10 Most Underrated Guitarists In Rock Music History

Towards the end of the '70s, rock and roll seemed to be in a state of transition. The old school rockers like Led Zeppelin were starting to look much more passe and the new kids in town tended to have a more stripped down mentality, with the Ramones and Devo ushering in a new generation of punk rockers into the mix. While it doesn't really feel like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers belong in that sort of company, Mike Campbell actually had influences traced all the way back to rock's beginnings.

For all of the great songs that Campbell has played on, he may be one of the more silent guitar geniuses to ever make a list like this. It's hard to call anything that he does that flashy, but the licks that he brings to songs like Breakdown tend to be hooks unto themselves, being the partner in crime to Tom Petty's heartland stories. In between his bluesy fills though, Campbell is also one for production, and took to running different loops of music to bring to Tom, which turned into the basis for classics like Refugee and Here Comes My Girl.

The real highlights come when he puts on a slide though, almost like he's trying to speak through his guitar half the time when listening to songs like Learning To Fly or I Won't Back Down. The name on the signs might be Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, but Mike Campbell tended to feel more like the second in command as the band went along.