The 80's Rock Guitar Solo - Damn I miss them!

Decadence · 31-01-2008, 9:40 PM

Just listened to The Warrior by Scandal for the first time in years! I forgot about the guitar solo about 2/3 of the way through. Although it's not the best ever it really kicks ass.

Got me thinking...we don't get a corking solo during songs anymore like we did in the 80's...very sad! Are the new generation if guitarists not up to the job?

Do you have a favourite?

overkill · 31-01-2008, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Decadence

Just listened to The Warrior by Scandal for the first time in years! I forgot about the guitar solo about 2/3 of the way through. Although it's not the best ever it really kicks ass.

Got me thinking...we don't get a corking solo during songs anymore like we did in the 80's...very sad! Are the new generation if guitarists not up to the job?

Do you have a favourite?

Rock tracks with guitar solo's seemed to go in phases. They emerged in the 60's, went from brilliant to ludicrous in the 70's ( 15 minute solo anyone?

), died in the early 80's when synth pop ruled, re-emerged in the late 80's with 'hair metal' and some better indie acts, died again in the early 90's when the music biz thought it had finally achieved it's dream and killed rock for good, but strangely, when rock re-emerged in the late 90s and into the noughties, the nu-metal and rock bands didn't often go in for 'solos'.

I think you may be right that they just aren't up to it, or perhaps just not interested in them. One or two US stars stand out, Petrucci with Dream Theater and Adam Jones with Tool can peel off some tasty licks, but other than that..........?

Funny you should mention that as I've been listening to 'Time' by Floyd (ace solo by Gilmour) and 'Smoke on the Water' tonight.

Decadence · 31-01-2008, 10:22 PM

yeah i don't mean those really long ego massaging solos...just the ones where the song breaks off for 30 seconds or so.

huwg · 31-01-2008, 11:43 PM

Although I'm not really a fan of Guns'n'Roses or its many off-shoots, I think Slash knows how to construct a decent solo within the confines of a single.

The trick is to know when to stop.

The mid song solo is one thing, but the 3 minute epic to close it can get out of hand.

NewMan · 01-02-2008, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Decadence

Are the new generation if guitarists not up to the job?

It may be classed as "ego-massaging"

(I love that definition, by the way), but Herman Li from Dragonforce is a "next-gen" guitarist that shows a lot of promise. Listen to "Through the fire and the flames" for an example...

Breezimus · 01-02-2008, 1:20 PM

A friend of mine who's a session guitarist, cites that the solo from The Final Countdown by Europe was the reason he started palying guitar in the first place. Fantastic Solo!!!

They just don't make em like that anymore.

Mindcrime · 01-02-2008, 4:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Breezimus

A friend of mine who's a session guitarist, cites that the solo from The Final Countdown by Europe was the reason he started palying guitar in the first place. Fantastic Solo!!!

They just don't make em like that anymore.

And John Norum was on top form on Saturday night when I watched him live with Europe. Even his accoustic solos were excellent!! He never fails to impress

overkill · 01-02-2008, 4:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Decadence

yeah i don't mean those really long ego massaging solos...just the ones where the song breaks off for 30 seconds or so.

Talking of that, that reminds me of funny back in the 80's. I went to see Sammy Hagar (solo) and the support act was some up and coming band with a guitarist who was quite highly rated. The name escapes me........

Anyway, the band was pretty good, and this guy was peeling off some tasty solo's. Then about half way through the set we noticed the solo's were getting longer and longer. He then proceeded to strip to the waist for another number, in the middle of which the band started giving him funny looks as he went into an impromptu solo. After a while they just walked off, we thought, as part of the act. He carried on wigging out, and then, as he's playing breaks off and starts rubbing his chest, he plays some more, plays with his chest some more, then plays some more and moves his hands to a different area, by which time we are watching (all 1,000 of us) him totally agog in utter silence!

In the end he stopped playing altogether, lies down on the stage and was practically having an orgasm in the middle of it, whereupon he finally realises he's on his own jumps up, and rushes off...............

Top that for unrehearsed wacked out wierdness!

Lateralus · 05-02-2008, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by overkill

One or two US stars stand out, Petrucci with Dream Theater and Adam Jones with Tool can peel off some tasty licks, but other than that..........?

I salute your choice of Guitarists their my friend. my two favourite bands.

otherbands i know that do this are Machine Head (although slightly heavier admittadly), dragonforce(not their biggest fan : /) Mastodon are a very nice instrumental band, Velvet revolver obviously with slash n all.

other than these theres not that much now in this department now mate. yur rite. its a shame

Artie Fufkin · 06-02-2008, 12:34 AM

I was tonight looking on the net for info on Vandenberg [you must listen to the first self-titled album] and came across this site: http://www.dinosaurrockguitar.com/alchemy.shtml

Each guitarist has a concise one page review and a youtube clip...it's a one stop shop for rock guitar lovers.

JohnG · 07-02-2008, 7:20 PM

I've been listening to a lot of my old Deep Purple stuff recently .... it's a shame Blackmore disappeared up his own backside !

overkill · 07-02-2008, 11:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnG

I've been listening to a lot of my old Deep Purple stuff recently .... it's a shame Blackmore disappeared up his own backside !

Ditto. I recently bought The remastered 'In rock' CD, although I have to admit the quality of it was such that I'm now looking for a good vinyl copy............

I've also bought the re-mastered vinyl copy of Made in Japan, and I've been playing that a lot, along with Fireball, which I'd forgotten was so good! I started buying them all in again after I ditched a lot of them back in the late 80's. The DVD-A of Machine Head is not bad either.

Agree on Ritchie. Great guitarist, really lost the plot though. Quite ill now apparently.

mjn · 08-02-2008, 3:02 PM

Try Godsmack - Livin In Sin.

Parmenion62 · 09-02-2008, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by overkill

Ditto. I recently bought The remastered 'In rock' CD, although I have to admit the quality of it was such that I'm now looking for a good vinyl copy............

I've also bought the re-mastered vinyl copy of Made in Japan, and I've been playing that a lot, along with Fireball, which I'd forgotten was so good! I started buying them all in again after I ditched a lot of them back in the late 80's. The DVD-A of Machine Head is not bad either.

Agree on Ritchie. Great guitarist, really lost the plot though. Quite ill now apparently.

Ho Ho Ho - As far as I know Ritchie is still going strong - if you dont like his new direction fair enough. Deep Purple in Rock was the turning point in rock music - Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath being a far poorer second best (especially live) - I have all the albums from all 3 bands. Ritchie was a much beter guitarist but was not fashionable - not being from London. Just listen to Deep Purple without Ritchie - still very good but not great!

huwg · 10-02-2008, 8:08 PM

Probably not strictly on topic but....
I read that Santeri Ojala has had his youtube videos pulled. He basically overdubs footage of Van Halen, Santana, Clapton etc with his own badly played (on purpose) guitar. The music syncs to the film perfectly and the end result is rather funny. (especially with all the applause)

Here is his version of Santana and Eddie Van Halen (I find that one particularly funny, especially when he dips into Sabbath)

http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/37FCCE...-431975C1DC05/

overkill · 11-02-2008, 1:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parmenion62

Ho Ho Ho - As far as I know Ritchie is still going strong - if you dont like his new direction fair enough. Deep Purple in Rock was the turning point in rock music - Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath being a far poorer second best (especially live) - I have all the albums from all 3 bands. Ritchie was a much beter guitarist but was not fashionable - not being from London. Just listen to Deep Purple without Ritchie - still very good but not great!

I was referring to his personal life and attitude, not his musical direction or prowess. On those two issues we could spend all day discussing the mistakes his ego has made.

Led Zeppelin I and II are acknowledged as landmark albums in terms of the direction rock was going, and both produced before In Rock. The latter was a classic, but in all probability nowhere near as influential. As for Sabbath, they are critical to the way 'heavy metal' developed. Along with Judas Priest they defined an entire sound and influenced not one, but two generations of metal. DP, probably rather sadly in the end, as they were much less limited, did not.

Arguably, in terms of musicianship, DP MkII was the finest band of the three, but in terms of influence? Well, I'm not convinced of that.

JohnG · 11-02-2008, 2:21 PM

Yes, I was also refering to Blackmore's love of himself and his liking for sacking everyone around him etc.

quarry2006 · 20-02-2008, 7:12 PM

In the eighties I was a big fan of Phil Collins (why do I always feel I hear sniggering from the back of the room when I write that?!) and I fondly remember the new lease of life that metal got with bands like GNR and the hair-bear bunch that followed them. The Coop didn't do too badly either with Trash and, of course, we had Maiden's Seventh Son of A Seventh Son riding high in the charts. Happy days.

Of course, all my mates pretty much dismissed what I was listening to at the time because it just wasn't hard enough - I mean, Phil Collins, bit of a wuss wasn't he? He wasn't a known drug-taker and he didn't have endless groupies lined up outside his dressing room door. "Boring" was the verdict.

Well, whatever. I tell you what, though, although he's not known for being a monster of rawk, he had some damn fine players in his group: Chester Thompson (who'd paid his dues with Weather Report and Zappa), the Earth Wind And Fire Horn section, and session player par excellence Leland Sklar. The shining light in his band, though, was ex-Jean Luc Ponty sideman Daryl Stuermer, and he could hold his own against any player out there, no sweat.

Talk about eighties guitar solos? Check out Daryl's solo on No Jacket Required's Inside Out. Even better on 1989's Seriously Live In Berlin DVD.