A brilliant guitar solo can bring a musician immortality. So can a bad one. Here are 10 of the absolute worst.
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00:00A brilliant guitar solo can bring a musician immortality, so can a bad one.
00:05Here are ten of the absolute worst.
00:07As the last cut on the 1967 album Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles' All You Need Is
00:12Love wraps things up on a high note, despite its relatively simplistic chorus.
00:16The song is one of 20 Beatles hits to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and it's
00:21a definitive track from the Fab Four's psychedelic-tinged middle era.
00:24It also contains what many believe is George Harrison's worst-ever guitar solo, one that
00:29starts with great promise, then flames out just two lines in.
00:32It's like he's an actor who forgets his next line in the middle of his big emotional scene,
00:36then flounders around for a bit before finally just giving up.
00:40Yes, it's that bad.
00:41In a Reddit thread dedicated to Harrison's worst solos, a user summed up their thoughts
00:45on the unfinished feeling lead guitar part on All You Need Is Love, writing,
00:49Harrison got a lot better at guitar solos throughout his life, but All You Need Is Love
00:53is really the only answer.
00:55It's an excellent solo, until it isn't.
00:57Interestingly, the substandard solo might not be entirely Harrison's fault.
01:01Redditors on a separate thread cited factors such as the huge rush to release All You Need
01:05Is Love as a single, as well as the song's unorthodox mix of time signatures.
01:10In any case, this was a rare misfire from the quiet Beatle.
01:13Luckily, he went on to record a catalog's worth of memorable guitar solos to make up
01:17for that early misstep.
01:18Too bad the album is forever.
01:20It's no secret that the Beastie Boys hated their first hit single, You Gotta Fight For
01:24Your Right to Party, and you can't blame them for feeling that way.
01:27Too many fans took the song's lyrics way too literally, despite the fact it was intended
01:31as a satirical put-down of decadent 80s youth culture.
01:34But while the joke was lost on the decade's hard-partying teens, few will argue that Slayer
01:38Axeman Kerry King's rumored guest fretwork on the 1986 hit is one of the lesser guitar
01:43solos in rock music history.
01:45Oh yeah, it's bad.
01:46Although King's contributions to Fight For Your Right are still not definitively confirmed
01:50decades after the fact, he did deliver a solid solo in the outro of No Sleep Till Brooklyn,
01:55another track off the Beasties' debut album, License to Ill.
01:59But whoever played lead guitar on Fight For Your Right should have done a better job following
02:02through on what was a relatively decent start.
02:05Not long after its opening licks, the solo devolves into sloppy, uninspired noodling,
02:10falling completely flat before Mike D, Ad-Rock, and MCA pick up where they left off before
02:14the break and, tongue-in-cheek, encourage their listeners to rebel against their uptight
02:19parents and do as the song's title suggests.
02:22Let's talk the terrible solo on Nevermind.
02:25If you're already familiar with it, you might logically assume it was Limp Bizkit guitarist
02:28Wes Borland hitting those bum notes.
02:31That would be wrong.
02:32It's actually Fred Durst fooling around with a guitar during a live show, confirming to
02:35fans that he should stick to rapping and singing, even if that rapping and singing has helped
02:39Limp Bizkit cement its status as one of music's most hated bands.
02:43Yes, live on stage in front of a paying crowd, Durst is hit by a bolt of inspiration.
02:49He tries — and repeatedly fails — to play a rudimentary guitar solo.
02:52He then gives up, asks the audience to check my friends tonight, and receives a rousing
02:56cheer in response.
02:58But fans were doing anything but cheering in the YouTube comments, with one suggesting,
03:01"...I would love to see him in a guitar battle vs. Lil Wayne."
03:04Over on Reddit, a user wrote,
03:06"...this might be the funniest thing I've seen on the internet.
03:08Maybe ever."
03:09All told, Nevermind isn't just the title of a Limp Bizkit song.
03:13It's also what Durst should have said to the audience after his first unsuccessful stab
03:17at that infamous guitar solo.
03:19It's not always a bad idea, or a lazy one, to mimic the vocal melodies on your song's
03:23main guitar solo.
03:25It worked for Nirvana on Smells Like Teen Spirit, and on many other songs, but the 80s
03:29were a different era for rock music.
03:31Although there were definitely some hard rock and metal guitar slingers who overdid it with
03:35their solos by playing too fast or cramming in too many notes, Twisted Sister's Eddie
03:39Fingers Ojeda did the exact opposite on the band's otherwise iconic anthem, We're Not
03:44Gonna Take It.
03:45"...alright mister, what do you think you're doing?"
03:48Instead of getting creative on his lead guitar part, Ojeda went a different way, simply regurgitating
03:53Dee Snider's vocals and adding some whammy bar because, well, it was the 80s.
03:58Thankfully, things picked up again after he finished, but looking back on the tune years
04:02later, listeners can't help but call out Ojeda's passionless, beginner-level solo.
04:06One Redditor summed it up, writing,
04:08"...it would be a terrible solo in any genre, but the fact that this is a rock-metal anthem?
04:12It's extra bad.
04:13If you're going to wear spandex and makeup, you best bring the goods."
04:17Much like Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst, Lil Wayne is a rapper who should not, in any way, shape
04:22or form, quit his day job.
04:24But while Durst's misadventures with the guitar are thankfully occasional, Wheezy recorded
04:28an entire album of rap-rock-flavored tracks, 2010's poorly-received Rebirth, and seemingly
04:34launched thousands of memes each time he picked up the instrument.
04:37Wayne's ineptitude with the six-string needs no introduction, but for the sake of discussion,
04:41there is one guitar solo that deserves a spot in any list of the worst solos ever.
04:45In 2006's Leather So Soft, which is credited to Birdman and Lil Wayne, the rapper ends
04:50the song with an all-time clunker.
04:53Just close your eyes and forget that a grown man, and world-famous rapper, is playing.
04:57It's so easy to imagine a kid tinkering with a big brother or sister's guitar for the first
05:01time, trying and failing, to figure out how the darn thing works.
05:05Naturally, Reddit is littered with users trashing Wayne's terrible guitar work, not necessarily
05:09on Leather So Soft, but in a general sense.
05:12As for the song's official YouTube video?
05:14Expect a ton of biting sarcasm in the comments section, including this gem.
05:18Lil Wayne will be remembered as the defining guitarist of the 21st century, with a virtuous,
05:23technical, and emotive style of play that easily puts the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Eddie
05:27Van Halen, Slash, and Stevie Ray Vaughan to shame.
05:30Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show was an interesting band, alternating goofy novelty tunes with
05:35more serious fare and charting with both types of songs.
05:38Written by iconic author and cartoonist Shel Silverstein, 1972's The Cover of Rolling Stone
05:44lands in the novelty song column.
05:45It's the I Want song of a decadent rock band who yearn for just one more thing on top of
05:50all the money, cars, groupies, and other perks of rock stardom — a chance to appear on
05:55the cover of the iconic music magazine.
05:57And since few things say decadent rock star better than a lead guitarist who's too wasted
06:01to play a competent solo, The Cover of Rolling Stone features a particularly bad one.
06:06Yes, it's a deliberately sloppy, off-key, off-kilter solo.
06:10It's bad enough to get any session musician sent home by an angry producer, assuming they
06:14played it straight in a recording session.
06:16But it weirdly adds to the charm of the song, pointing up the satire.
06:19It's also a clear indication that the band and the song will never, ever be the picture
06:24on the cover.
06:25But as for Dr. Hook, they made it.
06:26They appeared on the cover of the March 29, 1973 edition of Rolling Stone, alongside the
06:32awesome caption,
06:33"'What's their names?'
06:34Make the cover."
06:35"'You know those days when you get the mean reds.'"
06:38A true one-hit wonder, 90s group Deep Blue Something broke into the mainstream with their
06:43earworm of a hit single, Breakfast at Tiffany's.
06:45The song hit number five on the Billboard Hot 100, and it's undeniably catchy, but not
06:50in a good way, which is why it's earned a spot on a number of Worst Songs lists.
06:54Critics have issues with the approach to conflict resolution in the lyrics.
06:57Basically, hey, we both like this Audrey Hepburn film, so why don't we give our relationship
07:02another shot?
07:03"'Don't you just love it?'
07:04"'Love what?'
07:05"'Tiffany's!''
07:06That's ridiculous, but just as egregious is the song's mind-numbingly banal guitar solo.
07:11It would have been nice if the guitar player at least tried to deliver a solo that didn't
07:15sound like they were in a hurry to get to a diner before they stopped serving breakfast.
07:20Vinnie Vincent had major shoes to fill when he joined Kiss in 1982, replacing Ace Frehley
07:25as the band's lead guitarist.
07:26"'Vinnie joined the band basically by default.
07:30We had a tour booked, we had to go, and he was the closest person.'"
07:35It didn't take long for him to wear out his welcome.
07:37He quickly became known for obnoxiously long solos that drove his bandmates batty.
07:42By 1984, Vincent was fired from Kiss and went solo, no pun intended.
07:47Finally, Vincent Invasion released its self-titled debut album two years later.
07:51That record featured the song, "'Boys Are Gonna Rock,' which leaves no doubt that, whenever
07:55the fast-fingered axeman picked up his instrument, chaos wasn't far behind.
07:59Fans haven't been shy about expressing their disdain for Vincent's solo on "'Boys Are Gonna
08:02Rock.'"
08:03One Redditor drew parallels between Vincent and Nitro guitarist Michelangelo Badio, another
08:08guitarist who leaned into speed at the expense of technique.
08:11He quipped,
08:12"'This' and Nitro's freight train are great examples of why hair metal had to die.'"
08:17It's deservedly recognized as one of the greatest rock albums of all time, but it's still an
08:21uncomfortable truth for certain fans.
08:23Nirvana's sophomore release, 1991's Nevermind, was a shiny, slick version of the gritty grunge
08:28sound emerging from the Pacific Northwest.
08:31As such, their 1993 follow-up, In Utero, was almost a full 180, boasting rare production
08:36values that allowed singer-guitarist Kurt Cobain to reclaim his punk cred, as Nevermind
08:41producer Butch Vig told Billboard.
08:43That said, In Utero isn't lacking for hooks.
08:46Although it also has its share of unconventional tracks, including "'Milk It," which features
08:50bizarre, screamed lyrics like, "'Doll Steak Test Meat," and a guitar solo from Cobain
08:55where he randomly picks at his instrument before returning to the main riff, and more
08:59anguished yells.
09:00This solo, if it can even be called one, lasts nearly half a minute, and while Cobain's faint
09:05laugh during this section suggests it was all part of the plan, it may be too much for
09:09casual Nirvana fans to say little of the song's disturbing chorus.
09:13It's no surprise that the solo is one key reason why Milk It is one of Nirvana's more
09:17polarizing tracks.
09:19Ultimate Guitar Readers ranked the solo seventh worst of all time, acknowledging Cobain's
09:23anti-rock motivations, but warning that,
09:26"...this solo sounds really bad for an unprepared listener."
09:29Technically speaking, there's nothing wrong with CC DeVille's guitar solo in Poison's
09:33first major hit single, 1987's Talk Dirty to Me, but his version of that very same solo
09:38at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards is a different story altogether.
09:42Hit it, CC!
09:44The entire performance was a complete, total train wreck.
09:47Accounts vary as to whether DeVille was thrown off by frontman Bret Michaels asking the audience
09:51if they wanted to talk dirty to him or if he simply refused to continue playing their
09:55then-most recent hit, Unskinny Bob.
09:57Either way, something was amiss when the guitarist played the opening riffs of Talk Dirty to
10:01Me with his instrument terribly out of tune, and it just kept getting worse.
10:06DeVille's solo was off-key at its best moments and hopelessly messy at its worst.
10:10Not even Michaels' and bassist Bobby Doll's onstage antics were enough to distract from
10:14DeVille's sloppy performance, which even saw him momentarily unplug his guitar after his
10:19solo.
10:20Michaels' post-song declaration that,
10:21"...it ain't perfect, but it's rock and roll," barely disguised his anger at DeVille, and
10:25the two bandmates allegedly slugged it out backstage after the performance.