Top 10 Grunge Guitarists
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Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle Sound) emerged during the mid-1980s in the state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song dynamics, and apathetic or angst-filled lyrics. Here are the top 10 grunge guitarists that help define this music genre.
10. Roger Osborne of the Melvins
Being one of the first grunge bands, the Melvins guitarist has to be on the list because of his influence on such guitarists as Mark Arm and Kurt Cobain. At first listen you can hear that the music is metal, but the guitar is starting a steady lean towards grugedom. From the screaming solos to the moaning power cords, Osbourne paved the streets of the 90’s with his guitar.
9. Vernon Reid of Living Colour
Although not so much grunge and more in the range of funk metal, Reid cannot be exactly categorized. From his crisp funk solos of Love Rears It’s Ugly Head to the famous guitar riffs of Cult of Personality Vernon Reid is an amazing, influential guitarist to all forms of hardcore rock, including grunge.
8. Mike McCready of Pearl Jam
Raised in the punk ridden 70’s McCready is unfluenced by both Kiss and SRV. Behind his lightning fast licks there is a blues influence that makes his music so enjoyable to listen to. Even some of his epic solos suck as the one in Black have blues influence. My only reason for not making him #1 was because of his lack of influence on modern music.
7. Pat Smear of Foo Fighters/Nirvana
In Nirvana’s early work Kurt couldn’t do all of the guitar by himself, so he had Pat Smear help him with it. Smear, unknown to many people, helped Nirvana in many of their hits such as Heart Shaped Box and Polly. He is responsible for the sliding guitar riffs in Scentless Apprentice, and helped with many of their live shows. Later on Dave Grohl invited his to play with the Foo Fighters, which he did, and was a major role in their live performances.
6. Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins
Inspired by Pink Floyds acid filled guitar odysseys, Corgan was the arena rock genius of the 90’s. As if his ego wasn’t enough, Corgan pioneered several guitar tequniques including open E string in 1979 and Cherub Rock. Even in the song Geek USA his crazy guitar solo and riffs told grunge bands that their guitarists don’t have to be sloppy just to sound rebellious.
5. Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains
Fast paced metal riffs, soaring solos, this guy was the foundation of the emo rock era. Every note was hit to a metronomic beat which other grunge bands had ignored, a tequnique that made Cantrell’s music so different from all other grunge artist’s music.
4. Kim Thayil of Soundgarden
Thayil is the ultimate grunge guitarist; he was the influence for nearly all of the bands of the 90’s. His untuned guitar and offbeat riffs paired with Chris Cornell’s projected voice made the ghouly effect of Soundgarden which inspired a generation of music.
3. Johnny Greenwood of Radiohead
Let me be frank with you: there would be no indie rock without Greenwood. Even though his grunge side was only brought out in three out of Radiohead’s eight albums, they changed the minds of the major contemporary musicians of today such as Coldplay and Muse. Greenwood wasn’t even the band’s guitarist (he was their keyboardist), which was a huge part in why his guitar riff were so “odd”.
2. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana
Lets face it people, Kurt is god. From his tortured guitar riffs in Aero Zeppelin and Heartbreaker (live) to the all famous Smells Like Teen Spirit lyrical mimicking solo, Kurt was the epiphany of modern rock as we know it. Nobody could do what he did, and what he did was bring out the inner emotion of grunge by thrashing and bashing the noised produced by guitar into the 90’s.
1. Neil Young
Cinnamon Girl, My My, Hey Hey (Into the Black), and Rockin’ in the Free World were the foundation of what the Melvins paved through for the invention of grunge. His elastic guitar solos influenced Mike McCready, his sloppily strummed chords were Kurt Cobain’s favorite technique, and his violent swinging of his guitar was copied by Johnny Greenwood. Without Neil Young, there would be no Grunge.
submitted by Sam Doych
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What an interesting and well researched list.
kurt was not a god he was a pathetic junkie that got lucky with a couple of great songs all his life he had it all but decided to jack up and blame every one but himself otherwise great list
Really? uhhh…. ok, grunge was not a genre, but a record company creation. second, there are two guitar players that really belong on this list buzzo and Thayil. Nirvana, maybe on bleach qualified as this sound but had moved on by Nevermind, and he is not much of a player. Jerry Cantrell and AIC are something completely different, only related by geography and time. The rest, are not related in anyway to the title of the list. I am make no judgments on anyone’s playing at all, cept maybe kurt, he is just the biggest seller, not the best player. Also I have heard the Neil Young argument before, don’t buy it. Blue Cheer. Black Sabbath. Big Muffs. SuperFuzz. Sun Model T’s. This music would have happened when ever creativity ran into all that gear being dirt freaking cheap.
Geoff: grunge is a genre. you can’t deny it.
sidvee, I am not sure what you are talking about Kurt Cobain was one of the most talented and influencial musicians of all time. He was a great guitar player and wrote his own music. He was very young when he died and had a lot left to give to the musical world. He would own many of the guitarists on this list. Get your facts straight.
kurt cobain: should not be on the top 10 guitarists of all time, just this list
Where to start…
“In Nirvana’s early work Kurt couldn’t do all of the guitar by himself, so he had Pat Smear help him with it.”. Pat Smear didn’t work with Nirvana until the In Utero tour (”In Utero” is their last album – not early work), and he certainly had nothing to do with writing or recording “Polly” other than playing on the “Unplugged” version.
Radiohead were not a grunge band by any stretch of the imagination, and “there would be no indie rock without Greenwood” is one of the stupidest things I’ve ever read. Indie rock had been around for years before Radiohead existed.
Jerry Cantrell…”was the foundation of the emo rock era”. No, no, no – that would be the DC hardcore bands (Rites of Spring, Embrace, Faith, Void…).
This article is poorly written and researched.
Linalmeemow,
Sounds like you could write a list yourself. If you are interested, please submit a list to admin@toptenz.net. Thanks for your comments.
Nevermind grunge, Neil is one of the greatest guitarists rock has ever seen.
Late to the party, but;
Although they weren’t a Seattle band, many people consider Dinosaur Jr’s work in the late 1980’s as proto-grunge. Albums like You’re Living All Over Me (1986) and Green Mind(1988) are absolute masterpieces and are definitely in the same stoner metal vein as grunge itself. Assuming this is true, I would have to say that J Mascis is the greatest of all grunge guitarists. In fact, he may be the greatest alternative rock guitarist ever.
Speaking of Dinosaur Jr, how about doing a list of the most criminally ignored rock bands of all time. It would be hard to whittle it down to just 10, since there are so many.