Like any child growing up in the 70s I was a little overfocused on guitarists. And the 70s was probably the best time to exercise that obsession because it seemed like every band had someone who wrangled solos out of the guitar while furiously gurning. When I was about 12 I wondered if all the grimacing was somehow related to sex. It looked like it hurt but it gave a lot of pleasure. I suppose I wasn’t that wide of the mark.
But while my peers loved the usual, Beck, Blackmore, Clapton, Rory and Hendrix - and so did I, obviously - I liked to find guitarists people didn’t know. Stupid one-upmanship really but on such mini-victories was teenage life founded.
This meant, given my jazz-rock leanings, I already knew of Tommy Bolin from the Spectrum album, well before he joined Deep Purple and I vividly remember defending him to fellow Purple fans who hadn’t heard of him and even brought Spectrum into school to show how good he was. I was the first to drop Terry Kath's name. I also loved Alvin Lee from an early age.
Not for nothing did I briefly acquire the nickname Jazz-Rock Johnny, because I was shouting about how good John McLaughlin was when I was just 13. This came with the recommendation that he played very fast (such things seemed important) . I loved Inner Mounting Flame but I recall it being just too complex for my heavy rock pals who were devotees of Iommi’s riffs.
More popular were Michael Schenker and Paul Kossoff who I loved too, which is to probably understate it. Steve Hillage was up there too and Dave Gilmour. There were plenty of discussions about who was the best. In such debates I countered the votes for Steve Howe or Frank Zappa with T.S. McPhee or someone like Larry Coryell or Allan Holdsworth.
We all agreed on the amazing way with a riff Tony Bourge of Budgie had. I couldn’t get any takers for Jerry Garcia or John Cippolina, acid rock’s charms were a bit too esoteric for mid-70s schoolboys. My attempts to get votes for Charlie Witney of Family fell on deaf ears too. Frank Marino was more popular, as was Robin Trower
As we moved into the 80s, no one could gainsay Randy Rhoads as one of the best of the era, though Eddie Van Halen was always in the conversation, though it was always Gary Moore for me. Jake E. Lee was great but rows about who was the best died away with age, though I still see people getting into heated online debates about it, which seems to be a bit pointless.
As the late 80s & 90s came it was the era of Yngwie Satch & Vai and maybe Paul Gilbert who people loved or hated the speed and general flashiness of it all. I loved everything and I have asked for Steve Vai’s For The Love Of God to be played at my funeral, which seemed more prescient after my stroke. Satriani led the new shreddy way
50 years of guitar worship. I have devoted my life and my ears to the highways and byways of it, as well as driven the same roads as all my generation. People for whom guitar music doesn’t strike a chord would think this lifelong passion is a bit odd and maybe it is but the joy it has brought me has been unparalleled.
