Rolling Stone has compiled its list of "The 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time."
The magazine states that the "criterion isn’t sales or airplay -- just the six-string brilliance on display. We also took into account that the solo makes the song, and that it doesn’t just repeat the melody line. (A bonus: if you can sing it note-for-note.)...
"This is about solos, not riffs, which is why our Deep Purple classic is 'Highway Star' instead of 'Smoke on the Water.' Some of these stretch out for double-digit minutes, exploring the cosmos. Others just need a few seconds to make their impact. But a guitar trip can be a cry from the heart, full of rage, joy, hunger, pain, or maybe all at once.
"Some of these 100 solos are influential cult classics; others are so universally beloved they’re banned at your local guitar shop. Every fan would compile a different list, and that’s the point. But it’s a salute to the guitar-solo tradition and all the rituals that go with it..."
With that, here's the Top 25 for you to agree or disagree with:
- Prince - "Purple Rain"
- Jimi Hendrix - "Machine Gun"
- Eagles - "Hotel California" (Don Felder & Joe Walsh)
- Pink Floyd - "Comfortably Numb" (David Gilmour)
- Van Halen - "Eruption" (Eddie Van Halen)
- Chuck Berry - "Johnny B. Goode"
- Led Zeppelin - "Stairway to Heaven" (Jimmy Page)
- Steely Dan - "Kid Charlemagne" (Larry Carlton)
- Funkadelic - "Maggot Brain" (Eddie Hazel)
- The Beatles - "While My Guitar Gently Weep" (Eric Clapton)
- Jimi Hendrix Experience - "All Along the Watchtower"
- Michael Jackson - "Beat It" (Eddie Van Halen)
- Allman Brothers Band - "Statesboro Blues" (Duane Allman)
- Queen - "Bohemian Rhapsody" (Brian May)
- Prince - "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame version)
- Grateful Dead - "Morning Dew" (Jerry Garcia live at Cornell University, May 8th, 1977)
- Ozzy Osbourne - "Crazy Train" (Randy Rhoads)
- Jimi Hendrix Experience - "Little Wing"
- Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Free Bird" (Allen Collins & Gary Rossington)
- Jeff Beck - "Freeway Jam"
- Stevie Ray Vaughan - "Texas Flood"
- Neil Young and Crazy Horse - "Powderfinger"
- Derek and the Dominos - "Layla" (Eric Clapton)
- Television - "Marquee Moon" (Tom Verlaine)
- Guns N' Roses - "Sweet Child O’ Mine" (Slash)
And here are the rest of the round numbers:
- 30) The Isley Brothers - "That Lady, Pts. 1 & 2" (Ernie Isley)
- 40) Bonnie Raitt - "Three Time Loser"
- 50) St. Vincent - "Rattlesnake"
- 60) Blue Oyster Cult - "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (Buck Dharma)
- 70) Nirvana - "Heart-Shaped Box" (Kurt Cobain)
- 80) Steve Vai - "For the Love of God"
- 90) Paul Butterfield Band - "East-West" (Michael Bloomfield & Elvin Bishop)
- 100) AC/DC - "You Shook Me All Night Long" (Angus Young)