The guitar solo is dead.

[HamSupLo]

maybe today's muscians don't have the talent to do a solo

 

[EyeMWing]

Originally posted by: djmihow
You guys listen to too much main stream music. I know plenty of bands that don't "solo" but still are awesome to listen to. I still like listening to 80's metal, but solos usually never make a song in my book.

My primary tastes lie somewhere in the vast gulf between goth metal, techno, trance, punk, pop, dance, emo, classical, black metal, progressive, pop rock, country, disco, house, death metal, ska, industrial, thrash, and jazz.

It seriously pisses some of my friends off, because I can listen to prettymuch anything with any musical quality to it whatsoever (including some rap, actually), whereas they're into one very specific genre (one of them is in to death metal, one is into trance, etc.)

Getting into my car usually consists of a mad scramble to smack the power button on my radio because the poor fools think whatever's in the MP3 player today is unlistenable.

 

[spike spiegal]

Somebody needs to send these losers a copy of 'The Wall' by Pink Floyd and have them actually listen to it. Nuff_frikken_said.

I guess when most modern bands have guitar solos thet sound like a cat stuck in a clothes dryer run through a synthesizer there's no accounting for taste.

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Haha. Funny thing just happened. I read the article, said "Wow. I didn't realize it before, but they're right." And then Winamp kicked on Avenged Sevenfold - Seize the Day. And while I sat there, trying to brainstorm up any new music with solos in it, it hit one of the SEVERAL in that song. But A7X appears to be the exception - I can't think of very many other mainstream bands that do such.

It's also ironic that Metallica skipped the solos on St. Anger.... Because the iconic solo that always comes to my mind first is the one from Master of Puppets. Especially the S&M version - it's just ghostly, and says more than the rest of the 9 minute song. I guess that's one of the reasons I couldn't stand to listen to the album (I went ahead and downloaded *GASP!* it, could only make it through the first four songs before I had to delete it, because it sucked that bad. And I was a HUGE Metallica fan through Load and Reload)

A7X FTW. It's one of the few bands I can think of whose solos is actually part of the song.

I mean, I love bands like Rhapsody, Dragonforce, and Angra, but I personally think they're solos are just a mess of insane, uncomprehensible shredding. I like it, but I don't think it adds to the melody at all.

 

[BatmanNate]

J. Mascis kicks ass. That is all.

 

[slugg]

I as a musician myself enjoy bands that display a certain level of musicianship. All true musicians can solo on their insrument, period. It's a shame that its not about the music anymore; it's about the the money. You can simply blame the entire country for this because just like any other business, the music industry follows the law of supply and demand. If the majority of the market wants the garbage that's currently on the radio, that's what it'll get. Record labels aren't interested in putting out good music. They could care less what kind of music it is. Simply put, labels are there to make money.

Now in terms of radio, it's even worse. Radio stations operate on advertising sales. They play a small rotation of the absolute most popular songs in order to attract listenners, then air the commercials. Radio stations aren't for music, they're for advertising. So if you complain about how there's horrible music on the radio, I agree, however you must keep in mind that on the business aspect of things, radio really doesn't have much to do with music. All this that I just said didn't even come from me; it came from my dad who's a sales executive at CBS Radio. Yea, my dad is in charge of making the radio suck

That aside, I'm glad mp3 players exist because I refuse to listen to the radio for multiple reasons, music quality being one, commercials the other, and sound quality. I'm glad I can listen to whatever I want, whenever I want, and in high fidelity. I encourage everyone to do as I do, because the more you do it, the more the radio and music industry suffers, meaning DEMAND will change, meaning we MIGHT see some improvement in mainstream music. Personally, I will probably never care too much for mainstream music as I listen to mainly jazz and prog rock/metal.

 

[mcbootus]

Im quite happy those 1980s solos are a thing of the past. Most of them seemed to sound like an ego thing, "hey I can play faster than you" sort of thing. Look at Paul Gilbert for example, he can play at 5000 miles an hour but has never been able to make a guitar sing in his whole life.

 

[dwell]

Wanking is dead, thank God, but quick solo interludes will always fit a song unless you're a trendy bitch snubbing solos because everyone else does.

 

[SirChadwick]

Breaking Benjamin, Avenged Sevenfold, Wolfmother, Sevenwiser, Ra, Stone Sour... the list goes on.

Sure Rock isn't what it used to be - but there are still guitar solos and some damn good ones at that. A7X is just incredible!

 

[Vegitto]

Originally posted by: MrPickins
I dare anyone to listen to Stevie Ray Vaughn's cover of "Little Wing" and tell me than solos don't contribute to the melody. :roll:

I love that performance. SRV FTW!

 

[Vegitto]

Well, I think the problem with most bands today is:"OMG, if we add solo's nobody will like our music! It must be chewed out for the sheep that is the masses.", whereas garage bands et al just make music they like, without caring about the money.

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Haha. Funny thing just happened. I read the article, said "Wow. I didn't realize it before, but they're right." And then Winamp kicked on Avenged Sevenfold - Seize the Day. And while I sat there, trying to brainstorm up any new music with solos in it, it hit one of the SEVERAL in that song. But A7X appears to be the exception - I can't think of very many other mainstream bands that do such.

It's also ironic that Metallica skipped the solos on St. Anger.... Because the iconic solo that always comes to my mind first is the one from Master of Puppets. Especially the S&M version - it's just ghostly, and says more than the rest of the 9 minute song. I guess that's one of the reasons I couldn't stand to listen to the album (I went ahead and downloaded *GASP!* it, could only make it through the first four songs before I had to delete it, because it sucked that bad. And I was a HUGE Metallica fan through Load and Reload)

totally agree on all counts...

btw i kinda dig the guitar break on the Chili Peppers Dani California.. its got a nice little break and i feel it adds to the melody of the song..
so thier not completley gone some bands still using them =-)

 

[Gibsons]

bah, late to the thead.

I'll just say Nickelback sucks.

 

[Paddington]

Guitar solos have been dead since the early 1990's.

 

[Megadeth]

Megadeth will have a new CD coming out in a couple months... I don't think they would do away with guitar solos.... Iron maiden is also coming out with a new CD soon

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: Paddington
Guitar solos have been dead since the early 1990's.

They said the same thing in the 70's with Punk and the 80's with New Wave.

 

[dullard]

Good riddance. They suck indeed.

I did grow up listening to Guns N' Roses and Nirvana. They are some of my favorite bands. But I always have to skip the crappy guitar solos. Easiest way to ruin music EVER.

 

[Feldenak]

Bring back the guitar solo. I'll freely admit I loved the "useless 80's guitar solo". You can keep your drum machines and BestBuy/Circuit City electronica...give me lead, rhythm, bass, drums, and vocals...give me straight ahead blues-based rock & roll along with the required solos.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

This is why Metal > every other music style

 

[SP33Demon]

Originally posted by: Mrvile

Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Haha. Funny thing just happened. I read the article, said "Wow. I didn't realize it before, but they're right." And then Winamp kicked on Avenged Sevenfold - Seize the Day. And while I sat there, trying to brainstorm up any new music with solos in it, it hit one of the SEVERAL in that song. But A7X appears to be the exception - I can't think of very many other mainstream bands that do such.

It's also ironic that Metallica skipped the solos on St. Anger.... Because the iconic solo that always comes to my mind first is the one from Master of Puppets. Especially the S&M version - it's just ghostly, and says more than the rest of the 9 minute song. I guess that's one of the reasons I couldn't stand to listen to the album (I went ahead and downloaded *GASP!* it, could only make it through the first four songs before I had to delete it, because it sucked that bad. And I was a HUGE Metallica fan through Load and Reload)

A7X FTW. It's one of the few bands I can think of whose solos is actually part of the song.

I mean, I love bands like Rhapsody, Dragonforce, and Angra, but I personally think they're solos are just a mess of insane, uncomprehensible shredding. I like it, but I don't think it adds to the melody at all.

Agreed on A7X, their guitarist is pretty sick and love their solos. Coheed and Cambria's 2 guitarists are insanely talented as well, Example.. I also like some of Atreyu's solos even though they're not always that long. Dragonforce has good guitars as well.

Overall I don't think the guitar solo is dead, there's just fewer bands with a)talent to do them and b)don't listen to bullsht record labels on what they're "supposed" to sound like
/back to listening to some GnR

 

[BurnItDwn]

Trends change, no big deal.

The underground scene is very healthy these days. There are thousands of bands that play guitar solos releasing new records every year. Just because they don't have big marketing money, doesn't mean that they do not exist.

 

[Paddington]

Originally posted by: dullard
Good riddance. They suck indeed.

I did grow up listening to Guns N' Roses and Nirvana. They are some of my favorite bands. But I always have to skip the crappy guitar solos. Easiest way to ruin music EVER.

Umm... Wasn't Nirvana the start of the anti-guitar solo movement.

 

[RollWave]

Originally posted by: 0
There?s a moment halfway through Nickelback?s massive 2005 hit Photograph in which singer Chad Kroeger?s voice fades away and a chiming acoustic-guitar passage plays out over a couple of bars. Older music fans ? those familiar with the performers Nickelback has been accused of ripping off ? might have felt a twinge of expectation: if this song had come out 10 years ago, this is where the guitar solo might have begun.

Instead of some fretboard sizzling, Photograph returns to another verse of Kroeger?s musings on visually inspired nostalgia. The fact that Nickelback, a defiantly un-hip band that hews closely to the dictates of mainstream radio, would forsake a guitar solo indicates how much this longstanding rock-music staple has fallen out of favour.

Not long ago, an instrumental guitar passage was a prerequisite for any respectable rock song; tracks like Guns N? Roses? Sweet Child O? Mine, AC/DC?s Back in Blackand the theme to Top Gun felt like threadbare excuses for extensive axe-wielding. Eighties pop hits like David Bowie?s Let?s Dance or Michael Jackson?s Beat It featured guest appearances from noted soloists ? Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eddie Van Halen, respectively ? to attract a rock audience. Nirvana?s 1991 anthem Smells Like Teen Spirit might have signalled a plate-shift in the pop-culture landscape against corporate rock, but it wasn?t revolutionary enough to eschew a solo.

These days, it?s hard to find much six-string noodling in any rock music. In the 1990s, even indie rock had guitar heroes, like Dinosaur Jr.?s J. Mascis, whose solos were long and sloppy but full of reckless charm, and the Pixies? Joey Santiago, whose inspired, angular playing suited singer Black Francis?s abstract, Magnetic Poetry lyrics. Now, indie-ish guitar bands like the White Stripes or Franz Ferdinand go solo-free. Even the bands you?d most expect to feature extensive lead-playing ? hard-rocking all-guy groups like Audioslave and Slipknot ? don?t bother with them.

?It?s not trendy enough to do guitar solos,? suggests Mike McCready, lead guitarist for Pearl Jam. ?Maybe people aren?t writing songs that they think need guitar solos, or people are telling them not to do that. I want them to come back.?

The issue arises in one memorable scene in Some Kind of Monster, the 2004 documentary about the making of Metallica?s album St. Anger. In an unintentionally hilarious discussion, the iconic metal band argues about leaving out guitar solos entirely from the album. ?We started talking about the idea of the guitar solo as... something that?s a little outdated,? drummer Lars Ulrich informs lead guitarist Kirk Hammett.



?That?s so bulls---,? replies Hammett, obviously wounded. ?If you don?t put a guitar solo in one of these songs, it dates it to this period.? (Hammett would lose the fight; no solos ended up on St. Anger.)

Some, like Warren Kinsella, author of the punk history Fury?s Hour, are shedding no tears over this development. According to Kinsella, lead-guitar breaks are no longer in fashion ?because they suck. They represent the zenith of rock ?n? roll onanism. Because they are boring. Because they add nothing to the melody. Yuck.?

Solos endured for decades because they served practical purposes. They provided the listener a break from the singer?s voice; the singer, conversely, wouldn?t have to think up another verse ? or, God forbid, write an entirely new bridge ? to fit between choruses. They allowed a band?s guitar player time in the spotlight.

Text

Thank god. I'm glad music has evolved from that annoying monotony. Change with the times people. You realise that there is NEW music being made?

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33
More evidence that most music produced these days is utter sh!t.

When will you idiots understand that most music produce ANY DAYS is utter sh1t? Just because you only still listen to good stuff from 30 years ago doesn't mean music was better then.

In any case, most of the time I hate guitar solos. They usually have nothing to do with the song and just seem like the lead guitarist being an asshole to the rest of the band. It's typical hair band attention whoring. When I hear a guitar solo from Bob Dylan I'll change my mind.

Those 70s and 80s rock bands you folks seem to idolize were all much bigger corporate tools than modern "indie" music despite your nostalgia colored memories, and there's an enormously greater volume of GOOD music getting out of garages and basements thanks to the internet, especially Myspace.

 

[GasX]

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: MrPickins

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Michael Jackson?s Beat It featured guest appearances from noted soloists ? Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eddie Van Halen, respectively

Stevie Ray did not play on Beat It. He never played with Michael that I know of.

David Bowie?s Let?s Dance or Michael Jackson?s Beat It featured guest appearances from noted soloists ? Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eddie Van Halen, respectively

Reading comprehension FTW!

More like "bad writing, FTL", as far as that article goes.

look up the word "respectively" in the dictionary