My Trendkill Rant..for the love of shred.

[horns666]

Yes, I was bored. You know how you always have the shit on your mind for years.

When I'm in the mood..I dump it here. Like a big bag 'o candy on Helloween.

This is for you, ..let's se..I got tootsie rolls, those little box of milk duds with 2 milk duds in it..and some horns..

You get The Horns..

I got Therion's "Gothic Kabala" on..the tone is kicking my ass..it's a fuggin' tech 21 sansamp...I get a surprise too..

[horns666]

Fett..Gets The Horns too..

May the ones on your head be strong like bull!!!

[pott]

I was born in 86... I have no idea what the 80s were like for real, and hell I was in France and Spain anyway. I don't like shred that much. I prefer melody. Power metal is more accessible to me. I don't even know any George Lynch of Bon Jovi or whatever...

I play Blues on my Charvels and my Kramer. That's pretty much it really. I can't shred anyway I'm still a noob

Though one of my favorite players ever is the Godfather of Shred, Ritchie Blackmore. He shredded with taste.

[Frigo89]

I will say that the only band from the 80s or 90s that was good at the unplugged thing was the ORIGINAL band from that era to do it, TESLA!

Frank Hannon is probably one of the top 20 overall guitarists of all time, he can play ANYTHING you throw at him.

Also for Honourable mention of a "fallen soldier" who kept on shredding into the 90s, Derek Frigo from Enuff Z'Nuff,

I was watching a Vito Bratta thing on youtube and a comment comes up about Vito and Reb beach about being very melodic but also technical, then one came up about Derek being as good as those guys, but having a more sloppy style ala EVH.

I should also mention Ugly Kid Joe, BADASS band from the 90s

[Joe_Steeler]

Man do I miss the 80s.
I remember all of those tours, one after the other. Bands with kick ass guitar players playing the lost art of "SOLOS". Players like Bill listed.
Yes, youngens. The guitar player used to have a spot where he could display his mastery of the axe.

Tours like Bon Jovi w/opening act RATT. Alcatrazz with Steve Vai, Whitesnake with Vivian Campbell & Adrian Vandenberg with pening act Great White, AC/DC, Scorpions with opening act Bon Jovi, Megadeth with Marty Friedman the lisy goes on....

Today you get a bunch of freaks playing detuned six or seven stringers with painted faces or masks just riffing down the soil underneath and that is pretty much it.

Come to think of it, I would cover my face as well if I played like that in front of so may people making that much money.
Now it all makes sense!!

[mm2002]

Great list man, but let's be real and narrow it down to the greats, and get rid of some of the filler. Yes, there were, and are, lots of great guitarists, but if it were my list it would look like this:
(it's the "low fat" version of your list! )

Eddie Van Halen
Randy Rhoads
Yngwie Malmsteen
Tony MacAlpine
Allan Holdsworth
Jason Becker
Marty Friedman
Greg Howe
Jeff Loomis
Jeff Beck
Steve Vai
Joe Satriani
Jennifer Batten
Rusty Cooley
Vinnie Moore
Paul Gilbert
George Lynch
Steve Morse
Steve Lukather
Frank Marino
Zakk Wylde
Dimebag Darrel
Neil Schon
Blues Saraceno
Alexi Laiho
David Gilmore
Gary Moore
Ritchie Blackmoore
Jimmy Page
SRV
Michael Schenker
Akira Takasaki
Michael "Angelo" Batio
John Petrucci
Nuno Bettencourt
Vivian Cambell
Adrian Vandenburg
Eric Johnson
Al DiMeola
Stanley Jorden
Alex Masi
Warren DiMartini
Frank Gambale
Brad Gillis
Jeff Watson
Jake E Lee
Alvin Lee
Vito Bratta
Steve Lynch
Frank Zappa

[Reverend Timmy]

I would rather a sloppy player with feel and soul anyday to someone that can play a million notes a minute and still doesn't get it........................

[Frigo89]

I would rather a sloppy player with feel and soul anyday to someone that can play a million notes a minute and still doesn't get it........................

+1 man, thats the way to be, soulful sound is where its at, me and a couple other guys jam like once a week, and me and the other guitarist have completely different styles, Im like a blues player who plays Kramer and Jackson (similar to a fellow who posted earlier in this thread), and the other guy is one of the "1000000 notes a minutes" guys.

I am proud to say that my tone has been compared to VH while playing with a POS 30 watt Fender Champion!

but minus the flanging, that shit just gets annoying lol


PS, where is John Sykes on the second list? he is better than every guitarist Whitesnake has ever had combined!

AND FRANK HANNON!

[horns666]

I was born in 86... I have no idea what the 80s were like for real, and hell I was in France and Spain anyway. I don't like shred that much. I prefer melody. Power metal is more accessible to me. I don't even know any George Lynch of Bon Jovi or whatever...

I play Blues on my Charvels and my Kramer. That's pretty much it really. I can't shred anyway I'm still a noob

Though one of my favorite players ever is the Godfather of Shred, Ritchie Blackmore. He shredded with taste.

Dude I wrote this at my home..just after you posted that..

"I had "Burn" on earlier, discovering old riffs heard..but never listened to..

That ever happend with you guys..a 35 year old song and you pick out something for the first time and go.."That was cool".. "

You get The Horns and some Candy corn too..nobody eats that shit..

That's right J-Steel..anyone could do it..just like rap. Then everyone can act and look like a rapper or a Nu-whatever. Those who didn't paint their faces looked like they worked at Sunoco..and prolly did before they got lucky..that's what I think.

What's with the white trash, look anywhoo..Metallica did it too...maybe they still do..ahhhh goodbye crapolla..

OK..you get the fuggin' Horns too..godammit.

OK, I had Enuff Z 'Nuff..grabbed my attention on the first two (Derek was great), I have Lemans..Then they progressively got a little "too happy" for my liking..Picture me in my ride..what do you hear..Saw 'em open for Preist with Ripper..it didn't go over very well in that crowd..see what I'm sayin'. Derek is playing for the band..like Tony of Third Eye Blind..who dummied down, and held back alot to be popular. He tried hard not to let the shred out of the bag..but that's what he really likes.

I'll add Derek to my list..I had him on a Mike Varney "Unsung Heroes"..he had a solo on there that kicked ass...and did the best in the context he was in.

Tesla..the first two I still have..they are great. They got popular and had to go with the flow..they had a couiple "rockers" on each record..NOT interested in "unplugged" shredders..let there be light..let there be shred.

It reminds when my grandma ran down the steps and pulled the cord out of my guitar jack..it really pissed me off at the time..."if it's too loud, you're too....

UKJ..not in my collection..not then or now. It's like I been on H for 15 years and the're a puff of gonge. I searched hard for the very best and found them, my standards are high..I'm an elitist. They're "good" players..but they don't make the cut to Bill Z Land.

I know these bands..had their cds, because they were decent. I gave it a chance but it either eventually sounded "dated" or just didn't do anything I feel I couldn't do..or wanted to. Some of my faves are prolly alien to you. Some are diffrent genres of "shred", check some out..youtube it first..see what pops.

If you like players like Richie Sambora..I will point you to early 80's James Byrd, Zeno Roth, or Helge Engelke. Since we know the players that had media rotation at one time.

You get the fuggin' Horns..because you love shred. Start with the 80's influenced bands I mentioned above..no "culture shock" that way. I don't want to throw you into a Morbid Angel pit..that's not for you..I understand that.

The Horns!!!

BTW..I have the Bratta/Beach stuff ..the playing is timeless because it's that good..even in some "dated" context. They're not EVH clones, I never wrote them off that way. They're from his school like countless others during that time..and put their own spin on it.

Dudes..These are words to encourage to explore some alien shred territories you might not known existed..I narrowed it down from a few thousand to 100+..30% of that list are "standards" anywhoo..

Goodnight..

Bill Z..ahhh F the typos...figure it out..

[AdRock]

Pretty Maids.....future world......awesome.

I have that CD in the player in my car right now. Future Worl and Yellow Rain are by far the best 2 tracks on that.

change of thought

However, the rap metal was something I actually kind of liked. I started out wanting to be a drummer, so I play guitar in a pretty purcussive manor, and I've always had a thing for SOME rap.

Now if Sevendust and NWA were smushed together I think it would be pretty fuckin' cool.

Just think, rap metal started out with a really cool tune. I still love it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoLkaGcpJFA

[pott]

Dude I wrote this at my home..just after you posted that..

"I had "Burn" on earlier, discovering old riffs heard..but never listened to..

That ever happend with you guys..a 35 year old song and you pick out something for the first time and go.."That was cool".. "

You get The Horns and some Candy corn too..nobody eats that shit..

That's right! I also lived without a TV all my life so I have no idea what trends and fashions there are in music I THANKFULLY escaped the whole Slash thing (Can't stand the dude) and skipped straight to what are for me the real heroes, Clapton Bluesbreaker/Cream, Blackmore, Page rythm (his solos are meh aside from of course Whole Lotta Love), Robbie Krieger, Mark Knopfler, Billy Gibbons and Brian May. And Sonny Landreth but that's more modern.

Ok if I had to throw a shredder in all that... Steve Morse for his playing, Gilbert because, well, he's just cool.

[Snoogans]

This is something that I was thinking about recently. I had just put on the first Mr. Big CD for a bit of a change of pace. Can you old guys remember the anticipation for that one? An album featuring Paul Gilbert And Billy Sheehan? By Christ - I nearly wet myself! That was one of those "event" albums, like Eat'Em And Smile or Badlands. Let's face it - we were bloody spoiled rotten. There was just so much cool stuff out there. Every weekend you could go to the store and there were more great albums by new bands. Rock guitarists were Gods. Every teenage kid had a guitar, and they all looked great - well, at least they tried. Oh yeah, and the girls...
Fuck! - it was brilliant, and I really miss it.
I played a Warrant album last night. I was happy. Say what you like about the band, but there were huge munchy guitar tones and squeely solos. On the cover there are pictures of custom-painted BC Riches. what more do you need?
I wish some of our younger friends could have been there, so they'd really understand what us old farts are on about!

[markb]

I dont know why shred died at the mainstream level....

I listened to a fair amount of bands I wasn't that crazy about just because they had good guitarists. Maybe the music styles died and a lot of the guitar was pulled down with it. Hair metal was obviously not going to last, it doesn't get much more trendy than that.

I actually think thrash partly killed flashy shredding, as there was less emphasis on it. There were some ok thrash guitarists, but they were not as flashy as the previous generations of metal guitarists. The death scene then came along out of florida and it was even less emphasis on solos, with some exceptions (Morbid Angel, Death) of course.

People blame grunge, but metal kinda rid itself of shrediosity in my eyes.

But it was still a good thing overall. Metal got ugly again. Thank god for Morbid Angel... they brought cookie monster to metal. If I had to I would certainly trade shred for ugliness. I'd rather have both. It still doesn't happen much.

I'm listening to the new Blood Red Throne... I have been onto this band for a few years, but they don't get enough love. Show them some love people. Sorry no shredding but its a sweet florida/thrash mix.

Eddie's back in form eh? But Van Halen the band is dead, just an empty brand name. Theres nothing left of the creative entity once know as Van Halen. So what should Ed do with himself. Maybe he needs to go solo? I dunno. But: studio Eddie and live Eddie are two different things. He's not quite as magical live, as Templeman isn't there pasting bits of his solos together for a better final result.

Paul Gilbert has kept shred alive certainly. He's better than ever. Same with Vinnie Moore. Those are two guys that give up absolutely nothing live: they are just as clean, accurate and wild as on album.

I loved Gary Moore as a youngster, played the shit out of Corridors of Power> Best attack ever. I actually hate his blues playing. Especially earlier on, he would run an unbelievable amount of gain and shred in the most awful way over a I IV V. Stupidest sounding nonsense. he's a much better blues guy now: less gain, more phrasing, better tone. I miss the old Gary.

Some current metal out there with decent shredding:

Darkane - on occaision he shreds it up, but not every song
Scar Symmetry - I dont like them , but hes flashy, and I've seen them live
and he was just as good
Arsis - pretty flashy shred
The Absence - decent shred, not spectacular
Demonoid - side project of Therion guys, very good shredding. Wild actually.
Obituary - the new one has Santolla on it, like the last Deicide did.
Daath - pretty good shredders. American melodic death, a bit goofy though.

I guess the new Opeth will go into the shred category, as they have Akesson now, and he is most definitely a shredder. I saw him live with Arch Enemy, and he ripped it up.

[horns666]

Snoogs, I know what you mean. When most did a 180 on the music we loved. It made my quest for players and music like that very aggressive. I wasted / invested my life and prolly close to 100K of hard earned money in that search. Until recently the internet made things much easier, without taking so many risks wasting money. Now you can listen to samples before you buy a release...which is cool, but spoils the elemenet of surprise whn you put on a new band and it kills.

I disposed ALL my vinyl I replaced on cd. Many cost me 30-50 bucks because they were Japan "imports" only. Ssuch as bands like Rough Cutt, Icon, Y & T, Tygers of Pang Tang, King Kobra, TNT, Loudness, MSG, Alcatrazz, classic Scorpions and countless others..most have been re-issued in the states now.

Not only was I replacing all my favorite vinyl, I was buying new stuff along the way. I discovered there was a demand for this stuff underground..which is why I'm pretty versed in it.

I have friends here that did the same thing. I had a freind that owned triple the amount of stuff I did..so we tape traded and spent years burning stuff for each other..that certainly helped opened doors as well.

The reason for this post was to enlighten guys like yourself. To share my experience and joy of the music that includes EVERYTHING you decribed brought you that very joy back in the day.

It is awesome time and we hold on to those memories. The 90's was a very dark time in music for guys weened on Van Halen, Dokken, Ratt, Judas Preist, The Scorpions, ..well you know the rest.

The underground bands were HUGE fans of this stuff as well. They wrote music they wanted to hear. There was a demand for it underground..tho not a big one. It was a labor of love, because they wern't making money from it, and it certainly wasn't promoted.

That was my world underground, like a metal hungry mole. The 90's wasn't that dark underground. I discovered that all the virtuocity and bravado of the 80's music was alive and well..with cool cover art, guitars, solos galore, song writing, tone and vibe I desired from 1978 to 1988 to 2008.

I LOVED Mike Varney..that dude was my unsong hero. I bought all of his albums promoting players like he had in his Guitar Player spotlight column. He discovered many who we LOVE now and helped put bands together including Billy Sheehan, Yngwie Malmsteen, Greg Howe, Tony Mac, and so on. Without Mike, there would be no "Eat "em and Smile" He was the guy players went to when they need awesome bass and guitar players. In 1988 my bud got that call to play with Greg Howe at his place in PA, he did that for three months. Dave is right next to Ritchie Kotzen in his Spotlight column. He's wearing a Cleveland Music T Shirt. I gave him bass lessons..I just never made a tape to send. I shoud have but glad I didn't in hindsight.

John and I know the local guy in Warrant, Billy Morris. He's the one that ran sound for me, recorded my VH trib promo tape in his basement studio. He has a club, and has 80's bands, including his there all the time. Jani Lane was staying with him here for some time. His band opened for George Lynch that time I saw him. Unfortunately his guitar player was much more polished than the legendary Lynch that night. I was standing 15 feet from George watching him stumble for 25 minutes with crappy tone and band. He was only getting worse, so I had to leave. I saw Reb Beach do that material just a year prior in a stellar performance with Dokken...which didn't help.

My "hate" for Grunge, Rap and Nu..in general is that it made what I love uncool, and what I din't like "cool". Many players were ashamed to play solos ..that's what happened to Extreme, Lynch Mob, Dokken, Queenryche, Metallica, Megadeth, Def Leppard, Tesla, Poison, Ratt, Night Ranger put out some sad stuff when shredding was percieved gay.

Those bands should have stood their ground. They sold out because the media/industry didn't care, and pushed them into bad directions. They would have kept their dignity with old fans not putting out terrible releases in the mid to late 90's. Bands like Extreme died anyway, the could have died with dignity..but their 4th and last one..someone said.."sucked donkey balls"...true.

Bill Z

[horns666]

Mark, AWESOME post. We are pretty like minded on this subject!!!

Yes, we did help destroy shred..it imploded. It had to, it became a parody. Which is why it came back so pissed off with the bands and music you mentioned. To ensure not to make that same mistake again. We will see.

I just hope that metal will stay just for the kids sake. I hate when they follw the trend that make them feel look like a square peg and a round hole. Tthey had no choice to embrace it..there was no other option availuble for a very long time. Kids didn't know shit about Rock...no guitars..nothing.

That's why I don't mind about this emo-core / screamo-thing. think it's "dummied down" and going in a bad direction which could end up being like hair metal..A "joke"..which many feel already is. Pulling the plug once again.

Let Rap exist..I'm not saying to kill it, but give kids choices. Keep the playing feel level by keeping those choices on the table. Put a guitar on that table, instead of nothing to play with other than a turn table and a record to scratch.

Yes Demonoid, I been on a HUGE Therion kick lately. That dude is one AWESOME player..youtube Therion's "Son of the sabes of time" a movie soundtrack called "The Island". Nice to see them have exposure like that!!!!

Hail..

Bill Z Bub