The metal genre has a long line of guitarists who have changed and influenced the genre to as it is today. Here’s three players who did just that, but are now sadly no longer with us.
- Randy Rhoads. Randy Rhoads was remembered more for his work with ex Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne rather than the LA band Quiet Riot. Randy helped to write Ozzy classics such as ‘Crazy train’ and ‘Dee’. Unlike most rock players Randy had a musical grounding in Classical playing, working it into the first two albums that he played on with Ozzy. Randys work can be seen on the Ozzy albums ‘Blizzard of Oz’ and ‘Diary of a madman’. It is believed that Rhoades would’ve gone on to leave the band to study classical guitar at UCLA, and he would seek out classical guitar tutors on tour with Ozzy to keep up his knowledge and playing skill. The specialist guitars that Jackson had made for him are extremely popular with metal guitar players. Rhoads died tragically in a plane crash in 1982, and his since been an inspiration for thousands of guitarists since.
- Chuck Schuldiner. Main songwriter, vocalist and guitarist of pioneering metal band ‘Death’. Hailed as the father of the death metal subgenre, a term he himself wasnt comfortable with, Chuck was a huge influence on many guitar players and extreme metal. the first Death album ’scream bloody gore’, is often thought of as a template for the sub genre of death metal, but each new release saw Deaths sound progress onward from that. Death brought out a further 4 more albums before the band was folded so Schuldiner could play guitar in his new band Control denied, in 1999. Chuck Schulidner died after a long battle with cancer in 2001, which saw the metal community unite many a time to try and raise funds for his surgery.
- Darrell Lance Abbott -’Dimebag’. Guitarist of the infamous Pantera later of Damageplan and also played guitar on the country band rebel meets rebel. Pantea began as a ‘glam metal’ band in Texas in 1981, but thier sound changed dramatically and 1989s ‘Cowboys from hell’ album saw them becoming heavier, with a groove in their sound. Their breakthrough album was 1992’s ‘A vulgar display of power’, which gave the band a whole ‘new level’ of exposure. ‘Far beyond driven’, the next album, reached number one in the US billboards charts at a time when metal wasnt considered popular. Pantera also released ‘Greater Southern Trendkill’ and ‘Re-inventing the steel’, after which Pantera split, as bassist Rex Brown and vocalist Phil Anselmo went off to do ‘Down’ and ‘Superjoint ritual’ and Dimebag and his brother and drummer Vinnie Paul created ‘Damageplan’. While playing onstage with Damageplan in Dec 2004, Dimebag was shot and died instantly. His sound is still seen in alot of bands today- ‘Lamb of god’ are an example of this.
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This post was written by admin on June 21, 2009
