More Worst Guitar Solos

A followup to my earlier worst guitar solos of all time, here are another five:

Child in Time by Deep Purple, solo by Ritchie Blackmore. No, not the well-known live version from Made in Japan, or the equally good original studio version. The one I'm talking about is the dire solo from the Man in Black's very last album with Purple, the thoroughly mediocre live set Come Hell or High Water. By this time it was clear Blackmore's heart just wasn't in it any more; there's none of the fireworks from axe-shredding 70s classics like California Jamming or Rainbow On Stage. Instead we get a couple of minutes of directionless tuneless strumming, until keyboard player Jon Lord puts it out of it's misery by taking over on the Mighty Hammond. At this stage in his career, Blackmore's tantrums were much more interesting than his guitar playing.

Sting of the Bumblebee by Manowar, solo by Joey Di Maio. The token bass solo in the list. The Flight of the Bumblebee played on a bass guitar. Is there really anything else you need to know?

Soldier of the Line by Magnum, solo by Tony Clarkin. OK, Tony Clarkin isn't the world's greatest guitar player; most of his solos are repetitive and clumsily structured. But what makes the guitar break section of the song so dire is the the way it exposes Magnum's rhythm section of the time as complete waste of space. During the rest of the song Clarkin's powerchords drive the music. But the moment he plays a solo, the bottom completely drops out of the song. Any when the solo isn't up to much in the first place, the end result is just embarrassing.

Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, solo by Kurt Cobain. For some inexplicable reason the late Kurt Cobain often appears on lists of great guitarists. While he undoubtedly was skilled at writing memorable songs and expressing White Wolf Games levels of angst, a great guitarist he was not. Not for nothing are Nirvana credited with killing off the guitar solo. While there is a 'solo' of sorts here, it's just a few bars of tuneless nothing. I'd much rather listen to Neil Schon.

Burning Rope by Genesis, solo my Mike Rutherford. From the album that marked the beginning of their descent from sublime progressive rock to bland corporate pabulum. Rutherford might be a decent melodic bass player, but his lead guitar never rises above the banal. Steve Hackett he ain't.