10 Best Grunge Guitarists
2. Mike McCready - Pearl Jam
Most of the grunge scene did not have time for any virtuosos. With bands like Van Halen and Mr. Big trying to blow you away with how well they could shred, the Seattle sound was all about rocking out and getting to the heart of the song. Guitar finesse may have been on the way out, but Mike McCready was the one exception to the rule.
Raised on Van Halen’s playing, McCready originally was in a glam rock outfit before moving back to Seattle and becoming fixated on Stevie Ray Vaughan. After jamming with a couple of buddies in the local scene, McCready hooked up with Stone Gossard’s new upstart Pearl Jam, where he laid down some of the tastiest solos of the entire decade on tracks like “Even Flow.”
Whereas most guitarists get restricted as being just a shredder, McCready could really do it all on his instrument, as he went from creating atmospheric sounds on some of the band’s experimental cuts to face-melting metal runs on “Why Go.” Grunge may have been about a more natural evolution of rock, but Mike McCready is the one guitarist who gave Pearl Jam another melodic voice almost as strong as Eddie Vedder’s.