I have always wanted to write an article for MetalTalk taking the piss right out of that arrogant publication called Rolling Stone, which has not been relevant since it transitioned from newsprint to higher quality paper in 1981. It took on a full, glossy look in 1985, just in time for the peak period of ’80s over-produced musical garbage. Its ranking of anything to do with rock ‘n’ roll has reeked of institutional snobbery.
I know. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. But, I’ve been needing to get out my contempt for that magazine for a while in some form of sarcastic, but informative writing.
What better place to start than their October 2023 publication of The Top 250 Guitarists of All Time?
To be honest, if it were only the Top 100, which it was back in 2011, I would not have the appetite to mock the list. But when you issue an expanded list that is relatively recent, you get my attention.
It’s really hard to leave off a lot of great guitarists, but Rolling Stone has the cocky talent to do so. And, when you get into the business of ranking, you are just asking to be called out, especially if the ranking is just fuckin’ strange. I thought Hipsters were dead. Apparently not.
But First, Let’s Address the Rolling Stone Nonsense
But, this article is really more about recognising all the great guitarists that were left off–especially a boatload of contemporary ones who are burning/have been burning their axes in the underground scene [global scene, Rolling Stone writers] of stoner/desert/doom.
Before we arrive there, I just need to comically vent about some of my observations about the Rolling Stones list.
Leslie West at 245
On what fucking planet does Leslie West land that far back? Already a fresh serving of bile has risen through my oesophagus, with a Richie Aprile sidewalk hork cued up.
Glen Tipton and KK Downing at 219.
This is like an official announcement by this rag that they hate Heavy Metal. A probable reason the list was 250 was for the snobbish lowballing of this duo, but still showing inclusion of Metal.
Steve Hackett at 216.
Shit. They hate prog rock as well. I am already regretting doing this audit preamble. Someone needs to tie these critics to a chair and make them watch this. One of the greatest live performances by a band at its peak, and Rolling Stone soils the bed with Hackett.
His brilliance was that he often sat down, taking away the spotlight from the “guitar hero”.
Gary Clark Jr at 209.
For a magazine that is enthralled with the blues [at least they put the three “Kings”, B.B., Albert, and Freddie in their Top 5], this ranking of Gary Clark Jr is contradictory and bizarre.
Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham at 194.
This is why Thin Lizzy is not in the RRHOF, because the writers at Rolling Stones probably have the same mentality as the board or vice versa. Thin Lizzy is my favourite band of all time, and for a lot of people. Show us some fuckin’ respect.
I bet you none of the writers can name more than five songs by the band. The magic of Robertson and Gorham playing just perfectly over each other, strengthening the attack of their Celtic solos/riffs, is one of the best things in rock history.
Just listen to this Lizzy classic. Those who know, no explanation is necessary. Those who, cough, don’t, cough, Rolling Stone, no explanation is possible.
Jerry Cantrell at 189.
I guess RS’s coverage of the whole Seattle scene/alt-generation was bullshit. He is in the Top 100 for just the guitar work on a song that defined the angst of a whole generation.
Rory Gallaghar at 175.
Par for the course. List a great rock guitarist, but throw them way behind pretentious picks that could not even hold a candle to this Irish legend.
Can bet my home that none of the Rolling Stone critics has ever seen this footage. That guitar is crying like a lonely alleycat. Pay attention, kids.
Johnny Winter 166.
More snobbery attitude towards blues that is drenched in cigarettes and booze. Someone just needs to throw copies of Nothin’ But The Blues at the Rolling Stone staff until they come to their senses.
John Lennon at 159.
I wrote a book that referenced The Beatles over fifty times, so I am a huge fan. But putting Lennon at 159 seems like a forced entry of trying to be cool. Yeah. His playing eclipsed the tandem over at Judas Priest? Only on the watch of music journalists who think Pavement was the best band of the ’90s.
Dickey Betts at 145.
Frightening harbinger to come to see where they put Duane Allman. Brutal evaluation here. Cracks Top 100 just for Jessica.
Joe Walsh at 130.
Nope. Fail. Fuck off. Not reading anything you wrote [throws an imaginary typewriter out the window]. You know, there are days I think this is the greatest guitar performance.
Kim Thayil at 126.
Rolling Stone probably started listening to Soundgarden when MTV showed their videos.
McCready and Gossard at 124.
Let’s hurry up and finish with this Seattle shit. That is what Rolling Stone is saying at this point.
Steve Howe at 123.
Paging Steve Hackett.
Nancy Wilson at 103
The woman has two nicknames for her guitar virtuosity, Whizz Fingers and Granite Fingers. Few have played the acoustic guitar better than her. She basically pioneered women being physical with their guitars. Most men do not even play with her wild abandon.
Billy Gibbons at 102.
Way too low for basically creating this easy, breezy, blues that was lightly dipped in cruising in the desert. No ’70s party went by without putting on a ZZ Top song or two.
Kerry King at 100.
This live performance is one of the greatest moments in not just Metal, not just rock, but in music ever. If you have created this kind of dissonance and fire with your guitar, you are sitting a little better than 100.
And, where the fuck is his partner-in-crime, Jeff Hanneman?
Ritchie Blackmore at 75.
Would have hated to be in that room when that announcement was made. The man has two of the greatest solos of all time in Child In Time and Stargarzer. What the fuck else does he have to do to get a substantially better ranking?? No more videos. I’m done.
Carrie Brownstein 64.
Such a hipster pick.
Tom Verlaine 51.
See Carrie Brownstone.
David Gilmour 28.
Sure, let’s put the person behind the greatest guitar solo–CN–not in the top 10.
Tony Iommi 13.
Could not the Stones put him in the Top 10 at least, and save some final embarrassment? Well, let’s embarrass ourselves some more by putting the famous Jimmy Nolen ahead of him. I do not care what Nolen wrote at the height of his career. None of it equalled just five seconds of Snowblind or Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.
Tony Iommi. Photo: Getty Images, Michael Ochs Archive.
Overlooked Guitarists Who Belong Among The Elite
On that note of emetic-inducing ranking of guitarists, let us focus on guitarists that rarely get mentioned in such commercial polls, some never, but have more than earned their way into the conversation of being up there with the great ones.
’70s Guitarists
John DuCann, Atomic Rooster
I have watched this video numerous times. And each time I wonder who could do what DuCann did in this song.
Martin Barre, Jethro Tull
Thick As A Brick, anyone? Anyone? Putting Barre in the Top 250 was somehow easy.
Steve Marriott, Humble Pie
The energy and talent that exuded from him were known to many, except those at Rolling Stone.
Johan Baxter, Buffalo
If he and his band were not applying their craft way down under in Australia, they would have been the gold standard for a rock ‘n’ roll band. The man is still kickin’ it!
Buck Dharma, Blue Öyster Cult
Bloody hell. Just this song alone should have him being shuttled with frenzy into the Top 100. Easily one of the great solos of all time.
Roger Fisher, Heart
His work on Magic Man continues to be underrated today, one of the most iconic openings to a debut song ever. So much of the romantic and spiritual energy of the band came from his guitar. His words of creating the guitar for that iconic song show the genius of the man.
Greg Lake, ELP
With Lake, it is all about feel and aura. His acoustic playing was the soundtrack of ’70s psychedelia that is warm and nostalgic.
Yannis Spathas, Socrates Drank The Conium
The Greek guitar virtuoso who drove the garage/prog sound of this cult band. Loaded with talent, charisma, and attitude. If the band were American, he and his band would have been famous.
Gary Moore
I once owned every piece of vinyl that had to do with Gary Moore. His feel/tone for dramatic riffs and heavenly blues is legendary.
Gone way too young. His guitar playing was so electric that it overshadowed his aching vocals.
Allan Holdsworth
I am beginning to think that the entire Rolling Stone staff are simply AI bots. I could, maybe, see one person omitting Holdsworth. But, an entire team that is supposed to be reppin’ the ‘great’ Rolling Stone?
When Zappa and Vai have gone on about you, you know you were special.
Randy California, Spirit
Mentored by Jimi Hendrix, and was in fact invited by him to go to London, but he was too young. He also subbed in for a sick Ritchie Blackmore for a Deep Purple gig in 1972. Yeah. His resume sucks. Good grief.
Fast Eddie Clarke, Motörhead
You put Joey Ramone in your list [agreed], but do not have the time and space for the guitarist of the band that everyone on the planet respects? One of the fuckin’ greatest rock anthems right here.
Frank Marino, Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush
To be fair, I was not thinking anyone at Rolling Stone was clever enough to acknowledge this Canadian legend. Nevertheless, he is one of those guitarists’ guitarists.
Don Felder, The Eagles
He should be on the list just for his solo guitar work in the outro to Hotel California. If you don’t believe me, listen and watch. Never, never will this song get old for me.
Robin Trower
The omission of Trower by Rolling Stone is scientific proof that their list is invalid. How does this thing go to print without one person in the room going “What about fuckin’ Robin Trower?”
Glen Buxton, Alice Cooper
Few wore the badass look of ’70s cool of long hair and clothing better than Glen Buxton. He also happened to be instrumental in shaping the whole sound/vibe of Alice Cooper.
Paul Kossoff, Free
I take some solace here because the band itself was horribly undervalued. You will not get an argument from me that Paul Rodgers was the greatest rock vocalist of his time.
But, c’mon, man. Just watch this performance. The whole band was on fire, and Kossoff’s guitar was the match and kerosene.
’80s Guitarists
John Sykes, Thin Lizzy
Four words. The. Sun. Goes. Down.
Tom Warrior, Celtic Frost
Celtic Frost never got the dues they deserved. Recognition of Tom Warrior here is a minor correction of that.
Dave Navarro, Jane’s Addiction
I actually had to go through the list again, because I was sure that try-hard-Rolling-Stone would have been all over this, as any referencing all things Jane’s is the sexy play. Nope (smh).
One of the most distinctive guitar tones of the late ’80s and early ’90s.
Tracii Guns, L.A. Guns
The fact that L.A. Guns is the only band from that era putting out high-quality albums still should be an indication that at least some kudos should be heading towards their lead guitarist.
Factor in that they wrote the best ballad, in my opinion, for the time, One Way Ticket, he is a glaring omission. This video affirms everything I just wrote. That solo around the three-minute mark? Such a weepy, sweet-sad tone.
’90s
James Iha/Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins
There is no ’90s without this band, and our fond memories of their layered sound of angst/melancholy are all rooted in the signature Pumpkins guitar tone. This live performance of my favourite song by them is one of the greatest live performances ever.
Needed side note: Jimmy Chamberlin’s drumming almost stole the show here.
Rene Rutten, The Gathering
Rolling Stone could have expanded their list to the Top 1000, and sadly, they would not have included Rutten. That is because Rolling Stone does not value European music, as you will soon see.
Rutten is just a genius with the soundscapes of delightful dissonance he has created with The Gathering. He should be in the Top 100 without hesitation.
Ken Bulake, Sons of Otis
Back in the early ’90s, Bulake perfected the sound of blues as it was being played on a Sony Walkman running out of batteries–on the moon. Nobody has ever quite matched his tone of doom. It’s like Robin Trower stuck in mud.
Eddie Glass, Nebula
And the tropical storm of stoner/desert/doom guitarists that ALL got left off that shitty, pretentious list begins now. Glass honed his chops in Fu Manchu before going on to form Nebula and create the more psych/blues vibe that he longed for.
Ed Mundell, Monster Magnet
Still going strong, but his signature involvement was with Monster Magnet. He just found the perfect groove of psych/stoner riffs. So much so, you can have synthesia and smell the burned-out drug culture in his playing.
Matt Pike, Sleep/High On Fire
The dude basically invented a whole genre, War Metal. Just turn off the sound when you watch the Battle of Helm’s Deep in LOTR and replace it with Surround By Thieves.
Nicke Andersson/Dregen, The Hellacopters
America had a version of this band. It was called Guns N’ Roses. The reason I wrote it this way is that the Swedish’ Copters are just in a different league of sweaty collision between The Stooges and ’70s Stones. This guitar duo is one of the best ever in pure, fiery rock ‘n’ roll.
Tommi Holappa, Dozer/Greenleaf
It would take Rolling Stone a hundred years to come to terms with the massive history of Swedish rock ‘n’ roll. “I will take Passive Xenophobia for $1000, Alex.” Until then, let us celebrate the talent that is Holappa.
21st Century
The checkmate embarrassment that called Top 250 All Time Guitarists is of all the talented trailblazers they missed this century. And, uncoincidentally, many of these guitarists are in the genre of stoner/desert/doom.
Stefan Koglik, Colour Haze
Munich’s Colour Haze is one of the greatest bands of all time. I am hardly the first person who has said that. So much of that is due to the brilliance of Koglik. This is the first video I usually share when getting people into this band, which has been around for over 30 years.
Jus Obom/Liz Buckingham (joined in 2003), Electric Wizard
This band is way too scary for the average listener. More reason to have the inclusion of this guitar, husband-and-wife tandem. Their sound is like the gunk at the bottom of the river Styx. Definitely not for the weak.
This riff is the anthem for the underworld.
Tomas Jager, Monolord
The man simply has one of the best fuzz tones around, and also isn’t too shabby on the acoustic guitar. This song has one of the great guitar outros of all time. Yes, all time.
Dorian Sorriaux, Blues Pills/El Perro
Many incredible guitarists are born with virtuoso technique, but few are born with comparable feel. Sorriaux is one of them.
Gabriele Fiori
No other band in the 21st century [all genres] has put out the quality and quantity that Italy’s Black Rainbows has. Like the label he founded, Heavy Psych, he is the alchemist behind the band’s sound that seamlessly drifts between Sabbath-size riffs and Yes-like meanderings. Genius.
Ben McLeod, All Them Witches
ATW is probably the hottest band in the scene right now with their magical amalgam of blues and psych that transcends all musical time periods. So, it is not surprising that much of the credit for their magnetic tone has to do with their guitarist, Ben McLeod.
Sean McVay, King Buffalo
It makes complete sense to list McVay next, as ATW and King Buffalo share a complementary space of redefining and reinventing bluesy psych for a new generation.
No band sounds like King Buffalo. Nobody. This is because of McVay’s purposeful pacing rooted in emotion and feel.
Isaiah Mitchell, Earthless
Checkmate, Rolling Stone. This is not only game over, but this is also me tipping the board in your direction, telling you to stick to the “checkers of music.”
Mitchell is the second coming of Jimi Hendrix, which you got right at putting Number 1. But, not one of your staff, wearing eclecticism like a pair of uncomfortable shoes, has heard of Isaiah Fuckin’ Mitchell?
Here, hold my beer, for the rest of your writing days.
Kidding. [Throws beer at the writers].
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Rolling Stone / The Top 250 Guitarists Of All-Time List Is An Embarrassment To Rock Music first appeared on
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