Home | Away

They call it Arbitrary Friday

Today’s arbitary-but-fun judgment has to do with brilliant guitar solos in songs that suck.  And my examples are all drawn from the 1970s, not because I’m 43 years old (that has nothing to do with anything) but because the 1970s were the great decade of brilliant guitar solos in songs that suck.  After all, it’s not like you’re going to hear brilliant guitar solos on songs that suck from bands like Sonic Youth or Archers of Loaf, right?  No, for brilliant guitar solos on songs that suck, we have to go to. . . .

3.  Steely Dan, “Kings.” Solo, Elliot Randall.

Everybody loves Randall’s work on “Reelin’ in the Years,” and with good reason: the song flies off the radio/ turntable/ CD just as stunningly today as it did 33 years ago.  (One of these days I’ll post something about the oldies/ classics that are still in circulation on oldies/ classics radio, and the oldies/ classics we’re apparently pretending we never listened to.) But Steely Dan’s B-material can get pretty thin, and “Kings” is definitely B-material.  And yet the solo is even more amazing than anything else on the album, with the possible exception of Denny Dias’s electric sitar solo on “Do It Again,” and that’s saying something.  A generation later, some have still not forgiven Becker and Fagen for creating a whole new venue for bloodless virtuosity, and some have even blamed their late-70s work for helping to create the genre of smooth jazz.  But we should give them credit where credit is due, for turning loose some remarkable musicians and giving us brilliant guitar solos in songs that suck.

2.  Eddie Money, “Two Tickets to Paradise.” Solo, Jimmy Lyon.

What can I say about “Two Tickets to Paradise” that hasn’t already been said by Homer Simpson’s rendition of the song in “Homer Loves Flanders”?  Not much, except that someone really ought to inform Wikipedia that the musician in question is guitarist Jimmy Lyon, not jazz saxophonist Jimmy Lyons.  (Janet gets this all the time, believe you me.) Great phrasing throughout, and unlike Martin Barre’s otherwise-similar solo in Jethro Tull’s “Aqualung” (a song that just missed the final cut for this list), each part of Lyon’s solo builds on what’s come before, and the piece as a whole winds up being surprisingly crafty for a cock-rock song.  The only problem is that the solo ends, and then we’re back to Eddie Money.  But that leads me to. . . .

1.  The Carpenters, “Goodbye to Love.” Solo, Tony Peluso.

Richard Carpenter himself calls this solo “one of the best in recording history,” and we’re not going to argue with that.  All we’re going to add is that the song really sucks.  In fact, the disparity between the song and the solo is so severe that Janet once said, “hearing this solo is like opening the wrong door—oops!  sorry!  looking for someone else!  don’t mind me!” What’s really unsettling is that after the first fuzzy burst of Peluso’s guitar (after the line in the second chorus, “I’ll go on as best I can"), the song returns you to Carpenterland, with the lush layered vocals and the extra dollops of heavy syrup.  What lies in the future is a mystery to us all. . . . But then, unlike “Two Tickets,” there’s a special surprise bonus:  the song rides out to no fewer than four verses worth of wailin’, kick-ass, jawdropping work from Peluso.  Amazing in every way.  But don’t take my word for it—take Steve Rubio’s word for it.  He was blogging about the Peluso Phenomenon back before I even had a blog.  “The most truly uplifting thing that ever appeared on a Carpenters record,” says Steve.  “It suggests that anything is possible.” A welcome thought in dark times, Steve.  And thank you, Mr. Peluso, for suggesting that anything is possible, even—or especially—in “Goodbye to Love.”

Have a great Fourth, all.

Posted by on 07/01 at 06:09 AM

  1. You mentioned Tull and the thing is, if one goes the art-rock route, it’s all low-hanging fruit.  Similarly, one could include a hefty portion of the Frank Zappa canon; for example, the song “Po-jama People”, a silly throwaway, works as an elaborate excuse for an extended and incendiary study in sweet string-bending feedback.  Don’t get me wrong, Zappa wrote some great songs (for example “San Ber’dino” from the same record).  But many of them just don’t measure up to the guitar solos.

    Your reference to Archers of Loaf was a compliment, no?  I miss that band.  Eric Bachman puts out great stuff as Crooked Fingers.  But it’s sad and mature, and just so danged cooked.

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  09:04 AM

  2. Eddie Van Halen has a great guitar solo in Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.”

    Come to think of it, the whole Van Halen/Van Hagar catalog pretty much sucks ‘cept for Eddie’s bits here and there.

    Posted by Roxanne  on  07/01  at  09:16 AM

  3. I have no suggestions to toss out, since I somehow managed to repress or burn from my memory all the crappy songs with guitar solos that made up the soundtrack of my youth in northeastern PA (where some still think it’s 1985 and vigorously debate the relative merits of David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar). That said, I would urge people not to forget the 1980s, or, as I like to call it, The Golden Age of Hair Bands. With all the crappy power ballads hopped up on Aqua Net, there had to have been one or two good guitar solos, right? Maybe even one that was so bad it was good?

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  09:18 AM

  4. I’m going to try a non-guitar solo in a bullshit song: Junior Walker’s sax solo on Foreigner’s “Urgent.” RIP Junior.

    Posted by norbizness  on  07/01  at  09:23 AM

  5. Ah, but the ‘80s also gave us SKA and the return of Rock-a-billy.

    Posted by Roxanne  on  07/01  at  09:23 AM

  6. Back when I wrote that post about Tony Peluso, I would crosspost to Blogcritics, a practice I stopped when some guy talked about suing me for slander when I made a derogatory pun about his being a real estate agent (which is another story). That’s when I found out how, um, vocal Carpenters’ fans can be:

    “Steven you have no musical taste what so ever, you wouldn’t know something good if it hit you upside the head.... The Carpenters legacy will long out last the shrill and idiotic yapping of another nobody critic like you.”

    “Philistine! get beyond your myopic worldview.”

    “[Y]ou are talking so much crap, you are just so ignorant.... Steven, you’re talkin out the back of your arse. Thank you.”

    “Well Steve you are entitled to your opinion. But in the reality of music theory and vocal interpretation, the Carpenters were one of the finest and most accomplished groups in the history of music.”

    Posted by Steven Rubio  on  07/01  at  09:53 AM

  7. Which is more surprising about ‘Stairway to Heaven,’that a song which sucks so badly could become the most played rock tune of all time, or that such a sucky song would have a kickass guitar solo buried under all that pomp?

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  09:58 AM

  8. Put Another Log on the Fire. Any country song with an oompa-oompa rhythm track that sounds like something off a Casio keyboard just doesn’t cut it. The song’s one redeeming quality is the awesome guitar and steel guitar tradeoff during the solo.

    Posted by Paul  on  07/01  at  10:22 AM

  9. ”...I somehow managed to repress or burn from my memory all the crappy songs with guitar solos that made up the soundtrack of my youth ...”

    Strange, I can’t remember any good guitar solos, but I remember a lot of bad songs.  I think it’s because my parent’s never bought me an air guitar.  All my friends had ‘em.  I felt so deprived.

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  11:04 AM

  10. Well, there’s every song by Chicago while Terry Kath
    was alive. Out of that batch “25 or 6 to 4” would be
    my pick.

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  11:23 AM

  11. Wow, and I thought I was the only person in the world who secretly cherished “Goodbye to Love” for that astounding guitar solo at the end. 

    It’s as good as you say.  I’ll never forget the first time I heard it--it was like being ambushed.  What! The fuck! Was that!

    Posted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden  on  07/01  at  11:43 AM

  12. Is there a guitarist who has graced more horrible songs with great solos than Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick?

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  11:47 AM

  13. Must be the flu: all I can think of are good songs with crappy guitar solos. And they’re all by Neil Young.

    Posted by Chris Clarke  on  07/01  at  11:53 AM

  14. #1 Carry On Wayward Son - Kerry Livgren (Kansas)

    Insufferable song from the likes of the “insert place name here” bands of the late 70’s early 80’s. As much as I have tried to purge all the guitar solos that infested my sponge like pre-adolscent mind this one seems to have stuck. 

    #2 Sultans of Swing - Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits)

    Chicago commercial radio can’t give this one enough air time.  You cant go anywhere without hearing this awful diddy cenetering on a pied piper tale of good ole rock n’roll beckoning the cast of deliverance in from the woods to listen to some old guy play music.

    In spite of myself, the guitar solo hits it.

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  12:00 PM

  15. You have the power! Correct wikipedia yourself.

    Posted by brillig slithytoves  on  07/01  at  12:28 PM

  16. I knew somebody would bring up Eddie Van Halen.  Here’s one that might take a minute to wrap your brain around:  how about “Eruption” as an example of a great guitar solo in a song that sucks?

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  12:41 PM

  17. I don’t know if “Eruption” qualifies as a song. It’s really just a guitar solo with a few accents thrown in by Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony for good measure. I’d argue that “Eruption” is simply a vehicle for Eddie’s solo in the same way that “Moby Dick” is simply a vehicle for John Bohnam’s drum solo. But, yeah, at least “Moby Dick” contains a riff. RIP Bonzo.

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  01:24 PM

  18. My arbitrary-but-fun nomination goes to The Cars “Candy-O” in which Elliot Easton shows that he could work the frets as well as anybody at the time. The solo bursts out of the gates and builds some good riffs before it is quickly lost in the next verse. This is exactly what makes the song suck. At a little over two and a half minutes, would it have hurt a thing to have let this fine solo go on a few more bars before we go back to the droll lyrics and electronica?

    I guess Ocasek just didn’t think guitar solos had a place in new wave music but I really consider their work pop. I bought a bit of Cars music in the hopes that one day Easton would get a chance to show his talent. Never happened.

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  01:27 PM

  19. You’re onto something there Ex Con. “My Best Friend’s Girl” also has a suh-mokin solo by Eliot Easton that is the song’s only saving grace. Ocasek should’ve turned up Easton in the all the Cars tunes, and turned down the suck.

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  01:36 PM

  20. It just occured to me that we’ve all been forgetting about Frampton’s “moog” guitar in “Show Me the Way.”

    waaa
    wa wa wa wa wa

    Posted by Roxanne  on  07/01  at  01:53 PM

  21. The guitar solo on ‘Midnight at the oasis’ is effin good.

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  02:09 PM

  22. heh.

    “Send your camel to bed.”

    Posted by Roxanne  on  07/01  at  02:15 PM

  23. Speaking of Camel… every one of their songs sucks. But Andy Latimer is a great soloist.

    Posted by random  on  07/01  at  02:27 PM

  24. This kind of bleeds over into the Nick Lowe post a while back, but I always though the solo for ‘My Sharona’ was one of the best I’ve heard.

    Speaking of the Nick Lowe post, was there any mention of the earlier ‘Cruel to be Kind’ cut that he did with Ian Gomm?  What a piece of crap—no guitar solo could ever make up for that.  And thank you Nick for doing it all over again so that it could be a masterpiece.

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  02:30 PM

  25. I’d vote for Allen Collins and Gary Rossington’s fine work on “Free Bird,” which overall--please, let’s just face it--sucks ass. Then there’s Slash’s bluesy turn on the otherwise mopey and whiney “November Rain.” For pomposity, one need look no further than Metallica’s “One,” though Kirk Hammett’s solo remains a guilty pleasure. And the only thing good on “Hotel California” is Joe Walsh.

    I was trying to fit such wankers as Joe Satriani and Yngwie Malmsteen into my list, but their stuff just plain sucks, no matter how technically accomplished it may be.

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  03:17 PM

  26. HEY!

    Instead of sucky songs that are revived by a good solo, how about just a blistering horrible solo?

    Check it out:

    Cowabunga!!!

    Rich

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  03:24 PM

  27. Brian May’s brilliant solo on Queen’s “We Will Rock You” turns the song from schlock to rock after a couple of bars. In fact, May’s stellar guitar work on most of Queen’s better songs kept them from sliding into campy silliness (ie, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” “Bohemian Rhapsody"). In “Rhapsody,” at the point where the silly operatic vocals begin to make you puke, May kicks in with a kickass guitar bridge that changes the song into a rock classic.

    The guy was amazing.

    Posted by mat  on  07/01  at  03:30 PM

  28. Hey Terence, that’s “Yngwie *J* Malmsteen”. ‘Member when he added the “J” to his name so we wouldn’t confuse him with all the other Yngwie Malmsteens out there? What a horrendous wanker.

    Time to take our “Yngwie is God” t-shirts out of moth balls. Or ... not.

    And, I’d like to add the entire Phish oeuvre to the list of songs that suck but contain great guitar solos. Trey Anastasio is a fine guitarist but Phish couldn’t write a decent song to save their lives. They were at their best when covering Zappa tunes or the Beatles’ White Album.

    Lastly, since Michael is a drummer maybe he’d consider a related, but likely much smaller, category of ‘Great Bands that Had Sucky Drummers’. My top two would be Pink Floyd (Nick Mason) and Husker Du (Grant Hart). Grant Hart is a fine songwriter and maybe it was just the drugs but that guy made Ringo look like Buddy Rich.

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  03:48 PM

  29. Gosh, but I like those Cars songs.  But you’re right about Easton - shows what a Berklee boy could do in New Wave.  He’s got a knack for concise solos that say a lot and bring out the best in an otherwise ordinary song.

    I also recall a Zappa version of Stairway where the whole sax section does Jimmy Page’s solo note for note. Jaw-dropping.

    My vote for best solo/worst song is the big guitar solo/bridge/fake-outro in My Shirona - a wrong-door moment if there ever wuz.

    -John I

    Posted by John I  on  07/01  at  03:54 PM

  30. Well, Al, he had to distinguish himself from Yngwie “Shecky” Malmsteen, king of the glockenspiel, whose “Yngwie rang my bells” T-shirt I still have somewhere around here . . .

    As for great bands with sucky drummers, I think Meg White of the White Stripes tops that list. Compared to Jack, she’s barely breathing, much less drumming.

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  04:06 PM

  31. OK, Van Halen gets its own category—something like a Lifetime Achievement Award.  And mat, Brian May’s solo on “We Will Rock You” is right up there.  Rich, I would have agreed with you about “My Sharona” about three months ago, but then I actually heard the song again, and guess what?  The solo isn’t nearly as good as I’d remembered.

    Great Bands with Sucky Drummers:  wow, it’s the obverse of the Neil Peart Problem!  Definitely one of these days, Al.

    Posted by Michael  on  07/01  at  04:07 PM

  32. First thing I thought of, which is of course a slight tangent to the topic, is the intro to the Eagles’ “James Dean”.  From a perfect Big Arena Rock Guitar, we get another perfect ‘oops, wrong song’ transition to the lame vamp that is the bulk of a really pedestrian tune.

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  04:09 PM

  33. Oh man, you got that right Terence--Meg White takes bad drumming to a new low. I like Sasha Frere Jones’ comment that Jack White oughta hook up with Cindy Blackman.

    Michael, your Neil Peart comment reminds me of a running ‘argument’ that some of my musician friends have: “who’s better, Pavement or Rush?”

    Discuss amongst yourselves.

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  04:25 PM

  34. Rush.

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  04:33 PM

  35. Okay, Brian, you’re on.  At the risk of being mocked by everyone here, I *am* going to talk about musician from the ‘80s: Prince.

    Most of his songs did, admittedly, suck a quite a lot, but he did some great guitar work.  I’ve always loved the solos in the songs “Purple Rain” and “Let’s Go Crazy.”

    There.  I said it. Let the mocking commence!

    *runs away*

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  05:21 PM

  36. except that someone really ought to inform Wikipedia that the musician in question is guitarist Jimmy Lyon, not jazz saxophonist Jimmy Lyons.

    Done!

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  05:22 PM

  37. "I ran” by flock of seguls. stupid song, perfect guitar solo.

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  05:29 PM

  38. Prince. Most of his songs did, admittedly, suck a quite a lot,

    Prince could have exhibited a 99 percent suckage rate and that’d still leave him several dozen good songs.

    Posted by Chris Clarke  on  07/01  at  05:41 PM

  39. Not a traditional rock solo, but Roddy Frame’s 12-string piece on “Oblivious” by Aztec Camera sticks out in my mind.

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  05:46 PM

  40. Dymphna: blasphemy!

    Posted by Roxanne  on  07/01  at  05:47 PM

  41. Elliot Easton had the chops and rocked with the Cars, I actually bought his solo album back in the 80’s and it was pretty good.  However, the mournful solo played by Dickie Betts in the Allman Brother’s song “Melissa” is as delicious as they come.  And I have to agree Aztec Camera’s “High Land Hard Rain” is full of amazing accoustic work.  Unbelieveable that Roddy Frame was only 18 years old when he recorded that LP.

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  06:59 PM

  42. Everybody wants to rule the world by Tears for Fears - horrible pompous nonsense of a song about Jungian will to power with a great subtle chord based guitar break.
    No more lonely nights by Mccartney. Macca by numbers ‘oh I am so in love with a veggie heiress’ slop with a great solo by Dave Gilmour, who rarely turns in a poor display.
    Wishing Well by Bob Mould. Kinda leaden song but the absolute greatest guitar break of all time.
    I’n in Love With The German Film Star by The Passions. Average sub-new romantic song - fantastic atmospheric guitar.
    Kill The King by Rainbow. Tolkeinesque gnomes and wizards bolllocks rock with great fast solo.
    Stairway to heaven. Great great solo, if you can stay awake to hear it.
    Spacer by Sheila and B Devotion. Nile Rogers huge sound, simple figure solo relegated to the fade-out (actually I love this song and it probably has the best drumming of all time but it is a Euro Disco song with a Barbarella lyrical theme about a sexy spaceman sung by a french woman in a spangly lycra cat suit)
    Somebody to Love by The Airplane. Average song,caterwauling followed by an insane solo.
    Some girls are bigger than other - failry minor pun laden smiths effort with completely gorgeous fade out solo.

    I disagree about Goodbye to Love, Nidnight at the Oasis and My Sharona - great songs all.

    Can I make an honorary mention for Wesley McGoogan’s sax solo on the terrible Hazel O connor effort’Will You’ it was so good they chopped off the song and re-released it and it was a hit all by itself.

    Let me also suggest another great instrumental break in a terrible song that isn’t even an instrument - namely the Pavarotti solo in U2/The passengers Miss Sarajevo.

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  08:11 PM

  43. Shake it up--Cars, Solo--Elliott Easton.

    Stairway to Heaven and its solo...sucks.  Jimmy Page was a great riff man, that’s where it ended.

    My Sharona is a great song Michael and so is the solo, so maybe I shouldn’t be talkin’ ‘bout it here?

    Joe Walsh’s slide solo in Richard Marks Don’t Mean Nothin’.

    That’s all I got.

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  09:12 PM

  44. Oops, one more: Walsh’s solo in Don Henley’s Dirty Laundry!  The only interesting moments, by the way, in the latest Eagles tour video from Australia is Joe’s guitar and his onstage antics.  The rest is dull, duller and dullest!  That stand in for Don Felder is pretty impressive except for the fact that he’s clearly been told not to stray from the original recordings...AT ALL!  I’m sure that’s Henley’s doing.

    See ya!

    Posted by  on  07/01  at  09:19 PM

  45. Robbie Robertson/the Edge in Robertson’s “Sweet Fire of Love” is an incredibly dumb song with amazing guitar - arguably a guitar duel - from the Edge and Robbie.

    Steve Stevens on “Flesh for Fantasy” is amazing. His syrupy strat playing is beautiful throughout in a song that could be flatteringly called stooopid.

    And my final candidate, appropriately from the Midwest, is Ted Nugent’s “Great White Buffalo.” Among Earth’s dumbest men, Ted can, from time to time, put pedal to metal. This is the finest example. One can only imagine the embarrassment that actual Native Americans felt at his rendering of this Indian myth…

    Posted by Keith McCrea  on  07/01  at  09:21 PM

  46. No way “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others” qualifies as a song that sucks.  Sure, it’s weird and completely ridiculous, but that’s the whole point.  If the album ended with “There is a light that never goes out” it would just be a little too easy to write off as beautiful morbid bookend.

    Anyway, my vote goes to whatever the hell Jimmy Page is doing at the end of “The Ocean.”

    Posted by zach  on  07/01  at  09:55 PM

  47. Dang, I completely forgot about “I Ran” and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” (on which that first, chord-based solo is so much better than the final, wailing thing).  Lousy songs, great solos, absolutely.  Thanks, Jonny Fever and Saltydog.

    And I agree about Prince, too.  His B-material, all 8,000 songs of it, can be downright embarrassing.  But his top 1,000 tunes are still pretty good.

    Posted by Michael  on  07/01  at  11:47 PM

  48. In 1985 I was living in Arlington Virginia, working at minimum wage jobs in DC playing retail slave waiting on Reagan Administration functionaries, and after one particularly grueling week my then-girlfriend and I went out to dinner at a Pizza Hut type place, and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” came on the stereo. At the table next to ours was a group of teen girls who looked more or less identical, and they all started chair-dancing and singing along with the song.

    I have never wanted to kill myself more than I did at that moment.

    Posted by Chris Clarke  on  07/01  at  11:54 PM

  49. Jimi Hendrix, “Star Spangled Banner”

    Posted by George  on  07/02  at  01:05 AM

  50. I associate “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” with driving across Illinois, first to work on my dissertation, then (later) to start my first “real” job, which was in academia. Dumb lyrics, great tune---an anxiety provoking time in my life.  Still none of the MTV video-friendly music of the 80s can hold a candle to the unlistenable drek of the 70s. So many genres of awful songs---Micheal’s original post and the earliest entries reminded me of this. Besides the Carpenters (I do like their cover of “Ticket to Ride” despite its pretentious drama, or perhaps because of it), you had talented singer-songwriters who put out lots of drivel, esp. as the decade wore on: Joni Mitchell, Dave Mason, Jesse Colin Young. You had funk-rock performers who deteriorated into self-absorbed drek: Sly Stone, Gil Scott-Heron. You had disco. You had oddities like Steely Dan who were either great or awful (still strue and I don’t blame them for Kenny G). You had bubble gum metal like Kiss and regular metal. Just astounding!! From that era, only Bruce Springsteen has really redeemed himself, although people like Neil Young occasionally put out something decent. OTOH, the general public cannot redeem itself--we still have “Stairway to Heaven” and “Sweet Home Alabama”. At least we still have “Cinnamon Girl” and “Lay Lady, Lay” which still turn up in rotation during Spring and Fall.

    Posted by  on  07/02  at  08:28 AM

  51. Michael Kirchner, I think that the awesome solo on “Dirty Laundry” is by Mike Campbell of Tom Pettys Heartbreakers?

    Best solo ever on songs that don’t suck would be Duane Allmans on “Stormy Monday”.

    Posted by  on  07/02  at  04:47 PM

  52. Let me get this straight, other than the guitar work in Aqualung, it just missed your “suck” list?

    Tough crowd.

    Probably due to the fact you are only 43, professor.

    See or hear them live much?

    Gee, and I thought Ian played a rather appealing flute, too.

    An exercise in post-yuppie angst, perhaps.

    Posted by  on  07/02  at  06:29 PM

  53. Farang,

    I saw them live a few times and the only thing I liked other than Aqualung was Benefit and the albums preceding it.

    As for Ian Anderson’s flute, he cribbed liberally from Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

    I understand Ian is devoting much of his time to farming salmon now.

    Posted by Randy Paul  on  07/02  at  06:53 PM

  54. As for Ian Anderson’s flute, he cribbed liberally from Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

    In the earlier years before he went all faux-Celt, yeah. But he did admit it.

    I understand Ian is devoting much of his time to farming salmon now.

    And collecting exotic cats.

    Posted by Chris Clarke  on  07/02  at  08:02 PM

  55. OK, I’m straying off-topic here, but does anyone else wish that Karen Carpenter had recorded an album of jazz ballads?  She had unbelievable intonation and control, and it’s a pity that her career was confined to making music that is the aural equivalent of styrofoam.

    Posted by  on  07/02  at  09:42 PM

  56. re: Steely Dan and smooth jazz

    There’s not much irony in smmoth jazz…

    Posted by  on  07/03  at  12:49 AM

  57. I work in the recording industry, know some of the folks mentioned for good or bad, and also have played guitar since the early ‘60s, so, I have some opinions, no more valid than anyone elses, but they’re mine. Great solos in songs that suck:

    1. I Gotta Line; Spirit (Randy California)
    2. Journey To The Center Of Your Mind; Amboy Dukes (Ted Nugent)
    3. Tiger By The Tail; Buck Owens (Don Rich)
    4. Uno Mundo; Buffalo Springfield (Stephen Stills)
    5. Heartache Tonight; The Eagles
    6. Scratchy; Travis Wammack
    7. Cry For A Shadow; Beatles

    and countless others.

    For what it’s worth, here are some great solos in songs that don’t suck:

    1. Cliffs of Dover; Eric Johnson
    2. Little Wing; Jimi & Stevie Ray
    3. Just You And I; Queen
    4. Bluebird; Buffalo Springfield
    5. Crossroads (Live); Cream
    6. All Along The Watchtower; Jimi
    7. Travelin’ Man; Ricky Nelson (James Burton)
    8. Heartbreak Hotel; Elvis (Scotty Moore)
    9. I Feel Free; Cream

    And many more.

    By the way, Midnight At The Oasis’ solo was by Amos Garrett; man could do more with a 2 string bend than most folks could with the entire fretboard.

    Also, Frampton’s aforementioned solo was with a talkbox, like Joe Walsh also used (Rocky Mountain Way). No Moog, just guitar and talkbox.

    Posted by Stephen Anderson  on  07/03  at  03:59 AM

  58. Stephen, Janet has long insisted that the Nuge’s solo on “Journey to the Center of Your Mind” is among the very finest guitar work ever recorded on a song that sucks.  Your comment will make her so happy.  (Me, I just can’t recall the song clearly enough to say.)

    And really, folks, the slow sections of “Aqualung” are bo-ring.  The fast part rocks, but that’s about a third of the song.

    Posted by Michael  on  07/03  at  10:18 AM

  59. this is a great thread--many of my original picks have already been posted--My Sharona, Great White Buffalo, Midnight at the Oasis (glad to know that’s Amos Garrett), We Will Rock You, etc…

    it’s hard to find bad songs with great guitar solos, but after much thought, i’ve come up with two perfect candidates:

    Wanted Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi - despite the posturing lyrics, Richie Sambora’s guitar solo really whips the song into a real rocker…

    Black Diamond - The Replacements - a cover that’s better than the (Kiss) original - Bob Stinson’s shambolic soloing takes it all apart and puts it back together…

    Of course, it’s much easier to come up with good songs with great guitar solors, and here are a couple of gems:

    Somebody Loan Me a Dime - Boz Scaggs, trading riffs with Duane Allman for 10 minutes--if you’re a blues fan, and don’t have this in your collection, do yourself a favor and find it!

    Limelight - Rush Alex Lifeson pulls some mind-bending octaves, and then finishes off with a sustained wail over a wall of arpeggios--awesome!

    Drift Away - Dobie Gray - I don’t know the guitarist, but the guitar riffage in this song always makes me smile;>

    Posted by  on  07/03  at  12:27 PM

  60. Skunk Baxter on Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff”.  2 beers, 1 take (or was it 1 beer, 2nd take...)

    And I am sooo tired of “Anderson stole every flute lick from Roland Kirk”, as if we haven’t been hearing rehashed Robert Johnson et al. for decades.  We were dumb white kids.  Who was listening to jazz when we had Vin Scelsa on ‘NEW ?

    Happy 4th all.

    Posted by  on  07/03  at  02:59 PM

  61. I’m Just a Singer in a Rock n Roll Band, The Moody Blues
    Ship of Fools, The Doors

    Bad solo in a good song:
    Inca Roads, The Mothers of Invention
    You’re zooming along on this spacy jazz-rock roller-coaster when suddenly you get dumped out of the car and have to sit on the ground for a small eternity.

    Posted by  on  07/03  at  04:29 PM

  62. What do you think of Queen’s “Brighton Rock”?
    I think the song was written solely as a tune to surround Brian May’s guitar solo—variations of which he’s been playing ever since.

    Posted by Lis Riba  on  07/03  at  06:02 PM

  63. I can’t believe I nominated Put Another Log on the Fire before this one:

    The solo in the Proclaimers’ cover of Steve Earle’s My Old Friend the Blues. Technically this song shouldn’t suck, but does because of the Proclaimers’ Scottish accents fucking up the ambiance of the thing. But the guitar solo sure is sweet.

    Posted by Paul  on  07/03  at  07:51 PM

  64. speaking of Zappa, his book (I forgot the name, but it’s *highly *recommended), has some hilarious reminisences about his attempts to rein in his lead guitarists--to wit, ‘the solo’ was really all about getting ‘the blowjob,’ and there was a particular bit of code that the band members would speak when it became apparent to them that the guitarist was indulging himself too much onstage…

    Posted by  on  07/03  at  07:52 PM

  65. Okay. Coupl’a things:

    1. Everybody Wnats to Rule the World was a great fucking song—at least until Dennis Miller ruined it for everybody.

    2. “As for Ian Anderson’s flute, he cribbed liberally from Rahsaan Roland Kirk.” I can’t believe no one has credited Lester Bangs for this!

    Posted by  on  07/03  at  09:11 PM

  66. Lis sez:
    I think the song was written solely as a tune to surround Brian May’s guitar solo

    I guess it’s about time to really stray off topic, so I’ll say that this reminded me of one of the most onanistic guitarists I’ve ever played with.

    Always came in with some stupid solo we were supposed to write a song around.

    But now I’m wondering if I could trade for him.  I just had an intimate jam session with our drummer—I’m on bass (things were sounding rough), and when all was said and done, he said “I’m glad we did this—I never really listened to what you do.

    My experience is that drummers have always been extra-sensitive.  But how do you deal with an extra-sensitive drum-dolt?

    Posted by  on  07/03  at  11:35 PM

  67. I’m late and everybody’s gone home, but here goes.  Does nobody remember the wasteland of pop radio in the late 70’s?  “Ring my Bell?” “Boogie Oogie Oogie?” How can you say that “Two Tickets to Paradise” sucks.  Is it a great song? No, of course not. But it sure sounded good blasting out of my AM radio circa 1978. Nice solo? Definitely. 

    The Cars suck?  Holy Zarquon, no!  Were they great? Of course not.  But once again, coming after “Stayin’ Alive”, they sounded positively subversive.  How much of this is sour grapes over a nerd like Ric Ocasek ending up with Paulina Porizkova?  And in my book, among all of Elliot Easton’s tasty 30 second solos, “Just What I Needed” is the tastiest.

    Nothing more needs to be said about the ludicrous proposition that Prince sucks.

    I’m having a hard time thinking about great solos in songs that suck, but here are two songs of ambiguous quality with tasty solos.

    “Magic” by Pilot.  Starts with a nice 10 second solo then an even better break toward the end, with some great double note stuff with internal movement and then a stunning mixolydian descending scale.  Not bad at all for trashy 70’s pop.

    “Still the One” by Orleans.  Lots of reasons not to like this song, including advertizing overuse, but I still like it in rare doses.  And John Hall’s extended double track guitar solo is ambitious in range and flawless in execution.

    Posted by corndog  on  07/04  at  11:24 AM

  68. I’d managed to spend two blissful decades without even thinking about Eddie Money, much less getting one of his songs stuck in my head, and now Michael Berube has planted “Two Tickets to Paradise” somewhere in my cerebellum. Thanks a whole heap, dude—now I have to see if my health plan covers lobotomies.

    But the subject of his posting—lousy songs that have great guitar solos is certainly comment-worthy. I would cite every track recorded by Van Halen following the departure of David Lee Roth, since Sammy Hagar had the gift of making even a decent rocker like “Poundcake” sound awful. Jimmy Page’s melodramatic solo is like a cool drink of water in the long desert march of “Achilles Last Stand.” And let us not neglect Steve Stevens, smoldering away inside the landfill fodder that is Billy Idol’s song catalogue.

    Now, about that lobotomy . . .

    Posted by Steven Hart  on  07/05  at  03:10 PM

  69. "More Than a Feeling” by Boston. I have been trying to remember the solo, but it seems okay to me.

    For great solos in great songs, Another Brick in the Wall (II) comes right to mind.

    Posted by Dan Lewis  on  07/05  at  06:12 PM

  70. >Jimi Hendrix, “Star Spangled Banner”

    Pay the man.  Wish I’d thought of that, 4th of July weekend, too.

    Count me in as an Aqualung fan.  “Parts are boring” is your opinion and I’m fine with it, but “boring” is not “bad”.  Bad is when something just reaches inside your head, wraps it’s nasty claws around your brain and won’t let go until you are lining up the sharp end of the scissors with your eyeball.

    If you want more examples than you can possibly choose from just tune in modern county “music”.  More canned crap than a Del Monte stockholder’s wet dream but boy, those Nashville studio cats can really, really play.

    Posted by  on  07/05  at  06:43 PM

  71. brian ritchie has not been mentioned one single time??

    & all this crap that braided its way thru the 80s has been brought up countless times::

    is it b/c the 80s stuff is so bad that decent 80s stuff cannot be discussed??

    i remember standing outside of teeny tiny clubs on the outskirts of los angeles, when m. rithcie was still a carl-less vegetarian (the way we like them), w/ dopes offering him hotdogs on sticks, yet still screaming “brian ritchie is God!!” (well, they were -close-). boy, he was, still is, a genius. & i dont want to get into the discussion of how a bass is -not- a guitar.

    he was a -genius-. it was in the blood. while i have a ridiculous book next to me that says not only “money designs the world,” (yes, but do we have to acquiesce??) but that “designers are made not born? (so who cares??) --ARTISTS, let me tell you, are BORN, not MADE, & he was one of these. rare thing, that.

    & besides, he jumped on my car. then he ran after it when i pulled out of the lot, goodies, fullerton. he knew a Good Groupie when he saw one. there was a differentiation in those days. some of us actually -read-.

    but he remains one of the outstanding musicisans of the last -3- (i hate to say it. i was 18 when i met him, & still married) decades. never miss the femmes if you ever get a chance to see them. not a thing younger is better. &, best of all (almost), he seems to be married to the head of the west nile virus project for nyc. i --love-- that. i always vote high for men who actually --like-- smart women, especially if they dont even try to look like paris hilton, barf queen.

    Posted by  on  07/08  at  03:24 AM

  72. -car-less.

    had he someone named “carl” i would have no idea. not after all these years, at least.

    in-a-gadda-da-vida, dude.

    i irritated someone by singing that recently. but it is -really- hard to remember the words.

    & “fly into the mystery” by jonathan richman (2nd album) is a wonderful song (although i am unsure if it even -has- a guitar solo). for guitar solos i can look. i am just too tired tonite. i am listening to “love is just a 4 letter word” as sung by joan baez tonite, which i have loved since i was a child (just like “the revolution will not be televised,” by gil scott heron, which must in some way have been pushed upon me by my father. i have had it since i was about 11). i think the former must have reminded me of my parents marriage, then my, um, several. but i am too tired to think of guitar solos-- i suggest “tarlus” --but only half heartedly.

    oh, some stuff on “oar” by skip spence is REALLY good for psychedelic guitar, but it is REALLY good, redux.  & hardly anybodys heard of it, which might make it better, but probably doesnt matter.

    tired here.

    Posted by  on  07/08  at  03:30 AM

  73. From the credit-where-it’s-due Dept.:

    The solo on Don Henley’s Dirty Laundry is neither Joe Walsh or The Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell (really, that’s just ridiculous). It is in fact Steve Lukather of Toto, a giant in the great-solos-in-songs-that-suck universe.

    Did someone honestly suggest that Cheap Trick’s Rick Neilsen is a great soloist but a bad songwriter? Only in Bizzaro world.

    Oh, and that double guitar video (I believe the gentleman is called Michaelangelo, no?) was simultaneously hilarious and frighteneing, as it reminds me painfully of the year I spent in Hollywood in ‘86 at the height of the guitar god era.

    Posted by Chuck  on  07/09  at  10:19 AM

  74. whatever tom verlaine is doing on luna. luna is okay, but since i tend to hate anything that came out after 1979, & luna was being played for me, i had to say that it sounded like tom verlaine (in a sardonic voice, me, not the guitar) upon which i was told it -was- tom verlaine. if anyone can provide me w/ the name of a better guitarist than tom verlaine (anyone on an eddie money or glen frey track notwithstanding) i will eat any of my hats, or the red parrot to my right who has a perpetual problem w/ keeping the mouth closed, at any time, in any space.

    Posted by  on  07/09  at  07:12 PM

  75. As far as Steely Dan goes—I don’t think Kings is that bad or its guitar solo that good.  My vote would be Night by Night as a sucky song with an extremely satisfying, albeit Blowjob, guitar solo and outro.

    Steely Dan in general had some amazing guitar work on their earlier albums (usually by guests), such as the solos on Fire in the Hole and Kid Charlemagne.

    In the prog rock category, Yes had some good guitar solos here and there in what is otherwise a very mixed catalog.

    Posted by  on  07/10  at  03:45 AM

  76. Just making a tape for a younger guitar-playin’ friend (i’m pure ’70s vintage!) who’s band I often do sound and was looking up Jimmy Lyon’s name when I came across this, the coolest thread ever!

    a few of my faves are here (Martin Barre rules!) but I’ll toss in a couple, three (although I like the songs, too.)

    X- Mick Ronson on Moonage Daydream from Ziggy Stardust.
    David Bowie had a way with guitar players – Stevie Ray on China Girl, Carlos Alomar and has anyone ever heard Earl Slick’s shred at the end of the Bowie Live b-side take of “Panic In Detroit”?

    X - The Dan also had a way wih sparking off players (although legend has it, usually by p-ing them off). There’s Elliot Randall, but how about Rick Derringer’s slick slide in “Lost Wages” on Countdown to Ecstasy.

    X – A Long Way There from the first Little River Band. I could see how some who only knew there later, often sappy, stuff would miss this. An 8-minute epic sound ing like the Hollies at their best ’70s comeback best (He Ain’t Heavy, Another Night).
    Rick Formosa played the solo. Think of it as a longer, slightly darker version of Jimmy Lyon’s on Two Tickets.

    Posted by  on  01/05  at  05:25 AM

  77. let me clarify something re Little River Band.
    stay far far away from the sacreligiously-truncated 4-minute version of A Long Way There that appears on a Greatest Hits collection. They chopped the solo. evil vibes earned by the A&R twit that made that decision.

    Posted by  on  01/05  at  05:34 AM

  78. Jan Ackerman’s solos on “Hocus Pocus”.  An amazing series of guitar pyrotechnics, sandwiched in between some guy yodeling, whistling, and doing that gkyeah-gkyeah-gek-gek-gyeah thing that those two idiots used to do on Hee Haw.  Actually, it walked the fine line between being clever and being stupid.

    Posted by  on  01/09  at  09:20 PM

  79. Camel… every one of their songs sucks. But Andy Latimer is a great soloist.

    Posted by vintage  on  11/13  at  12:16 AM

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Submit the word you see below:


Next entry: Late Friday news flash

Previous entry: A Dream

<< Back to main