10 Greatest Guitar Solos Of The '90s

When the Seattle scene was first getting started, Pearl Jam wasn't even supposed to exist. As Mother Love Bone was just about to break out of the scene, Andy Wood's tragic death led to Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament scrambling to find another band before finally coming together with San Diego native Eddie Vedder. That voice may have jumped out at you from the moment that Alive started, but there was one other addition to the group that had one foot trailing back into classic rock.

For all of the great songs that fit in with the grunge aesthetic on Ten, Mike McCready's lead lines always were indebted to the more bluesy players, finding the middle ground between people like Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, and Stevie Ray Vaughan and channeling it into his playing. Already having mammoth solos like Reach Down from Temple of the Dog under his belt, Alive is the real start of his legendary status, only sprinkling in little licks throughout the song before melting your face in the final section, being just as lyrical with his guitar as Eddie was with his vocals.

While you can hear the Seattle sound in a lot of this song, there are bits and pieces of rock's past on every second of this solo, from the licks ripped out of KISS's playbook to the Hendrix like effects to eventually quoting the main riff from Jane's Addiction's Mountain Song to tie everything back to the underground scene. This genre may have still been alternative, but it was about more than just going against the grain. These guys were still all fans of rock and roll and they were looking to pay tribute to the bands that shaped them.