10 Rock Guitarists Who Were In Two Amazing Bands

At the start of the new millennium, rock had started to get a lot nastier. Right alongside the pop punk and emo boom that was going to start sweeping the nation, a little genre known as post-hardcore was also creeping up from the underground with some of the most caustic rock tunes ever made. However, if there was one man who really had the hardcore scene by the throat, it was Omar Rodriguez Lopez.

Emerging with At the Drive In, Lopez became one of the most eclectic guitar wizards of the modern age, making licks that seemed to be channeled from another galaxy. While you could still hear the influences of punk, prog, and slight touches of jazz, every single note he played never sounded the same if hammered out by somebody else. Even though At the Drive In died way too soon after their album Relationship of Command, Lopez wasn't done menacing the rock scene.

As he splintered off with Cedric Bixler-Zavala, the Mars Volta was formed with some of the most important prog records of the modern age, from the mind-expanding pieces of Deloused in the Comatorium to the dark, depressing storyline that runs throughout Frances the Mute. At a time when most rock was playing off of the teen demographic or channeling the spirit of the past, Omar Rodriguez Lopez is one of those few guitarists who you're not going to mistake for anybody else.