A friend on FB made this comment about Blue Suede Shoes. Not sure it’s such a crap solo, but it’s not totally amazingly gobsmackingly awe-inspirng to my ears. I couldn’t recall it because even though I sort of know the song I’m too young (like, 61) to remember it like I remember Beatles solos for example.
Anyway, the idea intrigued me. I’ll post what I think is a great song in the comments that I always thought had a crap solo but guitarist folks tell me it’s groundbreaking and wonderful etc.
The Kinks – “You Really Got Me”. Great song in so many ways. Guitar solo – bit of a thrash.
Prepared to get armour plated coat…
Funny you should post the Kinks song. I was 14 when that record was released and just learning guitar. I used to listen to that guitar solo and think it was brilliant. It was as strange, incomprehensible and unattainable then as a Steve Vai shredding excursion is now.
Later, as I learned to play better I realised that the Dave Davies solo was, as you say, a bit of a thrash and not that difficult after all.
It still retains a kind of beauty though and is perfect for the record. Ditto the solo on the follow-up All Day And All Of The Night
Can’t youtube, but Doves’ Black And White Town, which is a fantastic single, has a really bad solo on it. Works perfectly in the song, but still….
Meanwhile looking up I love solo on You Really Got Me, I’ve probably modelled every solo I’ve ever played on it!
My nomination is “Eight miles high” by The Byrds. They say it is influenced by Coltrane. My arse. He is using the fakers trick of scrubbing with the plectrum whilst randomly fretting notes in the hope something interesting emerges. The record is, of course, magnificent, crap solo and all.
https://youtu.be/J74ttSR8lEg?list=RDJ74ttSR8lEg
The Coltrane influence on Eight Miles High is really the four opening notes, which come from this:
My fave bit of Byrds, innit? Solo ‘n all.
My favourite Byrds track is a very crowded field, especially when you add the country / Clarence White era (now there’s a guitarist). Actually Roger McG is a terrific guitarist, innovative and unique. It’s still a crap solo though (but still a great record, you’re right).
McGuinn a faker? I never knew. I think it is monumental guitar work and raises the song to a whole new level.
Blue Cheer – Summertime Blues
Solo from 2:25 is basically a continual escalation of the fretboard (is it an octave? my limited musical ability can’t tell))
Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band – Canyons Of Your Mind
A crap solo, but it is on purpose.
That makes it a good solo doesn’t it? 🙂
The Police – So Lonely
Never seems to fit (at least not to my cloth ears) – maybe it is an attempt at a white reggae/jazz hybrid?
Andy Summers was a lousy lead guitarist. Mind you that wasn’t his role in the Police.
Which was
Faceman?
The McGuffin?
Summers The Steam?
Panda Car Driver?
Or just breaking up the fights between the other two?
His roll has never been defined.
Although Sting chose Egg, and Stewart Copeland plumped for Ham, Cheese & Salad Cream.
Paul Davidson – Midnight Rider. (Reggaefied version of an Allman Brothers song)
Great record, with a ropey guitar solo.
Heartbreaker. Led Zeppelin
The bit in the middle where the band stops and Page makes sounds like his guitar is pulling stupid faces.
And as for that violin bow led excrescence in Dazed And Confused. Words fail me.
I think both of those tracks are fantastic from beginning to end. Wouldn’t change a thing. It’s the shifts, the dynamic contrasts of sound that make them so great. The slowed down minimalist moments followed by full on rocking out. See also Whole Lotta Love.
There is a track on The Doors second album, I think it’s People Are Strange, when Jim builds great anticipation with his excited “well alright yeah” then you just get a feeble sounding keyboard solo that sounds a bit like a harpsichord, when it feels like it should be a blast of squally guitar or something. Not that it’s badly played, just a bit soft and gentle.
It’s Love Me Two Times, and you’re absolutely right; one of the weediest sounding keyboard parts in human history.
On a related note, I’m probably entirely alone in my belief that one of the few Beatles tracks I really like, In My Life, is all but ruined by a similarly godforsaken keyboard solo. It sounds like it’s been lifted from the incidental score to a Wes Anderson movie.
Yes that’s the one. Weedy and reedy.
In My Life? Apparently a piano played by George Martin speeded up to sound like a harpsichord. It sounds a bit cut and paste to me. Doesn’t really fit.
I know what you mean about Heartbreaker. JP’s solos are usually a bit of a mess, though the solos on Whole Lotta Love and Stairway are fantastic. I love the violin on Dazed and Confused. Takes all sorts.
That movie “It might get loud” exposes JP, The Edge and Jack White as all being pretty limited outside of their comfort zone.
There’s an obvious winner of this one. Can’t see beyond the asthmatic guitar break on the otherwise magnificent Young Americans by David Bowie. No wonder the edited version seems to get more radio play.
Here’s my selection.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4-4PeyCKgY
Julian Cope “Fear Loves This Place”.
A truly momentous song and vocal performance, a truly dire guitar solo.
A crap guitarist writes: I love crap guitar solos* on proper records, they give me hope. (My solos aren’t my trademark.)
*However, any solo longer that 16 bars is wrong, 8 bars is best, and no solos but properly thought-out parts is the ideal.
Black Dog – that’s a stinker. Love Heartbreaker