Regarding guitar solos, the Steely Dan canon is singularly remarkable. No other artist has so many great solos by so many great players. A who’s who of guitarists guitarists appears on the Dan’s first seven albums. Becker and Fagen were studio perfectionists who ensured each song had the perfect guitar player with the right mojo…
Eric Clapton and Jerry Garcia are traveling and are captured by cannibals. They are told they will be cooked, but the tradition was they will each get one last wish. To this, Garcia said, “Man, I’d love to get an electric guitar and play the live version of truckin’ one last time!” Clapton chimed in,…
Finding a single iconic “rock” song for the 1990’s decade is very hard to do. There was a lot of good music in that decade, but not all of its rock. “Rock” as a label was all over the place. In speaking about “rock,” one could mean grunge, alt-rock, or heavy metal (or anything in…
Donald and Walter looked like two high school algebra teachers who started a band. That much charisma. They were music dorks. In interviews, they came across as if being successful was some hassle. Plus, they were super smug know-it-alls. The tone they communicated was everyone else’s music sucked. This superiority even came across in their…
I suspect you want to know how they stack up as musicians/performers compared with each other. Both are brilliant musicians, prolific in written and recorded output, organized several virtuosic ensembles, toured regularly, and were both lead guitarists of the highest order. Prince has sold far more records than Zappa (by a factor of ~50x). This…
In my opinion, the Doors, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and the Band are equally overrated. I strongly dislike all of these RRHOF inductees. Why? Robby Krieger’s guitar usually has the wrong tone. His lead lines aren’t ever tremendous or even memorable. Ray Manzarek’s organ is hard to listen to for more than one song in a…