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

[alund]

Out of curiosity, anyone replying in this thread has seen the band live ?

I did when I was in college; I’d say 90ish. Raleigh NC. Small venue but they were already “big”. I bet maybe 200 people. He was using a 2x12 Marshall combo which was loud as fuck but I was in my who cares days. They were good because I wanted them to be good. I bet tix were 10-15 bucks. A beer was $1.50 too.

 

[alund]

Vernon Reid = Phil Collen of guitar shredding!

This is an interesting analogy. I remember an interview with P. Collen saying he was a technical expert where as Steve Clark could never be because his guitar hung too low and his technique was never good but sounded good.

 

[DanTravis62]

Good song, terrible band, worse guitar playing

 

[napalmdeath]

The original solo sounds flubbed.

A hot mess, is what it is.

 

[braintheory]

Crams a lot of notes into each bar....But messy and lacks composition and flow.

Honestly I feel like the vast majority of shredders can be considered this as well, just not nearly as much so as Vernon or Phil Colleen lol

 

[braintheory]

Vernon Reid = Phil Collen of guitar shredding!

Post of the day lol. Perfectly said

 

[Chubbs]

Look back at the bands still popular and touring from that timespan, they all had monster albums. 1988 was no time to release one hit, in 87 you have hysteria, appetite, grills grills grills, whitesnake, electric,ect. Then the tours in 88 with the same bands backing up their albums in 89. It’s part songwriting ability, part timing, and part talent.

 

[Racerxrated]

I think it’s because they only had one hit and the leadwork in the song lacked to me musical coherence and doesn’t really show great technical skill either (at least guys like Lane or Becker did that). Even some of EVH’s or Yngwie’s leads are more musical (can’t believe I’m saying that lol)

Exactly...his lead style is all his own and unique, but it seems very 'frenetic' and kinda sloppy at times. Just not a big fan of it...but he gets props for having his own unique thing.

 

[hammered]

They hit a little late too. Wasn’t cult of personality big in 1990? A lot of people were over it by then

It was getting a lot of airplay in late 1988 . Their 2nd album Times Up came out in 1990. Saw them 3x , great live band

 

[hammered]

Out of curiosity, anyone replying in this thread has seen the band live ?

Twice opening for the Stones in 1988 and headlining with Kings X opening in 1990
Edit-just remembered I saw them twice at Lolalpallooza in 1991 so a total of 5x

 

[Geo]

There needs to be an "all of above" option.

 

[alund]

Lead singer was in the movie Platoon for those who remember him. Small part. I guess he got to meet “tiger blood” himself.

 

[paulyc]

F, all of the above.

 

[Mr. Willy]

They had some cool stuff but also some really “out there” stuff. Reid never caught on because he was beyond sloppy when he was “shredding.” The solo in cult is unlistenable.

 

[gtrwun]

Twice opening for the Stones in 1988 and headlining with Kings X opening in 1990

I saw them with Kings X here in Ca on that tour. I’d say about 7000 people there?
Great show and both bands were tight as hell.
Vernon’s style never bothered me. He was different. All kinds of players were already doing the super clean and composed soloing with nothing outside the box of pentatonic and basic diatonic mode based solos. To me, he was at least trying to be different.
If Cult is the only solo or song you’ve heard, your not getting the full story of his playing.

 

[Corey James]

I met Corey Glover on the way to namm and he was very friendly. Cool guy that spoke with three of us for 10 minutes or so and was really approachable. he flew in the main cabin and purchased two seats, so nobody had to sit next to him. Even though he was friendly there might’ve been a germophobe thing or just a privacy thing that I can appreciate. We didn’t make a big deal about meeting him and he didn’t want a big deal to be made about him.

Saw the band live once opening for Gov’t Mule and it was OK.

 

[thegame]

I loved their 3rd and heaviest album, Stain. Lots of very creative playing on it. Rhythm section of drums and bass is monstrous. Plus Corey is a phenomenal vocalist. I’m not familiar with their later material though.

I wish there was more guitar and bass independence in metal, like LC do in this song really well:

 

[hammered]

I saw them with Kings X here in Ca on that tour. I’d say about 7000 people there?
Great show and both bands were tight as hell.
Vernon’s style never bothered me. He was different. All kinds of players were already doing the super clean and composed soloing with nothing outside the box of pentatonic and basic diatonic mode based solos. To me, he was at least trying to be different.
If Cult is the only solo or song you’ve heard, you’re not getting the full story of his playing.

That double bill played at the San Jose event center here in Ca.

 

[Dino 939]

He’s a wicked guitar player.

I remember I used to dance hard with
chicks to this song at the all ages nightclub Moonbeams in Clearwater,Florida in those’
late 80’s/90’s.

Check this out,
I got marked by a gang of White Power
dreg’s,that notorious Clearwater clan of henchmen.
All of them to this day are dead or in prison
until they do die,-albeit a handful.
So the leader dude, (Toby)
b-lined me from across the dance floor,
-apparently some chick he liked,
-liked me.
The real motive was,
I was a white dude with dreads,
and he & the dreg’sthought this was no bueno’,
that coupled with the chick dissing him for
me issue and we got us a rumble coming.
The Warriors type shit, yep.

Nothing happened, he was a skater,
I knew a few of his dregs’ from Astro Skate,
-I still scored his chick fellas!!!

 

[Philhouse]

Very different approach than the homogeneity of rock guitarists of the 80-90's. No big wonder it ended up imploding in a big way around the early 90's. The rock genre needed an enema.