Rock Guitarists - Who Are The Worst?

During the late 80's, early 90's he seemed to have major difficulty just signing. I went to a NO gig where he kept missing the verses of "Ruined In A Day" and singing the wrong lyrics. After the song finished, he told the engineer, on the mic, to "sort it out, you fuckin' twat."

CLASSY.

Oh yeah, I think he's genius in the studio.

http://www.glam-metal.com/Richie_Stotts_4.jpg

But the truly bad ones ...

"The scariest guitar player EVER!"
Ward Boult / Killer Photographer

"Richie Stotts... a union of intellect and emotion."
Charles Young / Rolling Stone Magazine

"A really innovative guitarist ... one of the best solos I've ever heard."
Lemmy / Motorhead

"...Richie Stotts wrestles off-the-wall leads, fusing Chuck Berry licks, snatches of Hendrix, and effects-laden tones straight out of '60s psychedelia. No slouch, Stotts seems to have unlimited energy, good ideas, and a talent for clean execution."
Jas Obrecht / Guitar Player Magazine

"Chaos is the name of the game in the punk-metal genre, and given that premise, Stotts' guitar makes the grade. The intensity, power and mania are all here. The bottom heavy sound of the Plasmatics would probably benefit by showcasing the energetic playing of Stotts more often - but would that be right for a group determined to sound like an uncountained nuclear meltdown."
David Alzofon / Guitar Player Magazine

"Lead guitarist Richard Stotts may throw purists off with his turquoise Mohawk do, tasty tutu and white garter belt, but this guy is a showman who gives his all, even down to slamming his head with his axe until bright red blood mixes with his blue hair to create (that's right) vi-o-let. Like Rick Neilson of Cheap Trick, Stotts realizes there are only so many notes you can play on heavy metal guitar and that the real key to success is in exaggeration and lampoon."
Roy Trakin / New York Rocker

-- joseph cotten (josephcotte...), January 24th, 2005."

I've got your back here.

-- sundar subramanian (sundar_subramanian200...), January 25th, 2005.

this man is correct

Horrid hollow lead tone, leaden vibrato, fart-y chording, ugly as thre edead pigs, worse hair...there just can't be worse.

I think you are wrong on that one, but everybody likes something different.

Right. Only one of the most unique guitar tones and styles ever laid down. Many have tried to imitate it. They can't. They look at the back of "Raw Power" and think Williamson in pancake, Marshalls and Les Pauls when in the studio it was really closer to a Tely and Vox Top Boost set to shrill. The Roger Linn Adrenalinn, in salute, duplicated the "Raw Power" guitar sound in one patch for fans and in a customized amplifier model.

When you wanted to sound "like the Stooges" in the Eighties, when few did, that's what you aimed for. Not Ron Asheton.

Williamson did it again on "New Values." The formula is right there in photos from the sessions. The guitar tone is slashing, ice-pick, screeching, present and always powerful. It never fails to punch the face and is exactly the foil for Iggy, even on mediocre to crappy compositions.

When "Raw Power" was published, Williamson's guitar multiplied with Bowie's unusually abrasive mix were transfixing. It was steely and utterly metal, yet trashy at the same time. Plus JW cowrote with Iggy.

Now, the classic Ron Asheton lick: A-G/A-G/A-G or E-G/E-G/E-G, straight Marshall JTM-50 tone, thinned by use of Strat, compressed at the mixing desk in the studio. Sawtooth lead, fuzztone and stomped, not cocked, wah. ("I Wanna Be Your Dog" shows only slight variety: G-F#-E or any similar interval.)

No, it's Dylan -- it says so in the album credits (and it sounds like him). Elsewhere on the album he sticks to rhythm. Robbie (billed as "Jaime" Robertson) may have played on a few others, I don't know. I know the only song that features The Band (or the Hawks) is "One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later).

He's fabulous on record, though. I wonder if he was more subdued the first year he was in the band, cause he sounds fine on Get Yer Ya Ya's Out.

Re: James Williamson. George Smith, I couldn't agree with you more. And it's nice to hear someone rave about the guitar playing on New Values for a change, it's incredible. Anybody know what he's up to now?