From: earendil@wizard.etsu.edu (Allen Garvin)
Subject: Re: THE TEN MOST OVERRATED ROCK BANDS EVER
Reply-To: earendil@wizard.etsu.edu (Allen Garvin)
Organization: East Texas State University, Commerce, TX
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 15:59:43 GMT


Churck Farnsworth writes: 
>Eric Clapton may be hit or miss, but he IS one of the founding fathers of
>Rock guitar......Beck, Page, Hendrix, and clapton ......that's it!!!

Excuse me, but JEFF BECK??!!! He has hardly recorded any rock'n roll. After
a couple of hits with the yardbirds ("Shapes of Things" is the only slightly
interesting one) he went on to record a number of worthless fusion albums
that I doubt have any significant influence. His first solo album, Truth, was
interesting only because it introduced Rod Stewart as a vocolist. I have 
several others, but I can't remember anything of worth on them.

Certainly Hendrix and Page had a lot of influence on modern Heavy Metal, but
I would also question Clapton's role in the development of guitar style. With
John Mayall and the Yardbirds his style seems mainly derivative of Chuck 
Berry, with some styles of other various blues artists thrown in. His blues
playing reminds me of no one other than B.B.King. On his solo albums he tends
to lean towards the singer/songwriter tradition of the seventies. Only on
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs is any real, unique talent displayed, and
then it's hard to tell which guitar is Clapton and which is Almann (though both
are truly magnificent!). With Cream he sinks into murky self-indulgence that
is rarely really interesting.

I would think Chuck Berry is probably the greatest influence on Rock'n Roll
guitar. How many songs can you think of that has that distinctive, machine-gun-
speed riff he made famous? Too many to mention. Also at Chess Records was
another great influence: Bo Diddly, a fine guitar player remembered mostly
for his chuck a-chuck-chuck chuck-chuck (is that a good approximation)
rhythm.

From the blues, T-bone Walker towers above most as the inovater (sp?) of 
many electric guitar techniques, and a big influence on BB King, who in turn
influenced many up-and-coming guitarists in the blues revival of the last
half of the sixties.

A later influence who should not be ignored was Steve Cropper, at Stax records.
He consistently played music of high-quality, original nature, and is to be
remembered by the restraint he displayed. He never showed up the singers
he backed. Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top lists Steve Cropper as a big a influence
as Hendrix in his guitar style, and Gibbons opened for Hendrix in the late
sixties in many concerts (as a member of Moving Sidewalks) (I'm not a ZZ Top
fan, it's just that Dusty Hill, the bassist, is my Dad's half-brother, so I
know a lot about them.). Many studio guitarists greatly admire Cropper.
Unfortunately, with the demise of Stax, he lost all concept of self-restraint.
His two or three solo albums should be avoided. He sunk so low as to make a
cameo appearence in "The Blues Brothers" in 1981 (?), without even any 
speaking parts (if I can remember correctly, the drummer of the MG's
appeared also (Al I-can't-recall-his-last-name)).

Anyway, sorry about my long-windedness, but I'm surrounded by people here
that have no concept of what rock'n roll is, so I have these opinions all
built up inside me with little way to release them! 8-)

      -Earendil

 ___________________________________________________________________________
/ earendil@wizard.etsu.edu  \ "A lie is only a vice when it does harm. It is\
| s72323ga@etsuacad.etsu.edu | a great virtue when it does good. So be more  |
| s72323ga@etsuacad.bitnet  /  virtuous than ever. You must lie like the     |
|--------------------------|   devil, not timidly, not for a while, but      |
| snail: 738 Connally      |   boldly, and all the time."                    |
|  Sulphur Springs, TX 75482\            -Voltaire, 1736                     |
|___________________________|________________________________________________|
| Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall, Aleph-null bottles of beer ...     |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Free will is an illusion. We are all slaves to heredity and our upbringing |
| and environment. Hence the opinions expressed here are not my own.         |
|        Please feel free to flame my parents and friends.                   |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
Newsgroups: rec.music.misc