Why don't 90's guitar players get talked about here?

[Rock Bodom]

I just like to listen to it all. This week I'm actually in a total 90's mood, listening to nothing but Deftones, Incubus, Rage Against the Machine. Last week it was all 80's, Ratt, Dokken, Crue, TNT, Lion. Next week it might be power/prog time, Symphony X, Adagio, Circus Maximus. Then maybe the early 70's strikes, and it will be Budgie, Zeppelin, Leaf Hound.

I have plenty of bands/artists I don't care for, but I can't really bash any era outright. And I don't feel apologetic either. If I want to listen to Warrant or Limp Bizkit, I don't feel guilty at all. To each their own, but I'd rather just relax, enjoy what I like, keep taking in new music and let my playlist fit my mood.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

If I want to listen to Warrant or Limp Bizkit, I don't feel guilty at all.

Somethings can't be unsaid

 

[FourT6and2]

Van Halen has maybe two or three good songs.

There's a lot to criticize about the over the top 80s, but this is clearly not one of them. VH is all about songwriting and interesting rhythm structures presented in a pop format, which happens to include complimentary solos. This post just reeks of a intentional contrarian post just to see how many replies one can get. Enjoy

No shit, Sherlock. I was joking. You really think I would confuse Dio with Devo?

On the flip side, you honestly believe you could walk up to a random person on the street and they'd recognize more than like... 2... maybe 3 Van Halen songs? What... Jump, Hot For Teacher, Panama, and....Runnin' With the Devil. Hell I had to look those song names up to remember them. And I bet they couldn't even tell you who the artist was. The same is probably true with a lot of '90s stuff. Doesn't mean the music is bad.

 

[Rock Bodom]

If I want to listen to Warrant or Limp Bizkit, I don't feel guilty at all.

Somethings can't be unsaid

Hey, it wasn't like I said Nickelback.

 

[Red_Label]

For me, listening to people solo for 30 minutes is torture. I don't care about all the meedley meedley meedley meedley. I want to hear good music, not good solos. It's like listening to a pop singer do runs for a whole song. Who the fuck cares about that. People get all wet for EVH. Van Halen has maybe two or three good songs. And people really only want to hear that shit as a background track in a funny buddy-cop parody movie where a black guy and a white guy team up to kick ass and take names: cue the synth line from Jump.

Yngqie? Please. Nobody outside of internet forums knows who he is, let alone knows how to pronounce his stupid name. Might as well be called Nguyen.

Vivian Campbell? Devo had like one good song and they've held onto those stupid tiered hats for ever. Jesus, let it go already.

Jake E Lee wishes he were Ozzy. Because people have actually heard of Ozzy. Who the fuck is Jake E Lee.

Never heard of Nuno. Lynch is more shred wankery that nobody outside of internet forums listens to, Schenker sounds like a brand of shitty fake German beer, Randy is the creepy dude working the CVS pharmacy, and Ratt? Really... Ratt? I've never met anybody in real life that actually liked Ratt. That had a job and could support themselves.

I'm hoping this was all in jest...

April Fools?

 

[FourT6and2]

For me, listening to people solo for 30 minutes is torture. I don't care about all the meedley meedley meedley meedley. I want to hear good music, not good solos. It's like listening to a pop singer do runs for a whole song. Who the fuck cares about that. People get all wet for EVH. Van Halen has maybe two or three good songs. And people really only want to hear that shit as a background track in a funny buddy-cop parody movie where a black guy and a white guy team up to kick ass and take names: cue the synth line from Jump.

Yngqie? Please. Nobody outside of internet forums knows who he is, let alone knows how to pronounce his stupid name. Might as well be called Nguyen.

Vivian Campbell? Devo had like one good song and they've held onto those stupid tiered hats for ever. Jesus, let it go already.

Jake E Lee wishes he were Ozzy. Because people have actually heard of Ozzy. Who the fuck is Jake E Lee.

Never heard of Nuno. Lynch is more shred wankery that nobody outside of internet forums listens to, Schenker sounds like a brand of shitty fake German beer, Randy is the creepy dude working the CVS pharmacy, and Ratt? Really... Ratt? I've never met anybody in real life that actually liked Ratt. That had a job and could support themselves.

I'm hoping this was all in jest...

April Fools?

Yup.

And I'm loving the 2000's too. The atmospheric trend that some bands are going in is awesome. Like something you'd hear in an '80s sci-fi, post apocalyptic movie. Muse is very operatic. I'm really into that sort of thing right now. Every decade has great music. That's for sure. The '80s has their greats. I was born in '84. So I grew up listening to music in the '90s. A lot of my favorite bands are '90s rock. But I'm digging this sort of thing nowadays. Reminiscent of Queen. I hear some Zeppelin in there as well. Especially this first song. Would make a great track on the next Bond movie:

 

[Red_Label]

Van Halen has maybe two or three good songs.

There's a lot to criticize about the over the top 80s, but this is clearly not one of them. VH is all about songwriting and interesting rhythm structures presented in a pop format, which happens to include complimentary solos. This post just reeks of a intentional contrarian post just to see how many replies one can get. Enjoy

No shit, Sherlock. I was joking. You really think I would confuse Dio with Devo?

On the flip side, you honestly believe you could walk up to a random person on the street and they'd recognize more than like... 2... maybe 3 Van Halen songs? What... Jump, Hot For Teacher, Panama, and....Runnin' With the Devil. Hell I had to look those song names up to remember them. And I bet they couldn't even tell you who the artist was. The same is probably true with a lot of '90s stuff. Doesn't mean the music is bad.

You did forget to mention Ain't Talkin' Bout Love, Dance the Night Away, You Really Got Me, Cradle Will Rock, Oh Pretty Woman, Dancin In The Streets, Dreams, Finish What Ya Started, Panama, Unchained, You're No Good, Love Walks In, Why Can't This Be Love, Black and Blue, etc. I realize that a third of these are covers... but the fact remains that anyone who lived through the 80s would easily recognize all of them (and likely more), Van Halen fan or not, guitar fan or not.

 

[FourT6and2]

Van Halen has maybe two or three good songs.

There's a lot to criticize about the over the top 80s, but this is clearly not one of them. VH is all about songwriting and interesting rhythm structures presented in a pop format, which happens to include complimentary solos. This post just reeks of a intentional contrarian post just to see how many replies one can get. Enjoy

No shit, Sherlock. I was joking. You really think I would confuse Dio with Devo?

On the flip side, you honestly believe you could walk up to a random person on the street and they'd recognize more than like... 2... maybe 3 Van Halen songs? What... Jump, Hot For Teacher, Panama, and....Runnin' With the Devil. Hell I had to look those song names up to remember them. And I bet they couldn't even tell you who the artist was. The same is probably true with a lot of '90s stuff. Doesn't mean the music is bad.

You did forget to mention Ain't Talkin' Bout Love, Dance the Night Away, You Really Got Me, Cradle Will Rock, Oh Pretty Woman, Dancin In The Streets, Dreams, Finish What Ya Started, Panama, Unchained, You're No Good, Love Walks In, Why Can't This Be Love, Black and Blue, etc. I realize that a third of these are covers... but the fact remains that anyone who lived through the 80s would easily recognize all of them (and likely more), Van Halen fan or not, guitar fan or not.

The only acceptable '80s song to enjoy is "Bukakke Tears" by Steel Panther. And it was written in 2014.

"There was so much love on your face, I couldn't see the teeeears!!!" Lyrics that really speak to the heart, man. They're true poets.

 

[Red_Label]

And I'm loving the 2000's too. The atmospheric trend that some bands are going in is awesome. Like something you'd hear in an '80s sci-fi, post apocalyptic movie. Muse is very operatic. I'm really into that sort of thing right now. Every decade has great music. That's for sure. The '80s has their greats. I was born in '84. So I grew up listening to music in the '90s. A lot of my favorite bands are '90s rock. But I'm digging this sort of thing nowadays. Reminiscent of Queen. I hear some Zeppelin in there as well. Especially this first song. Would make a great track on the next Bond movie:

Not bad. I do like a lot of the music that's been done since the 80s. In fact, I just auditioned for a band on Sunday where I had to play Evenesence and Halestorm (both on my 7-string), Hole, Cranberrys, and some other 90s and newer bands. I ended-up deciding that I wasn't a perfect fit afterwards, but not because of the material or my skills... more because there was already a capable lead player in the band and I didn't want to be bored out of my skull doing rhythms all night -- playing a bunch of material where leads are already pretty sparse. I enjoy playing newer rock that's all about vibe (Tool and AIC particularly) as much as the next guy. But I also still enjoy nailing a few technical challenges during the night and when I don't have them, I start to get bored pretty quick.

 

[Red_Label]

The only acceptable '80s song to enjoy is "Bukakke Tears" by Steel Panther. And it was written in 2014.

"There was so much love on your face, I couldn't see the teeeears!!!" Lyrics that really speak to the heart, man. They're true poets.

 

[FourT6and2]

Okay, so I just went next door to the neighborhood market and asked like 8 random people if they could name a Van Halen song. Their ages ranged from like mid 20s to like 38 or 40 years old.

One person was able to name 1 song: "Uhmm.... hmmm.... oh oh... like... Jump? Yeah... Jump."

Nobody was able to name more than 2 EVH songs. Jump was the one most people knew. The other songs people were able to name were Panama and Hot For Teacher. But those were the only three songs.

And nobody could sing or hum them other than "Jump!" or "Panama! Panama-ah-ah-ah!"

I'm starting to think the people on this lonely corner of the internet are overestimating the importance of Van Halen... Not that they weren't talented. But people really just don't care anymore unless it's karaoke night. Not that any other band from the '80s or '90s would fair any better. But it's music. Only musicians like the us on internet forums care that much about this stuff.

 

[C1-ocaster]

For me, listening to people solo for 30 minutes is torture. I don't care about all the meedley meedley meedley meedley. I want to hear good music, not good solos. It's like listening to a pop singer do runs for a whole song. Who the fuck cares about that. People get all wet for EVH. Van Halen has maybe two or three good songs. And people really only want to hear that shit as a background track in a funny buddy-cop parody movie where a black guy and a white guy team up to kick ass and take names: cue the synth line from Jump.

Yngqie? Please. Nobody outside of internet forums knows who he is, let alone knows how to pronounce his stupid name. Might as well be called Nguyen.

Vivian Campbell? Devo had like one good song and they've held onto those stupid tiered hats for ever. Jesus, let it go already.

Jake E Lee wishes he were Ozzy. Because people have actually heard of Ozzy. Who the fuck is Jake E Lee.

Never heard of Nuno. Lynch is more shred wankery that nobody outside of internet forums listens to, Schenker sounds like a brand of shitty fake German beer, Randy is the creepy dude working the CVS pharmacy, and Ratt? Really... Ratt? I've never met anybody in real life that actually liked Ratt. That had a job and could support themselves.

This is site is full of guitar wankers, why else are we here?
We all think we're good to great guitar players, and we want to discuss things related to guitar and gear, just like a bunch of guitar wankers that we are.

The reason certain guitar players get talked about over and over is because there was a time when a ROCK band had a guitar player who was the prominent instrument and solo instrument.
So naturally if you're a guitar player you gravitate to those bands and players.

The 90's was more about the song, tune much more so than the guitar player.
There were still plenty of great guitar players in the 90's, but the style didn't call for the guitar being as predominant as it was in the 60's, 70's, and 80's.
Plus, you've got a lot of people stuck in those era's who think nothing good came after their favorite era, which is not true, but whatever, we all have out likes and dislikes.

Personally, I thought it was great when the cock rocker 80's hair pop rock scene was over. It became boring, trite, and overly repetitive, and repetitive, and repetitive. In the end there were bands like Firehouse, Slaughter, and Trixter. To me those were the bands that finally killed the scene.
They were an amalgam of all that was wrong and bad about the 80's.

Gun's and Rose's brought a sound that was the good part of the 80's mixed with some 70's hard rock, and imo paved the way for the rock scene that came in the 90's. They called it "Grunge", but that was typical media ignorance not knowing what to do with rock bands that didn't have overly teased and sprayed hair with all the make up. For pete's sake the media included Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Sound Garden into the same "Grunge" category, and those bands are quite different from each other.
Nirvana sounded NOTHING like AIC. Sound Garden was like acid rock cranked up with some metal elements. AIC was the most metal of that "Grunge" label.
Pearl Jam started as a hard rock band, nothing metal about them.

It wasn't about the guitar player, it was more about the band.
Thayil wasn't a "guitar god" nor was Cornell. But they were great at creating guitar driven tunes, very creative, and very refreshing to hear something different compared to the contrived drivel coming from the soft aluminum "metal" bands of the late 80's.

Here's a partial list of great 90's hard rock bands:
Tool
Rage against the machine
Dream Theater
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Stone Temple Pilots
Foo Fighters
Smashing Pumpkins
Pantera
System Of A Down
Live
Dream Theater
Korn

All those bands had prominent guitar, but not all had the big "look at me" guitar solo.
I was born in '65 so I grew up hearing and loving guitar driven rock of the 60's, 70's, and 80's.
Grunge didn't kill rock or the guitar player. It was Rap. The younger people didn't want to listen to Dad's music, they wanted what was different, and Rap was their anti establishment "music" of choice, and it became HUGE when the majority white kids started buying the albums pretending they too could identify with "the streets" imagery of so called "gangsters".

Rap has become as contrived and generic as the "Metal" bands of the late 80's.
It too needs to end.

And that's how I feel about that.

Can't wait to get home to my guitar and gear so I can wank out some tunes.

 

[FourT6and2]

For me, listening to people solo for 30 minutes is torture. I don't care about all the meedley meedley meedley meedley. I want to hear good music, not good solos. It's like listening to a pop singer do runs for a whole song. Who the fuck cares about that. People get all wet for EVH. Van Halen has maybe two or three good songs. And people really only want to hear that shit as a background track in a funny buddy-cop parody movie where a black guy and a white guy team up to kick ass and take names: cue the synth line from Jump.

Yngqie? Please. Nobody outside of internet forums knows who he is, let alone knows how to pronounce his stupid name. Might as well be called Nguyen.

Vivian Campbell? Devo had like one good song and they've held onto those stupid tiered hats for ever. Jesus, let it go already.

Jake E Lee wishes he were Ozzy. Because people have actually heard of Ozzy. Who the fuck is Jake E Lee.

Never heard of Nuno. Lynch is more shred wankery that nobody outside of internet forums listens to, Schenker sounds like a brand of shitty fake German beer, Randy is the creepy dude working the CVS pharmacy, and Ratt? Really... Ratt? I've never met anybody in real life that actually liked Ratt. That had a job and could support themselves.

This is site is full of guitar wankers, why else are we here?
We all think we're good to great guitar players, and we want to discuss things related to guitar and gear, just like a bunch of guitar wankers that we are.

The reason certain guitar players get talked about over and over is because there was a time when a ROCK band had a guitar player who was the prominent instrument and solo instrument.
So naturally if you're a guitar player you gravitate to those bands and players.

The 90's was more about the song, tune much more so than the guitar player.
There were still plenty of great guitar players in the 90's, but the style didn't call for the guitar being as predominant as it was in the 60's, 70's, and 80's.
Plus, you've got a lot of people stuck in those era's who think nothing good came after their favorite era, which is not true, but whatever, we all have out likes and dislikes.

Personally, I thought it was great when the cock rocker 80's hair pop rock scene was over. It became boring, trite, and overly repetitive, and repetitive, and repetitive. In the end there were bands like Firehouse, Slaughter, and Trixter. To me those were the bands that finally killed the scene.
They were an amalgam of all that was wrong and bad about the 80's.

Gun's and Rose's brought a sound that was the good part of the 80's mixed with some 70's hard rock, and imo paved the way for the rock scene that came in the 90's. They called it "Grunge", but that was typical media ignorance not knowing what to do with rock bands that didn't have overly teased and sprayed hair with all the make up. For pete's sake the media included Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Sound Garden into the same "Grunge" category, and those bands are quite different from each other.
Nirvana sounded NOTHING like AIC. Sound Garden was like acid rock cranked up with some metal elements. AIC was the most metal of that "Grunge" label.
Pearl Jam started as a hard rock band, nothing metal about them.

It wasn't about the guitar player, it was more about the band.
Thayil wasn't a "guitar god" nor was Cornell. But they were great at creating guitar driven tunes, very creative, and very refreshing to hear something different compared to the contrived drivel coming from the soft aluminum "metal" bands of the late 80's.

Here's a partial list of great 90's hard rock bands:
Tool
Rage against the machine
Dream Theater
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Stone Temple Pilots
Foo Fighters
Smashing Pumpkins
Pantera
System Of A Down
Live
Dream Theater
Korn

All those bands had prominent guitar, but not all had the big "look at me" guitar solo.
I was born in '65 so I grew up hearing and loving guitar driven rock of the 60's, 70's, and 80's.
Grunge didn't kill rock or the guitar player. It was Rap. The younger people didn't want to listen to Dad's music, they wanted what was different, and Rap was their anti establishment "music" of choice, and it became HUGE when the majority white kids started buying the albums pretending they too could identify with "the streets" imagery of so called "gangsters".

Rap has become as contrived and generic as the "Metal" bands of the late 80's.
It too needs to end.

And that's how I feel about that.

Can't wait to get home to my guitar and gear so I can wank out some tunes.

Agree 100,000%

 

[C1-ocaster]

Look at the age demographic here at RT. It would put a lot of guys in their youth back in the 80's. It's not my thing either, and VH, lynch, and the rest of them... I have very little interest in talking about or listening to them. BUT, it beats the heck out of the punk, broke, loser kids on the rest of the forums out there. So for a guy like me that is younger, but isn't broke, doesn't like hardcore death metal, and shares the same political views as most of the more mature guys around here, RT is a pretty cool place.

What I like seeing is this newer era of guitar players. Killswitch Engage as just one example.

Killswitch is a cool band, love the guitar work.
I know this band gets some flak, but I really like Bullet For My Valentine.
Both of those guitar players are solid, and the lead player is darn good.
Trivium is another modern band I like, and Volbeat are pretty unique. Their songs can range from something in the 80's like "Heaven and Hell" to modern heavy like "Dead but Rising". They seem to channel a number of different styles and are darn good at it.

 

[sjk]

For me, listening to people solo for 30 minutes is torture. I don't care about all the meedley meedley meedley meedley. I want to hear good music, not good solos. It's like listening to a pop singer do runs for a whole song. Who the fuck cares about that. People get all wet for EVH. Van Halen has maybe two or three good songs. And people really only want to hear that shit as a background track in a funny buddy-cop parody movie where a black guy and a white guy team up to kick ass and take names: cue the synth line from Jump.

Yngqie? Please. Nobody outside of internet forums knows who he is, let alone knows how to pronounce his stupid name. Might as well be called Nguyen.

Vivian Campbell? Devo had like one good song and they've held onto those stupid tiered hats for ever. Jesus, let it go already.

Jake E Lee wishes he were Ozzy. Because people have actually heard of Ozzy. Who the fuck is Jake E Lee.

Never heard of Nuno. Lynch is more shred wankery that nobody outside of internet forums listens to, Schenker sounds like a brand of shitty fake German beer, Randy is the creepy dude working the CVS pharmacy, and Ratt? Really... Ratt? I've never met anybody in real life that actually liked Ratt. That had a job and could support themselves.

This is site is full of guitar wankers, why else are we here?
We all think we're good to great guitar players, and we want to discuss things related to guitar and gear, just like a bunch of guitar wankers that we are.

The reason certain guitar players get talked about over and over is because there was a time when a ROCK band had a guitar player who was the prominent instrument and solo instrument.
So naturally if you're a guitar player you gravitate to those bands and players.

The 90's was more about the song, tune much more so than the guitar player.
There were still plenty of great guitar players in the 90's, but the style didn't call for the guitar being as predominant as it was in the 60's, 70's, and 80's.
Plus, you've got a lot of people stuck in those era's who think nothing good came after their favorite era, which is not true, but whatever, we all have out likes and dislikes.

Personally, I thought it was great when the cock rocker 80's hair pop rock scene was over. It became boring, trite, and overly repetitive, and repetitive, and repetitive. In the end there were bands like Firehouse, Slaughter, and Trixter. To me those were the bands that finally killed the scene.
They were an amalgam of all that was wrong and bad about the 80's.

Gun's and Rose's brought a sound that was the good part of the 80's mixed with some 70's hard rock, and imo paved the way for the rock scene that came in the 90's. They called it "Grunge", but that was typical media ignorance not knowing what to do with rock bands that didn't have overly teased and sprayed hair with all the make up. For pete's sake the media included Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Sound Garden into the same "Grunge" category, and those bands are quite different from each other.
Nirvana sounded NOTHING like AIC. Sound Garden was like acid rock cranked up with some metal elements. AIC was the most metal of that "Grunge" label.
Pearl Jam started as a hard rock band, nothing metal about them.

It wasn't about the guitar player, it was more about the band.
Thayil wasn't a "guitar god" nor was Cornell. But they were great at creating guitar driven tunes, very creative, and very refreshing to hear something different compared to the contrived drivel coming from the soft aluminum "metal" bands of the late 80's.

Here's a partial list of great 90's hard rock bands:
Tool
Rage against the machine
Dream Theater
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Stone Temple Pilots
Foo Fighters
Smashing Pumpkins
Pantera
System Of A Down
Live
Dream Theater
Korn

All those bands had prominent guitar, but not all had the big "look at me" guitar solo.
I was born in '65 so I grew up hearing and loving guitar driven rock of the 60's, 70's, and 80's.
Grunge didn't kill rock or the guitar player. It was Rap. The younger people didn't want to listen to Dad's music, they wanted what was different, and Rap was their anti establishment "music" of choice, and it became HUGE when the majority white kids started buying the albums pretending they too could identify with "the streets" imagery of so called "gangsters".

Rap has become as contrived and generic as the "Metal" bands of the late 80's.
It too needs to end.

And that's how I feel about that.

Can't wait to get home to my guitar and gear so I can wank out some tunes.

Great post and while I'm 6 yrs younger this is all very true imho but ymmv!

 

[metalmaniac93]

I am going to listen to some old Roth era VH right now!!!

For those of us who have lived through or as exposed heavily to the great rock area from the late 60's, 70's, 80's and early 90s have a greater appreciation for guitar driven rock/metal with killer guitar solos and expect nothing less. The song still has to be great or even good with a great riff, but I also need my killer riffs and solos!!

 

[skoora]

I would just say post about what you like and if enough join in with interest in discussing it, it's legitimately something the forum gives a crap about. Jerry Cantrell and his sound is easily one of the most discussed guitar players on the forum. I couldn't care less about Lynch but I also don't give a shit if he's in every 4th topic
I don't think a lot of awesome guitar players who were in new wave and pop bands of the late 70's and early 80's get any love either but I listen to them. I don't need them validated by others to enjoy it.
Plus guitar "players" didn't disappear in the 90's they just relocated to Europe. Some of the best metal of all time came out of Europe in the 90's. I like how fat sounding a lot of music got in the 90's but I did miss some good guitar soloing thrown in the mix and everyone doing a variation of drop D got extremely old.
My favorite era of music is actually the 70's. After about 1983-4 most music took a huge dump, stylistically and sonically for me except for a few standouts.

 

[Anonymous]

1. because there's a LOT of guys in here that are stuck in the 80

Steve

 

[mooncobra]

I really, really loved the first few Janes Addiction albums, and Dave Navarro used to be a much better guitarist than he is now. Actually, I think the first couple Janes albums might have been like 87 and 89? I loved the first 2 Smashing Pumpkins albums, but once that double album came out, well, I didn't like it, a couple songs I guess. I also liked the Stone Temple Pilots, they had some really massive riffs, and Brendan O' Brian engineered and produced those. All 3 of these bands had some good guitar work and sounds. I think on Janes Addictions album, Nothings Shocking, that Dave Navarro was only 17 or 18 and its good. These were definitely 3 of my favorite bands from the 90s, I also dug Soundgarden and AIC a lot also. I never really got into Nirvana or RHCP. I remember hearing a Nirvana song that had a crushing riff in it and then later found out it was one of Grohls riffs. I think the De Leo brothers from STP are a great bass/guitar team and they write good music. I think Dean, is that the bassist's name? Anyhow, he writes songs for a lot of bands, Aerosmith recruited him a while ago to write some music for them. I know he wrote like 90% of the music STP released.

 

[RJF]

Look at the age demographic here at RT. It would put a lot of guys in their youth back in the 80's. It's not my thing either, and VH, lynch, and the rest of them... I have very little interest in talking about or listening to them. BUT, it beats the heck out of the punk, broke, loser kids on the rest of the forums out there. So for a guy like me that is younger, but isn't broke, doesn't like hardcore death metal, and shares the same political views as most of the more mature guys around here, RT is a pretty cool place.

What I like seeing is this newer era of guitar players. Killswitch Engage as just one example.

Killswitch is a cool band, love the guitar work.
I know this band gets some flak, but I really like Bullet For My Valentine.
Both of those guitar players are solid, and the lead player is darn good.
Trivium is another modern band I like, and Volbeat are pretty unique. Their songs can range from something in the 80's like "Heaven and Hell" to modern heavy like "Dead but Rising". They seem to channel a number of different styles and are darn good at it.

I really like Bullet, and Trivium. Volbeat I could do without......

As I lay Dying is another for me. I like modern metal, but with at least half of the lyrics being clean.