In most cases, the guitar solo serves as a major component in classic rock and metal songs. Think “Comfortably Numb”, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Free Bird”… But there have been cases in which classic tunes in the rock canon have gone solo-less.
Now of course, the majority of first-wave punk rockers cut out guitar solos altogether, a trend that began with the Ramones and continues to this day. But for this list, we’re talking about mostly good old fashioned classic rock and metal from the golden age of the ‘60s through to the ‘90s. And, of course, it wasn’t due to the guitarist in the band not being technically gifted enough to supply a solo, but rather, it just didn’t fit into the song – or the riff was strong enough to carry the load.
Here, we present a countdown of the 20 greatest rock
