UGH...The tired, "BEST" Rock guitarist thread

@jet88 I agree that estimations of a musician's character can affect listener's estimation of their music and/or talent. Ted has put himself out there front and center, you'd have to be a hermit to not know his character. he became far more a political figure that artist at some point in his life. His talent or lack of same really doesn't matter to me anymore.

I lost most of my interest in lead guitarist with the advent of arena rock in late 70's. I was more into the blues, blues/rock guitarists. Once that blues based feel gone, the soul left. That's not to say, other forms of lead still interested and continue to interest me today. I got into Prog rock, and still listen, the new Jam bands carry on that torch, some very fine leads in this genre. And then I like Celtic, International, Americana, bluegrass, old country, blues, I could go on and on. Some of best lead guitarists are NOT rock guitarists. If some of these guys chose or had chosen to be rock leads they would have been rock gods.

@crustycoot  Mahavishnu John McLaughlin did have it all. Carlo and John together, just wow! Larry Coryell another great in the Fusion genre.

In more straight rock genre, I also very much enjoy dual leads such as Allman Bros., Wishbone Ash, Quicksilver Messenger Service. Rodney Stewart had a fair share of very nice leads, Jeff Beck and Ronnie Wood to name a couple. My fav Stones lead, Mick Taylor, saw him live after splitting with band, very very nice.

The other thing I'd add about leads in general, is while we often think of solos when thinking about leads, its the small gestures and flourishes  when in background that make a great lead as much or more than the solos.

Funny thing about leads, I notice much of today's youth don't care for guitars in the manner spoken of here. Very few guitar solos and guitars way down in mix. Synths dominate. Rock only a very small genre today, best guitar players have long been migrating to other genres. OP original post reflects this present state, mentioning "tired", which is apt due to what will likely be the same old rehashing of mostly long gone bands and leads.

Every band can have off night. One of the WORST concerts I ever saw, Moody Blues, mid 70's last show of long tour. I thought they'd go out with big bang, instead went out with a snooze. I can imagine Mahavishnu would also greatly benefit from a sympathetic sound system, John's studio albums display a pretty 'crunchy' sound from his guitar, very biting at times. So, the best concerts ally good sound quality with performance intensity, involvement, this was far too rare in my big concert going days.

Speaking of live concerts and previous mention of Zappa, saw him three times in George Duke era, Frank was way underrated guitarist. Funniest thing, Frank was big chain smoker at the time, could swear he had cigarette going on all concert long non-stop, when it came time for solos, lit cig stashed up in headstock.

Since OP meant this for uncool leads, how bout another round of Free Bird. My recollection of that era was the constant rotation of the same songs on FM, that made even cool songs into uncool songs for me. Stairway to Heaven another example, could think of far more. I bet they continue to play the same overplayed songs on today's classic rock stations.

Going back to Ted, probably my fav song of Amboy Dukes, "Baby Please Don't Go", is done  better by Them, IME, I even prefer strange rendition by Beacon Street Union. Still, I did like the Dukes back in the day, living in Michigan how could I not.