The 50 Greatest Guitarists of All Time
As the title states, this is a list about my perspective on who are the 50 greatest men who ever picked up a guitar. As i said, this is my personal appreciation, which is based on my personal prog./alternative rock genres affinity, to be clear about the choosing method for this chart.
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Of all the qualities that typified Frank Zappa, perhaps the most striking is that he was a paradox. A workaholic perfectionist rock star who eschewed the hippie culture of the 1960s, deploring its conformism, spurious ideals and drug use, Zappa was not only a brilliant rock guitarist but an orchestral composer, innovative filmmaker, music producer, businessman, iconoclast and perceptive political and social commentator. His oeuvre continually amazes: over 60 albums of music from rock to orchestral, in addition to innumerable films, concerts and other accomplishments.
Frank Vincent Zappa (b. 21 Dec 1940, Baltimore, MD) began to play drums at the age of 12, and was playing in R&B groups by high school, switching to guitar at 18. After barely graduating from high school, and then dropping out of junior college (where he met his first wife, Kay Sherman), Zappa worked at such jobs as window dresser, copywriter and door-to-door sales,an. With the money he earned from scoring Run Home, Slow (1965) (written by his high school English teacher, Don Cerveris), Zappa purchased a recording studio and, after concocting an allegedly obscene recording for an undercover policeman, spent ten days in jail. Zappa's diverse range of albums (both with the seminal and protean groups The Mothers of Invention and Zappa; as well as solo releases) are renowned not only for their bravura musicianship and satire, but for offending various groups (usually conservatives, both religious and political). The 200 Motels (1971) soundtrack was deemed too offensive by the Royal Albert Hall, which canceled scheduled concerts in 1975; and the song "Jewish Princess" (1979) led to Jewish calls for Zappa to apologize. These, and such events as Zappa testifying before Congress in 1985 against rock music censorship, being appointed by Czech president Václav Havel as his Cultural Liaison Officer or considering running for US president, have unfortunately been Zappa's only real source of mainstream publicity.
Diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1991, Zappa nonetheless continued working at his Hollywood Hills home, until his death on 4 December 1993. His widow, Gail, and children Dweezil Zappa, Moon Unit Zappa, Ahmet Zappa and Diva Zappa, soon released a statement to the press that simply stated: "Composer Frank Zappa left for his final tour just before 6pm Saturday."- Actor
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John McLaughlin was born on 4 January 1942 in Yorkshire, England, UK. He is an actor and composer, known for Where the Truth Lies (2005), Biker Boyz (2003) and Cartes sur table (1977). He is married to Ina.- Music Artist
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Robert Fripp was born on 16 May 1946 in Dorset, England, UK. He is a music artist and actor, known for Children of Men (2006), The Big Boss (1971) and Power Rangers (2017). He has been married to Toyah Willcox since 16 May 1986.- Composer
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Omar Rodriguez-Lopez is known for Amalia (2018), Los Chidos (2012) and El Divino Influjo de los Secretos (2013).- Composer
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Michael Karoli was born on 29 April 1948 in Straubing, Bavaria, Germany. He was a composer, known for Broken Embraces (2009), Inherent Vice (2014) and The Gentlemen (2019). He was married to Shirley Argwings-Kodhek. He died on 17 November 2001 in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.- Composer
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Daevid Allen was born on 13 January 1938 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He was a composer and director, known for Entre Oscuros Sueños (2018), Near Orouet (1971) and The Black Balloon (2012). He was married to Gilli Smyth. He died on 13 March 2015 in Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia.- Composer
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Ernest Joseph "Trey" Anastasio III (born 30 September 1964) grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, playing drums. He worked with his mother, an editor for Sesame Street Magazine, developing stories and songs of fantasy and fun and meaning. (His father was an executive with the Princeton-based Educational Testing Service, who administered the SATs etc.) Trey's musicianship grew at Princeton Day School. For high school, Trey transferred to Taft, a Watertown, CT, prep school, and joined (as a vocalist) an eleven-person classic rock band called Red Tide. In Trey's junior year, when seven of the eleven had graduated, the band reformed as Space Antelope and Trey became the guitarist. Trey initially went to the University of Vermont, in Burlington. He studied various musical forms (and often mentions fugues and big band arrangements) but majored in philosophy. He also hosted a Monday morning (5-9 a.m.) radio show, "Ambient Alarm Clock". While at UVM, Trey meet Jon Fishman, Jeff Holdsworth and Mike Gordon, and the four started the band "Phish". After a few years, the band members meet Page McConnell, who was attending Goddard College in Vermont. McConnell eventually joined the band on keys, and convinced Trey and Jon to transfer to Goddard. Phish has grown into one of the largest touring acts in the country. In 1994 alone Phish reportedly grossed $10.3 million from concerts coast to coast. Phish continues to be one of the largest-grossing bands on the touring circuit in the United States today. In 1995, Phish played 80 U.S. shows and grossed $16 Million. In 1996, Phish played 49 shows and grossed $17 million. In 1997, Phish played 44 U.S. shows, sold over 800,000 tickets, and grossed over $21 million. In 1998, Phish played grossed $23.3 million, ranking 23rd for top concert tours of North America. Half of that was between April and August, according to Billboard sister publication Amusement Business.- Composer
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In 1980, Thurston Moore formed the band Sonic Youth as a lead guitarist and singer with Kim Gordon (bass guitars/vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (lead guitars/vocals). In 1981, they released their debut album "Sonic Youth", which attracted lots of attention for using feedback in music. They later released the highly acclaimed albums "Sister", "Daydream Nation" (1988), "Goo" (1990), "Dirty" (1992), etc, which inspired bands like Nirvana, Pavement and Radiohead. By 1998, they had released 14 albums, their latest one, "a thousand leaves", getting incredible reviews. In 1983, Thurston married Kim Gordon, and their daughter, Coco Gordon-Moore, was born in 1994. Moore has been described as the world's greatest and most innovative guitarist, and Sonic Youth as the greatest guitar band ever. He also admits to experimenting with cannabis and LSD, but no longer takes drugs, or smokes.- Composer
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Jonny Greenwood was born on 5 November 1971 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK. He is a composer and actor, known for The Master (2012), There Will Be Blood (2007) and Phantom Thread (2017). He has been married to Sharona Katan since 1995. They have three children.- Composer
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Preston Lea "Trey" Spruance III is an American composer, producer, and musician, perhaps best known as guitarist and keyboardist with Mr. Bungle and for his short time in Faith No More. He is also leader of the multi-genre outfit Secret Chiefs 3. Originally a guitarist and trumpeter, Spruance later began playing vintage electronic organs and various other string and percussion instruments.- Composer
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One of the most prolific and iconic guitarists of the second half of the 20th Century, Jerome John Garcia was born in San Francisco, California, USA on August 1st 1942. Garcia, whose mother was a registered nurse and whose father, Jose, was a small time jazz musician, had a troubled childhood. At the age of 4, he lost the middle finger of his right hand in a woodcutting accident with older brother, Tiff, who cut it off by mistake and, a year later, tragedy struck again when he watched his father drown in a river during a fishing accident. Jerry spent a lot of his youth with his grandparents as well as suffering from bouts of asthma that at times left him bedridden. He was a well read teenager and showed a talent for Art which would become a lifelong interest for him. He listened to a lot of jazz and country music on the radio and then fell in love with the sounds of rock and roll when it began to cause a stir in the mid-1950s. In 1957, at the age of 15, he got his first guitar and began to learn the basics so he could play along with the rock and roll hits of the time, his then favorite guitarist was Chuck Berry. After high school, he drifted for a while and, after getting into a few scrapes, he went and joined the army, but it didn't suit him and, after collecting 8 AWOLs and a number of other courts-martial, he was discharged. Whilst in the army, he began playing acoustic guitar and learning the craft of finger picking and folk style guitar. Upon leaving the army in 1960, he returned home and carried on with his art studies by taking lessons at college. During this period, he got into the then growing beat and coffeehouse scene which introduced him to many other like minded artistic drop outs including a young poet named Robert Hunter, who would later become his songwriter partner. He studied and practiced guitar nearly ever waking hour and, a year or so later, he picked up 5-string Banjo and began to learn the art of Bluegrass music. Between 1960 and 1964, Garcia played in many different folk and bluegrass acts in which he played Banjo or Acoustic Guitar. He was by now a very serious musician and spending a lot of his time playing and practicing with whoever was around at that time. He could also play a little fiddle, bass and mandolin and sometimes all within the same gig.
In 1965, he formed an electric blues-rock band called the "Warlocks", with himself as the lead guitarist. A few months later, they changed their name to the "Grateful Dead". The original line-up was Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Ron McKernan (Pigpen) and Bill Kreutzmann. They soon gained a reputation for playing long improvised jazz inspired folk-rock music and became one of the most popular live bands around. Garcia became the main songwriter within the group as his partnership with 'Robert Hunter (V)_ matured over time and he led them through many musical changes throughout their long career. Over the next 30 years, the Dead went through many musical and personal changes but they grew in popularity and became the most popular live band in history, playing in some of the most legendary concerts of all time including Monterey Pop (1967), Woodstock (1969) and Watkins Glen (1973).
They averaged around 80 concerts a year and had an incredible loyal fan base known as Deadheads. Despite being well known for their live shows, they were also a sublime band in the studio which is often overlooked because of their lack of hit singles; in fact, their only hit single was "Touch of Grey" from the "In the Dark" album in 1987, a full 22 years after they formed! The band recorded 13 studio albums - Grateful Dead (1967), the semi-live Anthem of the Sun (1968), Aoxomoxoa (1969), Workingmans Dead (1970), American Beauty (1970), Wake of the Flood (1973), From the Mars Hotel (1974), Blues for Allah (1975), Terrapin Station (1977), Shakedown Steet (1978), Go to Heaven (1980), In the Dark (1987) and Built to Last (1989). Their albums and original songs ranged from straight ahead rock and pop influences to blues, folk, jazz, country, electronic and progressive experimentation. They also released many live albums, most notably Live Dead (1969), Europe72 (1972), Reckoning and Deadset (1981) and Without A Net (1990). Garcia had a deep interest in film going back to his childhood. He briefly studied film making at college in the early 60s. His first work of note in feature films came in 1970 when he worked on the soundtrack for the movie Zabriskie Point (1970), where he performed the improvised instrumental guitar piece known in the movie as "Love Scene". In 1974, he began a film project that lasted a number of years. Mixing animation and real concert footage The Grateful Dead (1977) was co-directed by Garcia. Other concert and semi concert videos followed with Dead Ahead (1981) and So Far (1987). He also performed a small part in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), where he provided the brief Banjo playing in a few short scenes.
Despite being consumed with 30 years with the "Grateful Dead", Jerry also found time to have a whole musical career away from the dead. He began playing in jam sessions and doing session work with other artists in the late 60s. He began playing pedal steel guitar and formed the country-rock group the "New Riders of the Purple Sage" with John Dawson in 1969. He released his first of 5 solo albums - Garcia (1972) in which he played every instrument except drums. Compliments of Garcia (1974), Reflections (1976), Cats Under the Stars (1978) and Run for the Roses (1982). His band, The Jerry Garcia Band, was formed in the early 70s and it gave him a chance to perform many other songs and styles of music outside of the Dead. The band went through many personal changes and name changes during its time but it allowed him to play any type of music he liked, and he did. He covered jazz, blues, Motown, R&B, gospel, pop, reggae, swing, ballads, Dylan covers and was equally at home playing any of them. In 1973, he formed a bluegrass band called "Old and In the Way" in which he played Banjo, it was a short-lived group but the record that was later released went on to become the biggest selling bluegrass album of all time.
The Dead and the scene they came out of was legendary for drug taking and Jerry was no exception and, by mid 70s, he had gotten into hard drugs, including cocaine and heroin. By the mid 1980s, it had slowed down his creative process and he was by now a very heavy user and suffering many health problem which all came to a head in 1986, when he went into a coma and nearly died, spending some considerable time in hospital recovering. But it didn't stop him from his continued musical quest and, after his recovery, he returned to touring and recording with the Dead and his own versions of the Jerry Garcia Band. In 1990, he reconnected with old friend and former "Old and In the Way" band mate David Grisman. Grisman was by now a musical giant and one of the greatest Mandolin players of all time. They formed an easy going relaxed acoustic double act which involved a few gigs and many hours worth of sessions at Grisman's home recording studio. Garcia/Grisman was released in 1990 then followed Not for Kids Only (1992) and, since then, 4 more studio albums of the recordings have been released - Shady Grove, The Pizza Tapes (with Tony Rice), So What and Been All Around This World as well as the movie Grateful Dawg (2000) which pays tribute to the musical friendship they shared. They played all different styles of music and the period probably represents Garcia's best work as an acoustic guitarist.
Garcia continued touring with the Dead, his own band and recording with Grisman and others on session work right up till 1995 when he again tried to tackle his drug addiction and his overall health problems which included breathing troubles caused by years of heavy smoking and his love for junk food and lack of exercise meant he spent the last number of years of his life vastly overweight. He entered the Serenity Knolls treatment center in Marin County, California in an attempt to clean up and get healthy. In the early hours of August 9 1995, he suffered a massive heart attack and died. He was 52 years old.
As well as all his Grateful Dead and solo Band work, he also clocked up a lot of studio time with other recording artists and he played on over 50 studio albums by other artists including the likes of the Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, Tom Fogerty, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, David Bromberg, Robert Hunter, Peter Rowan, Warren Zevon, Country Joe McDonald, Ken Nordine, Ornette Coleman, Bruce Hornsby and Bob Dylan and many more.
Often given the clichéd title by the media of being the smiling easy going hippie who never sold out or let us forget the 60s and what it stood for. It should be remembered that Garcia was a talented and dedicated musician capable of playing not only guitar but piano, bass, banjo and pedal steel guitar all to a very high standard as well as being an underrated songwriter. It will be his guitar playing that he will be most remembered for as he was a brilliant guitarist capable of playing any genre or style of music in any setting with anybody and either electric or acoustic. He was a rare genius.- Composer
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Joey Santiago is known for Empire Records (1995), Undeclared (2001) and All the Birds Have Flown South (2016).- Composer
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Tom Verlaine was born on 13 December 1949 in Morristown, New Jersey, USA. He was a composer, known for The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015), I'm Not There (2007) and Gold (2016). He died on 28 January 2023 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.- Music Department
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Steven Drozd was born on 11 June 1969 in Houston, Texas, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for Ender's Game (2013), Christmas on Mars (2008) and Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011).- Actor
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Jim Martin was born on 21 July 1961 in Oakland, California, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) and Black Hawk Down (2001).- Composer
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Adrian Belew caught the public attention for the first time around 1977 when he played guitar with Frank Zappa, David Bowie or the Talking Heads. He began his solo career in 1981 as singer, guitarist, drummer, lyricist, composer and producer of his own records. Since then he has released 15 of them while still lending his talents as guest musician on the records of, among others, Tori Amos, David Byrne, Garland Jeffreys, Laurie Anderson, Joan Armatrading, Joe Cocker, Paul Simon, Jean-Michel Jarre, Robert Palmer, Cyndi Lauper, Mike Oldfield, Herbie Hancock, Peter Gabriel, the B52's, Nine Inch Nails, the Yellow Magic Orchestra, William Shatner, Porcupine Tree or Ryuichi Sakamoto. 1981 is also the year that saw the beginning of his stint as front man for the band King Crimson. He toured and recorded 6 studio albums with them. Their last release was issued in 2003. He also recorded and appeared on stage with the Adrian Belew Trio, the ProjecKts and the Bears.- Actor
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John Anthony Frusciante was born on March 5, 1970, in New York. He became interested in rock music at an early age. After his parents divorced, John and his mother moved to California when he was seven. When he was nine, his stepfather offered him his first acoustic guitar.
John taught himself how to play guitar, and for the next several years he would spent all his time practicing. In California his interest in music grew and grew as he discovered bands such as The Germs. While at school it was clear that John was an outsider, mainly because he would rather concentrate on music and that was his life.
In school he heard many artists who influenced what he played on his guitar, such as Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa, among others. John became a big fan of a local band called Red Hot Chili Peppers when he heard them at 15 years of age. At this time original guitarist Hillel Slovak was still in the band. At the age of 16 John left school and home to become a full-time musician. He had even auditioned to be a guitarist for Frank Zappa but "chickened out" at the last minute. At a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, John met Hillel Slovak. Over the years John also met Anthony Kiedis and Flea, and began to come in contact with them regularly. When Hillel Slovak died of a heroin overdose on June 27, 1988, Jack Irons, the Chili Peppers' drummer at the time, also left, as he and Slovak were best friends and Slovak's death was a huge shock to Irons. Flea and Kiedis did not want to quit the band, however, because they knew that it hadn't reached its full capability.
Flea had jammed with John many times after Hillel's death and told Anthony that John was right for the Chili Peppers. The instrumental "Pretty Little Ditty" (the riff of which was sampled for Crazy Town's smash hit "butterfly") that appeared on the album "Mother's Milk" was born through the numerous jams that Flea and John had. A little while later, John auditioned to be a guitarist for the band Thelonious Monster. The band was about to offer him the job, but Flea jumped in just in time and offered the guitarist position in the Chili Peppers to John, which he gladly accepted.
Flea and others close to the band recalled that John was very much like Hillel, not only in the way he played guitar but the way he stood and moved like him. In 1989, "Mother's Milk", John and new drummer Chad Smith's first album for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, peaked at #59 on the Billboard charts and with the hit "Higher Ground" originally written by Stevie Wonder.
The Chili Peppers were becoming more popular every day while their fan base grew. Years earlier, when John was at a Chili Peppers concert, Hillel asked John, "Would you still like the Chilis if they got so popular that they played the L.A. Forum?". John responded, "No, because it would ruin the whole thing."
With the success of the band's fifth album and John's second with them, "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" (1991), what Hillel said bothered John and he began loathing the popularity of the band. During the Blood Sugar Sex Magik world tour, John's relationship with Kiedis started falling apart, even though they were once the closest in the band. After a while they stopped talking. John would retaliate at shows by playing quiet parts loudly and loud parts quietly. Flea even recalled that John started playing angrily. He knew John wasn't happy.
At a hotel room in Japan in 1992, John did not want to play one night. He angrily slammed his arm on a table, trying to injure it in some way that would prevent him from playing, but it didn't do any damage. He rang the Chili Peppers' tour manager and said he wanted to quit the band. After a band meeting, the rest of the Chili Peppers' convinced John to play that night and he did so. After the show, he took a plane home to California with one more date in Japan still to go. On May 7 1992, John left the Peppers and went home and stayed on the couch for roughly a year.
As the Chili Peppers began the search for another guitarist, John became addicted to drugs such as heroin and cocaine. He discovered his love for painting. After his friends Perry Farrell, Steven T. Perkins, Gibby Haynes, Flea and River Phoenix convinced him to record a solo album because there was "no good music anymore," he completed "Niandra LaDes & Usually Just A T-shirt". Warners was to have the rights to the album, as there was a "leaving artist" clause in the Chili Peppers' contract, but since John did not want to do any promotion or interviews for the album, they gladly handed over the rights to Rick Rubin's (producer of Blood Sugar Sex Magik) American Recordings. The album didn't shift many units, as it was only restricted to the American market. It sold roughly 15,000 copies.
After his friend River Phoenix died in October 1993, John became more depressed. He stopped playing guitar, stopped painting and became a full-time drug addict. He went broke after spending all his money on drugs and was expelled from his house because he wasn't paying the rent for it anymore. During those years John moved to different places. If no one had heard from him for a while, some would assume that he was probably dead. He never ate regularly and liked his new stick-like body shape, because it looked like David Bowie's during the "Ziggy Stardust" days.
After a suggestion from a friend for another solo album, John agreed to do one to pay for his drug habit. In 1997 "Smile from the Streets you Hold" was released. It sold better then "Niandra LaDes & Usually Just a T-shirt".
In 1999 John took the album off the market because he was ashamed of his motives for doing it. He was urged by friends to give rehab another try. This time it was successful. He began playing again and played at the Viper Room on the 20th January 1997, where only a few years earlier his friend River Phoenix had died. Then in the beginning of 1998, rumors spread that Dave Navarro (John's replacement in the Chili Peppers) was leaving the band.
Flea, who had jammed with John numerous times during this period, proposed him to join the band again. It wasn't until April 1998 that his return within the Chili Peppers became official. It made the band and the fans alike happy. He and the rest of the Chili Peppers jammed numerous times and kept composing and practicing during the following months. Anthony Kiedis had recovered from his addictions as well and he and John were able to forgive and forget and form a bond once more.
He has since recorded two more albums with the Chili Peppers, "Californication" (1999) and "By The Way" (2002), both commercial successes. He also released two more solo albums, "To Record Only Water For Ten Days" (2001) and "Shadows Collide With People" (2004). He will be releasing a new album "Will To Death" on June 22 on the Record Collection label.- Music Artist
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David Byrne is an Oscar winning composer, songwriter and singer, best known for being frontman of the New Wave/punk band Talking Heads, which was active between 1975 and 1991. Born in Scotland but raised in the United States in Maryland, Byrne began performing musically in high school.
Byrne attended the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) between 1970 and '71. He dropped out to attend the Maryland Institute College of Art before dropping out for good in 1972. He returned to Providence and started a band in 1973 called The Artistics with Chris Frantz, whom he knew at RISD. The band broke up in May '74 and Byrne moved to New York, followed by Frantz and his girlfriend Tina Weymouth in September. The three started performing as Talking Heads in 1975. The band was one of the major acts of the punk and new wave scene of the 1970s.
Byrne won an Oscar and a Grammy Award for his soundtrack to the movie The Last Emperor (1987) in 1988, the same year Talking Heads ceased to function. Except for a brief reunion in 1991, the band stopped recording together in '88 as Byrne launched a solo career. Talking Heads were inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.- Composer
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Al Di Meola was born on 22 July 1954 in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. He is a composer and producer, known for The Sopranos (1999), Eric B. & Rakim: Move the Crowd (1987) and Gary Makes a Sandwich (2007).- Music Department
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Larry Lalonde is known for Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991), Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) and Detention (2011).- Actor
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Greg Ginn was born on 8 June 1954 in Tucson, Arizona, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for Repo Man (1984), Boss Level (2020) and The Pelican Brief (1993).- Actor
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Johnny Ramone was born John William Cummings in Queens, New York. He went to be the guitar player for the Ramones, alongside Jeffrey Hyman and Douglas Colvin (later Joey Ramone and Dee Dee Ramone). They also hired Thomas Erdelyi (later Tommy Ramone) as drummer. Tommy disbanded in 1978 and asked Marc Steven Bell (later Marky Ramone) if he would like to become the drum player. He accepted it and Bell went by the stage name, Marky Ramone. In 1984, Johnny married his girlfriend, Linda Marie Danielle. She originally dated Joey Ramone. In 1989, Dee Dee Ramone disbanded as bass and Christopher John Ward, who went on be known as C. J. Ramone. In 1996, the Ramones disbanded after a tour. On April 15, 2001, Joey Ramone died of lymphoma. In 2002, the Ramones were inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. Later that same year on June 5, Dee Dee Ramone died of a heroin overdose. On September 15, 2004, Johnny Ramone died in Los Angeles after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was 55 years old.- Composer
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Wayne Kramer is a songwriter, producer and composer whose reputation writing music for television and film risks supplanting his legend as one of music's stellar guitarists. Rolling Stone Magazine recognizes him as one of the top 100 guitarists of all time and highlights from recent composing and playing can be heard in the upcoming Will Ferrell comedy "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" for Sony Pictures. His signature song "Edge of the Switchblade" runs at the end title credits for the film.
On television, Wayne's 2003 title theme for Fox Sports Network's extreme sports program 5-4-3-2-1 was a bona fide hit and he now has three others running there - Spotlight, In My Own Words and Under the Lights. He has been building a catalog of cues for their network library throughout 2005 and 2006.
Wayne's songs have been featured in a wide array of shows, including MTV's Jackass series, Judging Amy for 20th Century Fox TV and Chris Carter's Fox series Millenium. Additionally, his songs are regularly heard in NFL, NBA and MLB Playoff events, as well as BMX extreme videos and many Food Network productions.
Wayne's songs can be heard in various feature films including Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous, the Ramones' Rock 'n' Roll High School, October Films' action film Detour, Mary Harron's I Shot Andy Warhol and Pump Up the Volume starring Christian Slater. His current film scoring work includes composing a jazz score for the full-length feature documentaries "The Narcotics Farm" and "Votergate."
Wayne founded the MC5, widely recognized as the prototype for punk rock and heavy metal. In 1969, they released the ridiculously controversial album Kick Out The Jams on Elektra Records, which included the hit of the same name. After leaving Elektra, they released two albums on Atlantic Records, Back In The USA, produced by Bruce Springsteen's manager Jon Landau, and the critically hailed High Time. Between world tours, Wayne wrote scores for the Caroline Films feature Gold and The Living Theatre's film production of Paradise Now.
Wayne spent the'80s in New York City, where he teamed up with the infamous Johnny Thunders for a short-lived, but headline grabbing, punk rock supergroup Gang War. Soon after, Wayne co-wrote the acclaimed R&B musical The Last Words of Dutch Schultz with Mick Farren, then he co-founded the revolutionary acid funk outfit Was (Not Was) with David and Don Was.
Wayne moved to Los Angeles in 1994, signed with Epitaph Records and recorded four records in as many years: The Hard Stuff (1995), followed by Dangerous Madness (1996), Citizen Wayne (1997) and a live album LLMF (1998). He also produced and co-wrote the album Full Circle with John Sinclair and His Blues Scholars and produced a retrospective collection for Rhino Records entitled The Big Bang: Best of the MC5 as well as the punk compilation Wayne Kramer Presents: Beyond Cyberpunk for MusicBlitz.
Wayne launched MuscleTone Records in 2001. Its flagship release for 2002 was his own album Adult World. In 2003, he music-directed a performance for the DVD entitled Sonic Revolution: A Celebration of the MC5. A 30-minute documentary of that reunion performance was produced by MuscleTone Records in partnership with Levi's Vintage Clothing and was broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom in 2004. The hour-long edit of the concert is now a broadcast staple for Trio Networks in the USA.
Wayne runs the label, tours the world as a musician, speaker and activist. He regularly writes with, and produces, upstart rock `n' roll bands.- Actor
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Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein was born on 15 September 1964 in Lodi, New Jersey, USA. He is an actor, known for Animal Room (1995), Death Ward 13 and WCW Monday Nitro (1995). He was previously married to Stephanie Bellars.- Actor
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Steve Howe was born on 8 April 1947 in London, England, UK. He is an actor and composer, known for Apollo 18 (2011), Almost Famous (2000) and Toys (1992). He has been married to Janet Osborne since January 1975. They have three children. He was previously married to Patricia Stebbings.- Composer
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Ian MacKaye formed the Washington, D.C. band Fugazi with Brendan Canty and Joe Lally and Guy Picciotto in 1987. Before that, he was a member of Egg Hunt, Embrace, Minor Threat, Skewbald/ Grand Union, and Teen Idles. Ian created "Dischord Records" in 1980 to document the music coming out of the Washington, D.C. punk community. In 1998, Dischord released a film by Jem Cohen called Instrument (1999) which compounds ten years of various Fugazi studio and tour documentary footage.- Music Department
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Mick Jones was born on 26 June 1955 in Clapham, London, England, UK. He is an actor and composer, known for Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Die Another Day (2002) and 500 Days of Summer (2009).- David Gilmour is known for High Hopes (2014).
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Tony Iommi was born on 19 February 1948 in Birmingham, England, UK. He is an actor and composer, known for Iron Man (2008), Suicide Squad (2016) and Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000). He has been married to Maria Sjöholm since 1999.- Actor
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Tom Morello was born on May 30, 1964 in New York city. He has become an influential guitarist due to his work with Rage Against The Machine in the 1990s. Tom got his Social Studies degree from Harvard and went to L.A to start a band. He briefly played guitarist for a band named Lock Up with fellow Rage member Zack De La Rocha.- Actor
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Ron Asheton was born on 17 July 1948 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He was an actor, known for Smokin' Aces (2006), Predestination (2014) and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). He died on 6 January 2009 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.- Music Artist
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Kurt Cobain was born on February 20 1967, in Aberdeen, Washington. Kurt and his family lived in Hoquiam for the first few months of his life then later moved back to Aberdeen, where he had a happy childhood until his parents divorced. The divorce left Kurt's outlook on the world forever scarred. He became withdrawn and anti-social. He was constantly placed with one relative to the next, living with friends, and at times even homeless. Kurt was not the most popular person in high school as he was in public school. In 1985 Kurt left Aberdeen for Olympia where he formed the band Nirvana in 1986. In 1989 Nirvana recorded their debut album Bleach under the independent label Sub-Pop records. Nirvana became very popular in Britain and by 1991 they signed a contract with Geffen. Their next album Nevermind became a 90s masterpiece and made Kurt's Nirvana one of the most successful bands in the world. Kurt became trampled upon with success and found the new lifestyle hard to bear. In February 1992 Kurt married Courtney Love, the woman who was already pregnant with his child, Frances Bean Cobain. Nirvana released their next album Incesticide later that year. The album appealed to many fans due to the liner notes, which expressed Kurt's open-mindedness. In September 1993 Nirvana released their next album, 'In Utero', which topped the charts. On March 4, 1994, Kurt was taken to hospital in a coma. It was officially stated as an accident but many believe it to have been an unsuccessful suicide attempt. Family and friends convinced Kurt to seek rehab. Kurt was said to have fled rehab after only a few days from a missing person's report filed by Courtney Love. On April 8th Kurt's body was found in his Seattle home. In his arms was a shotgun, which had been fired into his head. Near him laid a suicide note written in red ink. It was addressed to his wife Courtney Love and his daughter Frances Bean Cobain. Two days after Kurt's body was discovered people gathered in Seattle, they began setting fires, chanting profanities, and fighting with police officers. They also listened to a tape of Courtney reading sections of the suicide note left by Kurt. The last few words were "I love you, I love you".- Special Effects
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Adam Jones was born on 15 January 1965 in Libertyville, Illinois, USA. He is a composer and director, known for Jurassic Park (1993), Escape from L.A. (1996) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).- Music Artist
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Neil Young is one of the most respected and prolific rock/folk guitarists of the late 20th century. Raised in Canada, he first became well-known as a guitarist and occasional vocalist for the band Buffalo Springfield. After the band's breakup, Young became a solo performer. However, he also has spent more than 30 years performing with the super-group Crosby Stills Nash & Young, as well as with the band Crazy Horse. He also recorded an album with the grunge band Pearl Jam in 1995. Besides his work as a musician, he has also been active in film. Young has produced and/or performed in such concert films as Rust Never Sleeps (1979), Year of the Horse (1997) and many more. He has also been involved with non-musical films, including Human Highway (1982) and Made in Heaven (1987).- Actor
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J. Mascis was born on 10 December 1965 in Amherst, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for Reality Bites (1994), Yes Man (2008) and The Double (2013). He is married to Luisa Mascis. They have one child.- Music Department
- Actor
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Josh Homme was born on 17 May 1973 in Palm Springs, California, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for End of Watch (2012), Hot Rod (2007) and Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000). He was previously married to Brody Dalle.- Actor
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Johnny Marr made his name as lead guitarist with the cult British rock band, The Smiths, regarded by some as one of the most influential bands of the 1980s. Along with Morrissey, Marr created some of the most memorable and acclaimed songs of that decade, with Morrissey's witty, satirical lyrics and plaintive vocals perfectly complemented by Marr's distinctive jangly guitar style. The band's catchy melodies and Morrissey's eccentric and charismatic stage presence ensured that The Smiths developed a large and devoted following in the UK. To this day, they are name-checked by most up-and-coming British guitar bands as an influence. Personality clashes between Marr and Morrissey meant an acrimonious end for The Smiths in 1987. Morrissey forged a successful career as a solo artist, while Marr became a much sought-after session musician and "guitar for hire", working briefly with artists such as The Pretenders and Bryan Ferry, before more extensive and notable work with Electronic and The The in the early 90s. In the late 90s, he formed a new band, Johnny Marr's Healers.- Actor
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East Bay Ray was born on 17 November 1958 in Oakland, California, USA. He is an actor, known for The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Planet Terror (2007) and Grindhouse (2007).- Composer
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Mike McCready was born on 5 April 1966 in Pensacola, Florida, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for Out of the Furnace (2013), 50/50 (2011) and Almost Famous (2000). He has been married to Ashley since 2005. They have one child.- Actor
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Pete Shelley was born on 17 April 1955 in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England, UK. He was an actor, known for If I Stay (2014), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and Some Kind of Wonderful (1987). He was married to ??? and Greta. He died on 6 December 2018 in Tallinn, Estonia.- Actress
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Poison Ivy Rorschach was born on 20 February 1953 in Sacramento, California, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for The Return of the Living Dead (1985), The Social Network (2010) and Poltergeist (2015). She was previously married to Lux Interior.- Actor
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Born in Queens, NY, Thunders is best known as the lead guitarist for the New York Dolls in the early 1970s and unintentionally helped inspire the Punk movements in New York City and London. He later formed The Heartbreakers and went on to a solo career. His career was often interrupted by issues related to drug addiction, and he died under suspicious circumstances in a New Orleans, LA, hotel room at 38 years old.- Actor
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Stephen Philip Jones, was born on September 3rd, 1955 in West London. His real father, an amateur boxer, named Don Jarvis left Steve and his mother when he was just two years old. Sometime later his Step-father arrived on the scene, for a time, Steve lived in a house with his parents and grandparents, and at the age of 12 moved to a one-bedroomed basement flat with his mother and step-father, in Shepherds Bush. He didn't have a happy childhood and felt that his mother hated him. He didn't want to get a job and at the age of 16, his step-father threw him out of the family home, for that very reason. By this time, Jones already had a criminal record dating back to 1968 and had spent a year and a half in a reform school. This did little to thwart his criminal intentions. By the age of 18, he was not far off ending up in jail. Realising that music was his only way out of the life he hated, he started up a band. In 1972 Q.T. Jones and the Sex Pistols were formed, Just a few years later, with a line-up change, a switch to guitar from vocals for Jones and the name cut in half, Jones would be part of what were once one of the most notorious bands in the UK at that time. The break-up of the Pistols led to drug problems for Jones, most notably an addiction to Heroin, which would last until 1987, until Jones got himself clean and started work on his very first solo album. 1989 gave us a second and Jones continued his work within the music scene until 1996 when not only did he have the Neurotic Outsiders, but also the Sex Pistols re-united for a world tour. Steve has had the opportunity to showcase his acting skills, in four films, in recent years. He is also a football player for Hollywood UTD and continues to produce various bands.- Actor
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Jerry Cantrell is an American musician best known as the founder, lead guitarist, co-lead vocalist and main songwriter for the Seattle Rock band Alice in Chains since 1987. The band was part of the Grunge movement and is known for the unique vocal harmonies between Cantrell and Layne Staley, and later between Cantrell and William DuVall. Cantrell also has a solo career and released the albums "Boggy Depot" in 1998, and "Degradation Trip Volumes 1 & 2" in 2002. He was named "Riff Lord" by British hard rock/metal magazine Metal Hammer in 2006.- Actor
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Brent Hinds is known for The Big Short (2015), Monsters University (2013) and Better Living Through Chemistry (2014).- Composer
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Graham Coxon is an English musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter who came to prominence as a founding member of the rock band Blur. As the group's lead guitarist and secondary vocalist, Graham Coxon was featured on seven of Blur's studio albums, from 1991's Leisure to 2015's The Magic Whip, despite being absent from the group from 2002 to 2008 owing to a dispute with the other members during the recording of 2003's Think Tank. He has also led a solo career since 1998. As well as being a musician, Coxon was a visual artist: he designed the cover art for all his solo albums as well as Blur's 13 (1999).
Coxon played several instruments and records his albums with little assistance from session musicians. Q magazine critic Adrian Deevoy has written: "Coxon is an astonishing musician. His restless playing style - all chord slides, rapid pull-offs, mini-arpeggios and fractured runs - seems to owe more to his saxophone training than any conventional guitar tuition." An innovative lead guitarist, he has been described by Oasis bandleader Noel Gallagher as "one of the most talented guitarists of his generation." Graham Coxon was voted the 15th greatest guitarist of the last 30 years in a 2010 BBC poll.- Actor
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Brian James was born on 18 February 1955 in England, UK. He is an actor and composer, known for Baby Driver (2017), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) and The Hidden (1987).- Music Department
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Born June 7, 1967 to James Raul 'Mike' Navarro and Constance Colleen Hopkins. His paternal grandparents immigrated from Mexico; his mother, Constance, was a model and worked on Let's Make a Deal (1963). After his parents divorced when he was seven, Dave moved with his mother to Bel Air, and lived with her until she was murdered in March 1983 by her boyfriend. Her murderer was eventually caught thanks to the help of America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back (1988). While at a skating park, Dave heard a Jimi Hendrix song, and decided to become a professional guitar player. After stints in both Jane's Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers (during his time with the latter group, Dave caused a sensation when he smooched band mate Flea on the cover of "Guitar" magazine) and turning down offers to join Guns N' Roses, he started his own band, "Spread", and released a solo album, "Trust No One".