Who are the most underrated and overrated guitar players?
Kurt was pretty innovative. I think that's why he was put up so high. He defined an entire genre. I agree though, he's no number 12. As for his sloppyness, that's just part of expression. When the tone is so clean, I feel it starts to sound manufactured.
I totally agree, I'm a lifelong (nearly) Nirvana fan and Kurt wouldn't even make my top 20 guitarists. That was certainly not what set him, or Nirvana, apart.
If Rolling Stone had any validity left, it surely left the moment they printed that. I mean the guy had to bring in Pat Smear because he wasn't good enough to play the stuff he conceived. I too love Nirvana but not because Cobain was one of the best guitarists ever. Lame. Steve Kimock is great, but then I only know this because you introduced me to his work. Otherwise.... who the hell is Steve Kimock is about right.
Underrated: Frank Vignola or Tommy Emmanuel. They have a large cult following, but they are just stupid good at guitar, and I actually got a chance to play with Frank on stage at a show in Maryland (he talked to me at intermission and invited me to share a jam!)
Underrated: Roy Buchanan. He's incredibly influential for his tone and the fact that he played the blues like nobody else, yet he's rarely even mentioned as one of the best guitarists of all time. Overrated: Kurt Cobain's up there, as is Kirk Hammett and Steve Vai. Hammett for his awful tone and sloppy play live, and Vai I just don't really get. Lots and lots of tremolo.
Not in his mind :) -What I mean is that he is a bit egotistical from what I've gathered.
I've often heard that Page was a great studio musician but not the best live performer -sort of hit or miss. I recorded a podcast on music and at around the 18:25 mark, hootsbox talks about seeing Zeppelin live in Nuremberg Germany back in 1973 just after releasing Houses of the Holy. -I would've loved to have been there.
What's this light at the base of Bellamy's guitar? Any idea?
I could definitely see how Clapton is overrated. I still enjoy watching his performance from the Last Waltz though.
Underrated - Joe Bonamassa : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRxqYoZiYPU
Obvious answer. Relatives of mine got to see him live: the guy was playing around with his glasses while still playing the guitar so quickly you barely could see his hand. And I had never heard of him.
Joe Bonamassa isn't necessarily underrated. Come to think of it, he falls in the same category as Roy Buchanon, where everybody who HAS heard of him thinks he's great. Difference being that Joe Bonamassa sells out smaller arenas/large concert halls. On a side note, I'm from a town that neighbors his and have met him a few times. He's a very nice and down to Earth guy.
Maybe "less famous" is more accurate than "underrated" though.
Underrated: East Bay Ray of the Dead Kennedys. Seriously classed up the punk rock context by combining a whole slew of different styles (surf, pop, swing, rockabilly, etc.) and above-competent execution. The antithesis to both Greg Ginn's primal "jazz" brutalism and the anonymous power chords of just about all punk to come thereafter.
I love it! Selling Avon products to men in bowling alleys. Also, the squawk of your bird in the background ads an interesting texture. edit: oops. Completely replied to the wrong comment ;-) That must have seemed an odd response, huh? edit 2: I haven't listened to the Dead Kennedys since I was a kid but I really liked them when I was in 8th grade. That's back when I owned my first pair of combat boots and had a God Save the Queen t-shirt I wore 5 days a week. He's definitely a bad ass guitarist and took a genre in some new directions.
You just about gave me an aneurysm :) didn't help that I'm no longer at my desk, so I rcvd the comment via email. Google helped me to put 2+2 together, though, (queried "east bay ray selling avon to men in bowling alleys") will have to check out the book!