Most Overrated/Underrated Tone

[anomaly]

First off, I’m not a huge White Lion fan. Second, I DO like Pantera and have always given Dime his props. Great player.
But, when it comes to exposure and how many different people heard Vito’s solo in When the Children Cry, vs how many have heard Crowbar or whatever I’m still gonna say Vito takes it and it’s not even close. Vito was heard by EVERYONE on top 40 radio when that song (and ‘Wait’) were popular in 87-88; you’re talking 50 million plus. Doesn’t mean they liked it, but the heard it. Crowbar? I get it, they are influential in metal etc etc and have been playing shows forever. But I’d bet anything that the same crowd has been going to the shows over the years adding up to a significant number overall but it’s largely the same smaller group over and over….adding up over time but there aren’t 50 million different people listening to them. Imo anyway.

A large portion of the people attending Crowbar and Down shows these days are young people, so there goes that theory. If it were the same people over and over the crowd would all be in their 50's by now and that's not the case.

Anyways, I don't give a shit how many people heard White Lion on the radio in 1988. Are they on the radio now? I sure as hell don't hear them. Are they playing big shows now? I don't think so. They're basically just another shitty hair band from the 80's that died when the 80's died.

 

[Greazygeo]

They ripped off his style a bit, but not his tone so much, other than Robin Trower who kinda had a more safe hendrix style tone. SRV?? not even close, Eric Johnson?? not even close.

Uli totally ripped his tone many times.

I will post some links later.

 

[Exo-metal]

Overrated....Clapton/Hammett/Santana

Underrated...Andy LaRoche/Pete Blakk

 

[TheGreatGreen]

This is not the easiest topic in the world because overrated and underrated will be based on how popular the person making the post believes the artists and the associated tones to be. Having said that, here goes my take…


Overrated:

Slash
Thin, anemic, shrill. Annoying. I think Guns N’ Roses otherwise just sounded good around Slash and it covered up his tone. Slash’s appeal has always been all about looking cool and mysterious. That’s his thing. He’s not a bad player, but he definitely never had any tone to write home about.

Joe Satriani
Muddy and dull with zero attack but somehow also harsh and abrasive at the same time. I can always tell it’s him and he always dials in the same bad tone.


Underrated:

Green Day, specifically the Insomniac album.
Obviously Green Day is super popular but I don’t think their tone ever really gets talked about. To record Insomniac, they used a strat with bridge humbucker into a Plexi modded by Bob Bradshaw with an extra gain stage. Simple ingredients, but they ended up getting a sound with tons of punch, tons of slice, tons of personality. Just killer.

To jump on the Crowbar discussion from the last page, their album “Sonic Excess in its Purest Form” has some of the heaviest, hugest guitar tone I’ve ever heard. It is simply awesome, no other word for it.

 

[anomaly]

Very underrated tone: Pete Loeffler of Chevelle

That guy's got such an amazing tone, on his albums and live. Excellent songwriter too.

 

[anomaly]

This is not the easiest topic in the world because overrated and underrated will be based on how popular the person making the post believes the artists and the associated tones to be. Having said that, here goes my take…



Overrated:

Slash
Thin, anemic, shrill. Annoying. I think Guns N’ Roses otherwise just sounded good around Slash and it covered up his tone. Slash’s appeal has always been all about looking cool and mysterious. That’s his thing. He’s not a bad player, but he definitely never had any tone to write home about.

Joe Satriani
Muddy and dull with zero attack but somehow also harsh and abrasive at the same time. I can always tell it’s him and he always dials in the same bad tone.


Underrated:

Green Day, specifically the Insomniac album.
Obviously Green Day is super popular but I don’t think their tone ever really gets talked about. To record Insomniac, they used a strat with bridge humbucker into a Plexi modded by Bob Bradshaw with an extra gain stage. Simple ingredients, but they ended up getting a sound with tons of punch, tons of slice, tons of personality. Just killer.

To jump on the Crowbar discussion from the last page, their album “Sonic Excess in its Purest Form” has some of the heaviest, hugest guitar tone I’ve ever heard. It is simply awesome, no other word for it.

I know, i wish more people would listen to that Crowbar album "sonic excess in it's purest form" it's huge and punishing.