The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists [Paperback]

Joel McIver (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2008

###############################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Joel McIver writes for Total Guitar, Metal Hammer and many other music magazines and is the author of 11 books to date. The best-known of these is Justice For All: The Truth About Metallica (2004), which has sold over 30,000 copies in eight languages.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Jawbone Press (December 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1906002207
• ISBN-13: 978-1906002206
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #207,676 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a book just about metal guitarists, February 18, 2009

By 

Chris Lund (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists (Paperback)

We've all seen the lists of 'Best Guitarists Ever,' or 'Best Heavy Metal Guitar Players' which included Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix. We've also said "huh?"

This book is the first real collection of the Top 100 Metal Guitarists ever. The book leaves some people out due to them being "shredders" or "hard rock" guitarists and I would have included them (think Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen), but overall it's a great collection spanning many metal subgenres.

The real gem of this book is why each person belongs on the list and where they do. The author gives compelling arguments for each person. I won't say who is where in the countdown, but with any list it does create the argument for and against.

The most compelling on the list is who's #1. I totally agree with the authors choice, but many will not (hint: he's ultra-talented and carries a chip on his shoulder).

The only con I have with the book, in each bio of the guitarist, I think the author spends too much time talking about the guitarists band and describing their style. I would have preferred more analysis of their playing style, not the band's place in (insert name here) style of metal.

All in all though, it's a good book and one to read and debate with other metalheads! \M/

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading for the Metalhead, October 17, 2009

By 

Kev Rowland (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists (Paperback)

There will always be a problem with lists in that they are the view of a select group of people and others will not agree with them. In this case the list has been created by just one person, Joel McIver, so no-one else will agree with his placements. Also, here we have the problem of genre definition. It is quite easy to state that Children of Bodom or Cannibal Corpse belong in Metal, but when it gets closer to Hard Rock then the boundary gets blurred. I don't believe that The Scorpions are metal, and I won't be convinced otherwise, and I certainly don't think that Rudolf Schenker is a better guitarist than his brother, but as with all things listwise it is all down to personal taste. So from the statements it is fairly obvious that I don't like the book. Right? Wrong. While I may not agree with certain parts of this, there is no doubting Joel's love of metal, his technical knowledge of the music he is discussing and his extensive knowledge of the scene in general.

He discusses at depth why he is including each guitarist, his rationale behind the placing and music that can be played so that the reader can understand why he feels that the placing is correct. The result is a book that any metalhead will get a great deal from. Joel has understood that many people may not understand all of the technical reasons so he has tried to keep that to a minimum, but enough so that musicians would be able to take his rationale to the next level. At the end of the list (no I'm not going to say who is number 1 - and while I understand his reasoning I would have thought that based on his own criteria it should be Iommi who was a lowly sixth), there is some small analysis and an honourable mention of the next 50. He has looked at bands from the birth of metal to the current day, so newcomers such as Trivium are here, and the depth and knowledge of the subject matter is unquestionable.

Required reading for all fans of the genre.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars amazing book, June 9, 2009

By 

Glenn Halford (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists (Paperback)

Whether you are a guitarist or not, this book will have you spending hundreds of dollars buying the music described in this book. The author knows his heavy metal and knows guitar playing. Authoritative writing, witty, extensive familiarity with the discography of so many bands. What's more, this author really gets it, even if it is controversial, such as who the number one heavy metal guitarist is. I won't reveal it here, but this has been my opinion for years.

The author also gets it in ranking Jeff Waters near the top. Most people reading this review might think Jeff Who? Read about Annihilator, listen to the music from their first few albums (YouTube has some of the songs in their entirety) and you will understand. The author also gets it in his delineation between heavy metal and shred guitar.

The only thing that the author gets wrong is his ranking of Michael Schenker. His selection of the "Genius Moment" recommendation for Schenker shows that he is not very familiar with Schenker's work. Schenker's riffs are admittedly non-metal, as is the Mad Axeman choice, but his solos are pure brilliance, in composition and in technique. If there had not been Schenker, there would have been no Metallica, no Megadeth, no Randy Rhoads, and of course no Arch Enemy. Listen to the MSG live recordings from 1981-1984. Any of the current guitarists is at best as fast as Schenker was then. But if you compare the musical content, the inspiration, the feeling, the best among today's metal elite sound like they are playing metronome practice mechanical excercises, not music that is worth hearing more than once or worth learning to play.

Despite this mistake in rating Schenker, which is understandable given Schenker's decline over the years, this book is amazing. The book gets as close to a scholarly book as any book that I know on the subject of heavy rock. But be careful, as I said, buying this book will cost you tens of times more than the price of the book.