What '80's guitarists do you still dig?

Aaron Cheney

Aaron Cheney

Favorite Chord: C 6/9
After reading the post entitled "Best guitarist with the worst tone", it's pretty apparent that most of us put a lot of '80's guitarists in there. So which of them do you still have respect for, now that the age of spandex and hair spray is over? I guess I should clarify that I'm talking about the work they did during the '80's, not whatever they may be doing now.

Here are some of mine:
EVH (Duh!)
Jake E. Lee (His stuff on Bark at the Moon was great, and he bucked the trend and never used a string wiggler!)
Angus Young (Plain and simple, as always.)

Aaron
http://www.aaroncheney.com
 
Funny--
I don't even think of Angus as an 80's guitarist. Sure, he was around, and playing, but so was Clapton, and Page, and (Jeff) Beck.

What's the name of Billy Idol's lead man? I saw him on TV for MTV's 20th birthday and he still seemed to have it all together.

Queue
 
I like Frank Gambale. He writes good melodies and he is one of the only guitarists that can shred and have it make sense. "Passages" is the CD of his that I like the best.

Trevor Rabin. He doesn't play much today but I liked his guitar playing and he has some serious arranging skills. His solo album "Can't Look Away" had some of his best playing and it showed his South African roots.
 
Slash! I was about ready to throw my Mel Bay book and guitar away when "Appetite" came out. Slash made me want to grow out my hair and ROCK. (I did throw out the Mel Bay book.)

Also, Ty Tabor of King's X. Although, that may be more early 90's than 80's.

I also still love (don't laugh) 80's era Richie Sambora. He started to suck in the 90's.
 
Malmsteen was always a little too "Dungeons and Dragony" for me, but I must admit that first album was very cool. I also liked a few of the songs he did with Joe Lynn Turner.

Ty Tabor! Yes! He has a wonderfully unique tone, and those vocal harmonies were awe inspiring. I saw them live at the Rock Candy here in Seattle, and ... oh, my! I picked up his solo album awhile back. What a disappointment.

Aaron
http://www.aaroncheney.com
 
Aussie rules!

Greg Hitchcock, Dom Mariani and Brad Sheperd are three of the greatest guitarists ever!

And yes, they certainly were at their best in the 80's although they're still around.


giggsy
 
My all time fav metal guitarist is Alex Skolnick (Testament).I think he plays in some fusion/blues/rock band now (weep weeep) to bad.
 
Heh. I still dig all of my 200+ CD's with shredding guitarists from the 80's/early 90's. Many Shrapnal Records CD's in there.

Greg Howe
Tony MacAlpine (especially MARS: Project Driver)
Racer X
Hurricane (2nd album, can't remember guitarist's name)
Michael Batio/Angelo (Holland)
EVH
Skolnik (Testament, which I just started listening to in the past year)
Vernon Reid
Steeler (Malmsteen)
Accept's guitarists
Chris Poland (Megadeth)
Vai
Murray & Smith (Maiden)
SRV
Whitesnake (what's his name?)
Lynch
DeMartini
Guy Mann Dude
Rocky George
Zakk W
etc., etc., etc.

I was especially not a big fan of the late 90's grunge because of the sloppy/boring guitar parts.

Heh. I even just picked up a Malmsteen instructional video from the 80's for shits-n-giggles. Yngwie J.'s a goofy guy.
 
I have a rare Malmsteen CD released in a guitar shaped case by Fender. It's sort of a "best-of" thing. Wonder if it's worth anything. The other neo-classical (Vinnie Moore, McAlpine, etc.) guys never did too much for me.

Adrian Vandenburg was the guy from Whitesnake. Later it was Steve Vai and the guy that played with Ronnie James Dio. WHat the heck was HIS name? I think he played with Def Leppard too.

I have always thought Neal Schon was an amazing, underated player. Two summers ago I saw Journey at the Gorge Ampitheater, and the day before the show their drummer had broken his hand. They flew Jonathain Cain's brother out to sub that night, and the show went on. It was one of the best displays of real musicianship I have ever seen on stage. It was fascinating to watch them work their way through the set, using a lot of eye contact and prompting and gesturing to lead the drummer though everything. I loved watching them actually at work in their craft rather than just doing one more night by rote. There werer a few rough spots, but on the whole they pulled it off. I have a whole new respect for that band.

Aaron
http://www.aaroncheney.com
 
Vivian Campbell was the guy that played with Dio in the 80's....he's now in Def Leppard.

I liked Robbie Blunt who was on the first four Robert Plant solo albums. He didn't follow any of the trends of the time like playing with tremelo bars, excessive chorus and delay effects, shredding, big hair. He did use some guitar synthesizer because Plant demanded it, but I read in several interviews that Robbie hated that and is one of the reasons he left the band or was asked to leave.
 
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