Jul 01
Metal has a huge string of guitar players who completely destroy and own the stage as though nothing else mattered. Lets talk about three guitarists who influenced the sound of heavy metal, and how they still impact on the genre even today.
- Randy Rhoads. Randy Rhoads was remembered more for his work with ex Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne rather than the LA band Quiet Riot. Rhoads helped write such classic Ozzy songs as ‘Crazy train’ and ‘Dee’. Randy’s classical influence and background can be seen on the first two solo Ozzy albums which he played on. 1979’s ‘Blizzard of Oz’ album and 1981’s ‘diary of a madmen’. Ozzy believed Randy would’ve gone on to leave the band and further study classical music, which seemed to be the direction he was going in. The specialist Jackson guitars made for Rhoads are a popular choice amongst guitarists today. Rhoads lost his life in a plane crash in 1982 and guitar playing and character has been paid tribute to numerous times throughout the years.
- Chuck Schulidner. ‘Death’s main axeman, vocalist and head songwriter. Hailed as the father of the death metal subgenre, a term he himself wasnt comfortable with, Chuck was a huge influence on many guitar players and extreme metal. ‘Scream bloody gore’, the first album from Death, was the template for the genre known as death metal, but with each album the style and directions changed. Death released four more albums before Schuldiner folded the band in 1999 to play guitar in a new band ‘control denied’, which released the one album ‘the fragile art of exsistance’. Chuck Schulidner died after a long battle with cancer in 2001, which saw the metal community unite many a time to try and raise funds for his surgery.
- Darrell Lance Abbott -’Dimebag’. Guitarist of the infamous Pantera later of Damageplan and also played guitar on the country band rebel meets rebel. Pantea began as a ‘glam metal’ band in Texas in 1981, but thier sound changed dramatically and 1989s ‘Cowboys from hell’ album saw them becoming heavier, with a groove in their sound. Thier next album 1992’s ‘Vulgar display of power’ was the band breakthrough album, featuring the songs ‘this love’,'walk’, and ‘a new level’. Next album ‘Far beyond driven’ jumped to the top of the US charts on its release, proving at the time that metal was still ‘alive’. Pantera brought out 2 more albums before a breakdown in communication split the band into two camps, never reconsiling before the guitarists death. While playing onstage with Damageplan in Dec 2004, Dimebag was shot and died instantly. His sound is still seen in alot of bands today- ‘Lamb of god’ are an example of this.
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