a pile of shit, but insisting that one’s favorite indie and alt stars should be added doesn’t really improve it.
i’ll never listen to those idiots after their horrific non-showing on Conan this past year, WORTHLESS.
Um, I’m a little confused? If you mean Deerhunter, I really don’t think their last Conan appearance was bad at all? Maybe not the most mindblowing thing ever, but they did the song “Helicopter” essentially how it’s supposed to be. If you don’t like their sound, okay, whatever… but there was nothing wrong with that performance.
They are also far, far, far from a worthless band. Halcyon Digest is one of the best albums of the past few years, in my eyes, and the first Atlas Sound album is one of the few records I hold closest to my heart.
Then again though, I’m of the school of thought that just because I don’t like something doesn’t automatically make it “worthless.” For example, I don’t really care for LCD Soundsystem or Vampire Weekend – but lots of people like them, and the musicians comprising each band are very talented, hardworking people. Worthless is a strong word, in my honest opinion. But what do I know?
they are worthless until proved OTHERWISE, they failed to impress me in the slightest on Conan after hearing their stupid name whored left n right on stereogum and every other music page online, and it was a classic over-hyped letdown as usual. the singer looked very confused and ‘not ready for primetime’ in every way, the song had no flow, n it was just aweful. i’ve been in music forever, i’ve written songs for over 10 yrs, i no worthless when i see it:) NOW i have been disproved by bands improving before, rarely, but a couple times, if they’re really that good the next time i see them they should be able to win me over anyway.
Josh Homme, the guitar machine. I think some people get wrapped up in technical guitar playing, but he lays out some great riffs. Heavy or melodic, you can’t really go wrong with Josh.
Prince should be MUCH higher.
robert fripp
John McLaughlin
I don’t agree with this list, why didn’t they mention my favorite obscure guitarist that influenced 3 people?
ry cooder,rycooder ,ry cooder,ry cooder .ry cooder ry cooder and then theres frank zappa,frank,zappa,frank,zappa frank zappa,frank zappa and how about dick dale,you know dick dale,dick dale,dick dale dick dale,dick dale,and andre segovia,segovia,segovia,segovia,segovia,segovia and of course i could go on all day,…how about lets go really far back ,like les paul,yes LES PAUL YOU VACANT MORONS and kids he showed the ropes to like steve miller.
THERE ARE MORE PROFICIENT GUITARISTS OUT THERE THAN YOU CAN NAME….AND THATS THE PROBLEM…..WE DONT KNOW WHERE TO START…I START WITH LES PAUL,FRANK ZAPPA,RY COODER,ANDRE SEGOVIA,STEVE MILLER,STEVIE RAY VAUGHN,NANCY WILSON(HEART),JONI MITCHELL,ANI DE FRANCO,MEPHIS MINNIE AND HUNDREDS MORE THAT ARE PERSONAL FAVES AND AS I SAID THATS WHERE THE PROBLEM LAYS,WITH THE TONS OF GREAT GUITARISTS,,,THATS LIKE PICKIN THE PRETTIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD….YEAH ….GOOOOOOOOD LUCK !
jesus h christ ya think thst dude from the monkees would be out there ,or didnt i read far enough,that cant be to hard to explain,I WUZ LAUGING TO FFFFFFFFFFFFNNNNNNNNNNN HARD…NO WONDER ITS TAKIN SO LONG FER A NOTHER LAUGHING POST……..EVERYONE WENT TA BED WITH A SMILE ON THEIR FACE AT THEV ABSURDITY OF SUCH AN IDEA,such a ridiculous list…
well gotta go change the cdchanger we out here on the west coast have some purty decent stuff hitting the airwaves.get some cotton swabs and clean the crap outta yer earsO GODO,i may even start playing agin,but at 60 my ARTRITIS AINT GETTIN ANY BETTER ,BUT THE NEW KIDS COMIN UP ARE PRETTY DAMN GOOD AND IM AINT KNOCKING THEM,THERES ANOTHER HENDRIX ,ANOTHER DAVID GILMOUR AND I HOPE TO GOD ANOTHER RY COODER OR SKUNK BAXTER….I HOPE,I HOPE I HOPE………………….THANX FOR READING MY RANTZ YOU CRAZY MOFO’s.SOMEWHERE THERES ANOTHER Saying….right on bro………………..right on………..JUST TOO MANY,JEZ TOO GOOD
Calm down
Never calm down.
apparently there’s a LITHIUM shortage up north…
Robert Smith
John McGeoch
Daniel Ash
Mick Ronson
Robin Guthrie
Bernard Sumner
Keith Levene
Klaus Dinger
Bernard Butler
Carlos Alomar
And how could I forget Marc Bolan?
this list is so predictable why even bother making it?
Vernon Reid
Robert Fripp
Prince
Mike Keneally
Allan Holdsworth
Geordie
Bill Frisell
After reading the entire list, I must say the thing that bugged me the most was just how many of the guitarist out of the top ten were just old blues guitarists. I think I saw other people mention this but the list is rather genre centric on blues and blues based rock with very few exceptions
Graham Coxon – not a technical wizard but his unusual voicings and ultramelodic rhythmic dancing around the fretboard is unlike anything in the world. My favourite guitarist.
theres lots of 90s brits that are great, Greenwood, Coxon, i think the most over-looked of all of them has got to be John Squire (stone roses/seahorses). He does amazing modern brit rock blues .
Allman > Clapton
John Mayer??
I second Kaki King. Women can play guitar too…
Mick Taylor, Richard Lloyd, Jonny Greenwood, George Harrison
Solid list, inarguable. Considering alternative or “indie” music’s popularity, and best music being made in the last two decades, I would add (in chronological order) Marc Bolan (T.Rex), David Byrne, Stephen Malkmus and maybe David Longstreth if I’m feeling particularly liberal.
Nick McCabe!
It’s a shame that no one has mentioned John Fahey in all of this. Maybe because we are talking about a Rolling Stone article and the focus is in the direction of Rock and Blues. But Fahey’s mesmerizing finger style is impassable, and singular.
Best guitarist of all-time HAS to be Jimmy Page, it’s not even close with me. If you need a reminder as to why, besides listening thru the fulll Zep catolog, which is mind-blowing enough, but just watch It Could Get Loud or the Black Crowes/Page concert and it becomes VERY clear who the best is.
Hendrix was the first ‘virtuoso’ lead guitarist and was great, but kind of a one trick pony.
The same thing with Clapton being the white-blues guitar king.
But Jimmy Page could do EVERYTHING, and make it look scary easy, riffs, leads, slide, acoustic, crazy alt tunings…he’s the king.
Um, how is Jimi a one-trick pony? “Wind Cries Mary,” Are You Experienced?,” “May This Be Love?” and “Purple Haze” couldn’t be more different sonically, and that’s just picking from his FIRST record. Throw in things like “1983″ or “Machine Gun” from THREE YEARS later and it’s a whole ‘nother level.
In terms of songwriting (the level so many great guitarist falter on, Clapton first and foremost), he’s on the same level as Page, and DIDN’T steal the majority of his first three records from other composers and musicians (you can easily YouTube Zeppelin’s liberal “borrowing” from their peers so I won’t bother citing examples here).
Jimi’s variety of tones, his advances in the studio, and his insanely soulful playing make him a force to be reckoned with. You can like Page better– that’s a taste thing, but calling Jimi a one trick pony is objectively wrong, especially compared to the Van Halens and Claptons of the world.
Compared to Page he still is, that’s just how amazingly advanced Page was and is, plus Page has time on his side. Hearing his genius playing those great Zep songs with the Black Crowes fresh and new is like a jolt of lightning to the system. If Jimi were still here he COULD do the same thing, but alas he’s not and he can’t can he. Plus his technical genius is just 2nd to none, always tone perfect even with very advanced stuff and leads. Jimi could’ve risen to greater heights if he’d lived longer thus proving his greatness, OR he could’ve gone down hill. Neither can ever be known, so I say fairly or unfairly thanks to time, Page is the best…or if it makes you Jimi worshippers feel better…the best LIVING guitarist (since Hendrix’s death), whatever.
OH forgot one, JEFF BUCKLEY…everyone knows him for his vocals boy holy fuck could he play the guitar, you have GOT to see him on the Live in Chicago video, most amazing performance i’ve ever seen, he made the incredibly hard and amazing look like cake.
LAST one haha, also don’t forget the kings of GRUNGE guitar, Kim Thayil, Jerry Cantrell and the extremely under-rated as a guitarist Kurt Cobain, dozens of amazing riffs from KC.
…and Neil Young deserves kudos too…
LISTEN to the Nevermind box set if you don’t believe me -1 ignorant one, Kurt was a master of coming up with punky badass hard rock riffs, a ton of his best were b sides.
Tallest man on earth!
I would like to add the underrated Steve Howe from Yes
Billy Zoom from X
Bob Stinson
Neil Young
Ron Asheton
Marshall Crenshaw
Mick Ronson
Lou Reed
Roger Mcguinn
Arto Lindsay
Bo Diddley
fuck i hate rolling stone the same stupid lists every year….what does “greatest guitarist” mean anyway?
if you snorted hundred’s of thousands of dollars worth of cocaine, drank yourself into oblivion, managed to not get AIDS, and were still able to not fuck up the ax most of the time…then you made it
I didn’t bother reading through all this so I’m just going to post Isaac Brock and hope it hasn’t been said yet. Oh, and I think I caught a John Frusciante in there which is just crazy. crazy.
hmmm.. Johnny Marr…!?
youtube black postcards, and tell me how you keep Wareham off this list?