10 Most Underrated Rock Guitarists Of All Time
7. Mick Mars - Motley Crue
You can't really call anything that comes from Motley Crue to be exactly reserved. Ever since dominating the hard rock scene on the Sunset Strip in the early '80s, their brand of sleaze rock has been designed to hit you over the head from the moment you hear it. As much as Nikki Sixx might be the main driver though, Mick Mars is where the depth of the music starts to seep in.
On the surface, Mars' way of playing doesn't even seem to be in the same ballpark as the rest of the band. Being a descendent of the bluesier acts like BB King and Eric Clapton, Mars always manages to fit in some of his roots into the straightforward licks that he gets from Sixx. While he might be able to hop on some aggressive hard rock on something like Live Wire, his use of the the blues shuffle on Wild Side is all you need to know about the way he plays.
Even the little flourishes he puts into the songs end up becoming some of their greatest strengths, from the way he plays slide guitar on Smokin in the Boys Room to making the mother of all glam rock intros with the whammy bar of Kickstart My Heart. Regardless of how you want to feel about the Crue's music from a technical perspective, Mick Mars is probably the one guy who can truly be called a virtuoso of glam rock.