Is Guitar Rock Dead?

[Daniel Wikdahl]

Chuck:
>It seems that the punk attitude has once again become popular--little or no
>solos. They are thought to be self-indulgent, I think, and not sincere.

So they say. But this is hardly a *new* phenomena -this has been the way of
playing rockmusic since Nirvana's big break-through in -91.
I think it's good that the bands dare to question what is a essential a part
of the music and what that is not.
Solos happened to be excluded. (...and some of you will say the same thing
happened to the melodies... but I will not.)
I don't think this has anything to do with if the musicians were better in
the past, it's just an interresting development and attitude towards music.
And some of the axemen that are really good players like Kim Thayil from the now
dead group Soundgarden (at least I miss them), but of course -they used to
have solos quite often eventhough they weren't so long. They also understood
that it is possible to break the unwritten law that says that a solo has to
be placed in between the second and third verse. If they had one they put it
somewhere else instead.
But Soundgarden where self-indulgent in other ways that I'm not going to discuss
here.

And honestly, do any of you miss the exposure of guitarrists like Yngwie
Malmsteen..?


But all this is yesterdays news in Europe (at least in
Sweden),alternative/grunge/whatever is only a big thing in the US right now
and I think it's hard to say what will be the next trend.
Industrial Metal in the shape it has right now will probably not grow so
much bigger, but it's not impossible that it turns to some kind of a
techno-industrial metal hybrid later on.
With or without solos. ;-)

> I
>don't know why. I think solos (leads) can be just as moving for the
>listener as for the musician.

Agree. But not _always_.

>Never understood that.


                        -Daniel

>


"Vadå jultraditioner? Hos oss har vi nya traditioner varje år" (CG)

Daniel Wikdahl
Kaptensgatan 2a
S-39 236 KALMAR
SWEDEN
 +46 480 245 11