Most UNDERRATED!!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter King Elvis
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My votes for underated go to

Jon Squire (Stone Roses)
Manchester can rock

Vernon Reid (Living Color)
Riffage for the late 80's that was fresh instead of tired

East Bay Ray (Dead Kennedys)
Punk can be melodic and irreverant at the same time
 
What about the dudes in Skynard and Molly Hatchet, that blend of country and rock...ROCKED!!!
and speaking of country, I gotta say again there are some great players in country. Brad Paisley, Wade Haynes, Marty Stuart, that guy who plays for Dwight Yoakam, Pete Anderson, Brent Mason. Some of those guys are modern day shredders without the distortion.

Have you ever heard of a group called The Hellecasters?? I dont know if they are still together but they were great. Like the county equivelent of Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Eric Johnson.
 
I don't know why I forgot to mention him, but:

Johnny Hickman from Cracker. He plays a mean guitar, and he's one hell of a showman live, too. I've seen Cracker twice now and I got to meet him the second time.

I'd agree that East Bay Ray made some good stuff for Dead Kennedys, but it's too bad he turned into such a dick. I'd say the Dead Kennedys had the dark, menacing guitar and bass lines down pat.
 
Leo Nocentelli (the Meters) definitely tops my list. If you've ever seen him live, you know what I mean.

Danny Gatton for sure-I wish I'd have seen him.

Also David Hidalgo, C.C. Adcock, Robbie Robertson, Keller Williams, and that dude from Concrete Blonde to name a few more.
 
King Elvis said:
What about the dudes in Skynard and Molly Hatchet, that blend of country and rock...ROCKED!!!
and speaking of country, I gotta say again there are some great players in country. Brad Paisley, Wade Haynes, Marty Stuart, that guy who plays for Dwight Yoakam, Pete Anderson, Brent Mason. Some of those guys are modern day shredders without the distortion.

Have you ever heard of a group called The Hellecasters?? I dont know if they are still together but they were great. Like the county equivelent of Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Eric Johnson.
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hellecasters kick ass. people over look country players because of all the twangy and bullshit country out there. What blows me away about all of the Albert Lee/Brent Mason dudes, is that they can kick ass clean.

Not a "guitarists", but Jerry Douglas smokes most shredders... with a slide!!!!

And I'll second Molly Hatchet. I saw them live a few times and I was blown away. Double Trouble Live arrived in my mail box a few weeks ago!
 
I don't know if these three are underrated, exactly, but they do deserve more fame and attention:

Robben Ford
Wayne Krantz
the late Ollie Halsall

Glad to see Dominic Miller mentioned, he's great, and he has a great gig but he's pretty unnoticed as a result.
 
powderfinger said:
neil young......tons of people don't even know he played lead
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Yeah, and that's too bad. If all those folks knew how awful Young's lead playing is, they'd feel better about themselves. I know I do. :D :p :D

Okay, so I don't think Neil's such a hot lead player, but he sure can write songs and pick an acoustic (shades of Jimmy Page, maybe?), so I'll give him his due props for that.
 
Doug Quance said:
I laughed my ass off when I saw an interview with Crosby, Still and Nash where they were talking about bringing in Neil Young because none of them could play lead.
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Did they really say that? Because Stephen Stills is a fine player, and he did all the guitar work on their first album. In fact, he played everything except the drums for that one. I haven't read their biography in a while, but I thought they brought Young in as a solid guitarist to help support Stills live, since Crosby and Nash weren't really guitarists (although they both can play the instrument to a degree).
 
That's why I laughed so hard...

But, that's what they said. :D

I think they were referring to playing a solo...
 
Originally posted by Even Many of these dudes everyone is listing have gotten gobs of recognition. Mind you many have not held the title due to the constant addition of new players.
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Hear, hear! Several of these dudes are still pretty high-profile, or they have been for significant stretches of time.

But some pretty good calls, too:

B. Sabbath — Ty Tabor is great at filling the sonic space in a song, and doing it in an "under the radar" kind of way. His playing smoothly integrates with everything else, which may be why he's so overlooked.

JR#97 — Rik Emmett is awesome! Great chops, tasteful leads, super fingerpicking, super tone, and on and on. Don't believe me and JR#97? Check out Thunder 7 and see for yourself.

King Elvis — Thanks for mentioning Leslie West. He's one of the 60s blues-based players that always gets lost in the shuffle for some reason, although I think he's equal to or better than Mssrs. Page and Clapton. Love his leadwork on "For Yasgur's Farm" and "Theme for an Imaginary Western." And Randy Rhoads claimed him as an influence, so that's good enough for me! :D

James Argo — The guitarist for The Police is Andy Summers, and he's a good choice, too. Another guy whose work supports the whole of the music well but as a result gets overlooked, kinda like Ty Tabor. Must be something about guitarists who play in trios. . . .

Some more for consideration:

Uli Jon Roth — Revered by guitarists (at least some of us), but unheralded by most everyone else. A true musician and super talent.

Dave Mustaine — Yeah, he's had some truly great lead players in his band, but he himself is pretty decent, too. His rhythm work is impeccable (Hetfield wishes he could play like that), and his lead work is distinctly his own style. Great sense of melody, too.

Eric Gales — Everyone's hot on Kenny Wayne Sheppard and Johnny Lang, but what about this blues-influenced youngster? He was only 15 when his first album came out, and he played the hell out of his guitar. Check out the song "Sign of the Storm" for some overlooked blistering leadwork.

Andy LaRocque — The guitar genius of King Diamond. He never gets mentioned with the classical shredders of that era, but I don't know why. He's a superb player. (BTW, KD himself is a fairly decent guitarist, too.)

Scott Ian and Charlie Benante — The heart and soul of Anthrax. These guys pound out riffage like rivers put out water. And Charlie's the band's drummer. . . .

Could go on, but these were some first thoughts on the subject. Carry on, y'all!

:D :p :D
 
beaverbiscuit said:
[B
Dave Mustaine — Yeah, he's had some truly great lead players in his band, but he himself is pretty decent, too. His rhythm work is impeccable (Hetfield wishes he could play like that), and his lead work is distinctly his own style. Great sense of melody, too.[/B]
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You got that right. I never understood why Metallica was bigger than Megadeth??? I always thought Megadeth was a tighter band with better lead players and Hetfield could never grow as good as Mustaine. Big mistake kicking him out of the band...IMO
 
I feel the same way, KE. And truth be told, Metallica simply can't play their material live. On the Damaged Justice tour they were energetic but rather sloppy. I saw Megadeth on the Clash of the Titans tour (w/Alice In Chains, Anthrax, and Slayer) and again on their tour supporting Countdown to Extinction, and they were the tightest ensemble I've ever seen live. They didn't miss a note or a beat, even though they didn't do much on the stage.

Another player who never gets any props is Jim Matheos of Fates Warning. His style is also unique, as his his songwriting. FW has always been a favorite of mine, but unfortunately they have never caught on with the masses. Dream Theater credits them with being a major influence, for whatever that's worth.
 
powderfinger said:
neil young......tons of people don't even know he played lead
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i love neil. grew up listening to his music and a soloist he aint.people can say what they want about the one note cinnaminn girl thing,but the fact of the matter is the solo sucks.he is kick ass at writing songs,but the man should be banned from the electric guitar.
 
King Elvis said:
What about the dudes in Skynard and Molly Hatchet, that blend of country and rock...ROCKED!!!
and speaking of country, I gotta say again there are some great players in country. Brad Paisley, Wade Haynes, Marty Stuart, that guy who plays for Dwight Yoakam, Pete Anderson, Brent Mason. Some of those guys are modern day shredders without the distortion.

Have you ever heard of a group called The Hellecasters?? I dont know if they are still together but they were great. Like the county equivelent of Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Eric Johnson.
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check out junior brown.this cat is heavy duty .he breaks into manic depression in the middle of sugarfoot rag.this guy gets my vote for the most underrated guitarist ever.
 
sheppard, you're dead on with Junior Brown. Saw him on Austin City Limits and was floored. He looks so geeky, but he can bust out the Hendrix-ish licks with the best of them.

Speaking of geeky players, another underrated guitarist is Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick. He mostly plays within the songs, but I understand that he lets it rip when they play live. I remember seeing them once years ago on a late-night show called Thicke of the Night (hosted by Alan Thicke — anyone remember it?). RN was awesome, pure and simple.

Hey sheppard, you ever get down 'round Greenville?
 
I'll agree on the quality of Junior Brown, having seen him live, but "under-rated"? I've sort of been under the impression he was extremely highly rated: like somewhere in between "the best" and "one of the best."
 
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