10 Most Underrated Heavy Metal Guitarists

Anyone who has ever been a fan of rock music has probably had at least one dream about becoming a famous guitarist.

The thought of standing up on stage, gnarly guitar in hand, playing an iconic riff or blistering solo to a crowd of adoring people is pretty damn enticing.

In reality, the closest most people will get is air-guitaring along to Master of Puppets in their underpants.

Some of the biggest rock legends of all time have played guitar. Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Brian May, Eddie Van Halen, Kirk Hammett, and many more have all carved out their legacies as some of the coolest people ever to walk the Earth.

But what about the shredders who aren't household names?

Obviously, there have been dozens of exceptional guitarists over the decades who have not achieved the level of fame and recognition that they should have.

From the technically sound to the outrageously flamboyant to the steadiest of steady hands, these ten masters of their craft all deserve way more attention than they've traditionally gotten.

If you like the sound of what you're about to read, then you should go check some of these bands out.

You won't regret it.

The 1980s were a great time to have massive hair, tight trousers, and zero sense of responsibility.

Few bands embodied all of those things like Poison, the glam rock outfit behind Every Rose Has Its Thorn.

If you've only ever heard that song, you'd be forgiven for thinking that this group were responsible for churning out only soppy love ballads. Whilst they found a great deal of success doing that, the rest of their back catalogue sounds very different.

Songs like Talk Dirty to Me and Nothin' But a Good Time highlight the group's commitment to ear-shredding rock and show off the guitar-playing chops of C. C. DeVille.

DeVille was one of two finallists in an audition process to join the band, the other one being Slash of all people.

It was he who brought the band their first smash hit (Talk Dirty to Me) and who contributed many of the excellent riffs and solos that popular their discography.

Poison themselves are thoroughly underrated when it comes to glam metal, but DeVille is especially so. Despite contributing to some of the most enjoyable songs of that era, his work continues to go underappreciated.