Everyone disappointed with Rolling Stone's Top 100 guitarists list?? Well, a REAL guitar magazine, Guitar World has put out in their latest issue, the TOP 100 METAL GUITARISTS OF ALL TIME!!:rock: :guitar:

Let's start at the very bottom and work our way up:

100.Nick Bowcott of Grim Reaper

Remember "See You In Hell" back in 1984?? Nick Bowcott played lead guitar and sang. Now he promotes Marshall amps and writes for Guitar World. I believe he's the second from the right in this picture.

Wait--a "tribute" to Grim Reaper? Does this mean they're not the real deal?? :confused:

I guess they did a decent job with it. I read the magazine. I personally thought Eddie Van Halen deserved to be #1. I mean come on, he revolutioned guitar playing. The first time, I heard "Eruption," it just blew my mind.

99. John Kay and Michael Monarch of Steppenwolf

The two guys who gave us "Born to Be Wild" and "Magic Carpet Ride" over 35 years ago. "The Pusher", "Hey Lawdy Mama", "Move Over," "Rock Me", "Jupiter's Child", "Sookie Sookie" and "Ride With Me" are also great songs. John Kay has formed a new band under the Steppenwolf name, and Michael Monarch does solo projects. In the photo, John Kay with the sunglasses is second to the right of Goldy McJohn (whom I got to talk to on the radio 20 years ago), and Michael Monarch is in the dark jacket holding the guitar.

These guys rocked my 7th grade world in the mid-70's!!:cool:

98. Michael Angelo of Nitro. These guys are fast, fast fast, they play loud, and they have album titles such as "Hot, Wet, Drippin' With Sweat", and "O.F.R." This guy's a shredder and he's very creative with the four-necked guitars. Guitar World critics have ripped the hell out of them, but who listens to critics?? He also makes guitar instruction videos that are designed to make you incredible and SHRED-able.

To shred, of course, is to play fast and wild. Like we've forgotten.

How high was Randy Rhoads ?

Brian May?

97. Akira Takasaki of the Japanese metal band, Loudness. He is considered the Japanese Eddie Van Halen.
Remember "Rock and Roll Crazy Nights" from USA Network's Night Flight video show in 1985? "Rock and roll crazy nights, you are the hero!"

Originally posted by robyrob
How high was Randy Rhoads ?

Probably more than a little, if Ozzy had anything to do with it.;) :crazy: :lol:

Actually #4.:cool:

Originally posted by DianeChambers87
Brian May?

Brian May was #21.

What happened, Captain ABlairica, aren't you going to continue the countdown? I like reading what you have to write.

Oh, and I haven't seen this issue so I don't know who's all on the countdown, although I heard on the radio who the top 5 were.

Originally posted by phoebe7165
What happened, Captain ABlairica, aren't you going to continue the countdown? I like reading what you have to write. I haven't forgotten it, I've been focusing on my rock nd roll thread, but I'll get some more in, sometimes it takes me a while to find the right photos here!

96. Alexi "Whildchild" Laiho of Children of Bodom, the hellacious hellcats from Helsinki who play some of the heaviest death metal on the planet--who are coming to "*FINNISH* you off!!!!":eek: :lol:

95. Sammy Hagar, who is pictured here with Eddie Van Halen. He has been a big solo performer, before with, and after VH. Is there talk that he may return to Van Halen?
One of my favorite songs by him is "Red", as well as "Heavy Metal". Great animated movie.:cool:

Originally posted by Captain ABlairica
96. Alexi "Whildchild" Laiho of Children of Bodom, the hellacious hellcats from Helsinki who play some of the heaviest death metal on the planet--who are coming to "*FINNISH* you off!!!!":eek: :lol: cool guitar - designed by Grover Jackson & Randy Rhoads :D

Originally posted by Captain ABlairica
96. Alexi "Whildchild" Laiho of Children of Bodom, the hellacious hellcats from Helsinki who play some of the heaviest death metal on the planet--who are coming to "*FINNISH* you off!!!!":eek: :lol:

:lol: Cap'n, you are too much!!

94. Tommy Bourge of Budgie was the guitarist of heavy progressive power trio that was influential in their native Britain but had limited exposure in the U.S.--except on the members of Metallica who covered a few of their songs. One of their most popular albums was "If I Were Brittania, I'd Waive the Rules."

93. Piggy of Voivod is a French-speaking guitarist of a band from Quebec who overcame the Anglophobic ghetto of their home province to sing in English on albums that were amazing, imaginative pieces of thrash metal on albums such as "Killing Technology", "Dimension Hatross", and the classic "Nothingface", where they do a brilliant cover of Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine". He is inspired by guitarists such as Alex Lifeson of Rush and Steve Howe of Yes. Jason Newstead briefly joined the band in 2003.

92. Bill Steer of Napalm Death, Carcass, and Arch Enemy

91. Michael Romeo of Symphony X

90. Jim Martin of Faith No More claimed not to be too familiar with much with what was going on in metal when he topped the charts with Faith No More in 1990, but he was considered by Metallica to be the guitarist of the "heaviest band in the world" at that time. They were perhaps one of the bands that popularized rap influences in metal and alternative, but left the band shortly after the release of their 1992 album Angel Dust.

Tony Bourge of Budgie

Piggy of Voivod

89. Leigh Stephens of Blue Cheer. One of the originators of proto-metal in the late 60's in the San Francisco scene with their album Vincibus Eruptum, which was regarded by critics as sounding like a "dump truck giving birth to a cement mixer." Their cover of Eddy Cochran's "Summertime Blues" gave The Who's Pete Townshend plenty of ideas...

:bump:

88. Uffe Cederlund and Alex Hellid of Entombed

Alex on left of top pic; Uffe in lower pic:

87. Kai Hansen of Helloween

86.Abbath Doom Occulta of Immortal

85. Neil Young
Primarily known as the bittersweet acoustic folk-rocker from Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young ever since the late 60's, Neil Young is also known as "The Godfather of Grunge" through his use of feedback on Fender amps, as well as his complete disregard for slavish technique and more into jamming with abandon with his fellow bandmates in Crazy Horse. He is completely a "feel" player, being able to come up with some of the most intense sludges of sound ever committed to vinyl. His hit "Into the Black (Hey Hey, My, My)" and "Rockin' In the Free World" are perfect examples of this, as well as his live albums Arc and Weld.

84. Timo Tolkki of Finland's Stratovarius

83. Jon Schaffer of Iced Earth, featured here in a neckbrace because he rocked so hard. :lol:

82. Pete Townshend of The Who

Another pioneer of hard rock with both his use of stacking Marshalls and his use of power chords. Unfortunately, being the guitarist of the world's loudest band according to Guinness Book of World Records has taken its toll on him, as he has become nearly completely deaf, though still retaining some hearing in one ear. But hey, occupational hazard, right?

Not only is "Won't Get Fooled Again" one of the greatest rock songs ever recorded, but also check out The Who Live At Leeds and Quadrophenia.

81. Dino Cazares of Fear Factory

80. Mark Morton and Will Adler of Lamb of God

The kings of new American metal.

79. Ty Tabor of King's X

One of the most innovative trios since Rush, King's X has combined wondrous storytelling and themes with powerful, positive music. Ty Tabor was one of the first guitarists in the late 80's/early 90's to popularize dropped-D tuning. Critically acclaimed by musicians such as Vernon Reid of Living Color, Dimebag Darrell, and Pearl Jam, the band has yet to make a commercial breakthrough in over 15 years. Songs such as "Moanjam", "It's Love", and "Over My Head" are worth a listen.

Ty Tabor then and now (with King's X bassist/vocalist Doug Pinnick on the left):

78. Frank Hannon and Tommy Skeoch of Tesla

Pegged as a "hair metal" band in the 80's, Tesla were from up north from the L.A. Aqua Net scene, based in Sacramento, where they put forth a strong middle-class, meat-and-spuds sensibility to their rock and roll. Hannon and Skeoch have had some barn-blazers such as "Modern Day Cowboy" and "Heaven's Trail (No Way Out)", in spite of rock radio focusing more on their acoustic "power ballad" hits.

77. Joe Satriani

The former guitar teacher for brilliant axemen such as Steve Vai, Metallica's Kirk Hammett and Testament's Alex Skolnick was one of the biggest shredders of the 80's who had an amazing ability to keep his music accessible and fun. He also employs a brilliant tapping technique in his playing. His best songs include "Satch Boogie", "Big Bad Moon", "The Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing", "Flying in a Blue Dream", "Back To Shalla-Bal" and "The Extremist."

76. Andre` Olbrich of Blind Guardian

75. Robert Fripp of King Crimson

74. Michael Amott of Carcass; and Arch Enemy

73. Buck Dharma (aka Donald Roeser) of Blue Oyster Cult

Even though Blue Oyster Cult will live on classic rock radio with "Don't Fear the Reaper", songs more indicative of "America's answer to Black Sabbath" include heavy tracks such as "Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll", "Godzilla," "E.T.I. (Extra-Terrestrial Intelligences)", "Hot Rails to Hell", and pretty much their entire live 1975 album On Your Feet or On Your Knees, which includes Buck's instrumental "Buck's Boogie." One standout feature of BOC's concerts in the 70's included all five members taking the stage in a full guitar armada and launching into a jam.

Top pic: Buck in center, vocalist/guitarist Eric Bloom on left, bassist Joe Bouchard on right

Lower left: Buck on right, guitarist/keayboardist Alan Lanier on left

Lower right: Buck with his "Stun guitar" SG

72. Gary Holt and Rick Hunolt of Exodus

After founding member Kirk Hammett left Exodus to join Metallica, Rick Hunolt took his place.

71. Jim Matheos of Fates Warning

70. Bjorn Gelotte and Jesper Stromblad of In Flames

69. Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce of Alice Cooper

Back when Alice Cooper was the name of the entire band than just its charismatic, theatrical frontman, in the early 70's guitarists Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce forged the sound of the band, which originally took several years before it could become anywhere commercial. In the late 60's the band was thoroughly avant-garde (and nearly unlistenable), until they managed to score with their first hit "I'm Eighteen." They followed with more hits such as "Billion Dollar Babies" and "School's Out."

Glen Buxton died in 1997 after years of alcohol abuse. :( Michael Bruce continues as a solo artist.

68. Vernon Reid of Living Colour

One of the most innovative guitarists of color since Hendrix. An intense musician who is very literate, outspoken, and a champion of bringing multiculturalism to rock with the Black Rock Coalition. He merges the two worlds of metal, funk and fusion with songs such as "Cult of Personality", "Middle Man", and "Type."

67. Leslie West of Mountain

Guitarist for the late 60's proto-metal band who insists their song "Mississippi Queen" was the first metal song.


Leslie West on the right with the late Mountain bassist Felix Pappalardi on the right:

66. Tommy Victor of Prong

Guitarist with the East Coast three-piece who has been known to play some of the angriest riffs in metal. "Prove You Wrong", "For Dear Life", "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck", and "Rude Awakening" are classics.

65. Pepper Keenan and Woody Weatherman of Corrosion of Conformity (C.O.C.)

Beginning as a hardcore band from North Carolina, the band gravitated toward more Sabbath-y, Southern-fried metal on their mid-90's albums. Generally, metal and hardcore were too volatile to mix, but C.O.C. pulled it off well. The band is known for such songs as "Albatross," "Seven Days", "Cleanse My Wounds", and "Vote With a Bullet."

64. Scott "Wino" Weinrich of The Obsessed; and Spirit Caravan, St. Vitus, Place of Skulls, Hidden Hand

Weinrich was converted to metal at the early age of 12 when he went to see
Black Sabbath and Rick Derringer with the Edgar Winter Group in 1974. During
his career in metal in the 80's, he began a violent, anti-social lifestyle which included such bizarre acts as daring others to lick acid tabs off hunting knives. Soon he reconciled with members of his estranged family and found that the music was the strength in his life rather than drugs or violence. He tapped into the power of rock which changed his life for the better with albums such as The Church Within. He currently fronts various bands and is even heard on Dave Grohl's metal side project Probot.

63. John Christ of Danzig; now in Flesh Caffeine

John Christ managed to ace his audition for former Misfits vocalist Glenn Danzig's new band in the late 80's with flying colors: after practicing all week
he went to the audition and proceeded to play so intensely that he accidentally cut himself and whipped blood all over while playing! :eek: Danzig told him he got the guitar slot but the other members were scared of him! :lol:

One of the darker bands in metal, their songs are more in a classic rock vibe:
"Mother '93" "Twist of Cain", "Dirty Black Summer" and "Cantspeak."

62. Brian Tatler of Diamond Head

One of the most popular bands of the British New Wave of Heavy Metal in the early 80's, Diamond Head took a young American drummer by the name of Lars Ulrich on the road with them on a tour of Britain. The band never really hit it big in America, but Lars, who went to form a band called Metallica, paid homage to them on songs such "Am I Evil?" "Helpless", and "The Prince."

61. Alex Skolnick and Eric Peterson of Testament

Alex Skolnick in the 80's (first two pics); Eric Peterson

While many ragged on Testament to be a "Metallica clone" in the late 80's, there was no question that Alex Skolnick was a different sort of player all together than any of the bands in their native Bay Area. Skolnick's enthusiasm for jazz made for very colorful solos on songs such as "The Ballad", "So Many Lies," "Souls of Black", and "Practice What You Preach". Skolnick later left the band to follow his jazz muse in various bands, including Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Eric Peterson is still with the band.

60. Stephen Carpenter of the Deftones

59. Jon Donais and Matt Bachand of Shadows Fall

One of the best new metal bands today.

58. Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi

While many metal purists decry Bon Jovi's "hair metal", there's no question that guitarist Richie Sambora helped bring metal to the musical mainstream--which would open doors for bands like Metallica--as well as bring in a new phenomenon which had been missing in metal for years: women. Now both sexes had something to appreciate, girls loved Jon Bon Jovi's teased locks, and guys dug in Sambora's guitar licks which would help them get chicks at their own shows.

Their 80's anthems included "Living on a Prayer", "Shot To the Heart", "Born to Be My Baby," and "Bad Medicine." Like Tesla, there was a certain middle-class, Springsteen-esque sensibility about the New Jersey band--even though
Jon and the boys hobnobbed with Hollywood royalty (Ritchie is married to Heather Locklear).

57. Hank Shermann and Michael Denner of Mercyful Fate

56. John Sykes of Whitesnake, Tygers of Pan Tang, and Thin Lizzie

John Sykes' excellent licks can be heard on Whitesnake's 1987 self-titled album, but he laid down the tracks quickly after being told he was let go from the band by David Coverdale. He first gained his claim to fame with New Wave of British Heavy Metal band Tygers of Pan Tang before filling in on the final Thin Lizzie album in 1983. The next year he recorded one of Whitesnake's most popular albums, Slide It In, but it was not until a couple years later that he hit his stride with the album that featured "Still of the Night", "Here I Go Again", "Give Me All Your Love", and "Is This Love?" The Slide It In album featured great blues-metal tracks such as "Slow and Easy", "Love Ain't No Stranger", and the title track. He now fronts the new lineup of Thin Lizzie minus the late Phil Lynott.

55. Trey Azagthoth of Morbid Angel

This guitarist happens to be one of the most warped characters in metal with the worship of his Sumerian gods The Ancient Ones, engaging in bizarre pagan activities, as well as biting himself until he bled onstage. He does not consider himself a "Satanist" but has exhibited a little more than an unhealthy fixation with the dark side. That aside, he is surprisingly literate in music and in his playing, finding inspiration with musicians ranging from his heroes Eddie Van Halen and Michael Schenker to even Mozart. One song worth a listen is
"Where the Slime Live."

54. Reb Beach of Winger; and Dokken, Alice Cooper, and Whitesnake

Mention the name Winger these days and you're likely to get little more than a
snicker, but fifteen years ago, the band was at the top of their game. There was no denying Reb Beach and his bandmates were a talented bunch. Beach says that one time while opening up for the revamped Bad Company in the late 80's, fans broke through a barrier and stormed the stage--"girls were swarming around Kip (Winger), and the dudes were swarming around me!"--guys were obviously blown away by his awesome playing ability. Having met Kip Winger, he tells me that Reb plays without using his fretting pinkie. He is a lightning fast player who was a session musician before hitting fame with Kip and the boys. Since the unfortunate breakup of Winger over ten years ago (due in no small part to "Beavis and Butthead" and the picked-on nerdy neighbor kid Stuart and his Winger t-shirt), Beach has played in Dokken and Alice Cooper, and is currently in Whitesnake.

Definitive songs include, "Madelaine", "Seventeen", "Headed For a Heartbreak" with its excellent solo, "Baptized By Fire", "You Are the Saint, I Am the Sinner", and "Blind Revolution Mad."

53. Steve Vai

Steve Vai began as a young guitar-slinger with Frank Zappa's band whose skills as a transcriber of "impossible guitar parts" made him a valuable asset. All through the 80's he was known to be a fill-in guitar player for many diverse
bands as David Lee Roth, Public Image Ltd., and Whitesnake, before setting out on his own with one of the greatest rock guitar albums of all time, Passion and Warfare, which fully exploited his uncanny playing ability and vast guitar knowledge on such songs as "Erotic Nightmares", "Animal", "The Audience is Listening", and "For the Love of God." He was the musician who designed the Ibanez 7-string guitar (which ironically had been co-opted by Nu-metal bands) for a greater playing range. He has been seen playing on the yearly G-3 tours with his friend and mentor Joe Satriani.

52. Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson of Thin Lizzy

Scott Gorham on the left; Brian Robertson in his days with Motorhead:

51. Euronymous (aka Oystein Aarseth) of Mayhem

Norwegian black metal pioneer who was murdered by rival guitarist Varg Vikernes (Count Grishnackh) of the band Burzum in 1993.

50. Rudolf Schenker and Uli Jon Roth of The Scorpions

Both guitarists played together in the 70's before the band broke into the U.S.
Uli Roth left to pursue a solo career and was briefly replaced by Rudi's brother Michael of UFO. After Michael Schenker left, guitarist Matthias Jabs filled in and both he and Rudi have been The Scorpions' guitarists.

Rudi Schenker live in 1991; The Scorpions' live 1978 album Tokyo Tapes; a live shot of Uli Roth with The Scorpions in the 70's; and Uli Roth solo.

49. Jake E. Lee of Ozzy Osbourne; Badlands

It was hard to fill the boots left by a hugely talented guitarist as Randy Rhoads, but Jake E. Lee did quite well. While it was difficult playing under the shadow of the fallen axeman, Jake proved he had his own style on tracks such as "Bark at the Moon", "Rock and Roll Rebel", and "Shot In the Dark." After leaving Ozzy's band he joined an excellent yet underrated outfit Badlands.

48. Ted Nugent

If you can overlook the fact that Ted Nugent has been dubbed "Rush Limbaugh with a guitar" and his excesses in outspoken uber-conservative politics and crossbow hunting, you'd find a superb musician armed with a Gibson Byrdland semi-hollow body guitar and feedback-inducing Fender amps.
He entered music at a young age in the mid-60's with The Amboy Dukes with "Journey to the Center of Your Mind". nearly ten years later he hit the big time with his self-titled debut album which featured trademark track, the incomparable "Stranglehold", followed by huge albums such as Free-For-All, Cat Scratch Fever and Double Live Gonzo!!. His wildman of rock and roll antics and his obscene stage rants have endeared him to millions--and soured him with many PC types. The 80's were a sort of lean time for him until he teamed up with Damn Yankees featuring Tommy Shaw of Styx and Jack Blades of Night Ranger. Terrible Ted is known to be a totally drug-free musician, preferring to get his high from his primal side of hunting and rock guitar--as well as the occasional available cheerleader. His other hits include
"Stormtroopin'", "Wang Dang Sweet Poon Tang", "Great White Buffalo", "Motor City Madhouse", "Smokescreen", "Free-For-All", and "Paralyzed."

47. George Lynch of Dokken, Lynch Mob

The one thing that saved Dokken's songs from wallowing in the maw of predictability was the intense soloing of George Lynch, on songs such as "Breaking the Chains", "Alone Again", "Into the Fire", and "Burning Like a Flame." After the breakup of Dokken, he scored again with his own band Lynch Mob, with powerful guitar-laiden tracks as "Wicked Sensation" and "River of Love." He wasn't called "Mr Scary" for nothing.

46. Mick Mars of Motley Crue

Look beyond the Crue's Bad-Boys-Of-Rock-and-Roll image rife with sex and drugs, and you'll find a capable, "in your pocket" player like Mick Mars. He admits he's not about shredding, just preferring to keep it simple. Seeing him in concert is quite the experience, he is more talented than his critics give him credit for. In 1983, it was harder to decide which was scarier, the satanic cover art of Shout at the Devil or the dark churning riffs within, on songs such as "Looks That Kill," "Too Young To Fall In Love" and the title track. Mars has been the Crue member whose life has not been subject to so much scrutiny, but his guitar playing demands serious attention on such tunes as "Smokin' In the Boys' Room", "Live Wire", "Girls Girls Girls", "Wild Side", "Dr. Feelgood", and "Kickstart My Heart." Currently Mars is suffering from a rare bone condition where the bones of his spine are melding together, but that has not stopped his current summer tour with the Cruesters.

45. Warren DeMartini of Ratt

Frank Zappa's musical son Dweezil has named Warren DeMartini as one of the most talented players out there. On tracks such as "Round and Round", one of the most recognizable solos of the 80's, as well as "Lack of Communication", "Wanted Man","You Think You're Tough", "Lay It Down" and "Dance", it's hard not to see why.

44. Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme

Nuno Bettencourt is one of the fastest shredders of the early 90's who attempted to expand metal's musical palette by incorporating funk on songs such as "Get the Funk Out," "Pornografitti", and "Rest In Peace."

43. "Fast" Eddie Clark of Motorhead, Fastway

Fast Eddie Clark was with the classic lineup of Motorhead in 1980 with their album Ace of Spades, which laid the groundwork for thrash. Motorhead is without a doubt THE loudest band in the universe. Clark left the band to form
Fastway with UFO bassist Pete Way, with such hits as "Say What You Will" and "Easy Livin'."

42. Mikael Akerfeldt and Peter Lindgren of Opeth

41. Phil Collen and Steve Clark of Def Leppard

Steve Clark died in 1991 and was later replaced by Vivian Campbell formerly of
Dio and Whitesnake.

40. Json Becker of Cacophony and David Lee Roth

ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) tragically sidelined his career and kept him from being able to play guitar. Though he is now disabled with a potentially life-threatening illness, he is able to make music by use of computer.

His 1990 album for Shrapnel Records (before ALS hit);
Jason live. In Cacophony his bandmate was Marty Friedman who went on to play in Megadeth.

39. Mantas of Venom

While Venom were constantly slagged with outdoing Spinal Tap in the comedy of errors department, there is no question that their 1982 album Black
Metal would form a sub-genre on the title alone. The music was chaotic, the lyrical themes were over-the-top "hymns" to the Dark Dude Down There, and while you couldn't possibly take them seriously, plenty of "well-adjusted" kids did.

38. Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains

Alice in Chains were tangentally tied in with the Seattle "grunge" movement when their roots were far more into a darker version of L.A. metal and AC/DC.
But Cantrell took grunge's loose, DIY ethic to new heights on songs such as "We Die Young," "Man in a Box", "Sea of Sorrow", "Them Bones", "Rooster",
"Grind", and "Sludge Factory." After the tragic death of lead singer Layne Staley, Cantrell toured behind his second solo effort, Degradation Trip. One of his accomplishments has been his bringing guitar de-tuning to the forefront of 90's rock.

37. Paul Gilbert of Racer X, Mr. Big

Racer X were one of the bright lights of L.A.'s shred-metal scene full of students at Guitar Institute of Technology (G.I.T.) in downtown Hollywood. Young Paul Gilbert played faster than fast, and used such toys as power drills to get interesting effects on guitar while playing live. In the late 80's he joined Mr. Big with the fastest bass player in the world, Billy Sheehan, formerly of David Lee Roth's band, where they released hits such as "Addicted to That Rush", "Alive and Kicking", and "Wind Me Up."

36. Alex Lifeson of Rush

In the early 70's Rush were originally called "the poor man's Led Zeppelin", but the Canadian band came into their own with their own brand of powerhouse prog-rock/metal that sounded meatier and less indulgent than other British bands of that ilk at the time. They roared into public consciousness with their epic 2112 albums and explored various literary and sci-fi themes and topics. In the late 70's Alex Lifeson was dubbed as one of the most talented players on various guitar polls, being able to play Page-like leads and complex time changes, as well as various guitars from 10 & 12-strings to acoustic. Rush were heavy not only musically but in concept.

In the 80's, the band shifted gears as the music scene leaned more to the New Wave--but the band concentrated on a more permanent wave that rose above mere trendiness, while refashioning themselves as a refreshing up-to-date band with tighter leads and expanding into guitar textures much like U2's the Edge and Andy Summers of The Police. But the band never lost their heavy edge, and while Lifeson's guitar playing took a back seat to Geddy Lee's keyboards, the band returned to its guitar roots in the 90's.
The band has celebrated its 30th anniversary of making records which include tunes such as "Working Man", "By-Tor and the Snow Dog", "Bastille Day", "2112", "Hemispheres", "La Villa Strangiato", "The Spirit of Radio", "Freewill", and their biggest album Moving Pictures, which included their hit "Tom Sawyer", as well as "Red Barchetta", "YYZ", "The Camera Eye", and other 80's tracks "Early Distant Warning," "The Big Money", and "Show Don't Tell." They entered the 90's with
"Animate", "Stick It Out", "Test For Echo", and "Driven."

Alex in 1978 during the Hemispheres tour; recent Vapor Trails-era photo; Alex and Geddy around 1979 (possibly older pic from 1976); Alex from the 1988 Hold Your Fire Tour from the 1989 Show of Hands live album.

35. Marten Hagstrom and Fredrik Thordendal of Meshuggah

34. C.C. Deville of Poison

Considered by many to be one of the "worst" guitar players ever, C.C. DeVille probably is--if you're looking for another Yngwie Malmsteen or another shred virtuosic genius. However, if you're looking for nothin' but a good time, then C.C. is right up your alley. Actually having a lot more substance than given credit for, he knows how to work his way around a killer pop hook and a decent sizzling bluesy solo. It's probably the hair and Max Factor that throws
people off, but people shouldn't listen with their eyes. The guy must be heavy, back in the day he was known to piss off his Beverly Hills neighbors
Burt Reynolds and Ice-T for playing too loudly on a Sunday morning. He has a
manic, idiosyncratic personality that perhaps would keep him from being your typical neo-classical shredder, but just perfect for everything else he does. Simplicity obviously sold a lot more albums in America than "Histronic Versions of Paganini's Caprices, Movement X!V, Suite 5: Ode to the Middle Earth", or something like that. Try "Talk Dirty to Me". Or, "I Want Action", "Fallen Angel", "Valley of Lost Souls", "Unskinny Bop", or "Ball and Chain."

33. Chris DeGarmo and Michael Wilton of Queensryche

Originally accused of being an "Iron Maiden clone band", Queensryche rose from the Seattle metal scene to become one of the most ambitious, articulate
rock acts in the 80's. Their 1988 album Operation: Mindcrime was a successful attempt at a concept album of Orwellian political intrigue. Wilton and DeGarmo wove tight, polished hooks and leads and played with both power and finesse that was for a time, the definitive musical statement from the Jet City (before the slapdash groovy looseness of grunge took over). They came back from a hiatus, still rocking, and are even planning on a followup to Operation Mindcrime. Prime tracks include "Queen of the Reich", "The Lady Wore Black", "Gonna Get Close to You", "Anarchy X/Revolution Calling," Breaking the Silence", "I Don't Believe In Love", "Eyes of a Stranger", "Empire", "Best I Can", Anybody Listening?" and "Silent Lucidity" which made them accused of being a "Pink Floyd clone band". :lol:

Michael Wilton on left, Chris DeGarmo on right (top pic);
Chris DeGarmo; Michael Wilton

32. Tom G. Warrior of Celtic Frost

31. Scott Ian of Anthrax

Usually in a band, especially in a thrash band, the lead guitarist gets all the attention. But in the case of Anthrax, the opposite is true--Scott Ian gets the most attention--and not because of his scary shaven head. He happens to be one of the best rhythm guitarists out there. Like Randy Rhoads, secret to his heaviness was his ability to triple-track his rhythm parts for a thick, dense sound, and to nail each part successfully. He is also one of the first bands to merge the worlds between thrash and rap, laying the groundwork for
nu-metal (but not certain if that's an accomplishment he wants to list). Even though the nu-metal subgenre is pretty much played out, fifteen years ago it was quite a new thing when the band collaborated with Public Enemy. Even though the band went through a multitude of lineup changes, the band has not lost its cutting edge--and even with the bioterrorism scare a few years back with threats of anthrax attacks--there is nothing scarier than the fact that Anthrax is back with a new album and sounding better than ever.

The band that was about to re-name itself Basketful of Puppies for about fifteen seconds has worthy songs to check out: "Caught In a Mosh", "Indians", "I am the Law", "I'm the Man", "Anti-Social", "Got the Time" (a Joe Jackson cover), "Bring the Noise", "Only", "Room For One More", "Hy-Pro Glo", and others.

30. Daron Malakian of System of a Down

For a man who feels more like a "drummer locked in a guitarist's body", Daron Malakian is a man of many extremes. SOAD's music could be best described as riff-oriented Armenian polka music, but if you wish to go away from frivelous labels, their music defies categorization. The band members met at an Armenian school in Los Angeles and spent much time focusing on their heritage that has seen more of its fair share of unspeakable injustice. For this reason the band spends much of its lyrical content on social awareness and political issues and uses its hard hitting music to reinforce its message on songs such as "Toxicity" (the #1 album on 9/11), "Ariels", "Chop Suey!" and newer songs such as "BYOB" and "Cigarellos." Daron is not much of a soloist, but concentrates more on concise, fast rhythms.

29. Vivian Campbell of Dio, Whitesnake, Def Leppard

After Ronnie James Dio left Black Sabbath in 1982, he found a perfect guitarist for a new band he would form the following year: Vivian Campbell, who drew rave reviews for fiery guitar work on the the excellent Holy Diver album in 1983 on such songs as "Rainbow in the Dark" and "Holy Diver." The classic Dio lineup returned in 1984 with The Last in Line with the majestic and spine-tingling title track and other anthems such as "We Rock" and "Mystery." Unfortunately, after this album Campbell left the band to find a new gig. Even though he was touted as one of the best British/Irish guitarists in metal, he felt frustrated that all his solo parts on the Dio albums were down-picked rather than using alternate picking (not a complaint heard here). He did find a guitar slot replacing John Sykes in Whitesnake in 1987 but later left the band after a falling out with fellow guitarist Adrian Vandenberg over musical direction. He later replaced the late guitarist Steve Clark in Def Leppard where he remains to this day.

28. Kim Thayil of Soundgarden

While all other guitarists were concentrating on speed and dexterity in the late 80's, Seattle guitarist Kim Thayil was going the other direction--focusing on drony, dark tones and rhythms and dropped-D tuning. A longtime fan of KISS in his youth, he fell into music such as Iggy Pop and the Stooges and avant-garde jazz to develop a sludgier, creepier sound of guitar not heard since Black Sabbath's heyday. A pioneer of the so-called grunge movement, he was dubbed a founder of a new brand of heavy metal--a title with which he never felt fully comfortable. He was happier doing his own brand of music, but as Soundgarden's popularity grew, his desire to remain a "rock star" dwindled. Ironically, Soundgarden's moment of glory came once the band adopted a poppier, more melodic direction on their 1994 album Superunknown. A few years later the band called it quits, and at this time Kim Thayil remains a free agent.

Definitive Thayil tunes include "Loud Love", "Hands All Over," "Flower", "Rusty Cage", "Outshined," "Jesus Christ Pose," "Slaves and Bulldozers", "Searching With My Good Eye Closed", "Birth Ritual", "My Wave," "Fell On Black Days", "Superunknown", and "Rhinosaur."

27. John Petrucci of Dream Theater

John Petrucci met his fellow bandmates at Berklee College of Music where they eventually take the name Dream Theater and create a fascinating brand of progressive rock for the 90's in the midst of hype over grunge. Like classic 70's bands such as KISS, Rush, and Kansas, the band experimented with tempo changes, keyboards, and epic song themes while maintaining a metal edge. The band drew instant comparisons to Queensryche, and Petrucci not only raised the bar in guitar virtuosity, but became one of the proponents of the use of 7-stringed guitars. Their best tracks include "Hold Me Under", "Take the Time," "Caught In a Web", "Innocence Faded", and "As I Am." Petrucci remains one of the most exciting players out there.

26. James "Munky" Shaffer and Brian "Head" Welch of Korn

Korn represent the most influential trend in rock since the end of Nirvana and the grunge movement with the rise of nu-metal, a brand of heavy alternative rock incorporating urban rhythms and the like. Head and Munky use instruments originally designed by Steve Vai, the 7-string Ibanez guitars, for a heavier sound with an added bottom B string. Instead of proper solos, the guitar duo played unconventional riffs and whammy bar tricks in music that was quite unusual for any band previously considered metal. Prime examples of their style were on songs such as "Blind", "Freak on a Leash," Got the Life,"
"Falling Away From Me", and others.

Head has since left the band to pursue his newfound faith in born again Christianity and is planning to release an album in Christian music, including a song dedicated to the late Dimebag Darrell which includes a guitar solo, since the fallen Pantera guitarist told him that "Korn never performed solos."

25. Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave

Another contender for the so-called nu-metal tag is Tom Morello, formerly of Rage Against the Machine, who can be considered one of the most important guitar heroes of the 90's--even though such a term fell into disfavor at that time. Like Korn, Morello employed urban rhythms to the band's incendiary politically charged music and lyrics, as well as used ingenious methods of bringing out the most unheard-of sounds on guitar. Songs which feature his brilliant techniques include "Killing in the Name Of..." "Down Rodeo," "Rally Round the Family," "Bulls On Parade," and an astonishing cover of Bruce Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad."

Morello now performs in Audioslave with fellow members of Rage with former Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell with equally potent guitar on tracks including "Show Me How to Live," "Cochise," "What You Need", and are ready to release their latest album any day now.

24. Jeff Beck

The veteran guitarist's early claim to fame: "The Guv'nor" replaced Eric Clapton in legendary British Invasion band The Yardbirds, then with The Jeff Beck Group (with Rod Stewart on vocals), then began a long solo career releasing amazing fusion albums such as "Blow By Blow" and "Wired." :cool:
With both the Yardbirds and the Jeff Beck group, he helped lay the groundwork for heavy metal with loud electric blues that had taken Britain by storm in the 60's. Listen to songs such as "Over Under Sideways Down," "Shapes of Things", "I Ain't Superstitious", and "Beck's Bolero", which display his wild, uncanny style. And not to forget, he was friends with the man who would later rule the world in an attempted Yardbirds spinoff, his replacement in the band, Jimmy Page.

In the pictures below, he is seen with Gibson Les Pauls, though his primary guitar choice was the Fender Stratocaster.

23. Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap

Nigel bears an uncanny resemblance to Jeff Beck in both looks and voice! In addition to his titanic work with co-guitarist David St. Hubbins has not only spawned such immortal masterpieces as "Hell Hole", "Sex Farm Woman", "Rock and Roll Creation," "Stonehenge", "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight", "Bitch School", and "Christmas With the Devil", but has added such phrases to our common everyday language as "These go up to eleven!!" and "D-minor, the saddest of all keys." Smell the Glove, their 1982 release which the band toured behind in time for the 1984 rockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap", is one of the great underrated albums of metal. Tufnel also contributes some excellent bass on the rockingest love song of all time, "Big Bottom."

22. Michael Schenker of UFO, MSG, and the McCauley Schenker Group; currently a solo artist.

One of the most influential metal guitarists of the 70's was German guitarist Michael Schenker of British band UFO, whose brother Rudolf Schenker was playing in The Scorpions. Both contributed mightily to what would be called Euro-metal, with its emphasis on minor keys and classical modes which became popular due to the influence of other virtuosi as Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple. While Michael's English was limited during his tenure in UFO, his manic and tasteful guitar style spoke volumes (pun intended?). Like his brother in The Scorpions, Michael's guitar of choice was the Gibson Flying V, which he would later paint black and white for a stunning look that would become his trademark. His best songs with UFO included the hit "Rock Bottom", one of their most popular with his blazing guitar solo (especially when played live), the power ballad, "Love to Love", "Doctor Doctor", "Too Hot to Handle," "Lights Out," "Only You Can Rock Me," "Cherry", "Hot N' Ready", "Shoot Shoot", "Pack It Up and Go", and others. But at the end of the 70's, Schenker left UFO out of frustration with his limited English and inability to communicate, which left him with a severe alcohol problem which nearly led him to suicide. He started his own band, the Michael Schenker Group (MSG) in 1980, and released excellent tracks such as "On and On" and "Captain Nemo." His solo career faltered for the most part in the 80's until he hooked up with vocalist Robin McAuley with the redubbed McAuley Schenker group, which came out with radio friendly hits as "Anytime" and "When You're Gone." The past 15 years have been a series of ups and downs with the guitar genius, with tumultuous episodes and minor successes, while still being able to provide challenging music in spite of life's changes.

Michael Schenker with UFO in the 70's; Michael in a recent pic (2001); Michael in the late 80's:

21. Brian May of Queen

Brian May was one guitarist who could bring out a full orchestra based on his playing alone, it was so majestic and powerful. Even though his father helped
him build his homemade "Red Special" trademark guitar, he also cautioned his son against pursuing a career in music. In the mid 70's, Queen were slagged as being a "Led Zeppelin clone band" (and who wasn't??) due their dramatic, larger than life stage show and sound, which rivaled Zep's at the height of their popularity. Their best tracks included "Bohemian Rhapsody" (the headbanging "Wayne's World" crew will live for eternity!!), "Tie Your Mother Down" (a rocking favorite!), "We Will Rock You" (check out that solo!), and "Killer Queen."

20. Chuck Schuldiner of Death

Unfortunately, Chuck Schuldiner died of a brain tumor in December 2001. :(

19. Dave Mustaine and Marty Friedman of Megadeth

One of the founding members of Metallica, Dave Mustaine was bounced out of the band when his anti-social attitude got the better of him. Though he was bitter for a very long time, he decided to respond with a band that would
remain one of the hallmark bands of thrash: Megadeth, who rivaled Metallica for speed supremacy, and for a while had a good shot at overtaking the Metallicrew with intense, hard-hitting fast tracks such as "Peace Sells",
"Wake Up Dead," "Bad Omen", and "In My Darkest Hour". Unfortunately, Mustaine's controlling nature coupled with his rampant drug use derailed Megadeth's popularity and potential to rival Metallica. But it was not until 1990 when Mustaine hired former Cacaphony guitarist Marty Friedman, as well as kicking his addictions, to record the thrash masterpiece Rust In Piece, which included "Holy Wars...The Punishment Due", "Hangar 18," and "Take No Prisoners." From there it was a mixed bag with quality albums such as 1992's Countdown to Extinction with "Symphony of Destruction" and "Sweating Bullets", and while later Megadeth albums drifted away from the thrash ethos,
their albums featured superb playing and conviction. Megadeth broke up in 2002 due to arm injury Mustaine suffered, but was back in 2004 with a new album, The System Has Failed, an intense return to form for Dave. Friedman's talents, during his time with the band, are not to be minimized, he is comparable to no one less than Kirk Hammett in the soloing department.

Mustaine has employed such guitarists as Chris Poland, Jeff Young, and former
Alice Cooper guitarist Al Pitrelli. While Mustaine is considered by many to be cocky and opinionated, others find him to be rather outspoken and self-assured. He is without a doubt an excellent guitarist who has found success on his own terms with his own band.

18. Joe Perry and Brad Whitford of Aerosmith

Originally referred to as "the American version of the Stones" (and not just in terms of their rampant drug use), Aerosmith featured two of the bluesiest powerhouse guitarists in hard rock and roll. Joe Perry was the perfect dour yin to vocalist Steven Tyler's willd boy yang, and Whitford complimented Perry's style perfectly. One of the band's first claims to fame was their cover of the Yardbirds' "Train Kept a-Rollin'", as well as the sleazy swagger of songs such as "Same Old Song and Dance", "Seasons of Wither", "Mama Kin" and their huge ballad "Dream On." On their 1975 album Toys in the Attic, they roared with intensity on such songs as the title track, "Sweet Emotion" (one of the finest hard rock songs of all time), and "Walk This Way", and followed up with the album Rocks which contained classics such as "Back in the Saddle", "Last Child", "Rats in the Cellar," the excellent "Combination" and "No More, No More", proving they were more than Stones clones by playing with more vigor, attitude and spit than their British forebears. Unfortunately, the end of the 70's saw the band in rapid decline due to out-of-control drug abuse which hampered their ability to play and write quality music at this point. The band went on hiatus for the next several years and resurfaced only with various lineups, until the mid-80's when the entire band, having become clean and sober, released new albums such as Permanent Vacation and Pump, two more polished albums that were a far cry from their raunchier 70's heyday (more likely due to new band Guns N' Roses ability to do it much better).

17. Yngwie Malmsteen

Swedish ex-patriate Yngwie Malmsteen is a guitarist people are evenly divided
on, as either one of the greatest musicians who ever lived, or one of the most
anally obsessed-with-technique characters in rock and roll. He claims to have had his guitar epiphany on September 18, 1970, when he saw a t.v. clip showing Jimi Hendrix in concert. Blown away by the now-late guitarist's flamboyant playing, young Yngwie took up the guitar and played day and night with a vengeance. In the early 80's, he played in Alcatrazz with shredder bassist Billy Sheehan before starting his own group, Rising Force, and
founded one of the most popular trends of the decade, the neo-classical movement, in homage of one of his heroes, Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. At first he was hailed as a savior of metal guitar playing--before he blew off metal and concentrated on being an 18th Century reincarnation of classical violinist Nicolae Paganini. Critics were appalled not only at his redundant playing on every subsequent album where everything was fast, fast, fast, but also his bloated megalomania and his hostility to anyone who didn't share in his godlike assessment of his own playing. While over the years he has had his share of scrapes with things ranging from a potentially lethal car crash to various brushes with the law, he is still regarded as a master of guitar technique whose knowledge is useful at the player's discretion. Some of his best tracks include instrumental "Black Star", "Heaven Tonight", "You'll Never Remember, I'll Never Forget", and "Bedroom Eyes." A worthy musician, if only in small doses.

16. Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple, Blackmore's Rainbow

In the early 70's, Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple was one member of the holy trinity of British guitarists who officially helped fiound heavy metal with Tony Iommi and Jimmy Page. His popularity flourished mainly in Europe while many budding guitarists in America learned the simple riff to their hit "Smoke On the Water", a staple for players to master along with "Iron Man" and "Stairway to Heaven." But that monster riff, one of the most recognizable in rock, is not the only contribution Blackmore has given to the rock and roll lexicon, he also introduced virtuosity and classical influences in heavy metal as well, in addition to quality blues soloing. He was also one of the loudest players, cranking Marshall stacks to pummelling levels that would literally knock out anyone passing by the speakers as he jammed away on his Fender Stratocasters. Other songs include "Highway Star", "Lazy", "Space Truckin'", "Woman From Tokyo", "Child In Time", "Speed King", and "Burn". He left the band in the mid-70's for his new project, Blackmore's Rainbow (later shortened to just Rainbow), which originally featured Ronnie James Dio on vocals. Their songs included the popular "Man on the Silver Mountain", "Long Live Rock and Roll", and "Kill the King", before the band went into a more poppier mainstream direction with vocalists Graham Bonnett and Joe Lynn Turner. In 1984 Deep Purple reunited for the album Perfect Strangers with songs such as the title track and "Knocking at Your Back Door." In the 90's he left the band again for his own solo projects and was replaced in Purple by ace guitarist Steve Morse.

15. Slash of Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver

In the mid-80's, while L.A. metal was getting a reputation for being poppy, poodle-headed, and predictable, out roared bad boys Guns N' Roses who found inspiration in both Aerosmith and the Sex Pistols--and they convinced all they were the real deal: their music had unbelievable attitude and honesty, and Slash (real name Saul Hudson) was the one guitarist who pointed young shredders away from custom Jackson and Charvel guitars with candy-coated pastel paint jobs back to blues-based licks on basic Gibson Les Pauls and Marshall amps. For a while, G N' R were the biggest band on the planet as Slash, who struck a familiar pose with his top hat, black eye-hiding mane of hair, and eternal cigarette, traded licks and riffs with fellow Gunner Izzy Stradlin on songs such as their signature hit "Welcome to the Jungle", as well as "Sweet Child o' Mine", "Nightrain", "Rocket Queen", "Mr. Brownstone", and "Paradise City". Unfortunately as their popularity grew, so did their noteriety for causing trouble wherever they went with concert riots, drugs, and general mayhem. Their biggest problem may have been with their control freak vocalist Axl Rose, whose mercurial personality became unbearable as he tried to dictate the musical direction of the band as well as their personal lives. On the two Use Your Illusion albums 1 and 2 in 1991, the band was reduced to playing a few too many ballads while cranking out hits such as "You Could Be Mine" and "Civil War", as well as a few covers. But in a few years, while the music world awaited their long-awaited followup, the classic lineup found themselves without a band as Axl replaced members on a revolving door basis--and Slash found himself a free agent. He formed Slash's Snakepit before finding a new home in Velvet Revolver, a supergroup featuring former G N' R members and fronted by former Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland (himself no stranger to substance abuse).

14. Ace Frehley and Paul Stanley of KISS

Chances are that if you grew up in the 70's, one of the bands that made you want to pick up a guitar and be in a band was KISS. Many people today look at their greasepaint makeup jobs as the corniest thing in the world, but in 1977, it was the most radical thing in the world. They were also the perfect antidote to all the disco and fluffy pop bands glutting the airwaves, and their concerts were the epitome of rock and roll spectacle. Who could resist Paul Stanley's pout and Ace's acrobatics? Well, apparently, all the tastemakers of course, but for the rest of us, pumping our fists to "Rock and Roll All Night" and "Shout It Out Loud" was the height of rock and roll salvation. The two brains behind KISS, nice New York Jewish boys Paul and bat-winged bassist Gene Simmons, hired guitarist Ace and drummer Peter Criss through a Rolling Stone ad with the proposition of wearing makeup and outlandish costumes. After being signed, the band made a long struggle for a few years facing being dropped by their record label for poor sales--until 1975 with their double Alive!album which focused on their strengths as a live act. It was loud, fire-breathing, blood-spewing fun, and audiences gobbled it up in droves. Their studio followup Destroyer album featured hits such as "Detroit Rock City," "King of the Nigh Time World", and "God of Thunder" (as well as the fluffy ballad "Beth"), and the band was well on its way to breaking attendance records previously set by The Beatles. After several more hits such as "Calling Dr. Love", "Love Gun,", "Shock Me," "I Stole Your Love" and KISS Alive II, the band peaked in popularity due to their tours, famous girlfriends, and tons of merchandise. But when the band released four separate solo albums, then the classic lineup began to crumble. The band went through lineup changes, removed their makeup in the 80's, and became more of a safe pop-metal act until the mid-90's when the original lineup went on a reunion tour and brought a revived interest to younger fans.

Ace Frehley totally shined in his solos on live versions of "She" and "Shock Me", which were accentuated by cool pyrotechnic displays as smoking guitar pickups and lit-up guitars. Paul Stanley played his rhythm parts pretty basically, concentrating more on his singing and stage show, thus making KISS live up to the acronym "Keep It Simple, Stupid". Simple or not, they have always kept it fun, and inspired tons of players Soundgarden's Kim Thayil and Pantera's Dimebag Darrell to pick up guitar, based not only on their visual appeal but their powerful rock and roll party anthems.

Top two Pics: Paul
Bottom two: Ace

13. Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing of Judas Priest

Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing are the twin tandem guitar attack in the band that has always sought to "define metal"--which they have succeeded in spades. Beginning in the early 70's, it is hard to believe that this band from Birmingham, England was originally a glammily dressed bluesy hard rock outfit, but they soon jettisoned some pretty swanky satiny threads for leather. K.K. Downing was embittered by his parents condemning his choice of becoming a musician for a living, and for a while the band was up against serious competition by the burgeoning punk movement. But the band, featuring vocalist Rob Halford, who could hit the highest notes of anyone in rock, pressed on, and as punk dissipated, the band began to release some of the best albums of their career, such as Stained Class with "Beyond the Realms of Death" and "White Heat, Red Hot", then following it up with Hellbent For Leather, which featured not only the awesome title track and riveting tunes as "Delivering the Goods", "Take On the World", "Burning Up" and "Running Wild," but an intense Fleetwood Mac cover of "Green Manalishi With the Two Pronged Crown". Their 1979 album Unleashed in the East is one of the greatest live albums with excellent versions of "Exciter", "Sinner", and "Victim of Changes"--and Halford riding on a Harley Davidson motorbike onstage.

But 1980 was the year the band fully broke through in the States with their classic British Steel album which featured hard hitting anthems such as "Living After Midnight", "Metal Gods" and "Breaking the Law", followed up with 1981's Point of Entry album with "Heading Out to the Highway" and "Hot Rocking." 1982's Screaming For Vengeance fully delivered the metal goods with "You've Got Another Thing Coming," and the title track. Onstage the band did an impressive form of trickery by lining up rows of empty Marshall cabinets onstage--it made the concert seem louder than it actually was. Onstage the band were tight, with both Glen and K.K. sharing lead duties. It was totally lost on the crowd that the man behind the microphone dressed to the hilt was in fact a gay man, but for thousands of fans, he was one of the most iconic figures in metal. 1984 saw the release of Defenders of the Faith with "Freewheel Burning," "Heavy Duty/Defenders of the Faith", "The Sentinel", and "Love Bites", but in 1986 the band shifted metal gears for a more polished sound on Turbo. Controversy struck the band in 1990 when parents in Nevada sued them for inducing their sons to commit suicide through
the use of "subliminal messages" allegedly planted on their Stained Class recordings, but thankfully the court ruled in the band's favor. Bouyed by the success of the verdict, the band released Painkiller with the insanely powerful
title track, but soon saw the departure of Rob Halford who moved on to various musical projects (though it was later rumored that he wished to disclose his homosexuality publicly). The band then took on young singer "Ripper" Owen, so named for his ability to nail one of their earlier hits. The band was met with limited success, but in 2004, the band sent shock waves through the rock world when it was announced that they were sharing the mainstage at Ozzfest 2004 with Halford back on vocals. Their new album Angel of Retribution, released earlier this year exceeded everyone's expectations with tracks such as "Revolution" and "Deal With the Devil" and "Judas Rising."

Judas Priest has spanned the bridge between older metal acts of the 70's such as Black Sabbath and newer metal acts in the 80's such as Iron Maiden. While definitely blues based early on, the band supercharged their sound to become one of the heaviest hitters in all of rock and roll.

12. JIMI HENDRIX

True virtuosity began with none other than this man in the 60's. Jimi was the man who pushed the boundaries of guitar playing to where it never had been previously. As his good friend Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top said, "Jimi took guitar into Martian-land." Even though many players have perhaps been able to play circles around him since, but no one has able to capture his sense of groove nor his imagination. Essentially a blues man, he was able to use everything possible on his Fender Stratocaster, whammy bar, volume knobs, as well as various effects and recording techniques. Often the originator of a new style is vastly superior to the guitarists who seek to emulate him, and such was the case with Jimi. Born in Seattle in 1942, he showed an immense interest in guitar at an early age, translating that love into playing on the chitlun circuit on the East Coast, even playing with the likes of Little Richard (who kicked him out for wanting to upstage the charismatic veteran rocker) and the Isley Brothers before heading to London for the growing electric blues scene. There he was embraced with open arms by many who were dazzled by not only his intense playing ability but his showmanship. The Animals' bassist Chas Chandler took him on to manage him in a new three piece band called the Jimi Experience with Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, and there a musical revolution was born: on the band's first album, 1967's Are You Experienced?, the opening track "Purple Haze" shattered all preconceived notions of what the guitar was capable of doing--especially with the psychedelic feedback at the end of the song, simply mind-boggling.
While his main hit was a cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower", it was tunes such as "Manic Depression", "Fire", "If 6 Was 9", and "Voodoo Chile" (both the original live version and the more popular "Slight Return") that challenged guitarists to explore sonics such as feedback and distortion as well as push blues-based rock into more exciting directions. Hendrix awed audiences with setting his guitar on fire as well as shocking others with his use of the Stratocaster as a physical love object. Oddly enough, his defintive
statement, his tortured version of the "Star Spangled Banner" at Woodstock was performed just as audiences were leaving the monumental rock festival. At the end of 1969, Jimi broke up the Experience, choosing to team up with other black musicians such as Buddy Miles and his friend from the Air Force bassist Billy Cox, for A Band of Gypsys, an excellent but short-lived trio that broke up after a disastrous concert at Madison Square Garden. It was no secret that Jimi had withered greatly from his constant use of drugs, and sadly, this led to his tragic death on September 18, 1970. His influence continues to live on as his family perpetuates his legacy even to this day.

11. DAVE MURRAY and ADRIAN SMITH of IRON MAIDEN

In addition to the metal guitar tag team of K.K. Downing and Glen Tipton in Judas Priest, Dave Murray and Adrian Smith were close rivals for metal supremacy in the 80's, the one difference being that while Priest were of "old school" 70's British metal, Maiden were identified with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, in fact perhaps its leading export. In the late 70's the rising band had gone through several lineup changes revolving around founding bassist Steve Harris until remaining with Dave Murray and original guitarist Dennis Stratton, who was with the band for the recording of 1980's self-titled debut album with Paul Di"anno on vocals. After ousting Stratton for not being a "team player", the band replaced him with Adrian in time for 1981's Killers album which featured tracks such as "Wrathchild" and "Murders in the Rue Morgue".

What made the New Wave of British Heavy Metal different from traditional 70's metal was that it incorporated elements of the punk movement such as shorter songs, tight aggressive musicianship and imagery of leather-clad punks while retaining old metal's long hair and attempts at musical proficiency, thus saving metal from punk's claims that older metal was bloated rock-star-ism. Iron Maiden attracted a fanatical audience who were drawn by both its snarling punky lead singer Di'Anno who looked ready for a brawl after a few pints, and the macabre Sabbath-y themes of horror and history's dark side. The music was top-notch: in addition to Harris' "galloping" bass were the harmonies of Harris and Smith whose leads and rhythms sounded much impending doom like hounds of hell stalking down its prey. Add the gruesome icon of ghoulish Eddie on the band's cover, and you've got Maiden. In 1982, the band replaced unstable Di'Anno with operatic vocalist Bruce Dickenson in time for their breakthrough Number of the Beast, and Maiden became the biggest band in metal, with the horrific title track, "Run to the Hills", "22 Acacia Ave.", "The Prisoner", and "Hallowed Be Thy Name". 1983's Piece of Mind and 1984's Powerslave were also superior efforts with songs such as "Die With Your Boots On", "The Trooper", "Flight of Icarus", "Two Minutes to Midnight", "Aces High" and "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", the latter being one of their epic literary pieces. The band continued strong throughout the 80's, never deviating from its tried-and true formula, with tracks such as "Wasted Years", "Can I Play With Madness", and "The Evil Men Do", but in 1990, Adrian left the band and was replaced by Janick Gers. In 1993 Dickenson left the band and the band's popularity was sidelined with his replacement Blaze Bayley, as well as the fact that Seattle grunge and alternative supplanted metal's supremacy. But in 2000, Maiden was back with Dickenson and Smith in the fold, and Maiden have continued to this day as a six-piece with albums Brave New World and Dance of Death.
Metal fans have been ecstatic over their new Early Days DVD and their upcoming tour with Ozzfest 2005.

10. Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman of Slayer

Part of the Unholy Trinity of Thrash (four if you count Anthrax), Slayer were one of the bands in the 80's that gave parents and preachers the most headaches for being most "aligned with Satan" (so the rumor went). But Slayer's spooky subject matter was merely house music for a generation of kids raised on slasher flicks and horror movies, all subjects covered for sheer intensity, as was their guitar team of Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman. One of the only thrash bands in L.A. playing around the time the glam scene was growing in popularity, the group gained noteriety for the pure brutality of its shows, with mosh pits ending in pools of blood. Originally the band took its lead from black metal bands such as Venom as well as punk, hardcore and New Wave of British Heavy Metal, but without any attempt at virtuosity in their solos, striving more for "atonal" fretwork, fast chaotic, lacking in musicianship but making up for in unrelenting power. Their first albums such as Haunting the Chapel and Hell Awaits did little to dispel fears that the band was in total league with The Evil Dude, which was just as well, for it attracted
rather dysfunctional fans who would buy their albums. In 1986 the band signed to a major label with practically the most popular and greatest thrash albums of all time, Reign In Blood, a half-hour slamfest of such hits as "Angel of Death" (a song which sparked controversy due to its lyrics about Dr. Joseph Mengele, the murderous doctor of Auschwitz death camp and one of the most vile human beings in history), the title track, and "Piece By Piece". The band followed up in 1988 with South of Heaven, a musical improvement in many ways, with horrific songs such as the title track and "Mandatory Suicide", a political song protesting military induction. By 1990, a distinct change had taken place in the two guitarists when both of them had taken actual guitar lessons and had applied musical theory to their album Seasons in the Abyss, with such favorites as "War Ensemble", "Skeletons of Society", "Dead Skin Mask" and the title track. 1991 saw them join forces with Megadeth, Anthrax, and even openers Alice In Chains for the Clash of the Titans tour. Their 1994 album Divine Intervention saw the band exploring themes such as criminal behavior, and since then have had a devoted following. Even though King and Hanneman have improved as musicians, in addition to bassist Tom Araya, the band has not lost its radical edge that brought it to metal prominence.

9. Adam Jones of Tool

Even though their output has been sporadic, the release of Tool's albums have been worth the wait. The alternative metal band (if even such a term can apply) features a guitar style quite like no other: borrowing heavily from avante garde rockers King Crimson, Adam Jones uses droning noises and various effects such as toy motors and the like in fluid guitar passages and driving chords all coupled with unusual tempos on dark-toned songs such as "Sober", "Stinkfist", "Prison Sex", "Eulogy", "Schism," and "Parabola." Their albums Undertow, Aenima, and Lateralus have been delayed release due to either legal difficulties or lead vocalist Maynard Keenan's side project, the very successful A Perfect Circle, but 2005 should see the release of a new long awaited Tool album. The son of a Hollywood designer, Adam Jones has helped add a theatrical touch to both the music and stage show of the band.
Tool have even taken their inspiration band King Crimson on tour with them in the past few years.

8. Zakk Wylde of Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society

Only 19 when he became the second most influential guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne's solo career, Zakk Wylde was first heard ripping amazing solos on 1988's No Rest For the Wicked album on songs such as "Miracle Man", "Crazy Babies", "Devil's Daughter", "Breaking All the Rules", and "Bloodbath in Paradise." It was the young New Jerseyite's dream come true, he was in total disbelief when he was told the news, and Ozzy at first thought of him as a Randy Rhoads clone in photo--but was blown away by Zakk's attitude and abandon in his playing. While Rhoads was mild-mannered, Wylde lived up to his name, being a total ass-kicker both on guitar and in his personal life. Not only did he have stunning paint jobs on his trademark Gibson Les Pauls such as the familiar target design, but he was unique in his incorporation of country and Southern rock in metal (which Ozzy first balked at). On 1991's No More Tears, some of the country ballad influence could be heard on "Mama I'm Coming Home". Other killer songs from the album included "Mr. Tinkertrain", "I Don't Want to Change the World", and of course the phenomenal title track which includes some of Zakk's best soloing (especially when hearing the full version). Though Ozzy called it quits in 1992, in a few years he was back headlining his metal version of Lollapalooza, Ozzfest, and Zakk would play along side him. But being Ozzy's axeslinger was not his only accomplishment, he also fronted a 90's "Southern metal" band called Pride and Glory, and in recent years has formed his own band Black Label Society, where his former employer Ozzy has guested on vocals to tracks such as "Stillborn" and "Suicide Messiah". One of his latest songs is a moving tribute to his fallen friend, former Pantera and DamagePlan guitarist Dimebag Darrell. Zakk will be seen live at the 2005 Ozzfest with BLS.

7. DIMEBAG DARRELL OF Pantera, DamagePlan

This past fall, metal lost one of its greatest, most powerful guitarists, Dimebag Darrell Abbott, formerly of Pantera and at the time of his passing, with his new band DamagePlan. Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Dimebag, as he was called, took up guitar at the urging of his country music artist father and proceeded to enter guitar contests, winning each one he entered. Energized by bands such as KISS and Black Sabbath, Dime practiced intently and decided to form a band with his brother Vinnie Paul Abbott, who played drums. The band was known as Pantera, and during the 80's was an impressive if not especially remarkable glam metal band with significant chops.
But it was not until 1990 that the band shifted gears and launched into full-on thrash with new vocalist Phil Anselmo that the "real" Pantera emerged, with a groundbreaking album, Cowboys From Hell, which featured thrash classics such as the title track and the early anthem "Cemetary Gates". In 1992, as most metal was falling by the wayside due to the Seattle grunge revolution, Pantera released one of the greatest albums in all of metaldom, the bludgeoning Vulgar Display of Power, which featured brutal tracks as "Mouth For War", "A New Level", their biggest song "Walk", "F***ing Hostile", the twisted dark ballad "This Love", "No Good (Attack the Radical), "By Demons Be Driven" and "Hollow". An afficianado of Dean guitars and "brittle" sounding solid state Randall amps, Dime was able to span the bridge between 80's thrash and edgier 90's rock full of angst and attitude, while still proudly calling themselves metal. While even Metallica abandoned its 80's metal identity, Pantera insisted that they were the band who wouldn't let fans down. In 1994, the band even hit #1 with Far Beyond Driven, an album some critics felt was more of a contrived heaviness, as if meant to "out-heavy" its predecessor, but fans still loved it, with intense songs such as "I'm Broken", "Becoming", "Five Minutes Alone" and a cover of Black Sabbath's ballad "Planet Caravan". However, two years later in 1996, the band found itself struggling against the rising trend of rap-oriented Nu-metal when it released the underrated The Great Southern Trendkill, which featured songs such as "Drag the Waters" and "Suicide Notes Part 1 and 2".
1997 saw the release of its 100 Proof Live, and waited a few years for its next release as vocalist Phil Anselmo fronted various side projects such as Down and Superjoint Ritual. This, ironically, was the beginning of the end of the band, as after the end of the tour for their 1999 release Reinventing the Steel, which featured excellent songs such as "Revolution is My Name" and "Goddamn Electric", Anselmo went on extended hiatus. Rumors run rampant that he was not coming back, as well as that he was using hard drugs. The Abbott brothers waited patiently for his return, but were met with criticism from their acerbic and outspoken frontman. Communication between the Abbotts and Anselmo broke down further, and to the dismay of fans everywhere, Dime announced that the band had for all intents and purposes broken up. From the ashes of Pantera rose a new band featuring the lead guitarist for Halford Pat Lachman and bassist Bob Zilla, DamagePlan with Dime and Vinnie back to their places on guitar and drums. The new album New Found Power featured an outstanding track "Save Me". It was a promising start to the legacy of Pantera.

At a show in Columbus, Ohio, on December 8, 2004, a deranged gunman opened fire on Dime and several other attendees including members of the band's entourage, killing a few others before being shot himself. Details have been sketchy, but it was widely regarded that the assailant was disgruntled over the breakup of Pantera and blamed Dime for it. Abbott had gone on record as saying the breakup was not of the Abbott's doing, but over Anselmo's unwillingness to come back to the band. Ugly talk had surfaced in the metal press, which prompted Vinnie to ban Anselmo from Dime's funeral. Anselmo was deeply apologetic and blamed music journalism for wanting to stir up trouble. Anselmo did say that in time, there would have been a Pantera reunion.

In addition to Dime's intense playing style, he was also a generous person who loved having a good time. He enjoyed "wacky tabacky" and booze as well as shredding on guitar. He was buried in a KISS coffin with a guitar given to him by another idol Eddie Van Halen. Washburn guitars made a Dime signature model guitar with fantastic paint jobs and before his death, teamed up with Krank amplifiers. Though the great man has passed on, his music will continue to live and inspire future generations of metal guitar gods.

A posthumous DamagePlan collection is scheduled to be released soon.

1966-2004. RIR (REST IN ROCK) :crying:

6. JIMMY PAGE OF Led Zeppelin

Here is the one founding father of rock and roll who introduced the concept of HEAVY. Even his band's name evoked heaviness. Beginning as a long-time
studio musician who was content with the well-paying gig with playing guitar on other British artists' songs such as Donovan in the 60's, Jimmy Page was summoned by Jeff Beck to join The Yardbirds at the peak of their career. He begrudgingly accepted and carried on when the rest of the band booted Beck out of the band. But when the band folded in 1968, Pagey considered reforming a band under the name The New Yardbirds. He brought in a group of dedicated musicians, a fine singer named Robert Plant from a hippie fol band called Hobbstweedle, a very loud drummer named John Bonham, who proudly listed every band he was kicked out of, and a multi-talented, though quiet bassist and musician named John Paul Jones. When The Who bassist heard the music from the fledgling band, he commented that it would go down like a lead balloon. A new band name was born--LED ZEPPELIN.

Though the real secret of Led Zeppelin's heaviness was based more on Bonham's drumming, Page's guitar playing not only featured a heavy drone on electrified blues rock recordings--just as the electric British blues scene had reached its apex and was headed toward The Next Big Thing--but it was thoroughly literate style as well, as Page ran the gamut of everything from Mississippi Delta acoustic blues to British folk to classical rock to baroque and
a new form of heavy blues-based rock that had yet to find a name. Page's guitar style, while immersed in traditional rock and roll, was supremely sophisticated and complex as he dealt with alternate tunings and various stringed instruments, including his popularization of the Gibson 10 and 12-string electric guitars. Led Zeppelin's first album was a huge success with high octane blues tracks such as "Dazed and Confused"--live Page would play a solo with a violin bow; "How Many More Times", a title borrowed from blues legend Howlin' Wolf, "I Can't Quit You Baby", a cover of blues master Otis Rush, "You Shook Me All Night Long," and an uptempo rocker, "Communication Breakdown". Led Zeppelin, however, would borrow, without legal permission, songs from blues artists such as Willie Dixon and even Ritchie Valens.

As Led Zeppelin ventured into America on their first tour, stories abounded at wild parties and orgies as they recorded their landmark second album with the classic "Whole Lotta Love" and its familiar guitar smear in the chorus. Other songs included the bluesy "What Is and What Should Never Be", as well as the salacious "The Lemon Song" with its blazing blues solo, and "Heartbreaker/Live-In Loving Maid", which featured the first of many guitar techniques: fretboard tapping in its solo. "Moby Dick" was an instrumental which showcased "Bonzo's" thunderous drumming and "Bringing It All Back Home" with its frying guitar solo. But on their third album, the band took a back seat to heaviness to light acoustic folk and a few tasty blues numbers but returned to the rock fray with one of the greatest albums in all of rock and roll, the self-titled "IV" album, which actually had no official title but for frequently misinterpreted symbols--the band in fact wanted to have listeners focus on the music without distractions such as lyrics or credits. The ploy worked, the centerpiece song, "Stairway to Heaven" became the
ultimate anthem and biggest staple of rock radio for decades, as did "Rock and Roll", "Black Dog", "Misty Mountain Hop" and "When the Levee Breaks."
Their follow up album Houses of the Holy in 1973 coincided with a huge tour that was later documented in a rock movie. The album featured fine tracks as "The Song Remains the Same", "No Quarter", "The Ocean", and "The Rain Song", but it was not until 1975's Physical Graffiti that the band reached its artistic zenith. The double-disk featured colossal sounding tracks such as "Custard Pie", "The Rover", "In the Light", "Trampled Underfoot", "Night Flight", "Ten Years Gone", "The Wanton Song", "Down By the Seaside" and "In My Time of Dying", but the standout track encapsulated everything the band was about: a majestic classically infused epic called "Kashmir", played on a simple Danelectro guitar, a break from Page's trademark Gibson vintage Les Pauls. But in the midst of the tremendous success of the world's biggest rock band, speculation abounded about such topics as Page's interest in the occult and in mysterious figures as the British mystic Alister Crowley, his drug use, and the wild parties the band was rumored to partake in. Page and the others blew off journalists and others seeking to capitalize and sensationalize more tawdry tales about the band, thus creating a mystique about the band.
But toward the end of the 70's, as various mishaps and tragedies befell the band on its final tour of America, coupled with the rise of punk and new wave challenging the supremacy of "arena rock", the band was considering they were dinosaurs. But it was not until 1979's In Through the Out Door, recorded at ABBA's Polar Studios in Sweden, that the band was reassured their audience was still there for them. But just as the band prepared for their first American tour in three years, Bonham died of an alcohol overdose in fall of 1980. The band was over, though Page's career was not. After various side projects, Page resurfaced in 1985 with supergroup The Firm with Bad Company Paul Rodgers on vocals, teamed up with "Robert Plant soundalike" Whitesnake vocalist David Coverdale in 1993, and then reunited with Robert Plant for collaborations and tours in the late 90's. In 2000 he even toured with the Black Crowes for a live album covering various Led Zeppelin songs.

Without a doubt Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin have cast a shadow over rock and roll with their larger-than-life presence. Many bands in the 80's have been criticized for shamelessly imitating them, but Led Zeppelin has always been the paradigm for countless bands to follow.

5. EDDIE VAN HALEN of Van Halen

After the passing of Jimi Hendrix in 1970, there were no guitar players who would raise the bar for guitar virtuosity. Until 1978 when Eddie Van Halen and his self-named band released their debut album. While Hendrix pushed the parameters of blues-based rock guitar, it was the guitarist of Van Halen who further redefined guitar's potential, expanding it to unheard-of extremes in terms of dexterity and sonics. The two Van Halen brothers, Eddie and Alex, both Dutch immigrants whose musical parents settled in Los Angeles, started out on drums and guitar respectively, until they switched instruments and found that Eddie was more suited for strings while Alex was more suited for skins and sticks. They excelled at their chosed instruments and in the 70's started their own bands such as Mammoth and Rat Salade which played rather unique, and loud covers of Top 40 songs--but kept getting kicked out for being "too loud and too psychedelic." They soon picked up bassist Michael Anthony and flamboyant vocalist David Lee Roth and there Van Halen was born. The band was a hit on the club scene, showing so much promise that KISS' Gene Simmons was interested in signing them. When their first album came out, one minute-and-a-half long track set the stage as the song every guitarist had to learn--the song was "Eruption", a dizzying faster-than-the-speed-of-light-rock exercise of fretwork and whammy bar dive-bombs. Eddie had single-handedly pointed future guitarists in the direction of the shredding 80's.

Other great tracks on the album included the opening number "Running With the Devil", their cover of The Kinks' "You Really Got Me", "Ain't Talking 'Bout Love", "I'm the One", "Jamie's Crying", "Atomic Punk", "Feel Your Love Tonight", and "I'm On Fire". Eddie was known to create his own "Frankenstein" guitars which were made of parts of other guitars, as well as his own striped paint jobs. He was rather handy at electronics as well as with his own playing style, which he said came from just noodling away at home and coming up with whatever sounded interesting. Not many players could play with such fluidity and free-form style and still make it make sense. Live Van Halen was a tough act to beat, not only were Eddie and the boys smoking with a fiery stage presence, but David Lee Roth, originally considered a ham, was their consummate showman, whose acrobatics and stage raps thrilled fans everywhere. In the fall of 1978, the band opened for Black Sabbath on their Never Say Die tour, and every night, Eddie and the boys mopped up the floor with the Sabbs who were seen as heading into drug-addled decline--it was one of the factors leading to the dismissal of Ozzy Osbourne, who later sought to form his own band to rival the mighty Van Halen. The band grew in popularity with albums and reputations for wild orgy-like tours which outdid those of Led Zeppelin ten years earlier. Songs such as "Somebody Get Me a Dr.", "Bottoms Up!", "...And the Cradle Will Rock", "Everybody Wants Some!!", "Romeo Delight", and others became huge hits in the 80's, as they broke open wide L.A. the rock capital of the world. 1981, Fair Warning was a much darker, less-partying album with excellent tracks such as "Mean Street", opening with insane tapping harmonics, "Unchained", and "So This is Love".

In 1982, however, Eddie became dissatisfied with the direction of the band as Roth insisted the band do more covers ("When you do an established hit, you're halfway there"), and wanted to use his own guitar effects but ended up using them on a cover of Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street", eerie guitar feedback opened up a cover of Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman" and Eddie felt almost as if he wanted to fly solo. He stayed with the band but this did not stop him from creating music history by recording a solo on pop hitmaker Michael Jackson's song "Beat It", which blew open the doors to embracing black artists on MTV. Both black and white audiences bought truckloads of the song and album. 1984 saw even further changes with Eddie's use of keyboards on songs such as "Jump" and "I'll Wait"--Eddie and the band had finally peaked in popularity, with rocking songs such as the thunderous "Hot For Teacher", "Drop Dead Legs", "Panama" and "Top Jimmy". Their concert tour for the 1984 album was one of the most lucrative in the world. Unfortunately, change was in the air for the mighty group.

In 1985, it was announced that David Lee Roth was out of the band--in fact, the band had fired him for his controlling nature, as he could be very intimidating to soft-spoken Eddie, and after searching, found their replacement in Sammy Hagar, who had in fact been considered a replacement when the band first had problems in the late 70's. Hagar was a perfect fit for Eddie's personality, a friendly, humorous personality who could work well with the band. The band's sound begin to change as well, much to the dismay of many who felt Roth was the better showman--the band was no longer about
fretboard acrobatics but about solid songwriting, and at this point the band was dubbed "Van Hagar" as a term of derision, even though Hagar was a decent showman in his own right. Their post-Roth albums 5150, 0U812, the suggestively-titled For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, and State of Balance featured do-able songs such as "Why Can't This Be Love", "Best of Both Worlds", "Love Comes Walking In", "When It's Love", "Runaround", "Poundcake", "Standing on Top of the World", "Don't Tell Me What Love Can Do", and others, but by 1996, trouble brewed in the Van Halen camp when Hagar and the band fell out over musical direction, and over the fact that behind Hagar's back Eddie brought in David Lee Roth to sing on new tracks for a Greatest Hits album, including "Me Wise Magic". After the acrimonious split, which Eddie claimed was "L.S.D.--Lead Singers' Disease", it looked certain that Roth was back in the band, but things turned ugly when Roth's megalomania soured the possibility of a reunion. Instead, Van Halen made the unwise choice of filling in the vocal slot with former Extreme vocalist Gary Cherone for a dismal Van Halen III album. Not much was heard from Eddie until his actress wife Valerie Bertinelli told that he was battling oral cancer and facing hip replacement surgery. His medical treatment was a success, and in 2004, Hagar was back in the band for a tour and a new single.

Eddie Van Halen has promoted not only his own line of Kramer guitars but Ernie Ball Music Man guitars, Peavey Wolfgang guitars (named after his son) and Peavey 5150 amps, known to be the loudest in the business and a favorite of many musicians.

4. RANDY RHOADS of Ozzy Osbourne

One of the sad ironies in the world of rock and roll has been the plaguing thought of "what could have been" if a supremely talented guitarist were allowed to achieve greatness in their lifetime. Such was the case of Randy Rhoads, the one man who helped save struggling vocalist Ozzy Osbourne at the dawn of the 80's. In the mid 70's, Rhoads, the son of the founder of a musical school in Burbank, California, learned to play guitar after hearing his heroes Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce in Alice Cooper, and decided to apply his immense classical chops to his playing. He was known to be a serious, dedicated student who would go on to form a theatrical band called The Katzenjammer Kids and later Quiet Riot with his good friends Kevin Dubrow and Kelli Garni on bass. The band was heckled as a bunch of hammy cross-dressers while many noted the exceptional playing ability of Rhoads. Randy picked up on Eddy Van Halen's playing ability and for a while was considered a "clone" of Eddie's, but soon developed his own style very quickly. Quiet Riot was signed but only released two albums in Japan when Randy was summoned to audition for the former lead singer of Black Sabbath, who had unceremoniously been booted from the band for loutish, unprofessional behavior. At the audition, Randy, who had been prompted to audition by future Slaughter bassist Dana Strum, barely tuned up and played a few licks that Ozzy, fully stoned out of his mind by his own admission, was so blown away by Rhoads' short demonstration that he told the young guitarist that he had the gig. And from there, a short but fruitful partnership was born.

Ozzy found Randy to be patient with him, as he had been a guitar instructor who could help him communicate musical ideas. The ideas they came up with soon came out on Ozzy's first solo album, Blizzard of Ozz, which jumpstarted a career which would soon eclipse that of his former band Black Sabbath. Rarely had a former frontman even match the success of his first band, but Ozzy's twisted hijinx (the bat and the dove incidents) as well as Rhoads' blazing guitar ability became the talk of the music world. Songs such as "Crazy Train", "I Don't Know", "Mr. Crowley", "Suicide Solution", "Goodbye to Romance", and "Revelation (Mother Earth)" showed a new kind of guitarist with a sound previously unheard of who was not only fast but played with amazing facility and unrelenting power. Rhoads teamed up with L.A, guitar maker Grover Jackson of Jackson guitars to form what would become one of the most sought after guitar models, the Jackson Rhoads V guitars, a variation of the Gibson Flying V with one wide pointed fin above a short one. While Ozzy continued his drug and alcohol excesses, Randy was pretty much a quiet non-partying sort of person who would spend countless hours playing and practicing, impressing all with his ability to duplicate his guitar parts, even triple-tracking them on record for a dense, heavy sound, and was able to nail each part perfectly. This could be heard on their followup, Diary of a Madman from 1981, which included "Over the Mountain", "Flying High Again" with its mindblowing solo, "You Can't Kill Rock and Roll", "Believer", "Little Dolls" (which disappointed Rhoads due to a solo that he had not intended to use), the balladesque "Tonight", and the epic title track. Rhoads' stature had been growing, but his tolerance for the rock and roll lifestyle had been waning. He appreciated the fans, but felt put off by the crazy entourage of fans that Ozzy seemed to attract. His heart lay with playing classical guitar, but Ozzy told him to hold off and wait a few years. But on March 18, 1982, it was too late: en route to a concert in Florida, Randy, the band's seamstress Rachel, and the pilot took of in a small private plane and buzzed the tour bus at the crack of dawn when the plane wing clipped the bus and crashed in burning flames at a nearby antebellum house, killing all three passengers. Ironic was that Randy was scared to death of flying. Cocaine was found in the pilot's system. Ozzy, Sharon, and the rest of the band were devastated for years to come. It remained to be seen what the future of rock would have been had Randy lived, but one thing he had been responsible for was jumpstarting both the shred and neo-classical movement on guitar. Ozzy released the double-live Ozzy Osbourne/Randy Rhoads Tribute album in 1987, which includes a phenomenal live version of "Suicide Solution", an often misconstrued song warning against the dangers of alcohol excess.

RANDY LIVES.

3. ANGUS and MALCOLM YOUNG of AC/DC

Call vocalist Brian Johnson a Foster's Truck, call Angus a candy lorry, just don't call AC/DC metal--they don't like the term, Angus thinks it sounds like knights in shining armor, which of course they aren't. But you can call them one of the most rocking sibling teams in all of music. Brothers Angus and Malcolm transcend any labels other than that of some of the purest rock and roll ever recorded. The brothers of George Young, one of the members of 60's Australian pop group the Easybeats, both Angus and Malcolm took their love for blues-based rock to incredible sonic proportions in the early 70's in their native Down Under. Mother Young bought guitars for both brothers so they wouldn't fight over them, and in fact, the two began to construct songs together. Angus cut a striking figure in his mid-teens as he came to practice in his schoolboy outfit which became an attention-getter while Malcolm stood in the background as the rhythm guitarist. Angus was the focal point of the band in addition to lead singer Bon Scott: Angus played his trademark Gibson SG like a young man possessed--he had a total command of the blues and translated it to intense guitar riffs and electrifying solos, and had a peculiar stage presence as he performed with a sort of "hop" and trot to his playing, he was so firmly taken by the music he was playing. But often when he noticed people paying attention to something else at a show, he would promptly "moon" them--flashing his bare buttocks to the shocked and delighted audiences. Local constabularies were on hand to monitor the band's obscenity quotient, and even though they were constantly fined, their reputation grew in leaps and bounds, though confined to their native island continent.

AC/DC was an anomaly in the world of rock in the mid-70's: many promoters and radio jocks were not sure what to make of this punchy, bad-boy troupe of Aussies, were they punk, metal, what were they? By then rock and roll was being defined by pop-rock groups such as Styx and Foreigner, and there seemed to be no room for AC/DC's tight brand of heavy-hitting rock. Their early albums, High Voltage, Let There Be Rock, Dirty Deeds, and Powerage, were almost unheard of outside Australia and Britain, and American audiences were confused during their 1978 tour with Ted Nugent. Even though the band had excellent tunes such as "High Voltage", "Let There Be Rock", "Whole Lotta Rosie", "T.N.T.", "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap", "Big Balls", "Sin City", "Riff Raff", and "Down Payment Blues", America had yet to be turned on to the band in a big way. After their "If You Want Blood, You've Got It" live album, the band requested Mutt Lange to be the producer of their next album, against the wishes of the record company. The album that followed, 1979's Highway to Hell, hit pay dirt for the band--it was the album that fully captured the band in its rock and roll essence. AC/DC had finally become the huge band that it deserved to be. While many churchgoers attacked the title track as a song in homage to Satan (it in fact celebrated touring on the road--"when you have the lead singer's socks just a few feet in front of you," remarked Angus, "that's pretty much a highway to hell!"), other newer fans were impressed by the album's No-BS approach on songs such as "Girls Got Rhythm", "Walk All Over You", "Touch Too Much", "Beat Around the Bush", and
"Shot Down in Flames." Bon Scott was the master of the double entendre, as well as with being one of the up and coming bad boys of rock and roll. Sadly, in February 1980, as the band was finally breaking through into superstar status, Bon Scott died from alcohol indulgence. The band was devastated, but vowed to carry on.

Wasting no time at finding a replacement, the band found a singer that Bon himself had raved about, the lead singer of a band called Geordie named Brian Johnson who practically matched Bon's high raspy screech. The band took him on for their next outing, Back In Black, which became the band's biggest album with songs such as "Highway to Hell", "Shoot to Thrill", the title track, "What Do You Do For Money Honey," "Have a Drink on Me", and the greatest love song of all time, "You Shook Me All Night Long". AC/DC personified all that was rock and roll, unpretentious, back-to-basics, down to earth rock and roll. Angus played with no effects, plugging his SG into a Marshall stack for the tastiest tone of any guitarist around. Other albums followed: For Those About to Rock, We Salute You, Flick of the Switch, Fly on the Wall, re-release '74 Jailbreak, Who Made Who (soundtrack for the Stephen King movie Maximum Overdrive), and Blow Up Your Video. The band never deviated from the sound that has made them famous. Angus is put off with the "shredder" school of rock, feeling it lacks groove.

In 1981, Atlantic Records released their back catalogue from the 70's, introducing new fans of records that were underplayed while the band struggled in their native land, and instantly, a new crop of rock anthems emerged. AC/DC was one of the most popular bands of the 80's, and continues to be to this day. Unfortunately, church brigades were horrified to learn that a lone serial killer named Richard Ramirez, a self-professed
"Satanist" who went on a killing spree in Los Angeles in the mid-80's, allegedly found inspiration in AC/DC's songs. The band quickly distanced themselves from any ties to Satanism, emphasizing that they were all about having a good time playing rock and roll In the 90's, the band released great albums such as The Razor's Edge, Ballbreaker, and Stiff Upper Lip. They were recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where they did an excellent duet with Steven Tyler of Aerosmith--and Angus cut his hair (but how rock and roll is that??).

2. JAMES HETFIELD and KIRK HAMMETT OF METALLICA

During the 80's, Metallica were THE definition of all that was pure metal, but by the time the rest of America had found that out, they had shifted from what they were known as (thrash) to becoming a full on more commercially viable (but no less heavy) rocking outfit. To this day they reign supreme as the biggest selling titans of heavy duty rock. But it wasn't always so: in 1981, young drummer and son of a Danish tennis champion Lars Ulrich from Norwalk, California, went on a tour with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal band Diamond Head in their native England. So stoked was Lars that upon his return he sought to find a band that shared his love for the fast, thrashing punk-inspired metal that had taken the UK by storm--but in his native L.A., the "metal" scene was awash with the rising "poseur" trendoids who threw on makeup and Aqua-Net. Radio still considered Styx and REO Speedwagon "real metal", and the whole music scene was thoroughly discouraging to the Danish drummer. He placed an ad in a Recycler magazine for a guitarist, and found one in James Hetfield, the son of Christian Science parents who scared his mother with his love for intense music such as Black Sabbath and TNWOBHM. Together with a cocky young guitarist Dave Mustaine and (temporary) bassist Ron McGovney, they formed Metallica. Around L.A., the band found themselves chased out by "metal" fans who thought their music was "too loud (??) and too punk." They decided to head up north to San Francisco and the Bay Area where they were greeted with open arms by the thrash metal fans up there. They dropped McGovney in favor of a permanent, more talented bassist named Cliff Burton in the band Trauma, but still all was not well with the band. Though Mustaine was a charismatic player with a mouth to match onstage, the band decided to kick him out for fighting and acting unprofessionally. In his place they found guitarist Kirk Hammett from local favorites Exodus, who proved to be a perfect match. Mustaine went on to form Megadeth and become one of Metallica's biggest rivals. After creating a huge buzz there and becoming one of the biggest underground acts, the band dropped signed on with independent Megaforce records and prepared to record their first album, orignally about to be titled "Metal Up Your Ass"--until the label turned down the album name. The band decided to rename it Kill'em All--and the band had a winner on its hands. The album, released in 1983, was purely abrasive and jarring--if your tastes happen to run more with the kings of L.A. metal Quiet Riot, Motley Crue and Ratt. The album was fast, loud and brutal, with tracks such as "The Four Horsemen", "Motorbreath", "Jump in the Fire", Cliff's solo "Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)" "Whiplash," "Phantom Lord", "No Remorse", "Metal Militia", a cover of Diamond Head's "Am I Evil" and the huge hit "Seek and Destroy", an open call to war against the poodle-headed poseurs.

In 1984, Metallica released their followup album Ride the Lightning, one of the true classics of metal. Instead of being so full of spastic rage, the band improved with better songwriting and musicianship--Kirk's guitar lessons with shred wizard Joe Satriani didn't hurt. Metallica were more of a trio in the studio with Hammett being the "solo specialist", while live they were a fully functioning four-piece. Ride was born out of a bit of painful experiences: on the eve of a major European tour, the band's equipment was stolen after a show in New Jersey. To make matters worse, they were kicked out of their manager's home while getting back on their feet--the reason being that the band had drank his liquor cabinet dry. James used his pain and depression to write one of their most popular songs, "Fade to Black", which focused on suicidal depression. While PMRC founder Tipper Gore (wife of Senator Al Gore)
accused the song of "promoting suicide", many other listeners found the will to live after hearing a band expressing thoughts that only they had felt. It was a boost of encouragement. The other songs on the album, "Fight Fire With Fire", "Ride the Lightning", "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (a huge concert favorite), "Escape", and "Creeping Death", touched on subjects ranging from war to capital punishment to Biblical plagues--not the kind of topics you would hear from metal bands in 1984 which focused on fast cars and faster women. But James' and Kirks' guitars were faster than any of them. They qualified as being more metal than any other band out there. Like Black Sabbath, the band was touching on subjects no one had the cojones to touch. The band was battering, bloody, and played with a remarkable finesse
that few other bands were doing at the time.

1986 was the year that saw the band's fortunes change both for the better and for the worse. The release of Master of Puppets was a turning point as the band climbed the charts to rest in the Top 30--the highest a thrash album ever hit that level. It indicated that listeners wanted their metal to be loud, fast and relentless. As opposed to the radio-safe prettiness of Bon Jovi at that time, Metallica were THE DUDES, marching onstage in ripped jeans and
being able to relate to regular metal fans as themselves. Such was the case when they received full exposure on the Ozzy Osbourne tour. While some were perplexed at a band that played with such ferocity--nothing like they had ever heard before, many got the message right away. The album featured some of the greatest classics in metal: "Battery", the harrowing title track "Master of Puppets" which warned of the dangers of cocaine abuse, "The Thing That Should Not Be", "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", a ruthless anti-war diatribe "Disposable Heroes", "Leper Messiah", which slammed
corrupt t.v. preachers, the instrumental "Orion", and "Damage, Inc."--all songs which touched on themes of power, control, and manipulation. The album was a stunning work of a band growing in maturity and influence. Tragically, the band lost their bassist Cliff Burton when their tour bus hit a patch of ice at dawn on the highway in Sweden on September 1986--Cliff fell out an open window and the bus toppled over, crushing him. The band was thoroughly devastated but vowed to continue on. Fortunately, the sad fate of their friend and bassist turned out to be a blessing in disguise as radio programmers and music industry types, hearing on the horrific death of Burton, turned their attention to the Bay Area band which played an uncompromising brand of metal to legions of fans. What was truly amazing was that Metallica's success was due solely to word of mouth and zero help from MTV. The band found bassist Jason Newsted from Flotsam and Jetsam to fill in Cliff's position and went in to record the now-collectable Garage Days Revisited EP, which featured cover tunes by Diamond Head, Budgie, Holocaust, Minor Threat, and the Misfits such as "Helpless", "The Small Hours,"
"The Wait", "Crash Course In Brain Surgery", and "Last Caress/Green Hell". Metallica were back on track.

In 1988, the band released its breakthrough album, ...And Justice For All, in time for the Monsters of Rock summer tour with Dokken, The Scorpions, Van Halen, and Kingdom Come. Though the tour was a commercial disappointment, Metallica did receive the greatest crowd response. The Justice album yielded them their first hit and video for the song "One", an anti-war song which told the tragic story of a thoroughly incapacitated soldier, based on a movie and book "Johnny Got His Gun." However, the band was very disappointed with the dry production that obscured Newsted's bass and made the guitars fuzzy without the familiar Metallicrunch. The highlights of the album included the apocalyptic "Blackened", about environmental destruction, the title track about judicial corruption, "Eye of the Beholder", about their nemesis of censorship and of Tipper Gore, "The Shortest Straw", about blacklisting, "Harvester of Sorrow" and "Dyer's Eve". At that point the band had felt burned out on thrash, just as the subgenre had gained mass acceptance. Metallica had proven to their critics that metal could have intelligence and integrity, as evidenced through their video for "One." The band even played a devastating set on the Grammies in 1989 and were even nominated for a Grammy for the new Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal category (but lost to--Jethro Tull??).

In 1991, the band roared back with their biggest commercial release, the self-titled Metallica album, also called "The Black Album", which hit #1 easily. Producer Bob Rock, who did Bon Jovi's and Aerosmith's hit albums of the 80's,
caused fear among fans that he would "wimpify" the band, but in fact, he greatly improved their crunch and thunder, even making Newsted's bass ring loud and clear. Their hit "Enter Sandman" became the band's biggest song, and other tunes such as "Sad But True" slowed down but remained creepy with lowered guitar tunings. "The Unforgiven", "Wherever I May Roam", "Through the Never", "Don't Tread On Me", and "Of Wolf and Man" were huge successes. The band succeeded in retaining their heaviness while becoming commercially accessible. Older fans were appalled at the new streamlined direction of the band while others fans flocked to the upgraded band in droves. The band spent the next year and a half on the road where they met another near-tragedy when at a concert in Montreal with Guns N' Roses, James was severely burned when a flashpot exploded by him onstage.
As the band's set was cut short, Guns N' Roses caused a riot when Axl announced he could not sing. Fortunately, James recovered, and after a long hiatus, returned in 1996 with Load, followed by Re-Load. Fans were in for a surprise when the band cut their hair and revamped their sound to an even less thrashier sound. On top of it all, the band headlined Lollapalooza in a move many critics felt was the antithesis of the alternative ethic--Metallica were very much big and commercial by this point. Gone were the days of torn
jeans and whipped manes of hair. Metallica had gone "corporate". Yet the music stood up, with songs such as "Hero of the Day", "Ain't My Bitch", "King Nothing", "Bleeding Me", "Devil Dance", "Fuel", and others. Other compilation albums such as Garage Inc. and Metallica S & M, performed with the San Francisco orchestra, followed, as did the departure of Jason Newsted who wanted to do his musical projects. After a while going bass-less, the band returned with former Suicidal Tendencies bassist Robert Trujillo and a new album, St. Anger, which was strangely a more Nu-metal offering, oone as if to play catchup with more current bands--and the album featured none of Kirk's solos. The band also released a sobering documentary of the making of the album, which depicted a little more than the recording--it was a band on the verge of falling apart, in the movie "Some Kind of Monster." Fortunately, the band is back and has for the most part resolved their interpersonal issues.
It remains to be seen where the band will go next, but nothing will eclipse the rise of, undoubtedly, the mightiest band in metal who has endured much hardship and high times as well.

1. TONY IOMMI OF BLACK SABBATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The man who started it all!!!!!!

Though Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix may have laid the groundwork for heavy metal, and Jimmy Page injected the HEAVY into the electric blues of the late 60's in Britain, it was none other than Tony Iommi who made it METAL. A young man who played in British bands throughout the 60's ranging from The Rockin' Chevrolets to Mythology, it was his hooking up with an unlikely compatriot, as well as a serious industrial accident, which changed the face of rock and roll forever--like the skeletal finger poking the eye of all that was pretty and respectable in music in the Woodstock era. When Tony and drummer Bill Ward responded to an ad for a vocalist looking for a gig, the young tough guitarist was mortified to learn that it was his nemesis, human punching bag Ozzy Osbourne who put out the ad. But they joined forces and began to play music that was uncompromising, sinister and bludgeoning. Ozzy was sick to death of the phony flower power anthems of the hippie 60's, which did little to stop the bloodshed of soldiers in Vietnam. The end of the 60's was a dark time, with Altamont, the breakup of the Beatles, the war and political assassinations, as well as the Manson murders which indicated youthful idealism had reached an end. In its place was the grim apocalyptic message of Black Sabbath, so named after a mid-60's horror movie featuring Boris Karloff. One event which changed rock and roll was the loss of Tony Iommi's fingertips on his fretting hand in a workplace accident, which nearly caused him to give up guitar until his boss gave him a Django Rheinhardt album, telling him that the famed 30's jazz guitarist played with two working fingers and was considered a genius. Tony was encouraged by this and began to master his guitar with the use of plastic fingertips, as well as the lowering of his guitar strings from E to C#, to relieve pressure on his stumped fingertips. This also created a heavy, murky sound that was very effective when the band turned up in clubs to drown out people talking over them. With bassist Geezer Butler's arcane lyrics, the band started a stir with their self-titled song, "Black Sabbath", a slow, creeping beast of a song which told the tale of unfortunate souls meeting their fate with The Evil One in hell. Never had such topics of hell, death, desolation and the occult been discussed in rock and roll. Their first album, Black Sabbath, released in February 1970, featured not only the self-titled track but pounding tunes as
"The Wizard", "Wasp/Behind the Wall of Sleep", a different sort of love song "N.I.B.", "Wicked World". and "Warning", which highlighted the pinnacle of Tony Iommi's playing prowess with mind-scorching leads played at Earth-shattering levels as well as subtle blues fills to offer effective contrast. Iommi was a disciple of jazz and blues, as was most everyone else in Britain at the time (in fact, shades of Clapton can be heard in "Warning"), but Iommi played the most crushing version of the blues that had ever been recorded. During the recording of the debut album, Iommi played on a Fender Stratocaster, but after one of the pickups blew out on it, he switched to a Gibson SG, which has become his primary guitar since.

Black Sabbath were not a pretty band to look at, they scared people with their scruffy looks and long hair. But even they were not all about the "satanic" revelries that were constantly being made about them: after a head of a coven of witches put a hex on them for declining to play at a pagan festival at Stonehenge, they were so spooked by this that Ozzy's father made the band thick iron crosses as a talisman of good luck and to ward off any evil juju that might come their way. Later that year, in the fall of 1970, they released the most important and influential metal album of all time, Paranoid, the album which fully defined metal: with bassist Geezer Butler's lyrics of war, terror, runaway robots filled with revenge, atomic holocaust, drugs and rodent cuisine, the band pounded the final nail in the 60's poppy positivity with the songs that burn in our brains like a radiator fluid hangover even 35 years after their release: "War Pigs", which was going to be the original title of the album until the record company felt it would be too "controversial". The song opens with the most harrowing sense of devastation with droning power chords and sirens howling like wolves, until the guitars and drums kick into a steady run toward Armageddon. The album further pulsates with electricity on the riffs and solos of the next song, the first official hit and anthem "Paranoid", with Ozzy's vocals eerily reverberating everywhere. The jazzy balad, "Planet Caravan" was the calm before the storm which was their most popular song, "Iron Man"--where you could not get more metal than that. From the pounding boots of lead, the resonating rasp that announced "IIIIII AAAAMMM IIIIIRONNNN MAAAAANNN!!!!" and the most familiar riff ever heard in music stores, and pretty much all of metal, the song has never failed to inspire fear in listeners with its electrifying tone and lyrics. "Electric Funeral" was bleak and full of terror, chords radiating like chunks of plutonium. "Hand of Doom" warned against the horror of heroin abuse, "Rat Salad" was a tasty instrumental with a thunderous drum solo, and the album closed out with a quality stoner boogie tune, "Fairies Wear Boots." Even though albums have come out that are louder, more intense, faster, and full of rage, no one could match Paranoid's finger-frying grooves at The End of the World. Perhaps because we have heard so many variations of the original, it is quite a refreshing shock to hear the actual original in all its brain-sizzling glory.

As much as radio has sought to focus on the first, second and fourth songs on their sophomore release, their third album, 1971's Master of Reality was another equally important and equally heavy release, with songs such as the stoner anthem "Sweet Leaf" with its drony chords and thudding drums, "After Forever", a churning metal hymn discussing belief in God that may be the first official Christian rock song, "Children of the Grave", a stomping march of a song condemning nuclear war, "Lord of This World", an ominous track warning of Satan's lurking over greed and corruption, and a fiery track with guitar chords and leads spraying the listener's ears like lightning, "Into the Void" (which would become a popular cover by a certain Seattle band twenty years later). Black Sabbath had become international stars at that point, and money and booze, and drugs would flow like waterfalls into the hands and mouths of Tony, Ozzy, Geezer and Bill.

In 1972, the band recorded their fourth album, originally about to be titled "Snowblind", due to the huge amounts of cocaine the band was consuming at the Record Plant in Los Angeles, but under pressure from the record company, named it simply "Black Sabbath Vol. 4". The band was in a complete worldwind of a drug-infested orgy, partying so often that the quality of the music suffered, according to critics, but in fact the album remains one of their best. It feels more like a loose album with a rather different tone than its predecessors, with tracks such as "Wheels of Confusion", "Tomorrow's Dream", a touching piano ballad "Changes", the rocking "Supernaut", the standout track "Snowblind", "Cornucopia", the lovely acoustic track "Laguna Sunrise", and the tempo-shifting "Under the Sun." The album was considered a disappointment by many critics at the time, but over the years it can be seen more as a "sloppy success" as the band attempted to broaden their sound and not sound more gloom and doom.

Feeling the pangs of creative block, Tony Iommi and the boys tried to re-energize with the same drugs and such for their fifth album. Nothing worked, so they flew to England to hole up in an allegedly haunted castle, and once a spooky chill from the new atmosphere settled in their bones, they felt the creative spark once again rekindled. During the recording process, there were tons of "scary" pranks, while later on, suspicious occurences fell upon them that warned them that not everything was what it seemed...Mysterious
things told them the castle may be haunted after all! The band fled the castle, and released one of their finest albums, with a little more polish and maturity, 1974's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, whose title song featured an experimental video, as well as tight, crunchy songs as "A National Acrobat" where Ozzy waxed philosophically about his past lives, a nice acoustic instrumental "Fluff", a rocker which featured Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman guesting on synths, "Sabbra Cadabra", a song decrying the pain and injustice in life "Killing Yourself to Live", "Looking For Today", and semi-acoustic "Spiral Architect" which featured a string ensemble. The album was a bold move who sought to expand beyond their heavy, sludgy roots. Unfortunately, the album was released in the middle of a very dark time for Sabbath, as they found their management was stealing millions of dollars from the band and keeping them on tour to pilfer millions more. It was the beginning of a period of decline for the still-young band. They decided to manage themselves after dropping their greedy manager Jim Simpson, but found themselves in a career tailspin.

On the next several albums, Black Sabbath became more sophisticated in their playing and compositions, which meant at the same time they were losing focus on who they were. They were moving away from being the heaviest band in the land and more toward being a polished act, all in order to please critics and pay off lawyers, as they put it. Iommi was becoming more of the controlling lead figure in the band as Ozzy's drug and alcohol use was making him unstable. In 1975, they released Sabotage, whose title referred to the ugly state of affairs with their former managers. The album featured hard hitting classics as "Hole In the Sky", "Symptom of the Universe"--one of their heaviest songs, the epic "Megalomania", "The Thrill of It All", "Supertzar", which featured the English Chamber Choir and was a great concert opener, "Am I Going Insane (Radio)", and "The Writ", a song directed at their legal woes. Ozzy complained that too often on the album Tony would start off with a classic headbanger and then put in all these complicated acoustic pieces and odd musical segments that made little sense.
The band continued in this fashion on Technical Ecstasy in 1976, where their new digital production made their trademark sound become flat and their now pop-oriented rock seem more akin to up and coming bands like Boston, on songs such as "Back Street Kids", "You Won't Change Me", "Gypsy", a decent track such as "All Moving Parts Stand Still", "Rock and Roll Doctor", and the highlight, "Dirty Women."

In 1977, Ozzy left the band due to the death of his father. He was briefly replaced by Dave Walker of Savoy Brown, but Ozzy then came back for the upcoming album, 1978's Never Say Die!, but at first refused to sing the new lyrics. When the album was completed, it was a complete disappointment. The album not only lacked their trademark heaviness, but injected much of Iommi's
flirtation with jazz influences and more pop-oriented compositions. The album featured a few winners such as the title track "Never Say Die", the keyboard-supplemented "Johnny Blade", and "Shock Wave", but it was still very confused and contrived. Ozzy was opposed to singing on what became an instrumental track, "Breakout", which then featured horns instead of vocals. Iommi even sang on the final track "Swinging the Chain." The final nail in the coffin was the disastrous ten-year-anniversary tour with Van Halen opening. The young Pasedena powerhouse mopped the floor with the Sabbs each night. Clearly the band was losing it, and so was Ozzy. He was constantly drunk, stoned, incapable of keeping appointments and forgetting everything due to his drug-addled mental fog. The time came to break the bad news to Ozzy. The band sent Bill Ward to deliver the message that they had decided to fire him. Ozzy left the band, devastated and infuriated at his ouster from the band he had started. For years he blamed Iommi, whom he had felt was a bully, as was in the days before the band began. Though he originally felt Tony was an amazing guitarist, it got to the point where he felt that his playing was "boring." And for a while, it had become stagnant. Ozzy suffered through months of depression until a certain guitar teacher entered his life and changed rock and roll forever. Tony was about to leave the band when he found he had his own ace up his sleeve that would carry the band into the next decade.

In 1980, while Ozzy was making headlines with both his new solo album Bliizzard of Oz featuring guitar wizard Randy Rhoads as well as the twisted "dove incident", Black Sabbath came roaring back with an album comparable to Paranoid in terms of intensity and influence: Heaven and Hell, featuring new lead vocalist, former Blackmore's Rainbow singer Ronnie James Dio. Ronnie added a striking presence to the band, with both his elfin stature and use of the now-familiar "Il Cornuto", the goat-horns hand gusture, :rock:
suggesting an arcane pagan salute now commonly associated with metal fandom. Dio's operatic vocals were prominent on such Sabbath classics as the driving "Neon Knights", "Children of the Sea", the macabre title track "Heaven and Hell", "Lady Evil", and "Die Young". Iommi's tone had never sounded better, and the lyrics of Dio were poetic and mysterious. It was official that metal had entered the medival-esque "Dungeons and Dragons" era. The album was one of their biggest sellers as well. 1981 saw the release of "Mob Rules", which unfortunately saw the band losing focus once again due to chemical excess and other issues, as well as ailing Bill Ward being replaced by American drummer Vinnie Appice (Dio was also from the States). The album did have a number of high-octane tunes as "Turn Up the Night", "Voodoo", the epic "Sign of the Southern Cross" which segued into the
fright-inducing bass solo "E5150", an interlude track yielding impressions of demons from the bowels of hell, which then segued into the title track, the blistering "The Mob Rules", one of their finest songs. However, after their 1982 Live Evil album, the new lineup fell apart again, as both the band and Dio
pointed fingers at each other for allegedly finagling with the final mix of the concert album. Dio took Appice with him and Iommi and Butler were in the market for yet a new lead singer. This would be the beginning of a long slow decline for the band with an unstable lineup and output.

1983 saw the induction of none other than vocalist Ian Gillan formerly of Deep Purple, their friendly rivals in 70's British metal, into the Sabbath lineup for their first post-Dio album (now that Dio had gone on to front his own successful band), Born Again. Iommi was not a metalist in the vein of current shredders such as Van Halen or his late competitor Randy Rhoads, due to his problems with his fingers, he felt more of an "off-the-cuff", spontaneous player, who was left-handed as well (as was Jimi Hendrix and a certain Seattle musician who would eventually hit the scene). But Born Again, while having certain heavy moments such as the track "Trashed",
"Zero the Hero", "Born Again" and "Digital Bitch", had a muddy, slapdash feel to it. The tour had one problem that led to disaster, an oversized stage prop of Stonehenge which was too huge to fit in many venues (and would inspire a gag on 1984's rockumentary This Is Spinal Tap). Gillan was put off not only with the band's sound but with the tacky "demon baby" on the cover of the album. He left after the tour finished. 1985 saw the first album where Tony Iommi was the only original member on the album Seventh Star, but also saw the original members unite for the Live Aid benefit concert. After that, not much was heard from the so-called Black Sabbath revolving-door lineup which, while having excellent playing and talented members, felt so little like the classic band who were more of a unit than the various hired guns in the 80's. The other albums of the 80's included 1987's Eternal Idol and 1989's Headless Cross. Not much was heard of these albums except by diehard fans.
Tony Iommi was also briefly engaged to Lita Ford, but the pending marriage dissipated. However, the band was about to take on a new life and significance in the 90's.

While Black Sabbath was a huge influence on thrash bands such as Metallica and Slayer in the 80's, the band would find that it even was a tremendous inspiration on the Seattle grunge bands in the early 90's, such as Soundgarden and Nirvana. When Kurt Cobain mentioned Black Sabbath as a factor in their sound, critics found a whole new respect for the veteran metal band, a complete reversal from when Sabbath was universally critically reviled. In 1990, the band released Tyr, another under-represented album, but in 1992, the band made two different comebacks under a new album and
hit: One was with the return of Ronnie James Dio for the album Dehumanizer, which featured the song "Time Machine", a track heard on the hugely popular
"Wayne's World" movie. The album also contained decent tracks as "Computer God", "TV Crimes" and "I", which hearkened back to the earlier days of the post-Ozzy lineup. For a while, the band was back on track a solid release. Unfortunately, the Dio Mach 2 lineup crumbled when the band announced that it would open for Ozzy on the last night of his No More Tours tour in Costa Mesa, California. Dio once again left the band in disgust, citing that he did not want to see the band open for the headlining former Sabbath vocalist. Ronnie regarded it as an insult, and once again old wounds were opened. In his place, Rob Halford, formerly of Judas Priest stepped in to sing
the old classic Sabbath songs onstage. The reunion was sweet with Ozzy, as the band played a few of their biggest numbers with their former vocalist about to enter retirement. For now, it was the end of the era.

Or was it?

After two more "invisible" albums, 1994's Cross Purposes and 1995's Forbidden,
shock waves were sent around the rock world when it was announced in 1997 that Black Sabbath with all original members would reunite for a series of tours. This also coincided with the brainchild of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, who had come out of retirement for the release of new albums, the spectacular Ozzfest tours, which had supplanted Lollapalooza as the summer tour to watch with the focus on metal and more rocking artists. There was one hitch to the upcoming tour as drummer Bill Ward suffered a heart attack and was about to have Vinnie Appice fill in, but Ward recovered in time and the tour was an astounding success. 1999 saw the release of Reunion, which featured not only landmark live recordings of the band on their comeback tour, but two new songs which showed Sabbath in fine form, "Psycho Man" and "Selling My Soul." The band has returned for various Ozzfest dates in years past, and in 2000, Tony Iommi released his first official solo album (which wisely did not go under the Black Sabbath moniker), simply called Iommi, which featured guest vocalists and musicians ranging from Henry Rollins, Dave Grohl, Billy Corgan, Phil Anselmo, Brian May, even Bill Ward and Ozzy. Grohl sang on one track that received much radio airplay, "Goodbye Lament." In recent years Black Sabbath has released various compilation albums including "Past Lives" and a box set, introducing a new generation of enthusiastic fans to the band that created metal, and whose appeal will never die. The possibility remains that one day Black Sabbath will record a new album with Ozzy but nothing definite has come of it. Tony Iommi is preparing to release a new solo album in the near future. Ozzy himself has lamented that Tony Iommi has been the world's most influential yet underrated guitarist: "Tony should be up there with the greats like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. He is the one person responsible for making more kids pick up the guitar."

Amen to that!


Tony from the mid-70's; 1982 Mob Rules Tour; 1992 Dehumanizer Tour before briefly reuniting with Ozzy; and 1985 Live Aid Concert where he teamed up with Ozzy and the other members for a one-time benefit appearance.