10 Greatest Hard Rock Guitarists Of The '90s

Finding guitar virtuosos in the grunge scene were very few and far between. While the riffs from many of these bands were great, none of them were displaying chops on the level of someone like Eddie Van Halen. Then again, guys like Kim Thayil were doing things that even Van Halen himself wouldn't have thought of.

Throughout Soundgarden's tenure, Thayil's riffing was some of the most interesting sonic fragments to come from Seattle. As opposed to playing every beat straight, the song would occasionally take a left turn into an odd time signature, leaving Thayil to go down different roads with his writing. This would often result in little sonic firecrackers like the fantastic lead line on "Jesus Christ Pose." Thayil was also known to make good use of practical effects like different harmonics, which made his guitar absolutely squeal in pain.

That's not to say that Thayil was all about self-made material, with his use of slide guitar making the song "Black Hole Sun" iconic. With every track he laid down, Thayil's guitar parts would never necessarily be normal, but they would be perfect for each song they were in. Other guitarists may have gotten by with just music, but Thayil's use of effects made him the resident grunge guitar wizard.