10 Most Underrated Guitarists In Rock Music History

Everything that Radiohead has done in the past decade has almost been about deconstructing what it means to be a rock and roll band. Kid A tended to shy away from the more bombastic sounds that came with OK Computer, and a record like A Moon Shaped Pool offered us a more somber look at their world, with Jonny Greenwood trading in his guitar for the orchestral arrangements a lot of the time. The rock and roll version of the band seems more like a forgotten dream these days, but Ed O'Brien has always kept the spirit of rock and roll alive in his playing.

Although most people know him as the other tall guitar player that hangs in the background, Ed has done much more as an all around musician to create different soundscapes with his guitar. Being inspired by the likes of Andy Summers, a lot of what Ed brings to the table is about the sounds that can come out of a guitar more than just the notes, like the music box style of chord progression that happens on No Surprises or bringing the kind of aggression to songs like Go To Sleep or Just.

Even when the band decided to move away from the sounds of guitars in the '00s, Ed has tried to make as much noise with his main instrument as possible, making different synthesizer sounds by getting his tone in just the right place on a song like Treefingers. There may have been a long road between albums like The King of Limbs and The Bends, but Ed has always been the sort of glue that has kept Radiohead tethered to rock and roll.