Who was the reason you picked up a guitar?

mshilarious said:
Uh, what exactly is your thesis here? AIC? That's out of left field, given that you are arguing against Nirvana and Metallica. The same is true for Puddle of Mudd.

I love the advice to listen to Kill 'Em All. You were, what, 9 when that was released? I think I've heard it :rolleyes:

The difference between Venom and Metallica is fairly obvious, Venom pretty firmly belongs to the D&D era of heavy metal, whereas Metallica is often cited as the beginning of the end of that style. It's hard to imagine going from Venom to Godsmack without a Metallica in between.
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Wow, you are such a musical expert! I'm in awe of your knowledge on the history of Metal! :rolleyes:

So, Godsmack was influenced by Metallica? That's pretty damned funny, considering Godsmack used to be an Alice In Chains cover band! Doesn't really sound like Metallica had anything to do with Godsmack! In fact, Godsmack was named after Alice In Chains' song, "Godsmack!"

As far as listening to "Kill'Em All," maybe you haven't heard Venom's earliest music, but "Kill'Em All" is a blatant copy off of Venom's oldest style.

Anyway, what I am arguing is all very standard rock musicology; you can derive your own conclusions, but you're going to have to do a little better than listing bands that sound like other bands. That isn't how music progresses, that's how it regresses . . . a fairly good case can be made that Pantera was a regression.
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I will draw my own conclusions. Music has been regressing for some time now. How was Pantera a regression? NOBODY sounded like Pantera. NOBODY. It wasn't until they became popular that all of these wanna-bes tried to copy their style.

I never claimed Dimebag Darrell was the best guitarist to ever live. What I claimed was that I miss his music. NOBODY's guitar playing sounded like his. He had his own unique style and it was easy to hear a song, no matter what he played, and know right away, "Hey, that's Dime."

Ah, yes, and before I forget. More Metal bands were influenced by Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Kiss than were ever influenced by Metallica.
 
You know, you really are a tedious person. You should try doing some of your own research. Wikipedia is the lazy man's way, but you could look back to the original interviews in all the metal rags if you are fastidious. But here's a Wiki sample:

Erna's style of singing mirrors that of Layne Staley's the singer of the '90s grunge band Alice in Chains, and Erna has cited Staley as his primary influence.[41] The overall sound of the band's first two albums sound similar to the sound of the Alice in Chains album, Dirt, according to Subvulture.com.[42] More recently, Godsmack has attempted to distance themselves from the Alice in Chains comparison with Erna stating in an interview with Matt Ashare, "I've just never really heard that in our music".[43]

The band's music is often compared to Alice in Chains, which the band cites as an influence.[44][45] Adrien Begrand of Popmatters states, "Erna perfectly mimics the late Layne Staley's low, guttural, sinister singing and snarly, metal-inspired growls"-Erna's vocals also seem to be reminiscent of Metallica's James Hetfield-and, "The band's music is a faithful retread of Jerry Cantrell's churning, tuned-down hard rock".[44] Katherine Turman of Amazon.com states the band has, "dark, swirling, commanding music". She also commented on the band's third album Faceless, "mixes arena rock in the vein of an Alice in Chains" and, "riff-heavy, layered tunes and sharp, confident bridge-burning lyrics".[45]

Rolling Stone Magazine describes Godsmack as "hard as nails and cranked to eleven," while Alternative Press praised the band for its "churning, riff-driven hybrid of all that is heavy, past and present."

Erna's singing style has been stated as "the snarl of James Hetfield", and, "is composed of dark harmony that sounds a lot like Alice in Chains".[46]
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The problem you have in saying Godsmack is an AIC cover band only is that Staley's vocal style was nearly always melodic, and that is clearly not true of Godsmack.

Although Alice in Chains has been labeled grunge, alternative rock, and hard rock, Jerry Cantrell identifies the band as primarily heavy metal. He told Guitar World in 1996; "We're a lot of different things... I don't quite know what the mixture is, but there's definitely metal, blues, rock and roll, maybe a touch of punk. The metal part will never leave, and I never want it to".[48] Alice in Chains has cited musical influences such as Black Sabbath, AC/DC, and Metallica.[18][49]
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I'm not even going to go to Pantera. OK, I will:

Pantera also received criticism from Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine, who told MTV in 1994:

When I got together with James [Hetfield of Metallica], he and I created a guitar style that everybody and their brother is playing now, everyone. I'm not gonna name anybody 'cause I'm not gonna promote them. OK, we'll say 'panther' in Spanish. You're welcome guys. We might as well be cooking their dinner for them or pushing their little wheelbarrow to the bank for them.[32]

However, Mustaine may have put these ill feelings to rest, as he has posthumously expressed his admiration for "Dimebag Darrell," saying:

"I knew "Dimebag" by wanting to play with him. We had Pantera open for Megadeth in the U.S. and in Europe. When you get to the level of guitar playing that I'm at and that he was at, the air is pretty thin up there...Darrell was a really gentle spirit and pretty easygoing guy."[33]
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I don't care which Mustaine you believe, but the feeling is pretty clear that the Metallica/Megadeth sound was a big influence on '90s period Pantera. Remember in the '80s they were a hair band . . .

And please stop bringing up straw men. When did I ever say Black Sabbath wasn't the primary influence on all metal bands? In fact, if you go back on certain threads on certain guitar boards here, you will see I supported exactly that view against newbies who were arguing that Metallica was the source of all metal, which is clearly false. Go back to my actual statement, and stop making up things I didn't say:

me said:
music would have been somewhat different without Metallica.
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Not exactly a powerful statement about the primacy of Metallica, is it?
 
Well, this isn't going to go over well, clearly, but I'm another guy who first picked up the guitar thanks to Kurt Cobain. I grew up on a diet of classic rock - the Stones, the Beatles white album, Janis, et al - and Jimi was the first guy who I heard who made me start paying attention to the guitar, and made the guitar seem "cool."

However, Kurt was the guy who made guitar still seem cool, but also made it seem like something I could do.

mshilarious said:
Alice Cooper played a Pantera song the other day on his show. Dime sounded like a technically improved version of Rhoads, but otherwise unremarkable. His tone wasn't much better. The singer was very forgettable--he lacked the balls of a Hetfield or Lemmy, and the originality of an Ozzy.

Nirvana still gets airplay every day in every market in the country . . . Cobain was a songwriter, not a guitarist. He mocked guitarists. He was right.

No one who doesn't get the Musician's Friend catalog cares who Dime was.
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Pretty much what he said, re: Kurt. I still enjoy Nirvana's music.

That said, these guys it's more the progressive rock/shred scene that keeps me going - Satriani's probably my biggest influence today (though I've been in a huge Gilmour kick lately) and as for "band" stuff I'm hugely into stuff like Porcupine Tree, Gordian Knot, Meshuggah (thoough they're so off in left field I can barely count them as an influence), and lately Soilwork.

On Dime - I never really cared for Pantera, and Dime's never someone I'd call an infuence, but on a human level I'd always appreciated the guy. I know a number of guys who'd hung with him a couple times, and word was he was just one of the most genuine, jovial, and likeable guys in metal; always down for anything and always with a grin on his face. The music isn't my thing, but I can't help but admire the man.
 
Metallica, Nirvana and Pantera aside. I don't even know what you guys are talking about... :o

I stopped listening to new music when Nirvana came out. Sorry, but I'm another who didn't, and still don't, like them.

Most of the music I bother to buy are compilation cd's.
 
DrewPeterson7 said:
On Dime - I never really cared for Pantera, and Dime's never someone I'd call an infuence, but on a human level I'd always appreciated the guy. I know a number of guys who'd hung with him a couple times, and word was he was just one of the most genuine, jovial, and likeable guys in metal; always down for anything and always with a grin on his face. The music isn't my thing, but I can't help but admire the man.
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I think farview knew Dime, and said he was pretty cool. I don't mind his playing, he sounded like an updated Rhoads, and Rhoads always made me smile :)
 
If you listen to that crap Kevin Debrow released of the Quiet Riot old days and compare it to Randy's playing with Ozzy, he definitely grew as a musician. But it wasn't a stark change, just a more polished approach, which I suspect was mearly the difference in studio/AE/producer.

His playing was amazing no matter what. I have always wondered if he would have stayed with Ozzy or went on to pursue classical guitar like he wanted to? And if he had stayed with Ozzy, how much of a greater influence would he have had on rock guitar?
 
Rokket said:
If you listen to that crap Kevin Debrow released of the Quiet Riot old days and compare it to Randy's playing with Ozzy, he definitely grew as a musician. But it wasn't a stark change, just a more polished approach, which I suspect was mearly the difference in studio/AE/producer.

His playing was amazing no matter what. I have always wondered if he would have stayed with Ozzy or went on to pursue classical guitar like he wanted to? And if he had stayed with Ozzy, how much of a greater influence would he have had on rock guitar?
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Huge slippery slope sort of question. Had he lived, he'd have undoubtably continued to grow as a musician, but when metal went out of favor, would he have gotten serious about pursuing classical? If not, would we have ever gotten Zakk Wylde (and, if not, does anyone care)?

I wasn't a huge Randy fan, as I've never been big on classically influenced metal, but while I don't personally consider him an infuence, there's no denying that he influenced a TON of guitarists in his day, and you can't help but respect the dude.
 
Ace Frehley was the first guy I listened to and thought...I wana be like those guys! Plus at the time, 2nd grade or so.....when I read the inside of the album jacket...it said "lead guitar" Ace Frehley....at the time I took that to mean he was THE top guitarist of all time!! Kiss just blew me away and that's who made me want to play.....
 
None of the above for me. :D

My brother took lessons when he was a wee lad and then set it aside cuz he got bored.
I saw it sittin there, picked it up and been jammin ever sense. :cool:

(btw...he plays guitar now as well.)
 
Dogbreath said:
None of the above for me. :D

My brother took lessons when he was a wee lad and then set it aside cuz he got bored.
I saw it sittin there, picked it up and been jammin ever sense. :cool:

(btw...he plays guitar now as well.)
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That reminds me...my first "real" influence was a guy in the neighborhood named Dave. He was 17, I was 12. He was a legend among us kids because he was so good, he dropped out of high school to become a rock star. (Bad call!)

Anyway, he played all week, sometime intense practices, sometimes at clubs--but every Wednesday night he had a jam session at his house. He and an impromptu band would do Led Zeppelin, Rush, Eric Clapton and other tunes. For $5 each Wednesday, he'd let me come over with my guitar and sit in the room. I couldn't plug in--I could just watch and try to imitate. And I couldn't ask questions--that wouldn't be cool. I just had to be quiet and give him a little pot money.

After a few months, he relaxed and started letting me ask about things, started showing me riffs--and near the end, he let me bring a boom box and record him. He just wailed through this wicked improvised solo, and I caught it on cassette. I vowed never to erase that tape until I thought I was that good.

I haven't seen him in forever, but I hear he's a sheet metal worker. He still jams in his house with an impromptu band (I wonder if some kid's paying him pot money to listen?).

Oh yeah, I did eventually reach the level of the cassette!
 
DrewPeterson7 said:
Huge slippery slope sort of question. Had he lived, he'd have undoubtably continued to grow as a musician, but when metal went out of favor, would he have gotten serious about pursuing classical? If not, would we have ever gotten Zakk Wylde (and, if not, does anyone care)?

I wasn't a huge Randy fan, as I've never been big on classically influenced metal, but while I don't personally consider him an infuence, there's no denying that he influenced a TON of guitarists in his day, and you can't help but respect the dude.
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Everything happens for a reason. Even more that 20 years after his death, he still shows up on magazine covers.

As far as classically influenced metal, I tend to think Dimebag Darrel picked up where Randy left off... and now he's gone too. :(

We still have Malmsteen, but he's not as polished IMHO, and he's suffering from tendonitus because of bad practice habits. He'd pick up a guitar and shred instead of warming up first...
 
I was 6 years old when my uncle's band came to play in the town we lived in. They played at this big hall and my parents went to see the gig. Kids weren't allowed inside but they had a babysitter for all the kids whose parents came to the gig. Anyway, I needed my parents and wanted to go in and get them, but the people at the door wouldn't let me in but told me they'd get my parents. When they went in the doors opened and I saw my uncle on stage with his sunburst Les Paul rocking out with the band and it was like "WHOA". I immediately decided that that was what I wanted to do with my life.

I got my first guitar soon after and started playing, asking my uncle to show me stuff.
 
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