Do you hear that… Off in the distance…. It’s the sound of the rare and wild guitar solo. It’s running free and untamed. But alas, this fine creature, it seems, is almost extinct. But a few mainstream musicians are doing their part to preserve this beast, and you might be surprised at who I’m talking about.

I have a confession to make. A confession that has ridden with me since the days of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. I must confess before any more words begin to spill, that I was indeed a fan of 80’s metal. Yes, hair metal. Oh yes, glam rock. My confession can also include the fact that my favorite guilty pleasure of the 21st century consists of spinning a few glam rock albums every now and again, rolling with the wail of the guitar and screaming out the lyrics with any of the long, blond-haired front men of the day. Do I miss those days? Yeah, a little. Okay, sometimes a lot…even though only one of my favorite all-time artists came from that period of music. 
Given that, perhaps my view of modern rock is a little jaded… a little cynical. I miss rock you didn’t have to think about, rock that didn’t put you in a bad mood and I miss all those freaking party anthems. Hard rock and metal have drifted almost completely to the dark side now and while that stuff has its place and deserves to be written about, one soul can only take so much. And in the end, like any life well-lived, you sometimes long for the good ole days. I think I deserve that bit of a chip on my shoulder, considering I’ve supported the music industry and bought more albums in thirty years than Keith Richards has done drugs. I’m entitled to it and my opinions, especially since the quacks at Gigatracks started letting me write musings for them and gave me a stage from which to rant.

When grunge kicked in and glam kicked out, the world of rock was left with a wee bit of a void. The void? The great guitar solo of lore went the way of the buffalo. That void would not have been as noticeable if the sacred solo had not been given to us from the great gods of Hendrix, Page and Eddie V. themselves. But when something as significant and beautiful as a well placed guitar solo, is no longer running rampant in rock…rock isn’t really rock anymore…is it?

Now I am not saying that it died out entirely, because it didn’t. There were still the Mike McCreadies (Pearl Jam) and the Zakk Wyldes (Black Label Society)…the Dimebag Darrells (Pantera/Damageplan.) and the Tom Morellos (RATM/Audioslave) who were out there creating not only fresh, but at times shattering guitar work built around solid solos. But the art of the solo became more of an afterthought in rock and sort of the second fiddle to the rock machine itself. The good solos that did exist were often bedded under production and overdubs until it all became a wash. Solos were not important to the music anymore. Guitar gods were being pushed off radio and into the pages of guitar magazines only. The result: To find a good guitar solo these days, you have to turn your radio dial to NEW COUNTRY 101.

Think I’m kidding? I’m not.

If you avoid modern country radio, I can’t blame you and I support you. I often do the same thing and opt to spin some old Willie, Waylon and the boys instead. But in that aforementioned “the-lost-art-of-the-guitar-solo-in-rock”, there are two guys in country music that are tearing the place up. Their names are Brad Paisley and Keith Urban. They can match and probably top any of the front men going on modern rock radio these days, not necessarily in overall skill, but in placing and creating meaningful guitar solos within their own songs. Solos that not only play well over car speakers, but make the transition to stage and audience as well. Those guys take the solos someplace every time they hit the stage or hit the studio and it actually makes a little bit of pop country radio worth listening to and will actually draw somebody back to it again. Paisley (a traditional country artist) and Urban (a bit of a melting pot of pure rock and country) are changing, very quietly the world of country music. They are bringing their voice to the table, their songwriting and their guitar playing and making country radio a viable place for musicians as well as singers.

I’m not giving up on rock. But when you have two guys in country music changing the system, one begins to really miss the days when rock music was about changing the system. Instead, now it seems as if it’s become the system that it railed so hard against. So while rock finds its voice again, preferably without the help of machines, I’ll be hanging out with Brad and Keith, riding a solo out into a gentle fade……