10 Best Grunge Guitarists

At the start of Stone Temple Pilots’ rise to fame, grunge fans either loved them or loathed them. For as much as their sound fit within the confines of the grunge aesthetic, the fact that they were from San Diego ruined their legitimacy and made them copycats in the eyes of many grunge fans. Though listeners can say what they want, the actual chops on Dean DeLeo could surpass some of the greatest Seattle players.

There are countless alternative guitarists who hide behind a wall of effects, but DeLeo was one of the few grunge players who actually knew the importance of everything he played. Even when he was just playing chords, the type of weird chords he would use like on the verses to “Interstate Love Song” were not normal by rock standards. From the way he played basic lead lines to his way of digging into a chord, there was always something far more sophisticated going on underneath.

Take a song like “Trippin on a Hole in a Paper Heart,” for instance. While the actual melody is straightforward, the chords are all over the place, which opens up into a solo that feels closer to jazz than it does alternative rock. STP may not have gotten credit as a top tier grunge band, but Dean DeLeo’s approach to his instrument all but embodies the term ‘alternative.’