WHAT WAS THE greatest guitar solo of the Nineties? How about the best riff? The ultimate guitar album? The decade’s most underappreciated player? Was Seinfeld really better than Beavis and Butt-Head? Burning questions, all of them. But instead of answering them ourselves, we decided to open things up to a mess of guitar stars, some of whom were already doing their thing 28 years ago, and some who weren’t even born yet. We asked them to answer these nine questions about the Nineties — and to elaborate whenever/wherever they deemed it necessary:
1. Guitarist of the decade
2. Ultimate guitar album
3. Greatest guitar solo
4. Best riff
5. Best TV show
6. Underappreciated guitar hero
7. Piece of gear that screams “Nineties”
8. Doc Martens or Converse?
9. Pop-song guilty pleasure.
And now, let us kick things off with…
DAVE MUSTAINE
GUITARIST OF THE DECADE: “Dimebag” Darrell AbbottGUITAR ALBUM: Pantera, Cowboys from HellSOLO: Marty Friedman, “Tornado of Souls”RIFF: Kurt Cobain, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”TV SHOW: Law & Order: Special Victims UnitUNDERAPPRECIATED HERO: Yngwie MalmsteenGEAR: Marshall JCM800DOCS OR CONVERSE: ConverseGUILTY PLEASURE: No guilt here.
MARTY FRIEDMAN
GUITARIST OF THE DECADE: All the guys who were great then are even better now, so it would do them a disservice to relegate them to one decade in the past. How’s that for an evasive answer?GUITAR ALBUM: Trouble’s Manic Frustration. Check it out!SOLO: Jason Becker on David Lee Roth’s “It’s Showtime”RIFF: “It Ain’t Like That” by Alice in Chains — or anything played by anyone on the Clash of the Titans tourTV SHOW: The Wonder YearsUNDERAPPRECIATED HERO: I sat in at this blues bar in Texas, and every single guitar player there wiped the floor with me. There are seriously great players everywhere. It’s probably safe to say that whoever your favorite guitar player is, he or she is underappreciated.DOCS OR CONVERSE: Docs, but only because the heels are slightly higher.GUILTY PLEASURE: Anything by Britney Spears, Matsuda Seiko’s “Anata ni Aitakute,” Kahala Tomomi’s “I’m Proud” or anything produced by Max Martin, for that matter. And there’s nothing to feel guilty about!
JOE BONAMASSA
Kurt Cobain. Suddenly everything from rack gear, super Strats and shredding became less important in the eyes of the public, mostly to do with the significance and impact of Nirvana. Eric Johnson’s. Great songs, impeccable playing, tones, construction and a couple of radio hits to boot. It has it all. Robben Ford on “Cut Me to the Bone” from. Blazing and so tasteful at the same time. That album made everyone want a Dumble amp. “The Distance” by Cake. Xan McCurdy had a great tone. It was very raw and captured what a good Sears and Roebuck Happiness is a 12-hour marathon. It’ll always be Trevor Rabin. That guy is a complete badass in every facet of music — and a hellava nice guy. Check out his band Rabbit. Boss DD-3 Delay; 16-bit digital is all I need. That and a Sovtek MIG-50. $350 for the pair back in the day, and I’m still using them. “Digging in the Dirt” by Peter Gabriel. Not a guilty pleasure, just a pleasure to listen to.
