Who's Your Guitar Hero?

guitars 313

Posting young Jackson Smith's photo yesterday got me thinking about the guitar.

Punk was known for its volume, its thrash, its brilliant sloppiness.

Who's your punk guitar hero and why?

I want to know! You can post your comment here by clicking on the the word "comment" below this post.

Here are some choices - and I'm sure I've left out somebody's faves....

Steve Jones - Sex Pistols
Mick Jones - The Clash
Joe Strummer - The Clash
Brian James - The Damned, Lords of the New Church
Cheetah Chrome - The Dead Boys
Jimmy Zero - The Dead Boys
George Cabaniss - Dead Boys, version 2, Stiv Bator's Disconnected Band
Richard Lloyd - Television
Tom Verlaine - Television
Ron Asheton - The Stooges
Johnny Ramone - The Ramones
Johnny Thunders - NY Dolls, Heartbreakers
Sylvain Sylvain - NY Dolls
Rob DuPrey - The Mumps
Ivan Kral - Patti Smith Group
Lenny Kaye - Patti Smith Group
Charlotte Caffey - The Go-Go's
Stan Lee - The Dickies
Pat Smear - The Germs
Chris Stein - Blondie
Frank Infante - Blondie
Joan Jett - The Runaways
Lita Ford - The Runaways
Bryan Gregory - The Cramps
Ivy Rorschach - The Cramps
Dave Parsons - Sham 69
Billy Zoom - X
Alejandro Escovedo - The Nuns

there are dozens, hundreds more...
Who are your faves?

Email Post

Comments

Anonymous said…
Phil Manzanera from Roxy music. Maybe you call that glam, but have you listened to "Virginia Plain" lately???
11:21 PM
Anonymous said…
THUNDERS
11:33 PM
Anonymous said…
Wow, tough question. Too many people to choose from, too many that'll be left out. I'm trying to remember who hit me first, back in the day. I agree with 'Anonymous' that Phil Manzanera really set things up on those early Roxy Music and Eno albums. What about the Velvet Underground? I got my copy of 'that' album in '76. Not long after, there was Brian James with the Damned and Ed Kuepper on the first Saints album ("Stranded" -- what a great song). Verlaine & Lloyd with Television were a great team. And Robert Quine from the Voidoids blew my mind -- such a unique tone and structural approach. And then there was Ivy from The Cramps and the other twangy guitar specialists. And I wound up getting into Ventures reissues, but that's kind of digressing.

Thanks for starting your history project here. Big media is never going to preserve that era in an accurate way (as far as they're concerned, it was all just fodder for bad guys in Road Warrior movies). Just like back then, we've got to do it ourselves. My own obscure account is here, if you're curious: http://ookworld.com/narthex.html A smalltime story, but they all add up.
3:27 PM
Anonymous said…
I agree. There are too many styles and good players out there to pick one favorite. I love the way "ONE WAY OR ANOTHER" opens on guitar. Don't know if it is Chris Stein or Infante. It just sounds cool but maybe its because of the arrangement and Debbie Harry's voice.
I too like Robert Quine and all those angles in the Voidoids music and I like Pat Smear's sloppy work in the Germs. He got smooth later. I like the crappy way Lou Reed plays and his riffs. "SWEET JANE" is such a classic. Nothing an touch TElevision and their switchblade guitars but then there's Johnny Thunders when he is doing the same thing in the Heartbreaks. HOW do you choose?
7:56 PM
Post a Comment

Popular Posts