Up until the age of 9 my exposure to “ROCK” was limited. Ya see, my folks loved to dance so you’d hear disco, soul, motown, and the classics like Sinatra, Mathis or Nat King Cole when the radio or stereo was on. It wasn’t until I got a clock radio and discovered WLUP and WMET that I heard the likes of ZZ-Top, Sabbath, Zeppelin, Cheap Trick, etc etc. It was so different from what I heard my parents play – it was new, exciting, and it was my introduction to “the guitar solo”.

Ahhhh yes, the guitar solo … at that point in time I thought they were all amazing. Then after a few years of buying records, reading Creem magazine, and talkin’ with my buddies – my tastes became more discerning. Page, Zappa, Eddie VanHalen, Tony Iommi, & Michael Schenker were some of my favs. But then came another day of radio discovery, a college radio station called WNUR. I didn’t even know colleges had radio stations! I heard The likes of D.O.A., the Vandals, Government Issue, MDC, GBH as well as others and thought – where the hell did this stuff come from!?! I was fascinated with what I heard … I couldn’t get enough … I again found something new & exciting.

I found many differences between the “ROCK” I had been listening to and the sounds of punk that I was becoming more interested in. One thing was the abruptness of or lack of guitar solos. I started realizing that several “ROCK” songs I liked could have been about 2 minutes shorter if they laid off the solo-ing. Some songs that I thought were cool really weren’t songs at all … they were a riff with 5 minutes of solos after 90 seconds of lyrics … it was a whole bunch of “look at me – look at me” … it was just a bunch of wanking … so, what did I do? I sold all my “ROCK” and Metal albums at a garage sale for $2 a piece. Boy I wish I didn’t do that, but that’s another story …

I think “the solo” has had some rough times over the last few decades, but it will never totally fade. It’s been alive & well in those suburban bars that are ruled by cover bands. I still see feathered hair & bleached jeans and the mullet & camo-pants every once in a while, so I know the “defenders of the wank” haven’t disappeared. And the biggest reason it still survives is that as long as there’s teenage boys … “the solo” will always be around.

For the most part – I think solos have gotten better over the years. Bands seem to realize that unless the guitarist sets his head on fire or ya got midgets blowin’ goats during a ten minute solo – the audience is just gonna go get a beer. So, I say wank within reason … if ya don’t, all that hair on your palms will knot up in the strings.