I know where you’re coming from re the suing of the band’s own fanbase; despite the hugeness of the Metallica “brand”, its vision has always been pretty myopic, with a confused “shoot first, ask questions later” approach. I’m not saying the band was right, but it also wasn’t wrong. The issue, of course, is Lars, music’s all-time goat. That guy could cure cancer and people would still dislike him (although to be fair, he’d probably be pretty annoying about it.)

For the sake of argument, the band probably did have to go glossy and clean. As I’m sure you recall, the mainstream Metal landscape in 1996 was very different than 1991, and because of the limited technical musicianship, Metallica would have been spinning its wheels hard had it dumped another Black album into the market. Skin tight black pants and long hair just wasn’t “cool” in the mid 90’s to the type of audience the band had gained, and if there’s anything Lars wants to be it’s “cool.” If you want people to believe you’re the biggest Metal band in the world, you aren’t gonna convince them by dressing like Pete Sandoval.

I’m not accusing you specifically of falling into the crossover category, but it is a huge percentage of Metallica’s audience. I love Metallica, and I’ll defend Load, but if the pre Black album era material wasn’t so incredibly composed I’d never be able to sit through a current live performance. It sounds elitist, but hearing Lars hit his kick exclusively on the 1 during a song like Battery? It’s like, come on, man.
The ghastly skillset of Lars forced the band to take a different path, which, interestingly, made Metallica the biggest Metal band in the world.

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That’s fair. I get what you’re saying. I’d still argue that Pantera has a tremendous and very real legacy, though.
In terms of appreciating the pre-90’s output of the Big 4, yes, what they’ve since released certainly puts perspective on the strength of those records, but those bands at that time were also at their creative high points; flying by the seats of their collective pants in a genre that was at its most “dangerous.” The bands all peaked and came down right as metal was fading. But while those bands faded and tried to accommodate to trend, Pantera released 5 records in 10 years, each more difficult than the next.
I do agree with you that not all of what those bands recorded in the 90’s was dreadful (yes, some John Bush era Anthrax is pretty cool, and Megadeth has some great stuff from the decade,) but none were as vital as Pantera.

We’re just differing in opinion, which is fine. If mainstream hard rock is lame, I can’t blame a band that was only mainstream in name (due to magazine covers, individual virtuosity, being the most impressive American metal band over a 10 year span.) And I would suggest Alice in Chains, Korn, and Marilyn Manson as being far more responsible for what happened to modern rock.
Pantera isn’t my “favourite band ever, bro!” but it was an important gateway, and I suppose my point is that its legacy doesn’t fairly represent what the band actually was (as seen in some of the one sentence comments below.)

I don’t mean to sound dismissive, but I don’t even know where to start with this. You’ve put forth some valid points, but expressed them in ways that nearly disqualify them.

I won’t argue that.
The nominations for the category mentioned are already flawed – Anvil is a sentimental choice and we all love to see them keeping at it, but a band like Threat Signal is more deserving, on a music level (although then I’m falling into the black hole of award merit.)

The nominations do seem to be based on a “who has been at this the longest and still going” mentality, and if Townsend doesn’t win it’ll be a sham, but I fully expected this category to be a catch-all for junk like Three Days Grace, so I was pleasently surprised.

I gotta say, when they announced the inclusion of a new “Metal/Hard” category I was pretty skeptical, but they actually did a decent job. A Juno won’t mean much for the bigger name acts, but for Fuck the Facts and he-who-should-win Devin Townsend to be recognized is pretty cool.

I believe the claim against SNL sound is relative to the stage itself. Some artists can deal with it (those who’ve paid serious dues dealing with these limitations), whereas some have more trouble (those who have a career go from 5mph to 200mph in a few months.)
Her live vocals are never as bad as people claim them to be. Her stage presence has a long way to go.
It seems she feels the need to embellish the vocals, which the music doesn’t require.

That G&T General 7B epitomizes _everything_ that is wrong with pencils. They should be taking shots from every pencil user. I’m glad you haven’t bought-in enough to remain silent.

That’s the beauty of Vai: he’s so outrageously cheesy in that “you go girl” kind of way and I love him for it. It adds to it all. If he was the exact same player but dressed like say, Lenny Kravitz, it would all kind of stink, wouldn’t it? The costume aspect of it is without a doubt a conscious decision, because he doesn’t dress like that offstage. Flashy and ridiculous outfits with flashy and ridiculous music.
Malmsteen is the same: total doofus, arrogant, costume-y (openly credits Paganini influence) and absolutely rips. He has tremendous tone, great vibrato, and singlehandedly pioneered neo-classical shred (understanding Ritchie Blackmore’s role,) and he’s not on that list (I don’t think. It’s impossible to quickly navigate the stupid RS site article quickly) but Peter Greene is? Stupid.

The only reason I used All Along the Watchtower as an example was to provide gravity with a connection to arguably the greatest singer-songwriter of all time. His own song credits are just as, if not more impressive (Hey Joe, Voodoo Chile, Foxy Lady, Are you Experienced?, Purple Haze.) I think a high percentage of artists would be pleased to release a 5 song greatest hits record that strong.
But as explained, you could draw value from several areas of musicianship to gauge the “value” of each player. So while songwriting doesn’t need to be crucial, it certainly should play a part. I mean, Derek Trucks is on that list and Steve Vai isn’t, which to me is absolutely appalling. And Vai isn’t particularly known for his songwriting, so I don’t totally disagree with you.

The concession, in the end, is taste. Yes, there are players who used an instrument as extension, I just think Hendrix did it a lot better. And that partnered with what I’ve previously said plays into your list of other guitarists (I’m unfamiliar with Yamashita and Christian.)
They’re all tremendous talents. Total specialists. But I do give value to the gift of taking a specialized skill and turning it into something universal. Are they victims of style or era? Sure, some of them. Did they revolutionize the guitar? Yes, in some kind of way they all probably did.
I mean, Friday Night in San Francisco is a terrifying listen, right? But it’s very specific. Not to say the entire careers of de Lucia, Di Meola, and McLaughlan should be measured against that live record, but their 3 careers combined don’t come close to the importance or influence of Hendrix (with no disrespect.)

So in my mind, resonating with teenagers and inspiring them to pick up a guitar is a side effect of Hendrix’s greatness. Kids still want to do dive-bombs and copy the wah’d intro to Voodoo Chile, forty years later. And those things don’t even scratch the surface of what he brought to the game.

I have personal choices and influences who are more significant to me, but I have to give it up for Jimi Hendrix.
Taste becomes our divide.

Apologies for the length.

Ok. I mean, I get the web comment section idea of “shoot first…”, but you are using some bold language. You’ve admitted to not being able to stand behind the statement despite originally claiming it to be factually accurate (I’m not using quotation marks here because, I get it,) but man oh man I couldn’t disagree more.
So it depends on the assigned parameters of what makes a “great guitarist.” If the qualification is simply whether or not there are better players out there, you’re absolutely right, he isn’t the greatest. But you’re a musician and guitar player, so I can’t accept that to be your sole gauge.
Let’s assume the measures of the Rolling Stone selections:
- Ability
- Songwriting
- Influence
- X-Factor
This breakdown allows for Cobain, because his Influence and Songwriting percentages would be so elevated, whereas a Randy Rhoads, while having strong songwriting and influence, ranks higher in Ability and X-Factor.
Your notion of a player being “not as good as people who don’t really know” is justifiable to a guy like Kirk Hammett, who among guitar players is universally accepted as a wretched player, but helped write some great songs.
If I were to assign percentages to Hendrix, each option would be off-the-charts.

Hendrix the “musician” is burdened with a lot of lame clichés (ex: the guitar was an extension his body), but they actually do apply. He did play through the instrument. Is it genius? Probably?
If you think about guys like Oscar Peterson or Keith Jarrett, one thread is how they sing what they’re playing. It’s hearing notes in your head and being able to articulate sound via strings and wood without thought. Hendrix did that; he looked at the neck and in his head knew the sound that could be expected from each fret. Listen to “Machine Gun” from the live Band of Gypsys; the idea of playing a 13 minute instrumental that evokes participating in the Vietnam War may now seem preposterous, but holy hell does he pull it off.

He was a virtuoso that people don’t think of as being a virtuoso. He made a Bob Dylan song so famous that many think it is his own. Any time a band destroys their instruments it is traced back to him. Any time someone hacks their way through an electric guitar-ified national anthem, that’s Hendrix. He flipped the instrument, both literally and figuratively, and did things that had never been done before, and in a lot of ways haven’t been done as well since. And he did pretty much all of that over a mere 4 years.

Agreed.
The Awake EP rips so hard.

“yes and the same useless comment repeatedly…” <- useful comment