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OK I’ve already dissed on the 80’s, but I’m prepared to admit there were a lot of good musicians and records from the decade.
Off the top of my head—some guitar-oriented records from the era:
Rock and Blues
King Crimson Discipline
Robert Fripp Exposure, The League of Gentlemen
Talking Heads Stop Making Sense
David Bowie Scary Monsters, Let’s Dance
Zappa You Are What You Is, Shut Up and Play Your Guitar
Prince 1999, Purple Rain, Around the World in a Day
SRV Texas Flood, Couldn’t Stand the Weather
Andy Summers/Robert Fripp I Advance Masked
Sting The Dream of the Blue Turtles
The Del Lords Johnny Comes Marching Home
Country
Steve Earle Guitar Town, Copperhead Road
Lyle Lovett Pontiac, Lyle Lovett and His Large Band
Lucinda Williams Lucinda
KD Lang Shadowland, Absolute Torch and Twang
Dwight Yoakum Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc.
Jazz
John McLaughlin Belo Horizonte, Passion, Grace and Fire
Miles Davis Star People, We Want Miles
Pat Metheny 80/81, As Falls Wichita, Secret Story
Any others come to mind?
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02-04-2020 09:33 AM
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Jimmy Bruno's Sleight of Hand might be from the 80's, but I'm not completely sure off hand.
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Metallica's "Master of Puppets" ('86)
Soundgarden, "Louder Than Love" ('89)
Ozzy Osbourne (w/Randy Rhoads), "Blizzard of Oz" ('80/'81)
Van Halen, "1984" (also "Women and Children First" and "OU812")
Johnny Winter, "Guitar Slinger" ('84)
Eric Johnson, "Tones" ('86)
Jeff Healey Band, "See The Light" ('88)
Steve Vai "Flex-Able" ('84) "Crossroads" ('86)
Joe Satriani, "Surfing with the Alien" ('87)
Frank Gambale, "Brave New Guitar" ('85)
Albert King, "I'm In A Phone Booth, Baby" ('84)
Toto IV (Steve Lukather), the album w/ "Rosanna" and "Africa" ('82)
ZZ Top, "Eliminator" ('83): Gimme All Your Lovin', Sharp Dressed Man, Legs, TV Dinners, Got Me Under Pressure...
Yngwie Malmsteen, "Rising Force" (not my cup of tea but it was a hugely influential album) ('84)
Allan Holdsworth, "Metal Fatigue" ('85)
The Replacements, "Let It Be" ('84) and "Pleased To Meet Me" ('87)
Alex Chilton, "High Priest" ('87)
Sonic Youth, "Sister" ('87)
Rhys Chatham, "Die Donnergotter" ('87)
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Great record but it came out in '92.
Originally Posted by corpse
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My guitar interests were not jazz oriented at that time. I was a recent conservatory graduate who knew little outside of the classical repertoire. The record that forever changed my direction with the guitar was Stride Guitar by Guy Van Duser, released in 1981.
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On the punkier side:
Minutemen, "Double Nickels on the Dime" ('84) "Three Way Tie (For Last)" ('85)
Husker Du, "Zen Arcade", "New Day Rising" ('84 and '85)
Pussy Galore, "Groovy Hate F*ck" ('85)
Live Skull, "Bringing Home the Bait" ('85)
Black Flag, "My War" ('84)
Descendants, "Milo Goes To College" ('82)
Bad Brains, "I Against I" ('86)
Government Issue, "You" ('85)
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A few more ... Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
Blues/Rock/R&B:
Robert Cray, Strong Persuader
Robben Ford, Talk To Your Daughter
Fabulous Thunderbirds, What's the word (Jimmy Vaughan)
NRBQ, Wild Weekend
Joe Jackson, Big World (Vinnie Zummo)
Talking Heads, Remain in Light (Adrian Belew)
Danny Gatton, Unfinished Business
Steely Dan, Gaucho (Steve Khan, Larry Carlton, Walter Becker)
Donald Fagen, The Night Fly (Larry Carlton)
Jeff Beck, Flash
The Blasters, American Music
Los Lobos, How Will the Wolf Survive
Neville Brothers, Neville-ization (Brian Stoltz)
Jazz"
Jimmy Smith/George Benson, Off the Top
Marc Johnson, Bass Desires (Sco, Frisell)
Carla Bley, Heavy Heart (Hiram Bullock)
Larry Carlton, Last Nite
Pat Metheny, Still Life Talking
Pat Martino, The Return
John Scofield, Still Warm
Stanley Jordan, Magic Touch
John
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Jimmy and Doug Raney - Raney ‘81
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Was just listening to that last night. Might be my favorite "guitar jazz" record ever. Definitely my favorite "guitar duo" record. Originally Posted by grahambop
Re: 80's, Living Color's "Vivid" has to be on that list.
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All but one of Emily Remler’s albums came out in the 80s.
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Arrowhead with Wayne Johnson Trio is quite 80s in sound. I know because I still listen to it. Flim Johnson (Flim & the BBs) on bass. One pioneer of modern shredding Steve Morse and the band Dixie Dregs came out with a few in the 80s as well. Personally I prefer their earlier work.
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Another good one I got in the 80s, Jim Hall’s Three:
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Agree; as you surely know both Jimmy and Doug released many fine albums during the 80s, with my favorite Jimmy one being The Master. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Yeah, there's a stretch there, Jimmy's "second career" records, I call 'em...he's playing at such a high level, and by the end of them he already had big time hearing problems! Originally Posted by jameslovestal
Jimmy and Jim Hall are guys that give me hope that I can just continue to progress and try new things even though I'm not in my 20's anymore...
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Steve Morse had some solo albums in the 80's that were quite good. That reminds me a friend also turned me on to Vic Juris during that time period. His albums are outstanding. Originally Posted by teeps
Arrowhead with Wayne Johnson Trio is quite 80s in sound. I know because I still listen to it. Flim Johnson (Flim & the BBs) on bass. One pioneer of modern shredding Steve Morse and the band Dixie Dregs came out with a few in the 80s as well. Personally I prefer their earlier work.
I think we can all agree there were some journeyman guitarists especially in jazz who bucked the trends of the time and just made good, old-fashioned guitar-pickin' albums.
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Daydream Nation.
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Heck yeah. Originally Posted by Litterick
Makes the "best guitar album of any decade" list too.
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It was a good decade for guitar! What a spectrum, from Sonic Youth to ...er... Michael Angelo Batio?
So all good suggestions. Glad to see Talking Heads well represented. However not much UK stuff. So:
Louder than Bombs (OK it's singles but hey) TBH anything Smiths because Johnny Marr was super influential and amazing at writing melodic but surprisingly tricky riffs. Marr also shows up on Naked by Talking Heads.
My Bloody Valentine made good noises, kind of the UK equivalent of Sonic Youth, influential on Swervedriver, 65 Days of Static (cool band)
But in case it gets too indie here ... IRON ****ING MAIDEN. Very important at my high school haha. Great old school rock/metal guitar. Peak Maiden for me is early stuff, so not relevant here, but you will not find a better twin guitar attack rock band. Thin Lizzy on speed they called it.
What's that? Guitar nerd records? Well OK. I think the UK scene was not guitar virtuoso oriented. Our best - Holdsworth - had to go to LA, because I get the feeling that's where the scene was. But there's a lot of great guitar from that era.
One person everyone should check out is Alan Murphy - the pop Holdsworth... He played with Kate Bush and Go West among others. Great fusion playing on pop records. Died tragically young.
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I just realized the Stray Cats debut album was in 1981. That was definitely going against the grain of the 80's!
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Indeed. I also liked "There And Back" ('80). Originally Posted by Litterick
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And no mention of Bonnie Raitt ??
Shameful.
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You're right. Nick of Time in 1988 rejuvenated her career. Originally Posted by Dennis D
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