Polyphia guitarist Tim Henson once made the mistake of voicing a personal preference in a video on the internet. The throwaway comment on how he likes to avoid “boomer-ish” bends occupied roughly ten seconds of a 40-minute roundtable entitled The Modern Guitar Discussion. Given this context – or, frankly, any context – it was a perfectly reasonable statement to make. Not least because host Rick Beato had invited Henson on alongside fellow contemporary guitar titans Tosin Abasi and Misha Mansoor, to discuss exactly this sort of thing.
But, of course, half the internet interpreted Henson’s comment as nothing less than a threat to their very existence. It was as if Henson had stood on his chair and made a rallying call to eradicate not just ‘boomer bends’,
