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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Oz Fritz on the greatest guitarists

Rolling Stone has recently posted a list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time." The list strikes me as not very useful, mixing the obvious (Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn) with the idiotic (Steve  Howe  is excluded, but the alleged guitar virtuosos Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen are included.) But it has inspired two (so far) interesting posts at The Oz Mix. Here's my favorite passage from the first one: "Jimmy Page came in at number 3. I thought he should have reached 2 instead of Clapton but figure that Coincidence Control must have put him at 3 for Crowley/Qabalistic associations. As is well-known, Page is quite experienced with magick and it definitely got channeled through his music. Page had Do what thou wilt inscribed in small letters on the innermost part of every vinyl copy of Led Zeppelin IV. According to Wikipedia, that album has sold over 23,000,000 copies in the U.S. alone making it 23 times certified platinum. With all those spinning discs, Page instigated a Crowleyan flavored Tibetan prayer wheel."

3 comments:

Oz Fritz said...

Yes, I agree that Steve Howe should have been on it. :-) I forgot all about him. I also agree that Rolling Stone has some odd choices. Commercial success seems to factor heavily into their selections.

Thanks again for the mention and link to my blog.

how to play a guitar said...

People who usually make it at the top of the list aren't usually the most technically gifted, they're usually the innovators.

Anonymous said...

Not always innovators, more likely the most popular, which explains Springsteen, Cobain, etc. who can't play anything like a Steve Howe.
Howe was way more innovative than most, not being a blues/rock clone.