10 Best Classic Rock Guitarists Of The '80s

10. Izzy Stradlin - Guns N' Roses

In the grand scheme of legendary guitarists, there’s always a certain amount of flashiness that has to be brought across. Whether you were dressed to the 9’s in the ‘80s or in psychedelic threads in the ‘60s, most guitarists needed a little bit more than just scale exercises to win over a crowd. Then again, Izzy Stradlin has made a name for himself by filling the backbone of hard rock.

It’s pretty easy for someone like the silent Stradlin to get overshadowed in a band like Guns N Roses. Though Slash tends to take all the glory as a guitar god, Stradlin is criminally underrated for how much bite he brought to the band’s songs.

Nothing he ever played could really be considered too complex, but his contributions ended up becoming staples of the GNR sound, from the ballad “Patience” to the lock step groove of “Paradise City.”

Guns N Roses probably would have succeeded with or without Stradlin in the mix, but if he were absent, the staying power of these tunes would be lost forever. Sure, Stradlin might just fade into the background and not say much, but it just goes to show that the best in the world don’t have to proclaim their worth.