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The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists

Joel McIver


(Jawbone)

 

www.jawbonepress.com

 

Let's be honest, shall we? Heavy metal has never received the respect that it deserves from the rockcrit community. Time has begrudgingly recognized influential bands like Black Sabbath and Metallica, but the overall contribution of the metal genre to rock music has been routinely snubbed...or worse, ignored...by the music press (save for hesher zines like Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles).

 

Nowhere has the influence of metal on rock music been more pervasive than in the way that the guitar is played. Metal guitarists have pushed the boundaries of the instrument, creating new techniques and advancing the guitar's potential. British music journalist Joel McIver has always had an ear turned towards heavy metal, and it's a testament to his musical knowledge that he has written authoritative books on both soul diva Erykah Badu and thrash-metal titans Slayer.

 

McIver's latest tome is a profusely-illustrated guide to the genre's best axe-manglers, and a hell of a fun read for anybody interested in either heavy metal or guitars. In an entertaining style that is equal parts fanboy enthusiasm and rockcrit perspective, McIver provides background information for each fretburner, explains why they're important enough to be one of 100, and offers suggestions for their best performances. Some entries also detail the musician's gear or specific technique, and McIver frequently quotes from interviews that he's done with the guitarists.

 

McIver offers a few surprising choices among his 100, especially his pick for 'numero uno' (no, I'm not telling). He covers every shade of metal from thrash to doom to death to every type of extremity under the sun, providing as much consideration to obscure stringbenders like Ron Jarzombek (Blotted Science) and Dave Suzuki (Vital Remains) as he does to metal legends like Slayer's Kerry King or Metallica's James Hetfield.

 

Whether you're a fan of classic metal like Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest or relative newcomers like Dragonforce and Trivium, this has them all! REV. KEITH A. GORDON     

 


Jan 12
Fighting My Way Back: Thin Lizzy 69-76 by Martin Popoff
01/30/2012
Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever by Will Hermes
01/20/2012
Dec 11
Paul Brannigan by This is a Call: The Life and Times of Dave Grohl
12/28/2011
Rock And Roll Always Forgets by Chuck Eddy
12/13/2011
Occupants by Henry Rollins
12/07/2011
Nov 11
Tom Waits On Tom Waits: Interviews And Encounters by Paul Maher Jr., ed.
11/10/2011
Sep 11
Have Not Been the Same: The Canrock Renaissance 1985-1995 by Michael Barclay, Ian A.D. Jack, and Jason Schneider
09/23/2011
Retromania: Pop Culture’s Addiction to Its Own Past by Simon Reynolds
09/05/2011
Aug 11
Seven Deadly Sins: Settling the Argument Between Born Bad and Damaged Good by Corey Taylor
08/24/2011
Preachin’ The Blues: The Life & Times of Son House by Daniel Beaumont
08/11/2011
Along the Cherry Lane by Milton Okun (as told to Richard Sparks)
08/04/2011
Jul 11
Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain’s Visionary Music by Rob Young
07/26/2011
See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody by Bob Mould (with Michael Azerrad)
07/22/2011
Niceness in the ‘90s: An Indie Music Memoir by Jim Miller
07/19/2011
Skull Orchard Revisited by Jon Langford
07/12/2011
C’est la guerre: Early Writings: 1978-1983 by Byron Coley
07/05/2011
Jun 11
Rock & Roll...And the Beat Goes On by "Cousin Brucie" Morrow with Rich Maloof
06/29/2011
You Must Go and Win by Alina Simone
06/24/2011
Fire And Rain: The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor CSNY and the lost story of 1970 by David Browne
06/19/2011
Guitar Player Presents Guitar Heroes of the '70s by Michael Molenda, editor
06/13/2011
May 11
The Last Bandit: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Life by Nikki Sudden
05/27/2011
Keyboard Presents Synth Gods by Ernie Rideout, editor
05/05/2011
Apr 11
The Indie Cred Test by Ed. by Guion Bentley, Chad Baker, Shane Gillis, Henry H. Owings
04/26/2011
Won’t Get Fooled Again: The Who From Lifehouse to Quadrophenia by Richie Unterberger
04/07/2011
Mar 11
Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal by Jeff Wagner
03/30/2011
Seasons They Change: The Story of Acid and Psychedelic Folk by Jeanette Leech
03/21/2011
Larry Marion, ed. by The Lost Rolling Stones Photographs: The Bob Bonis Archive, 1964-1966
03/02/2011
Jan 11
Trademark Of Quality by Rev. Keith A. Gordon
01/07/2011
Starting Over: The Making of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Double Fantasy by Ken Sharp
01/04/2011
Dec 10
Coltrane On Coltrane: The John Coltrane Interviews by Edited by Chris DeVito
12/28/2010
Husker Du: The Story of the Noise-Pop Pioneers Who Launched Modern Rock by Andrew Earles
12/20/2010
Mountains Come Out of the Sky: The Illustrated History of Prog Rock by Will Romano
12/14/2010
Soul Mining: A Musical Life by Daniel Lanois
12/06/2010
Head Hunters: The Making of Jazz’s First Platinum Album by Steven F. Pond
12/02/2010
Nov 10
A Wizard, A True Star: Todd Rundgren in the Studio by Paul Myers
11/26/2010
Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir by Dave Mustaine
11/23/2010
Lightnin’ Hopkins: His Life and Blues by Alan Govenar
11/17/2010
Jazz Matters: Sound, Place, and Time Since Bebop by David Ake
11/12/2010
A Dead Boy’s Tale: From the Front Lines of Punk Rock by Cheetah Chrome
11/08/2010
Just Kids by Patti Smith
11/03/2010
Innerviews: Music Without Borders by Anil Prasad
11/01/2010
Oct 10
Listen To This by Alex Ross
10/25/2010
Fab: The Life of Paul McCartney by Howard Sounes
10/18/2010
The England's Dreaming Tapes by Jon Savage
10/12/2010
Touch And Go: The Complete Hardcore Punk Zine ’79-’83 by Tesco Vee & Dave Stimson
10/05/2010
Sep 10
They Came to Nashville by Marshall Chapman
09/24/2010
Public Enemy: It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back by Christopher R. Weingarten
09/17/2010
Pavement: Wowee Zowee by Bryan Charles
09/01/2010
Aug 10
Shelter From the Storm: Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Years + Still On the Road: The Songs of Bob Dylan, 1974-2006 by Sid Griffin + Clinton Heylin
08/23/2010
Bob Marley: The Untold Story by Chris Salewicz
08/11/2010
Phish: The Biography by Parke Puterbaugh
08/04/2010
Jul 10
The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinners Semester at America’s Holiest University by Kevin Roose
07/30/2010
Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter by Randy L. Schmidt
07/27/2010
Lips Unsealed by Belinda Carlisle
07/21/2010
Forever Changes: Arthur Lee and the Book Of Love by John Einarson
07/19/2010
We Never Learn: The Gunk Punk Undergut, 1988-2001 by Eric Davidson
07/13/2010
Every Rose Has Its Thorn: The Rock 'n' Roll Field Guide to Guys by Erin Bradley (Author) and Heather Bradley (Illustrator)
07/08/2010
Neil Young: Long May You Run – The Illustrated History by Daniel Durchholz and Gary Graff
07/01/2010
Jun 10
Antonino D’Ambrosio by A Heartbeat And A Guitar: Johnny Cash And The Making Of Bitter Tears
06/25/2010
Return of the King: Elvis Presley’s Great Comeback by Gillian G. Gaar
06/23/2010
Five Hundred 45s: A Graphic History of the Seven-Inch Record by Spencer Drate & Judith Slavetz, eds.
06/15/2010
May 10
The Baseball Codes by Jason Turbow with Michael Duca
05/03/2010
Apr 10
The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade: the 11½ Anniversary Edition by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins
04/02/2010
Mar 10
Me, The Mob, and The Music: One Helluva Ride with Tommy James and the Shondells by Tommy James with Martin Fitzpatrick
03/22/2010
And Party Every Day – The Inside Story of Casablanca Records by Larry Harris
03/17/2010
Jack Bruce: Composing Himself by Harry Shapiro
03/12/2010
Sinner Takes All: A Memoir of Love and Porn by Tera Patrick and Carrie Borzillo
03/09/2010
Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation’s Capital by Mark Anderson and Mark Jenkins
03/03/2010
Feb 10
Girl Power: The Nineties Revolution in Music by Marisa Meltzer
02/25/2010
Black Music by LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka)
02/22/2010
Hand Me My Travelin’ Shoes: In Search of Blind Willie McTell by Michael Gray
02/16/2010
Jan 10
Bomp! 2 – Born In The Garage by Suzy Shaw & Mike Stax, eds.
01/26/2010
Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found by Joe Bonomo
01/19/2010
The Velvet Underground: An Illustrated History of a Walk on the Wild Side by Jim DeRogatis
01/08/2010
Starting Point: 1979-1996 by Hayao Miyazaki
01/04/2010
Dec 09
Vagabond Holes: David McComb & the Triffids + Beautiful Waste: Poems by David McComb by Chris Coughran & Niall Lucy, eds.
12/17/2009
Led Zeppelin: Shadows Taller Than Our Souls by Charles R. Cross
12/09/2009
Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne
12/03/2009
Nov 09
Trust: Photographs of Jim Marshall by Jim Marshall
11/27/2009
Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records by John Cook with Mac McCaughan & Laura Ballance
11/20/2009
Wire's Pink Flag by Wilson Neate
11/13/2009
Bowie: A Biography by Marc Spitz
11/05/2009
Oct 09
Man of Constant Sorrow: The Life and Times of a Music Legend by Dr. Ralph Stanley with Eddie Dean
10/27/2009
Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
10/22/2009
The Impossible Dream: The Story of Scott Walker And The Walker Brothers by Anthony Reynolds
10/14/2009
White Light/White Heat: The Velvet Underground Day By Day by Richie Unterberger
10/08/2009
Sep 09
Will Work for Drugs by Lydia Lunch
09/30/2009
The Rough Guide to Nirvana by Gillian G. Gaar
09/23/2009
Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits by Barney Hoskyns
09/18/2009
Black Tooth Grin (Dimebag Darrell Abbott) + To Live Is To Die (Cliff Burton) by Zac Crain + Joel McIver
09/14/2009
Poisoned Heart: A Punk Love Story by Vera Ramone King
09/07/2009
Aug 09
Heavy Rotation: Twenty Writers on the Albums That Changed Their Lives by Peter Terzian, ed.
08/27/2009
The Portable February by David Berman
08/19/2009
Kill The Music by Michael G. Plumides, Jr.
08/17/2009
Michael Jackson: Unmasked + The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story by Ian Halperin + J. Randy Taraborrelli
08/12/2009
The Road to Woodstock + Woodstock Revisited by Michael Lang w/Holly George-Warren + Susan Reynolds (ed.)
08/06/2009
Jul 09
The England's Dreaming Tapes by Jon Savage
07/29/2009
No Certainty Attached: Steve Kilbey and The Church by Robert Dean Lurie
07/29/2009
Family: Photographs by Lauren Dukoff by Lauren Dukoff (foreword by Devendra Banhart)
07/21/2009
The Supremes: A Saga of Motown Dreams, Success, and Betrayal by Mark Ribowsky
07/07/2009
Growing Up Dead: The Hallucinated Confessions of a Teenage Deadhead by Peter Conners
07/01/2009
Jun 09
Radio City by Bruce Eaton
06/30/2009
Cat Power: A Good Woman by Elizabeth Goodman
06/23/2009
No Depression: Instruments Of Change by Grant Alden & Peter Blackstock (Editors)
06/17/2009
Waiting For The Sun by Barney Hoskyns
06/12/2009
Please Step Back by Ben Greenman
06/09/2009
May 09
Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music by Greg Prato
05/27/2009
Like a Black Rose: An Autobiography of a Dominatrix by Yadi Pearl
05/13/2009
The Song Is You by Arthur Phillips
05/07/2009
Apr 09
Bill Bruford: The Autobiography by Bill Bruford
04/24/2009
Infinity Blues by Ryan Adams
04/17/2009
The Hip Hop Wars by Tricia Rose
04/09/2009
Mar 09
Sonic Boom! The History of Northwest Rock, from “Louie Louie” to “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Peter Blecha
03/24/2009
Songs From A Dutch Tour by Chip Taylor
03/13/2009
It Shined: The Saga of The Ozark Mountain Daredevils by Mike "Supe" Granda
03/10/2009
A Wished-For Song: A Portrait of Jeff Buckley by Merri Cyr
03/05/2009
The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists by Joel McIver
03/03/2009
Feb 09
1 of 1500: A Ten-Year Poster Retrospective by Higher Ground, Iskra Print Collective & JDK Design
02/25/2009
Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd by Mark Blake
02/16/2009
Notable Moments of Women in Music by Jay Warner
02/12/2009
I Hate New Music by Dave Thompson
02/09/2009
Digging for Dirt: The Life and Death of ODB by Jaime Lowe
02/09/2009
Jan 09
The Album Cover Album by Storm Thorgerson & Roger Dean
01/27/2009
Stories Done: Writings on the 1960s and Its Discontents by Mikal Gilmore
01/22/2009
Jeffrey T. Roesgen by Rum, Sodomy & The Lash
01/16/2009
So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star: The Byrds Day-By-Day 1965-1973 by Christopher Hjort
01/06/2009
Dec 08
Richard & Linda Thompson's Shoot Out the Lights by Hayden Childs
12/09/2008
When I Grow Up by Juliana Hatfield
12/03/2008
Nov 08
Sing Me Back Home by Dana Jennings
11/26/2008
Hot Burritos: The True Story of the Flying Burrito Brothers by John Einarson with Chris Hillman
11/14/2008
No Depression 76 by Grant Alden and Peter Blackstock, eds.
11/06/2008
Oct 08
I Want to Take You Higher: The Life & Times of Sly & the Family Stone by Jeff Kaliss
10/31/2008
Old Rare New: The Independent Record Shop by Emma Pettit & Nadine Käthe Monem, eds.
10/31/2008
Honky Tonk Angel: The Intimate Story of Patsy Cline by Ellis Nassour
10/27/2008
He Is… I Say: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love Neil Diamond by David Wild
10/24/2008
Bumping Into Geniuses: My Life Inside The Rock And Roll Business by Danny Goldberg
10/14/2008
Sep 08
It Still Moves: Lost Songs, Lost Highways, and the Search for the Next American Music by Amanda Petrusich
09/30/2008
1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die by Tom Moon
09/16/2008
Goodbye 20th Century + Psychic Confusion by David Browne + Stevie Chick
09/12/2008
I Have Fun Everywhere I Go by Mike Edison
09/03/2008
Aug 08
No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York. 1976-1980. by Thurston Moore and Byron Coley
08/27/2008
The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash: My Life, My Beats by Grandmaster Flash and David Ritz
08/25/2008
Making Notes by Ann Wicker (ed.)
08/20/2008
Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats by Drew Daniel
08/13/2008
No Wave + New York Noise by Marc Masters + Stuart Baker/Paula Court
08/01/2008
Jul 08
Lady Lazarus by Andrew Foster Altschul
07/23/2008
Horses by Philip Shaw
07/02/2008
Jun 08
Riot Grrrl: Revolution Girl Style Now! by Nadine Monem (ed.)
06/23/2008
The Lost Supreme: The Life of Dreamgirl Florence Ballard by Peter Benjaminson
06/20/2008
Pretty Vacant: A History of UK Punk by Phil Strongman
06/16/2008
Bowie In Berlin by Thomas Jerome Seabrook
06/10/2008
Northline by Willy Vlautin
06/10/2008
The Source: The Untold Story of Father Yod, Yahowa 13 and the Source Family by Isis Aquarian with Electricity Aquarian
06/09/2008
Wax Poetics Anthology Volume 1 by Wax Poetics Anthology Volume 1
06/09/2008
CREEM: American's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine by Robert Matheu and Brian J. Bowe (eds.)
06/09/2008
Celine Dion's Let's Talk About Love: A Journey To The End Of Taste by Carl Wilson
06/06/2008
W.A.R.: The Unauthorized Biography of William Axl Rose by Mick Wall
06/06/2008