Who's your musical hero?

[RacerX]

If I have to pick just one, gotta be Frank Zappa.

[NoSleepTilSleep]

Too obvious?

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[mortlock]

mine is a dude none of you guys know..hes a sax player i know whos pushing 70 and he parties and plays harder that dudes half his age..ive had the honor of sitting in with him on bunch of free jazz gigs..i can only hope im still doing it at that age..   

[Ranbat]

At this point, Jack White. I dig alot of the artists he works with as well as his own stuff. I gotta respect the fact that he chooses to work with virtually forgotten artists like Loretta Lynn, Wanda Jackson and Dex Romweber and find them a new audience. And he can write a fuckin' Pop song!

[Mike_Sims]

Tony Iommi and (i know I'm gonna get bashed for this) Dave Chandler

dude, chandler is awesome. if only for that gnarly tone, the fro and the headband

Yeah sorry, I'm used to posting on boards with elitist douchebags who think you suck if you don't worship Steve Vai. Forgot how mellow everyone here was 

[eddiefive10]

Hell I will bashed for this one, always loved George Thorogood I listen to him and constantly think about how heavy his riffs could actually play?  Sometimes I think he gets credit for drinkin hits, but not the riffs themselves.

[Hemisaurus]

This guy.

[hayseed]

Lemmy.







Nuff said..

[black_out]

+1 for that.

This guy.

[zachoff]

This guy.

Those guys get the lifetime grammy for skinniest rock band, ever.

[bass sic]

I dont know about hero, but Steve Harris made a giant impression on me. Not so much what hes done in the last 25 years but the very beginning. playing shit that was so totally different than anything out there. And a second for Grohl and Homme. To be able to play with so many different musicians and still have a style all your own, I could only dream of that.

[lordfinesse]

Good thread. Here are a few of mine:

Peter Green - Dude had it. He would get to a point where everything was just... yeah.

Blind Willie Johnson - Check it, bleed. Bro... was ON! Didn't trip, but the folks was freakin'. Specifically on Nobody's Fault But Mine. Tearing it up with a slide.

Robert Plant - for not being afraid to try new things (Shaken' N' Stirred, Raising Sand), for acknowledging that he owes his success to black American blues singers, and for not reuniting for the cash grab Led Zep reunion tour.

Lindsey Buckingham - for usually choosing restraint over wankery, on record if not live. I think there's a time for wankery, and it ain't every song Yngwie.

David Gilmour - for getting the best psych/hard rock guitar tone ever (with a Strat even), and putting it to good use.

[chlorpromazine]

Watt. His work ethic is to be admired.

Right on. Watt even got props on the last episode of Portlandia.

[neighbor664]

My mom.

[Mike_Sims]

Tony Iommi and (i know I'm gonna get bashed for this) Dave Chandler

dude, chandler is awesome. if only for that gnarly tone, the fro and the headband

I've always wondered how he got that tone... I figured from the "wishy-washy" sound he was running a driven amp + a fuzz. After seeing them live the other day, getting my head shredded on by him and ogling at his gear I found out he uses a cranked JCM 800 (used to use a pLexi), with a FLANGER running at all times, a wah and... here's the interesting part... a MICRO METAL MUFF!

[justJon]

Can there be a tie?

John Bonham is unequivocally the reason I play drums, but Sabbath, collectively, are the reason I play heavy music.

[MikeyT]

In England, Eric Clapton was my first guitar hero, and then Jeff Beck.  
These days it's Ritchie Blackmore.

For drums, Mitch Mitchell.

As far as bands go: the stooges, and in England, Deep Purple.

Talking Delta Blues: Son House  

Talking fingerpickers, songsters, & all around Country Blues: Blind Willie McTell is my main man.*


Heroism aside, Jimi Hendrix has been my overall favorite electric guitar player for a long, long time; and always will be.
And in the same way, Black Sabbath is my favorite Heavy Rock band.










*I have to say that Blind Willie Johnson (mentioned above by lordfinesse) was quite a guy, too. His voice, his sufferings, his guitar playing, his intensity, and his approach to music- all remarkable.

[LogicalFrank]

Throw another log on the Zappa pyre for me... It can be hard to get past the goofy crap but pretty much everything he did, even if it sounds relatively normal, was infused w/ weirdness top to bottom. He packed more musical ideas into a two minute pop song than most guys get to in a career. Plus, he plays a mean "Louie Louie."

[Woody]

Too many, but a short list would have to include Lonnie Mack, Link Wray, Frank Zappa, Sonny Rollins, Speedy West, Jimmy Bryant, Dennis Thompson, James Brown, and so on.

[TheWolf IsLoose]

The dead people I haven't met list would be too long so...

Hetfield - still comes out in my riffs too. Lost almost all personal respect when that movie came out though.
Newsted - one of the coolest people I've met in my life.
Jimmy Bower
Matt Pike

[neighbor664]

I guess if I had to pick a musician (someone you all know) it would have to be Frank Zappa.
Many good musicians make shitty heroes. Lots of great music has come out of worthless, self absorbed, douche bags. Musicians by nature rarely do anything  that could be described as heroic.

[spookstrickland]

Mine would be:

Jim Morrison
Hendrix
Clapton
Dick Dale
Tony Iommi
Kurt Cobain
Pete Steele

[Stonergrunge]

My musical heroes are (because I just can't choose one):

Jimi Hendrix
Tony Iommi
Buzz Osborne

[mawso]

Nicke Andersson

[dogfood]

James Newell "Jim" Osterberg, Jr.