The world of alt-rock has been through a lot of big changes over the past few decades, and there are a handful of underrated guitarists who deserve some credit for how they’ve shaped the sound.
Certainly, we have to acknowledge bands like The Smashing Pumpkins with Billy Corgan and James Iha on guitar, or Dave Grohl, Pat Smear, and Chris Shiflett of the Foo Fighters… then there’s the unmistakable ingenuity of Jack White, who has kept the rock torch burning bright…
But what about those rock stars who have played a really important role in galvanizing a generation of younger musicians to take up a guitar and carry on the beacon? Let’s talk about a couple of them…
Jonny Greenwood / Radiohead
Thom Yorke gets a lot of credit when it comes to Radiohead’s sound, and that’s not without its merits, but it would be unforgivably remiss to ignore the role that lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood has played in shaping the band’s highly influential sound.
Greenwood was the last member of the band to join, as he’s a few years younger than the other founding members, including his bassist brother, Colin, and, frankly, I’m not sure that Radiohead would be RADIOHEAD without him.
I think it’s especially important to note Greenwood’s contributions to the preservation of alt-rock across Radiohead’s first three albums: Pablo Honey (1993), The Bends (1995), and OK Computer (1997), together forming a pinnacle moment for the genre.
Brian Bell / Weezer
In the conversation around influential alt-rock bands… bands that sit just outside the archetype for how rock music was perceived… Weezer is easily one of the bands most responsible for making alt so cool that it eventually became the standard.
Certainly, as with Radiohead, frontman Rivers Cuomo is responsible for a significant portion of the music writing, but without Brian Bell’s guitar parts in every Weezer album since their debut — which he did not actually perform on — there is just no way the band would have had the impact for which they are known.
Listening to songs like “Hash Pipe” and “Keep Fishin” will drive the point home, but I think seeing Weezer live really gives you a great example of how much Bell is doing and how his guitar parts enhance the band’s sound.
Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr. / The Strokes
This is where the list comes full circle in a small way… so, for our final two guitarists, we have Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes and, interestingly enough, Radiohead’s hit tune “Creep” actually contains elements of the song “The Air That I Breathe” by Mike Hazlewood and Albert Hammond, who is… You guessed it… father of Albert Hammond Jr.
The Strokes exploded onto the music scene in the early 2000s after forming just a couple of years prior. Their sound immediately made a massive impact and sparked a wave of indie and post-punk bands saturating the mainstream rock industry.
Now, you’re probably mumbling to yourself, “The Strokes are not an ‘alt-rock’ band,” but I would argue that being indie and post or proto-punk in the late ’90s and early 2000s, amidst the maw of post-grunge and nu-metal bands that were dominating the airwaves, made them very alt.
It was that difference, the infectious sound led by Valensi and Hammond Jr. trading lead parts, that started an alt-rock musical avalanche (what the hell is with all these weather/nature references I keep making all of a sudden) in the early 2000s, and that impact is still being felt today.
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