25 GREATEST GUITARISTS
ROBERT SMITH
(THE CURE)
THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN.
IN THE CURE’S videos, he was traditionally seen without a guitar, leaving the impression that former coguitarist Porl Thompson was behind the group’s densely shimmering six-string magic. But Robert Smith is an excellent guitarist who’s applied his colorful tones and melodies to the group’s songs in the studio. “Even people who are quite close to the band are surprised to learn that I played the solo on ‘The Edge of the Deep Green Sea,’” he told Guitar Player in 1990. “Everyone would immediately assume it’s Porl.” While many of the Cure’s detractors have probably let Smith’s personal flamboyance divert their attention from the band’s phenomenal pop craftsmanship and stylistic range, as their gargantuan worldwide following proves, the Cure combine sublime pop and heartfelt expressivity like no other band. As the group’s only constant member, Smith richly deserves his due.
RECOMMENDED TRACK
“FRIDAY I’M IN LOVE” (WISH)
KEVIN SHIELDS
(MY BLOODY VALENTINE)
ALT-ROCK’S DALI.
have bags of technique, Kevin Shields has originality. As the leader of My Bloody Valentine, he led the group through a pair of albums — 1988’s and 1991’s — that remain alt-rock cornerstones and ground zero for shoegaze. But it was, that Shields found his secret weapon. Wielding a borrowed 1964 Fender Jazzmaster with a tremolo, he discovered he could use the device to make his notes warble and drop. Applying backward reverb, he created waves of sound that made the whole production teeter woozily as if in a dreamscape. The resulting “glide guitar” became his plaything. “It was like a new toy, really,” he says. Shields influenced many other alt-rock mainstays, including Dinosaur Jr’s J Mascis and Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, and went on to work with numerous acts, from Yo La Tengo to Patti Smith. No less than Vernon Reid declared of him, “He achieved a wholeness and a unity. He created his own sound.” In doing so, he tremendously expanded guitar’s sonic palette for everyone else.
