Five Great Guitarists, Part 1

A great guitarist is something truly special, and it is sad to have to dedicate so few words to summing up their entire body of work. A guitarist can coax out many emotions with just a few notes, or blow one's mind with many, even many years after their heyday through their recorded works, and can inspire people to pick up a guitar themselves, sometimes with life-changing consequences, sometimes with consequences beyond that of the individual, extending to music history itself. I'm focussing on innovative guitarists; those who knew how to take from their influences and create brand new sounds or feelings, rather than stick to the formula laid down before them.

Ron Asheton is perhaps the guitarist with the most far-reaching influence on punk and alternative rock, right alongside Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison. His buzzsaw tone combined with the pure aggression found in his licks and chords is the founding influence of punk rock. He was a musician for a large portion of his life, adept in accordion and bass from an early age, and this dedication and virtuosity was released in an undiluted and raw form on the Stooges first two albums. Utilising fairly simple chord progressions, with his lead guitar showing off his musical chops,  he created a new sound with a minimal approach that has been aped ever since, with very obvious examples being the Ramones, Nirvana and the wave of fuzz-pop-rock bands of the last few years to large portions of alternative rock such as Dinosaur Jr. and the Smashing Pumpkins. He was a player of emotion, and although his style is emulated much, it is impossible to recreate the nuances of his playing, as they were truly his. With tracks like Down on the Street he added swaths of reverb, trading off rhythm and lead lines, giving himself space to work with over a chugging beat, letting out yelps of guitar that contain as much venom as Iggy Pop's vocals. For Raw Power, their third album, he was switched to bass guitar, being replaced by James WIlliamson – but that is a different story altogether. His work on their first two albums will always be remembered as vital, inspired, and most certainly influential to all walks of music.

Johnny Marr was a man who, for the most part, disagreed with the 'less is more' philosophy, at least in his tenure with the Smiths, for whom he wrote more or less all the music. Employing chorus, delay, reverb, studio effects – you name it, he took it and formed it into part of his sound. Since the Smiths, he has kept himself incredibly busy, including joining Modest Mouse and writing their song 'Dashboard' and forming Electronic with ex-Joy Division and New Order guitarist/singer Bernard Sumner, but as a guitarist he is best remembered for the inventive, jangly sound he forged with his original band. He says he had known he was to be a guitarist since he first picked up a guitar age 4, and by age 20 he had formed one of the most influential British bands of all time. As an adept rhythm guitarist as well as a lead guitarist, his writing style would usually cross the two over, featuring steady lead lines and arpeggios alongside full chords, switching between styles frequently and, in the studio, utilising overdubs to create not just 'hit singles' or even songs, but creating detailed pieces of music, using everything at his disposal. An extreme example of this is dropping knives onto a guitar to create specific sounds found in their well-known track "How Soon Is Now". A good way to compare his two main styles (jangly lead lines and percussive rhythm) is to listen to both "This Charming Man" for the former and "Bigmouth Strikes Again" (a personal favourite) for the latter. Marr would influence all manner of guitarists (British or otherwise, but primarily British) for years to come, such as the Stone Roses' John Squire and Blur's Graham Coxton.

Stephen Malkmus fronted one of the nineties best-loved independent bands: Pavement. He was both the lead vocalist, lead guitarist and principal songwriter for the band, backed up in all respects by Scott Kannberg, a good guitarist in his own right but just a few notches short of the legendary Malkmus. While it could be said that in his time with Pavement he showed no major virtuosity, it would be both unfair and also be very short-sighted in terms of what makes a great guitarist, because Malkmus had something very few people can achieve: a perfect tone. Just listen to any track off their second album Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain for an example – shiny, bright and clear, with the ability to suddenly shift into fuzzed out rock at the drop of a hat. Evidently, he was not a classically trained musician at all: his strained vocals early in their career, self-taught guitar and odd song structures showed someone writing music because they love to. He was also a big fan of alternate tunings, using seemingly self-invented tunings that emphasised sustained open notes or heavy, dropped low strings. Listening to his increasing maturity as a guitarist and songwriter is a pleasure, going from the early days and their noisy first album, the indie classic Slanted and Enchanted, to his modern-day solo work with it's virtuoso lead guitar and more polished sound. Malkmus has never utilised a major label to release his work, either, directly connecting him to my independence beliefs, yet he is a well-known and well-loved figure in alternative rock. As a guitarist he certainly forged his own style using techniques that nobody of his era thought of using, such as completely eschewing the notion of a rock and roll guitar solo, instead using tremolo picking and noise segments to create a sound altogether different from his peers.

Tom Morello was another guitarist who eschewed tradition and what it meant to be a rock guitarist. With Rage Against the Machine, he began forming new ways of creating heavy music, and in Audioslave took a more direct route but still stuck to his guns. When listening to Rage's debut self-titled album, you get a real sense of urgency – taking as much inspiration from Hip-Hop production as heavy metal, some of his guitar work sounds downright militant, to the point of it sounding like war itself – listen to the bass break in "Know Your Enemy" as his guitar comes in like an air-raid siren. These sounds were the perfect backdrop for bandmate Zach de la Rocha's politically charged lyrics. Some people could call him a 'cheater', relying on effects instead of actual playing, but nobody can make the sounds just like he can, and he didn't just knock them up out of nothing, he worked on them and developed a guitar sound that was personal to him. He saw the shred-head wannabes and wanted something else. But aside from that, he knew how to write a good old fashioned riff when he had to. He is one of the best examples of an alternative guitarist, really: someone who takes an instrument designed for one thing and turns it on its head. Since Rage Against the Machine, there has still been nobody quite like him, and he has forged his place in rock history by refusing to play up to what is expected of a 'rock guitarist'.

Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd were the dynamic duo of guitarists from the proto-punk/punk/post-punk band Television. Crediting one but not the other would not be fair so take the title of the article with a pinch of salt. Obviously, their crowing achievement together is "Marquee Moon", the title track of one of the 70's greatest albums (if not of all time). Clocking in at over ten minutes, it goes from one of the great anti-anthem's of the Punk era into uncharted territory, with Verlaine and Lloyd's guitars duelling into ambience and mysterious brilliance. My personal highlight on the Marquee Moon album is "Friction", which has as tricky rhythm guitar as it does lead, and features one of the greatest descending guitar licks of all time. This song really highlights both guitarist's individual talents while presenting it in a punk fashion. It has a number of overdubs, all adding multiple layers of intrigue and has some truly crazy sounds on it. Verlaine has been credited by some for bringing the Fender Jazzmaster into alternative rock circles, and it later became iconic in the hands of Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo, another band noted for their intracate twin-guitar interplay. It could be said Sonic Youth, in their prime (Sister/Daydream Nation era), were easily the spiritual successors to Television, creating dynamic, layered music that continued to influence all walks of rock, with both Marquee Moon and Daydream Nation featuring a very long centrepiece (Daydream Nation's being the final track "Trilogy") that showcased a duo of incredibly talented and inspired guitarists at their peak.

Something I Learned Today: Why Independence Is Important, Pt. 2

A lot of bands who sign to major labels do so out of a desire to be more universally accepted or make more money off their music, i.e. turn it into a full and lucrative career. Last week I explained about how Rage Against the Machine tried to take their message to the mass audience and for the most part it didn't work, even if they were highly successful in a commercial sense (but that wasn't something they exactly stood for).

The 90's were an incredibly prolific time for music, both underground and in the mainstream. British music had a number of good mainstream bands such as Blur and Suede, and America was awash with talent in the form of the Chilis, a re-vamped R.E.M., Nirvana et al. But the 90's marked a point where it became apparent you didn't necessarily need major backing to become popular or successful. In the late 1980's, Ian Mackaye formed Fugazi with some of the most talented musicians in the thriving indie D.C. scene. They are, today, perhaps the most shining example of staying true to what you believe in that has ever existed in the form of a band. Never even toying with the idea of signing to a major, in fact quite the opposite, they made visceral and dynamic music with lyrics that were less political and more social, not just highlighting faults in the system or saying how much they despise it, but outright de-constructing the system and leaving it bare for everyone to see. Their album Repeater as of today has sold two million copies worldwide, one million of those in it's home country. In light of this, it starts to become apparent we had moved into an age where if you were a genuinely good band, you could become successful, and take your music not just to a larger audience but to an audience who truly appreciates what you are doing. On the contrary side of this, take my friends' experience at a Jack White concert recently; this man is well known for his music, but at his concert it became apparent to my friend that the majority of the audience were only there to hear 'Seven Nation Army', with the crowd being very static and unexcited throughout the majority of the gig. But when a band plays to people who understand and relate to the band as well as enjoy the music, it creates a real atmosphere that can be cathartic as well as enjoyable.

Fugazi continued making great music and playing these kind of gigs throughout the decade, going out on as high a note as they started. Mackaye's own label, Dischord, is still going strong with no outside support, and in the 1980's and 90's particularly it released some of the most interesting rock music made yet. Among the best of these were Jawbox, a band that today are perhaps a little unknown, undeservedly so. They made a number of impressive albums in the 90's, two of them on Atlantic. Those two were undoubtedly their most realised albums, but the change from Dischord to a major damaged their original fanbase's attitude's to them, and as a result their first album for Atlantic had a hard time finding an audience. It was a very certain kind of music, unlike anything in the charts at the time, and a large number of people who would have bought and loved the album did not purchase it out of principal. Sadly this album is among the greatest of its time, and it remains under appreciated to this day, even after a remaster/reissue and a brief reunion of the band itself. The same point remains as with Rage Against the Machine's first album: the production of the album really brought out the best in the band's sound but it was being presented to people who didn't look for interesting or stylistically unique music, as the mainstream is usually looking for a big hook or catchphrase to latch onto; not something Jawbox was intending to do, with their most commercially viable song was an obscure love song that commented on male objectification of women (in a pedestal-placing sense) that opened with a dissonant chord riff. Their music fell on uncaring ears but did well enough commercially for Jawbox to be kept on for another album, another progression from their last, but were dropped due to the albums "apparent lack of singles". J. Robbins, frontman and guitarist, and Bill Barbot, guitarist, would go on to perform in other bands together that made interesting and relevant music, albeit this time learning from past mistakes and releasing it on their own independent label. They would later release work on Dischord, too, showing no bad blood between the two groups.

A move from major to minor label is usually a decision made after much deliberation, and usually the intentions are not that of greed but to try and achieve a more universal acceptance of their music, reach out to more people, or for a sense of financial safety they didn't feel they had on their indie label. In a lot of cases, it turns out with the artist/band having less creative say when they make an album but with better support when touring. In cases like that of Jawbox, the creative control is entirely the bands, but the label does not advertise it or put much effort into getting it known, which can make bands lose out on a chance they might not be able to recreate if the finished album is particularly good. That's not to say all indie labels are being presented as perfect or even the more sensible choice, while there are some truly incredible independent labels who have existed autonomously for many years and continued to produce good music, there have been a few who weren't as stable as others. While SST is a legendary label for its content, a lot of bands left it during the 80's for majors or major-funded labels, including Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr. and Hüsker Dü, often citing lack of adequate payment for their record as part of their decision to move. But what a good indie label can do, and this is something SST were also good at, is having the right audience to distribute the music to.

My opinion is that if an audience truly appreciates an artists work, that is something more to aspire to than selling out arenas full of people coming to hear one or two songs. Music should be a personal thing, not in the sense of keeping it to yourself, but as a way of connecting with people similar to you. An interest in a certain band can say a lot about a person. It is all too often used as a tool of establishing social order, of who is cool or not, which is a disgusting way of treating music – and personally, as a musician, I hear the state of mainstream music and all I know is that whatever it is, I want to stay the hell away from that side of music, and not strike deals with the people who spread it. I think it's important to show you don't need a large salary to make good, soulful and relevant music, and that you're prepared to dedicate your life to it, doing the best you can at what you love to do.

A Few Notes on SPIN Magazine's "Top 100 Guitarists" and an Introduction To My Own.

In May this year SPIN Magazine published their own take on the 'Top 100 Guitarists of All Time', a list I found enjoyable, interesting, flawed, better than Rolling Stone's blues-snooze-inducing 'classic' list, but at the same time there were a couple of glaring errors I thought really marred it from being what it was trying to be, which was an 'alternative' Top 100 Guitarists list, eschewing Clapton for more innovative and under-looked guitarsmiths. The errors I point to may seem a little nit-picking to some but I genuinely believe this list would wield more power if it had thought it through just a little better. My main point is their inclusion of non-guitarists.

The list opens with Skrillex, a Dubstep artist who, at the peak of Dubstep fever, was among the most-known Dubstep acts going. Obviously, I was somewhat bemused by this inclusion, and their rational for it is that "no contemporary musician has a more primal understanding of adrenaline-pumping, pulse-raising, chest-caving bulldozer riffs than [the] dubstep mosh ambassador". But riffs are not something unique to guitar and far from it. They note the amount of 'Skrillex guitar covers' on YouTube, too, but neither of these things help the fact he is not primarily a guitarist, and is certainly not famous for his use of guitar. They even say "as far as we know, [he] has never held a guitar in his life", which seems a rather silly sentence to open a 'Top 100 Guitarists' list. If I decided to write a list of the greatest modern keyboard and piano players ever and began by saying 'look I know this guy isn't even a keyboard player, but hear me out...' I doubt anybody would take it seriously, least of all actual keyboard players.

My other irk is along the same lines and that is their inclusions of DJ's and producers from hip-hop acts who are known for their use of guitar-based samples. My point comes back to the fact these people are just flat-out not guitarists. But in Jam Master Jay's, the DJ from legendary hip-hop act Run-DMC's case, it went a little too far with him taking the number ten spot. They are saying a man who used a turntable to edit somebody else's guitar playing is technically a better guitarist than Ron Asheton of the Stooges. Now personally I think the white hot, reverb-drenched rhythm and lead presented on the Stooges first two classic albums The Stooges and Fun House have a hell of a lot more power and weight to them than a version of 'My Sharona' with a bad stutter. I'm not saying Jam Master Jay is a bad musician but considering he didn't even write the guitar parts in the songs he's credited with in the SPIN article it seems like a bit of a hack to let a non-guitarist into the top ten.

What I've decided to do is write an alternate top 100 guitarists list in instalments of five so I can give each guitarist a good and thorough crediting for their musical contributions. The list will not be numbered from one to a hundred because who can really say who is the 'better' guitarist? Also considering it is just me writing it, it would be an arduous task attempting to construct such a list. Maybe it'll even go over 100, and end up an article dedicated to good guitarists, because let's face it, the chances of me missing somebody essential to the list is fairly high. I will be taking some loose inspiration from the SPIN list in including two guitarists as one item in the list if they are both in a band known for their guitar sound and could not be separated any other way, and also in the sense that this list is an 'alternative' guitarist list and will be heavily biased against typical 60's blues-rock guitar gods, although some typical-to-this-kind of list names will inevitably pop up, too. I am also only including guitarists I know well enough to write about as otherwise I may come across as insincere, and am focussing on guitarists that are centred around rock, alternative, and punk. First instalment due soon.

Aloha, Suit Up: Why Independence Is Important, Pt. 1

There is a large issue within music centred around independence. In punk communities, signing to a major label is seen as 'selling out', a term which is banded around a lot nowadays, in music and other areas of media too, and a 'sell out' can be surmised as "Anyone who sacrifices artistic integrity in an effort to become more successful or popular; someone who forgets their roots" (Urban Dictionary). Often a band can lose almost an entire grassroots fanbase by doing this; sometimes they will gain a larger fanbase of people within the mainstream. I am going to put forward an argument or two on why I think it is important to be independent in the music world today.

When one decides to become a musician it can be for many reasons, or even none at all. Sometimes you are just meant to play music. Some people are born into it, such as movie or pop stars children, some decide to because they specifically want to be rich or renowned. Most of my favourite musicians presumably did it because either they had nothing else to do or because they loved music, and I think it shows in their music. When you listen to a pop star sing about love, are they really being genuine? Most times, certainly not. They are writing a song to sell it to the masses in the form of something sterile and socially acceptable, the topic of love, possibly the most wrote-about topic ever. It's something easy and readily accepted. When a musician sings out against war however, often they will mean it, regardless of their label status, and this kind of ground is where it starts to get complicated. Take Rage Against the Machine for Example. Their lyrics and music are anti-corporate, incredibly so: it was challenging back in the 90's for a band to be signed to a major label and also be totally against mainstream culture and everything it stood for, yet their decision to be on a label that was no doubt part of their aim of hatred says otherwise. While it is undeniable that from a musical point of view, their incendiary debut album would not have had as much impact had it not been as perfectly recorded as it was, when you look at it's overall lasting impact on mainstream culture it can be summed up as one song, Killing in the Name, one of their songs with less deep lyrical content. It's more or less just become an anthem of rebellion for people who don't know how to truly rebel. Politically, the album would have made more ripples had it exploded onto the independent scene, to people who rebel every day of their lives just by being different.

When you look at American music of the 1980's, things were very polarised at the start of the decade and slowly integrated towards the end of it: you had a large, expansive hardcore punk scene that was entirely independent at the start (many bands associated with it would go on to sign to major labels to either much success or none at all) but on the other end of the spectrum there was a huge boom in mainstream music with many bands and artists of that era setting the standard for modern pop music, rock or otherwise. As one decade waned and the next started, one band changed everything: Nirvana. They took the energy and fury of the independent scene and they tried to take it to the mainstream. It was well intentioned, and I could never doubt Cobain's intentions, but when the two things collided, it was proven that the mainstream was far too powerful to be co-opted. Fame destroyed Cobain, and in his wake a huge wave of shitty bands appeared: Creed, Bush, Stone Temple Pilots, bands that took the sound, faked the personality, and made it sterile. The big cheesy rock of the 1970's was back, just with different band names. Nothing really changed; most of the other bands of the independent era had either signed to a major, broken up, or both, the latter often caused by the former. By the start of this decade, even the term 'indie rock' had lost its meaning, becoming a genre name and not a sign of independence. In Britain, the term 'indie rock' is usually given to a kind of band that are almost always on a major label, and sound like incredibly watered down rock. Despite the independent scene in 1980's America reaching a cross-cultural head with Nirvana, it's influence continued into the 1990's, albeit in different forms, most of which got co-opted into the mainstream by the turn of that decade too (such as 'emo' and post-hardcore). In part 2 I will be discussing 90's bands that remained independent and were also successful, as well as bands that ended up signing to majors and how they fared.

A Post To Get Us Started: Album Reviews

Album Reviews: Dinosaur Jr.'s 'I Bet On Sky' and Morning Glory's 'Poets Were My Heroes'

To get this blog kicked off I'll begin with a couple of album reviews in the style of writing I'll be continuing with my future articles. Essentially I'm trying to surpass a traditional album review which just highlights it's musical pros and cons and try to get an angle at what the artist was perhaps trying to do with their finished work, and at the same time hopefully avoiding pointless existential bollocks. The second thing I can only say I'll try my best with. I'm not going to rate albums out of ten, and I'm probably not going to do that many reviews, either, instead provide some concise and (maybe) thoughtful essays on music current and classic.

Dinosaur Jr. – 'I Bet On Sky' (Jagjaguwar, September 13, 2012)

Dinosaur Jr.'s tenth album overall and sixth that features the original trio finds them following some similar paths as their last two releases (Farm, 2009 and Beyond, 2007) but also easing into a looser and more natural feel (something that certainly began on Farm). The first half of the album is probably the stronger half, starting with a brand new classic in the form of 'Don't Pretend You Didn't Know', a song that surprised me on first listen, and not due to the analogue synths, but due to the total absence of guitar solos, something it benefits from. Dinosaur's guitarist and primary singer, J. Mascis, has finally found himself not sticking to the formula he was known for so well in the 90's: "Generally my songs are just some riffs slung together as an excuse for a guitar solo." I Bet On Sky is a subtle album, a contrast to 2009's Farm, which was centred around Mascis' love for volume. While the album walks much familiar ground ('Watch The Corners' is a classic Dinosaur power-chord stomp and 'I Know It Oh So Well' is based around a wah-wah riff) it is a lot less heavy handed and pronounced than before and feels more natural, as mentioned before. It feels like Mascis is more comfortable with his instrument than ever, not needing to solo recklessly to fill out his songs as much, and allowing himself to just flow with the feel of the album. Lyrically, Mascis is still fairly vague, in an obvious way. You can tell most of the songs are about 'that certain someone' but his intentions are often obscured, helping the subject matter from becoming clichéd or trite. One of his problems in the 90's was an over-reliance on high-school-angst sounding lyrics about failing relationships or desire, but in the time that has elapsed since then he has developed a lot as human (including becoming a father). I think this album is very much born of Mascis' current state of mind, it sounds like he is at this moment in time (this is further illustrated by the fact he also produced it), clear, concise, focussed and willing to both try new things and also happy to stick to his guns. Would he agree that moments in his life such as becoming a father influenced the album? "Possibly no."

Bassist Lou Barlow contributes two fine songs with 'Rude' and 'Recognition'. 'Rude' is one of the albums most enjoyable moments, a very bluesy and rollicking tune, and when you compare his vocals here to say, 'Mountain Man' you can really see just how far he has come. 'Rude' is quite a surprising song, it's bouncy nature quite contrasting to the subdued feel of the overall album. Allmusic reviewer noted it is probably "[their] quietest record of their new millennium reunion" and that it "rarely roars with abandon", but this is not at all to it's detriment, I Bet On Sky is a mature and logical step forward for one of alternative (and for that matter any kind of) rock's most interesting and dynamic bands, and if you haven't heard them yet, now is certainly as good a time as any to give them a listen. Highly recommended for fans of the band (who'll have no doubt already heard it) and anyone else who enjoys good rock music.


Morning Glory – 'Poets Were My Heroes' (Fat Wreck Chords, August 28, 2012)

This is technically Morning Glory's first album, their first 'true' album, anyway: their last two major releases were a home-recorded album featuring just the principal musician and songwriter Ezra Kire (or Ezra Crack to some) and a drum machine, and a short E.P. recorded with a full band. After a long period of addiction to various substances, primarily heroin, Ezra (also known for his work with Choking Victim, Leftover Crack and INDK) decided to start cleaning himself up and returning to the life he loved, music. The themes on this album show this immensely: many songs are based around the concept of addiction, and the loss of loved ones or friends through suicide or addiction. Out of the two main songwriters of Choking Victim and Leftover Crack, Ezra was often the most anthemic, writing perhaps the song best known by any of the 'Crack Rock Steady' bands: Gang Control (originally on Morning Glory's first 'album' but re-recorded by Leftover Crack). He has stated before he is a fan of Noel Gallagher's songwriting, and while I can't agree with him on that, I can see where he is coming from: he writes songs to reach out and empower people; "the image of a room of people all singing together is one of the most powerful ideas to me." And while this album is centred around punk, the music soars and flies like classic rock. It is an epic album, complete with bugle horns, marching drums, piano, string sections; he had a vision, and he accomplished it. Personally I find some of the album not all that interesting but that isn't to say it is even near bad, it is just a very certain sound, but it's not a punk party album like his old band INDK's sole album is.

The album starts with a snippet of the first song he ever wrote, 'Stevie Dinner', a ZZ Top parody he wrote at a very young age about his father who drank so much "it was his dinner". Songs about addiction and its effects on those involved and their loved ones are instinctive to him, and some of the best songs on the album are quite dark portrayals of this, such as 'Shelter From The Spoon', although nothing here is quite as riotous or obvious as the easily misinterpreted 'Gimme Heroin' from their E.P. The Whole World is Watching. Ezra has stated he is not yet totally clean but the path to freedom is a long one, and this album has no doubt been a formative moment for him, a sign that he is no longer letting a drug completely control his life, even take away his love of playing music: on the contrary, the preparation of this album included him learning a new instrument, piano, and becoming proficient enough in it to play it on the album. While this album is hard to compare to his other work due to its thick layering of instruments and more 'concept album' feel, it stands along with INDK's Kill Whitey! as a great example of his interesting, melodic, anthemic punk rock. Recommended to fans of his earlier work, fans of punk, melodic or otherwise, and even if you are a punk purist it's never too late to find something new and interesting.