Why didn't Vernon Reid get the same respect as a guitarist as his peers?

Why wasn't he/the band as respected and popular?

  • Because he wasn't nearly as good as the other 80s gods

    Votes: 43 63.2%

  • Because his tone sucked, and still does

    Votes: 22 32.4%

  • Because he was sloppy

    Votes: 42 61.8%

  • Because they were black

    Votes: 6 8.8%

  • Because their biggest hit was a political message

    Votes: 6 8.8%
  • Total voters
    68
Total wank-noodle fest lead on cult. I caught a rig run down on Reid awhile back. He must of had in excess of 40 pedals. Small wonder why is tone sucks. His signal path is a dumped out bowl of spaghetti. Never subscribed to that band and can't switch off fast enough. Yup Thayil is another guitarist I turn off except Black Hole Sun.
 
I loved the poll and I think it hit it right on the head.. he was a sloppy spazzy mess and his rig was a bowl of spaghetti. Imagine trouble shooting that on tour..
 
I actually like the lead on Cult because it's just like pure frenetic energy; sure he's kinda just playing random shit but it fits the bombastic vibe of the song IMO

Not really familiar with most of their other stuff to have a real opinion

Vernon def had some of the sickest custom guitars ever though
 
Philhouse said:
6 Living Colour albums and he's worked on about 33 albums in total. Not too shabby

I dunno about all this one hit talk. They had good success with 'Type', 'Cult..', 'Leave It Alone' and 'Love rears its Ugly Head' on the charts.

I'm guessing people here must hate Kim Thayil's lead work too.
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I love Soundgarden but consider Thayil one of the luckiest guys in rock. Not that a better guitarist would have fit necessarily.
 
'63-Strat said:
I love Soundgarden but consider Thayil one of the luckiest guys in rock. Not that a better guitarist would have fit necessarily.
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After watching the interview he did with Beato, where they went pretty detailed into Soundgarden’s history. You got the sense he was neck deep in how they would sound and the songs in general. So “exotic” lead playing aside he was definitely a bona fide member of that band.
 
Honestly I don’t agree with the question or any of the possible choices on the votes. I think he got tons of credit and love as a player. What peers of his do you think he should be compared to that he wasn’t?
 
You guys were right about that Landlord song....that's a way better song. It doesn't rock as hard but that solo is WAY better than the COP garbage.
 
I think there may have been one bad patch cable in there that kind of through the whole tone off
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Great song by a very gifted avant garde guitarist. Band was pretty good and had a couple good albums.

Song keeps being pushed back into pop rotations due to (nerd alert) CM Punk, a popular pro wreslter, using Cult of Personality as his theme music.
 
tonedover said:
Great song by a very gifted avant garde guitarist. Band was pretty good and had a couple good albums.

Song keeps being pushed back into pop rotations due to (nerd alert) CM Punk, a popular pro wreslter, using Cult of Personality as his theme music.
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I was at the NAMM convention and attended the Living Colour reunion show at the Anaheim Hilton ballroom. For whatever reason, everyone was smoking weed out in the lobby and no one got in trouble for it at the time. They sounded & played great! Vernon Reid is very much an avante garde jazz/rock guitarist. Not everyone understood what he was trying to reach for musically, but the sounds & textures that he got at that time was pretty wild sounding. He was different from the shredders of the late '80s - early '90s and didn't fit in that particular mold. He was also triggering samples along with the guitar rack rig that he was using. I always liked Vernon's ESP & Hamer guitars that he had custom built for him.
 
tonedover said:
Great song by a very gifted avant garde guitarist. Band was pretty good and had a couple good albums.

Song keeps being pushed back into pop rotations due to (nerd alert) CM Punk, a popular pro wreslter, using Cult of Personality as his theme music.
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Wrestler? I thought he was a UFC fighter? (major sarcasm statement haha)
 
I remember on an episode of "That Metal Show", Tom Morello was talking about how hard it was as a black guitarist to get into a band because you could sound amazing and once they saw them, never called back. I think it is cool when bands like Living Color and Bad Brains make a mark.
 
I really like Living Colour's first album, not as much their others. Their were a lot of great bands in the short-lived funk metal genre. Sadly, only Red Hot Chili Peppers are remembered. They were the worst of all imho.
 
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