10 Best Classic Rock Guitarists Of The '80s
Stars in the era of shred.
The ‘80s is usually known as one of the golden times for pop music. With the synthesizer being brought out in full force, everything on the charts seemed to feel so much larger than just simple tunes on the radio. The realm of rock seemed to cater to the star frontman, but the real brains behind these bands were always the people behind the six-string.
From new wave to standard rock, everyone in the rock sphere was coming to the table with something new that was pushing the genre to the next level. Some of them may have still had that neon-colored sheen to them, but all of the added fluff faded away once you heard what they sounded like.
For as much as synthesizers may have been the order of the day, all these guys needed was their guitars to make some of the most otherworldly sounds you’ve ever heard. No matter what kind of effects may have been running their instruments through, these were complex music minds who were focused on taking the guitar out of its typical role and to the forefront of every song.
They may not have sung a word, but what these guys played was from a different planet.
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.