Rolling Stone names its 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time – and the internet is doing what it does best: arguing over it
Few things get guitar players talking faster than Rolling Stone publishing another “greatest of all time” list.
This time, it’s the magazine’s new 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time ranking, topped by Prince’s solo on Purple Rain – a choice likely to split opinion given the competition sitting beneath it.
The choice also closes a long-running loop in Rolling Stone lore. The publication famously left Prince off its 2004 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time list, a snub long rumoured to have inspired his now-legendary performance of While My Guitar Gently Weeps at the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Now, Rolling Stone has not only crowned Prince number one for Purple Rain, but also placed that very While My Guitar Gently Weeps solo at number 15.
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Rolling Stone describes the list as a “full-blast mix of different genres, generations, grooves”, spanning blues pioneers, punk icons, metal players, funk innovators and “hippie jammers”. The criteria, it says, wasn’t sales or chart success, but “six-string brilliance” – solos that ‘make the song’ rather than simply mirror its melody.
“Some are solos that always make you hum in the car, or play air guitar using the nearest vacuum cleaner,” the magazine writes. “A few you could even sing in the shower.”
And, unsurprisingly, many of the usual heavyweights dominate the upper reaches. Alongside Prince at number one are classics like Stairway to Heaven, Hotel California, Johnny B. Goode, Kid Charlemagne and Maggot Brain – plus Eric Clapton’s lead work on While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
The upper end of the list sticks fairly closely to the established guitar canon. Jimi Hendrix appears multiple times in the top 20 with Machine Gun, All Along The Watchtower and Little Wing, while David Gilmour’s Comfortably Numb lands at number four. Eddie Van Halen’s revolutionary Eruption, meanwhile, comes in at number five – a placement many might consider low given its influence on modern guitar technique.
There’s also a notable emphasis on solos from the late ’60s through the ’80s. While newer inclusions do appear lower down – including Geese’s Getting Killed at 98 and MJ Lenderman’s Knockin’ at 81, the top 50 is still largely dominated by classic rock, blues-rock and guitar hero-era staples. Contemporary prog, djent and modern metal barely register.
That said, the list does make room for some broader historical touchpoints. Sister Rosetta Tharpe earns a 34th place with Strange Things Happening Every Day, a nod to one of the foundational figures in rock guitar whose influence is often acknowledged far less than it’s heard.
On the flipside, several legacy rock and metal staples land lower than many fans might have expected. Dimebag Darrell’s solo on Cemetery Gates, for instance, appears at number 85 despite its near-mythic status among metal guitarists, while AC/DC only just scrape into the ranking, with You Shook Me All Night Long landing at number 100.
And speaking of Rolling Stone lists, producer and YouTuber Rick Beato will likely have opinions ready. Following the magazine’s 250 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time feature in 2023, Beato blasted the ranking as “idiotic” in a reaction video, while branding it a “sh*t list” on the thumbnail.
Time will tell whether this latest list avoids a similar fate.
Check out the full list of rankings at Rolling Stone.
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