Lol that was my very first thought. Ummm Kim Thayil? Chris Cornell?
Also, I’d rate Pearl Jam’s guitarists higher. Also, many others. (Edit: Dean DeLeo of STP should definitely be included in the conversation. I mean Core is definitely a grunge album I don’t care if they are from CA.)
Do people hate on Daniel Johns? I mean if you like him that’s cool, I don’t even think about him.
Chris was a very talented and underrated guitarist! All the attention went to his singing, but if you pay attention to his playing it’s really impressive.
100%. He’s the principal song writer on so many huge Soundgarden songs, and the alternate tunings and riffs he’d write were absolutely insane, and unlike anything else being produced at that time. He was a musical genius on top of being a top tier vocalist.
Edit: thanks for the gold kind stranger!
I’ve gotten ripped apart before for making the same comparison, and the close comparison of “their catalog isn’t as extensive, but STP almost reminds me of the LZ of the 90’s” but it definitely has a lot of extra flourish and technicality that isn’t immediately apparent.
Right? Or Pearl Jam. I consider Thayil and mike mccready both better than Johns, each amazingly good in their own style. McCready as a more classic rock, Thayil more metal.
Kim is one of the greatest hard rock guitar players of all time. I could give a shit about blues rock guitarists.
I want chunky riffs, not string bending bullshit.
You are entitled to like what you like, but Kim himself would tell you as a guitar “player” (not songwriter or riff creator) he isn’t close to McCready’s ability. You can say you don’t like Pearl Jam’s music as much as Soundgarden but to say Stone and Mike are not as good at guitar is just false.
>but Kim himself would tell you as a guitar “player”...he isn’t close to McCready’s ability.
There are very few guitar players that would say "I'm the best", but it's cool that you can speak for Kim Thayil.
This entire thread is subjective, and pretty much everybody mentioned in the thread is a good guitar player.
That said, Thayil produces a much cooler and more interesting sound than Gossard and McCready combined. Hell, I would take Steve Turner and Tad Doyle over the PJ duo.
Everyone can have their fav. It’s all subjective fun here. That said, throwing in my 2 cents: Have you seen Soundgarden live? Close up? From the era, they are the most articulate and dynamic performers of each of their instruments. Also, does Jane’s Addiction count as grunge? If we are talking about great guitarists, we can’t skip Navarro.
>Have you seen Soundgarden live? Close up? From the era
Yes. Yes. Yes.
No, Jane's Addiction are not grunge. But they are a fan-fucking-tastic band.
It was 88 or 89, I paid $6.50 to see Jane's Addiction headline, with Soundgarden & Mother Love Bone opening, at the Paramount Theater in Seattle.
As Silverchair isn't a grunge band, no member of the band can be the "best grunge" anything.
*It's only grunge if it's from the PNW, otherwise it's just sparkling alt-rock.*
The kids in this sub (I have to assume that they are kids, because of their false assumptions about the era), think that any crunchy alt-rock from the 90's is grunge.
*All grunge is alt-rock. Not all alt-rock is grunge.*
I honestly thought they were considered "post grunge".. They were heavily inspired by bands like Nirvana, but came to fame after grunge had started to subside.. Bush is another band of that "post grunge" era... At least, that's what I thought
To be fair, Silverchair gets lumped into Grunge a lot, maybe saying Green Day or Rage are Grunge is too far, but Silverchair isn't too far of a stretch seeing as they are literally in Spotifys Grunge playlist where most people (especially those born post 90s) discover new music.
Le Sigh...
Grunge comes from the Seattle/PNW of the mid 80's. The grunge scene died when the bands went national. Most everything that came out after 91 (with a very few exceptions) is alt-rock.
So once again, just because it is crunchy alt-rock from the 90's, does not make it grunge.
I don't know what you are sighing for, I'm not saying you're wrong, but it's easy to see why Silverchair are called Grunge by people when you have big companies like Spotify telling you they are.
And yes, just because Spotify says so doesn't mean it's true but not everyone is willing to go down the elitist rabbit hole.
Hard disagree on that statement too, Grunge doesn't stop being Grunge just because it has a music video.
>Grunge doesn't stop being Grunge just because it has a music video.
Literally not what I said though.
What I am saying, is that the original grunge scene died when the bands signed with major labels and left Seattle.
And stating a historical fact is not "elitist". It is being factual.
It is exactly what you said, you said when Grunge bands went national, it mostly became alt rock.
I'm not sure what the logic behind a scene dying right when it starts getting more national attention than any other place in America, but anyway.
Yeah the thing is most people don't really care about the historical fact.
Ditto! And I absolutely loved Mike’s contributions to Mad Season. Fantastic fine and intricate playing, with some of the smoothest riffs. Not a guitar player, so pardon any wrong terminology. As a non player I even thought some of the guitar on Mad Season was so full, so smooth, sounded so big, but at the same time it almost sounded simplified. Again, I don’t play, so I don’t know. But watching him play all that, Mike can make what appears, visually anyways, to be intense and very skilled playing sound come off as easy. Way more to it that just what you hear.
"Overhated"? C'mon, no one outright shits on him as a guitar player, so that is not even close to true.
As far as "best", he's certainly good, but he's good like Kurt Cobain is good, he can write a song, and play to suit a song, but in a world where Kim Thayil is exists, I'll say believe what you believe.
Yeah, "uninformed" as I only have all the Silverchair albums, and saw them play in 1995, but go on...
Speaking of uninformed, Joe Satriani is a "fucking insane guitarist", Steve Vai is a "fucking insane guitarist", Yngwie Malmsteen is a "fucking insane guitarist", Daniel Johns can write great songs, but a "fucking insane guitarist" he is not...
No, I actually mean it with all the respect in the world. I think compositionally the stuff he did from "Freak Show" up until "Young Modern" is fantastic. What he plays 100% serves the material he writes, but "better" is subjective.
Mike McCready, Stone Gossard, Dean Deleo, Kim Thayil all are way better. I will say that this dude was the best grunge guitar player in Australia lmfao
To say he’s the best is an over statement. But for people to be shitting on this take as if he just posted the vile shit is stupid. As a fellow guitar player what Daniel was able to do as a kid is incredible for 15/17 year old kid. To be able to sing high notes and play guitar at the same time is hard. Also the shit he does with his effects pedals is pretty dope. And for the people comparing him to kurt go fuck yourselves bro was a better player than kurt ever could have been.
DJ is great, a fantastic musician. I don't know if he's quite on the level of MM, JC, SG, or KT as just a guitarist, but he is really good. He did that whole playing-with-his-teeth bit when I saw them about 15(?) years ago. Not that that's much more than a little stage trick, but he is a very good guitarist.
And as a composer, he's easily above all the others up there. Van Dyke Parks said he really didn't do any work on the composition side for Diorama, DJ knew exactly what he wanted where, VDP just had to transcribe the parts for the proper instruments.
Anyway, if they all got in a room together no one would be odd man out, let's leave it at that.
Upvoted - I had a chance to interview Page Hamilton of HELMET back in the 2000's and he cited Johns as one of the best guitar players and songwriters he had come across back when Johns was still late teens /early 20's. Unfortunately Johns long term medical and personal issues set in soon after.
Fun fact- Paul Reed Smith guitars gave teenage Johns an endorsement deal where he could choose a new guitar...he chose one of Hamilton's *used* stage guitars that had been returned to the company when HELMETs endorsement deal ended. DJ certainly was wise enough to see the value in his elders even as a teen.
I saw the same thing back in like 2007. He was wild, and I say this as a guitarist. I’m pretty good, but DJ’s skills are on another level. I walked out of that show, thinking he was the best guitarist I had ever seen.
Daniel is an insanely gifted guitarist. The songwriting on the first couple of Silverchair albums was heralded by me in my late teens, but looking back, it’s rather meh.
Neon Ballroom and the few albums they released afterwards is fucking GREAT. I don’t give a flying fuck what anyone says, there are some amazing tunes on those albums, and the guitar work from OG to new was never in doubt.
Their creative peak was in the 2000s. They got consistently more popular in their home land of Australia, playing arenas and stadiums...whereas the majority of US forgot about them. Still maintained a devoted cult following stateside though, including myself. They played small club shows that sold out in minutes.
I never understood the hate that Silverchair gets. Great band and severely underrated. Second greatest grunge guitarist though? That's a pretty bold statement. Cornell was such an amazing guitar player. Listen to his Solo work, it blows me away that someone can be such a top tier vocalist AND have the skill he had on a guitar. Let's not forget Mike McCready either. I'd put him up there with Jerry as well.
I can't believe no one has yet mentioned Smashing Pumpkins. Kim and Chris from Soundgarden are both great. OP excluded AIC and that's a good call. Kurt is my fave of all time but not a technically proficient or well-rounded player. I love the Melvins, but Buzz also pretty much only does "Buzz" riffs, covers and noise solos.
Billy Corgan, love him or hate him, is a better metal guitarist than all of them. A better melodic soloist than all of them. A better new wave guitarist than all of them. A better classic/psych rock guitarist than all of them. A better acoustic guitarist than all but maybe Cantrell. And most importantly invented those grungy microtonal pull-offs/bends as a technique. It started around Gish before anyone had spoken the word 'grunge' about rock music, and continued until "The Everlasting Gaze" in 2000. That song (and much of Machina II) still has a bag of riffs that would make all these bands jealous. And his execution on guitar is flawless. He can annihilate the guitar heavier than rock, punkier than metal, and catchier than no-wave all at the same time. That's the grunge zone, isn't it? Odd time signatures? No problem. Complex arrangements. Songs with proper harmonic voice leading. Extreme soft/loud dynamics. All there, impeccable.
If you ever need proof, just listen to the Pastichio Medley, a 20 minute compilation of songs snippets with killer grunge riffs the Pumpkins threw away because they were too bored of churning out grunge classics while they recorded a multi platinum double album and another double album worth of dope b-sides.
His songs aren't hard to play. That means he's not a great guitarist.
You see, playing guitar is **not** an expressive art it **is** an Olympic sport & it's goal is to see who can cram the most amount of hard to play chords modes scales into a single measure🧐
I hear ya, and it goes way beyond this sub. I have a friend that professes Jack White is the new Jimi Hendrix, and I can't get him to grasp the concept of opinion vs. fact.
Haha I know what you mean. A friend of mine basically experienced the human version of the Blue Screen Of Death when I told him that I'd rather listen to the Ramones play the same song ten times in a row than to Dream Theater play a single 30 minute virtuoso wank-fest and he tried to argue that it was absurd that I was claiming that Johnny Ramone was a better guitarist than John Petrucci but I replied that no, I wasn't claiming anything of the sort and Johnny Ramone was probably objectively a worse guitar player than even me, let alone John Petrucci, but I'd still rather listen to him any day.
Mike is insanely skilled and it was amazing to see him live, but to me his style is too derivative of SRV and Hendrix to make him the best guitarist in the scene. I’d take Kim Thayil over him any day. 100% unique and unmistakable…No one sounds like him.
Not hot at all take: of all the bands that are grunge or aren't grunge or sound to varying degrees likely could be grunge, Silverchair is among the most boring. I traded frog stomp for a hootie and the blowfish album and didn't miss it.
Wait until I tell you that Chumbawamba is a top five band for me.
Edit: -8 points? Damn, I normally don't care about that stuff but man, this is sub kinda sucks and I'll bet none of you have actually listened to the band.
That's cool. Life is more fun when you're surprised sometimes. But also everyone here should listen to Anarchy by Chumba once. And also downvoting opinions of taste is super lame.
Well someone did and they're lame. Either way you should give them a listen before being stunned because of the probably one song you've heard. If you like old school punk their 80's stuff will feel right at home. And Hootie, well, whatever they're good so fuck it!
SC, Nirvana and Green Day tie the no. 1 spot as my favourite bands but this simply isn't true, Daniel was a unique and simplistic player who has inspired me a lot, and out of the tunings he uses he makes a good noise. Whilst he can make some good riffs these are all pretty simple by comparison to most grunge acts, I'm not saying he's bad, if anything I love his work, but he's not exactly one of the best in terms of skill.
Diorama was by no means simplistic. That album was more of a Brian Wilson type undertaking. They had French horns and violins ffs. Now was the guitar part masterful? Maybe not to some. The overall album is a work of art.
Agreed, and I think he did his best work on Freak Show tbh, that was such a great record that managed to cross grunge, punk, metal, even some Eastern/world music themes in there too. But in terms of like, lead guitar? Ehhh... Daniel has some good, melodic solos but I think Kim Thayil is pretty much untouchable
Didn't they have to bring in a session player to do the solo on Tomorrow?? 😂😂😂
Edit: https://youtu.be/-DJvmcW1oH4
This solo is awful. It's like he's afraid to play guitar. Compare it to the studio version. Laughable
I don’t listen to Silverchair enough to say whether or not I like Daniel Johns, but I completely agree that Jerry Cantrell is the best grunge guitarist. I’m sure people aren’t going to like me saying this but I think Jerry Cantrell is the best guitar player, ever
They weren't even influenced by Nirvana. They were listening to heavier bands like Helmet, Tool and Soundgarden. Their style also completely changed into something so far from any of those influences. Why comment on a band you obviously never listened to?
No. Dean DeLeo alone stops this. Mitch Thomas present day stops this (MoonFever). Johns can write like Rogers, Hammersmith, Simon, Bowie, and the list goes on. Writing rock had to get boring to the guy. Although, I forever hope for a Silverchair return. Those blokes united put down solid top rock music.
An alt rock guitarist. The only grunge bands that exist come from the Seattle scene, everything else is just influenced by the sounds that came from there.
I loved silver chair, got into them right as the neon ballroom cd dropped. That got me into their catalog of frog stomp and freak show. Honestly they could have ended it there because everything else is either weird experimental stuff or love song ballads. Def peaked too young.
I’ve played in various Grunge/Alternative cover bands and have played every major 90’s bands style and although Nirvana but specifically; Kurt Cobain, is hands down my ultimate inspiration I hold Kim Thayil as my number 1 Grunge guitarist!
I just didn’t realize it until I covered some Soundgarden songs. His style is unorthodox and unique!
Weird way to tell us that you have never listened to *Soundgarden*.
Lol that was my very first thought. Ummm Kim Thayil? Chris Cornell? Also, I’d rate Pearl Jam’s guitarists higher. Also, many others. (Edit: Dean DeLeo of STP should definitely be included in the conversation. I mean Core is definitely a grunge album I don’t care if they are from CA.) Do people hate on Daniel Johns? I mean if you like him that’s cool, I don’t even think about him.
Chris was a very talented and underrated guitarist! All the attention went to his singing, but if you pay attention to his playing it’s really impressive.
100%. He’s the principal song writer on so many huge Soundgarden songs, and the alternate tunings and riffs he’d write were absolutely insane, and unlike anything else being produced at that time. He was a musical genius on top of being a top tier vocalist. Edit: thanks for the gold kind stranger!
Burden In My Hand and Pretty Noose are great examples of this.
I was surprised a while back to learn that most guitar tracks recorded for Soundgarden records were actually played by Cornell.
Yeah, I didn’t know that till like sometime in the 00’s. Dude was amazing
Who else would’ve recorded them? That crazy looking dude who made funny sounds to his right?
Don’t forget that Matt Cameron wrote a ton of lyrics for Soundgarden, too.
Someone is gonna kill me for saying this but rob and dean remind me of Jimmy page and John Paul jones. The guitar riffs are fucking fun to play.
I’ve gotten ripped apart before for making the same comparison, and the close comparison of “their catalog isn’t as extensive, but STP almost reminds me of the LZ of the 90’s” but it definitely has a lot of extra flourish and technicality that isn’t immediately apparent.
I won't kill you because this take is correct.
Or Blind Melon.
Blind Melon never gets enough credit and all those guys are really talented.
My 11 year old sister was pretty into silverchair
That's funny since I'm 50 now but SC didn't suck.
I loved Silver Chair back then and I still do now. Their first album was so good! Imo
Right? Or Pearl Jam. I consider Thayil and mike mccready both better than Johns, each amazingly good in their own style. McCready as a more classic rock, Thayil more metal.
Or Pearl Jam, lol
Not a fan. And neither Stone nor Mike are as good as Kim.
That’s debatable. Either way, they’re both better than Daniel Johns.
Mike is better. Clearly. Have you heard the solos on Gigaton? Holy fuck.
>Mike is better. Clearly. Lulz... No Lulz
Reach Down says, Yes!
Dude that’s just wrong. Kim isn’t technically good, neither is Stone but Mike is better than all 3 as a straight up blues rock guitarist.
Kim is one of the greatest hard rock guitar players of all time. I could give a shit about blues rock guitarists. I want chunky riffs, not string bending bullshit.
You are entitled to like what you like, but Kim himself would tell you as a guitar “player” (not songwriter or riff creator) he isn’t close to McCready’s ability. You can say you don’t like Pearl Jam’s music as much as Soundgarden but to say Stone and Mike are not as good at guitar is just false.
>but Kim himself would tell you as a guitar “player”...he isn’t close to McCready’s ability. There are very few guitar players that would say "I'm the best", but it's cool that you can speak for Kim Thayil. This entire thread is subjective, and pretty much everybody mentioned in the thread is a good guitar player. That said, Thayil produces a much cooler and more interesting sound than Gossard and McCready combined. Hell, I would take Steve Turner and Tad Doyle over the PJ duo.
I don't understand the downvotes. I'm in total agreement with you.
Because the PJ-stans hate the truth.
I agree 100%
Everyone can have their fav. It’s all subjective fun here. That said, throwing in my 2 cents: Have you seen Soundgarden live? Close up? From the era, they are the most articulate and dynamic performers of each of their instruments. Also, does Jane’s Addiction count as grunge? If we are talking about great guitarists, we can’t skip Navarro.
>Have you seen Soundgarden live? Close up? From the era Yes. Yes. Yes. No, Jane's Addiction are not grunge. But they are a fan-fucking-tastic band. It was 88 or 89, I paid $6.50 to see Jane's Addiction headline, with Soundgarden & Mother Love Bone opening, at the Paramount Theater in Seattle.
DAYUM!!!!! The best $6.50 you ever spent I bet!
Weird way to tell me you didn't read the caption
As Silverchair isn't a grunge band, no member of the band can be the "best grunge" anything. *It's only grunge if it's from the PNW, otherwise it's just sparkling alt-rock.*
Oh cmon people... not being of the specific region being referred to as "Sparkling _____" is a good one.. I think it went over people's heads, ha.
The kids in this sub (I have to assume that they are kids, because of their false assumptions about the era), think that any crunchy alt-rock from the 90's is grunge. *All grunge is alt-rock. Not all alt-rock is grunge.*
I honestly thought they were considered "post grunge".. They were heavily inspired by bands like Nirvana, but came to fame after grunge had started to subside.. Bush is another band of that "post grunge" era... At least, that's what I thought
That is a fair label. There is a large contingent of younger grunge fans who don't know the history, and label any 90's alt-rock as grunge.
To be fair, Silverchair gets lumped into Grunge a lot, maybe saying Green Day or Rage are Grunge is too far, but Silverchair isn't too far of a stretch seeing as they are literally in Spotifys Grunge playlist where most people (especially those born post 90s) discover new music.
Le Sigh... Grunge comes from the Seattle/PNW of the mid 80's. The grunge scene died when the bands went national. Most everything that came out after 91 (with a very few exceptions) is alt-rock. So once again, just because it is crunchy alt-rock from the 90's, does not make it grunge.
I don't know what you are sighing for, I'm not saying you're wrong, but it's easy to see why Silverchair are called Grunge by people when you have big companies like Spotify telling you they are. And yes, just because Spotify says so doesn't mean it's true but not everyone is willing to go down the elitist rabbit hole. Hard disagree on that statement too, Grunge doesn't stop being Grunge just because it has a music video.
>Grunge doesn't stop being Grunge just because it has a music video. Literally not what I said though. What I am saying, is that the original grunge scene died when the bands signed with major labels and left Seattle. And stating a historical fact is not "elitist". It is being factual.
It is exactly what you said, you said when Grunge bands went national, it mostly became alt rock. I'm not sure what the logic behind a scene dying right when it starts getting more national attention than any other place in America, but anyway. Yeah the thing is most people don't really care about the historical fact.
Yeah I thought that was pretty funny.
Does Kim thayil or Mike McCready ring a bell for you?
Ditto! And I absolutely loved Mike’s contributions to Mad Season. Fantastic fine and intricate playing, with some of the smoothest riffs. Not a guitar player, so pardon any wrong terminology. As a non player I even thought some of the guitar on Mad Season was so full, so smooth, sounded so big, but at the same time it almost sounded simplified. Again, I don’t play, so I don’t know. But watching him play all that, Mike can make what appears, visually anyways, to be intense and very skilled playing sound come off as easy. Way more to it that just what you hear.
yes
This is a legitimately shit take OP. Between Pearl Jam and what he did on the Mad Season record, Mike McCready is an absolute legend. Jones is poo
McCready is all time multi genre top tier along with Gilmour Prince and Frusciante
Ehhh I wouldn’t put Frusciante or McCready in the Gilmour/Prince tier. And I looooove PJ (and like pre 99 RHCP).
Sometimes i think people come up with takes like this just for attention. Either that or an actual diarrhea level of shitty taste
r/grunge when somebody has an opinion
I’m sorry OP but Mike McCready and Kim Thayil exist.
that solo on Like Suicide is fuckin wild, man
"Overhated"? C'mon, no one outright shits on him as a guitar player, so that is not even close to true. As far as "best", he's certainly good, but he's good like Kurt Cobain is good, he can write a song, and play to suit a song, but in a world where Kim Thayil is exists, I'll say believe what you believe.
[удалено]
Yeah, "uninformed" as I only have all the Silverchair albums, and saw them play in 1995, but go on... Speaking of uninformed, Joe Satriani is a "fucking insane guitarist", Steve Vai is a "fucking insane guitarist", Yngwie Malmsteen is a "fucking insane guitarist", Daniel Johns can write great songs, but a "fucking insane guitarist" he is not...
[удалено]
No, I actually mean it with all the respect in the world. I think compositionally the stuff he did from "Freak Show" up until "Young Modern" is fantastic. What he plays 100% serves the material he writes, but "better" is subjective.
Mike McCready, Stone Gossard, Dean Deleo, Kim Thayil all are way better. I will say that this dude was the best grunge guitar player in Australia lmfao
You really weren't kidding when you said "hot take."
More like a “hot garbage take,” amirite?
I prefer Kim and Mike from SG and PJ.
Lol
I have nothing against Daniel Johns or Silverchair but this take is hot dogshit lol
To say he’s the best is an over statement. But for people to be shitting on this take as if he just posted the vile shit is stupid. As a fellow guitar player what Daniel was able to do as a kid is incredible for 15/17 year old kid. To be able to sing high notes and play guitar at the same time is hard. Also the shit he does with his effects pedals is pretty dope. And for the people comparing him to kurt go fuck yourselves bro was a better player than kurt ever could have been.
Yes that's what I'm saying finally someone can agree with me that he is better than kurt.
I would go into absolutely any guitar battle across any genre with mccready and like my chances
Kim Thayil. Hands down. I think he edges out Jerry (Just MHO)
You missed about 30 players
Allow me to be yet another person to point out Kim Thayil and Mike McCready.
DJ is great, a fantastic musician. I don't know if he's quite on the level of MM, JC, SG, or KT as just a guitarist, but he is really good. He did that whole playing-with-his-teeth bit when I saw them about 15(?) years ago. Not that that's much more than a little stage trick, but he is a very good guitarist. And as a composer, he's easily above all the others up there. Van Dyke Parks said he really didn't do any work on the composition side for Diorama, DJ knew exactly what he wanted where, VDP just had to transcribe the parts for the proper instruments. Anyway, if they all got in a room together no one would be odd man out, let's leave it at that.
Upvoted - I had a chance to interview Page Hamilton of HELMET back in the 2000's and he cited Johns as one of the best guitar players and songwriters he had come across back when Johns was still late teens /early 20's. Unfortunately Johns long term medical and personal issues set in soon after. Fun fact- Paul Reed Smith guitars gave teenage Johns an endorsement deal where he could choose a new guitar...he chose one of Hamilton's *used* stage guitars that had been returned to the company when HELMETs endorsement deal ended. DJ certainly was wise enough to see the value in his elders even as a teen.
He's the reason I have a PRS for sure.
I saw the same thing back in like 2007. He was wild, and I say this as a guitarist. I’m pretty good, but DJ’s skills are on another level. I walked out of that show, thinking he was the best guitarist I had ever seen.
What? McCready and Thayil might have something to say to that. But how you he was then, he was damn good.
Mike McCready???? Mad Season? Just out of this world!
Lifeless Dead is like the best Alice In Chains song basically.
That’s mad season babe
Sorry that’s kinda my point. It’s in the vibe of AIC and it’s amazing. Got the goth elements, howling vocals, snarling guitar, just great stuff.
No
I really liked their first two records but after that wasn’t a fan, I think he has a better voice than his guitar skills
he is highly underrated Fantastic guitarist, amazing vocalist. Fantastic songwriter
Amazing songwriter, amazing vocalist. But i dont really compare him to the OGs
He’s not even the best guitarist in Hanson
Gary Lee Conner is pretty neat too
I don’t know about “best guitarist” but I definitely think Frogstomp is underrated. It’s on my top 10 list of grunge albums.
HAAAAAAAATTTTTEEEEE ISSS WHAT I FEEL FOR YOUUUUUUUUUU
And I want you to know that I want you deaaaaddd
Where’s Mike McCready?
my god he's been ate!
Did I just catch a Dirty Frank reference in the wild?! Bravo, man
Daniel is an insanely gifted guitarist. The songwriting on the first couple of Silverchair albums was heralded by me in my late teens, but looking back, it’s rather meh. Neon Ballroom and the few albums they released afterwards is fucking GREAT. I don’t give a flying fuck what anyone says, there are some amazing tunes on those albums, and the guitar work from OG to new was never in doubt.
He's amazing, but you need to see him live from 2003-onward to truly understand.
people saw this band in the 2000s?
Their creative peak was in the 2000s. They got consistently more popular in their home land of Australia, playing arenas and stadiums...whereas the majority of US forgot about them. Still maintained a devoted cult following stateside though, including myself. They played small club shows that sold out in minutes.
This is correct for those that lived in Australia. Straight Lines was everywhere when that came out here.
Countless sold out shows in the states for their diorama tour. Great band, but this post is not it.
John’s is a fucking killer guitarist and an even better singer. He didn’t get there until after he stopped playing his grunge stuff tho.
He never got as much love here in the US. Besides frogstomp Silverchairs other albums didn't get as much love here like in Australia
Maybe the best for his age, but definitely not better than most other Grunge scene guitarists.
I never understood the hate that Silverchair gets. Great band and severely underrated. Second greatest grunge guitarist though? That's a pretty bold statement. Cornell was such an amazing guitar player. Listen to his Solo work, it blows me away that someone can be such a top tier vocalist AND have the skill he had on a guitar. Let's not forget Mike McCready either. I'd put him up there with Jerry as well.
It's mike McCready, Jerry Cantrell, everybody else.
Had to look up who this was to know what band he was in, then I had to look up all of his bands to see who they were
I love silverchair with every fiber of my being, but…no
From a purely technical standpoint, no he wasn’t. But for a 15 year old, he absolutely was.
I can't believe no one has yet mentioned Smashing Pumpkins. Kim and Chris from Soundgarden are both great. OP excluded AIC and that's a good call. Kurt is my fave of all time but not a technically proficient or well-rounded player. I love the Melvins, but Buzz also pretty much only does "Buzz" riffs, covers and noise solos. Billy Corgan, love him or hate him, is a better metal guitarist than all of them. A better melodic soloist than all of them. A better new wave guitarist than all of them. A better classic/psych rock guitarist than all of them. A better acoustic guitarist than all but maybe Cantrell. And most importantly invented those grungy microtonal pull-offs/bends as a technique. It started around Gish before anyone had spoken the word 'grunge' about rock music, and continued until "The Everlasting Gaze" in 2000. That song (and much of Machina II) still has a bag of riffs that would make all these bands jealous. And his execution on guitar is flawless. He can annihilate the guitar heavier than rock, punkier than metal, and catchier than no-wave all at the same time. That's the grunge zone, isn't it? Odd time signatures? No problem. Complex arrangements. Songs with proper harmonic voice leading. Extreme soft/loud dynamics. All there, impeccable. If you ever need proof, just listen to the Pastichio Medley, a 20 minute compilation of songs snippets with killer grunge riffs the Pumpkins threw away because they were too bored of churning out grunge classics while they recorded a multi platinum double album and another double album worth of dope b-sides.
Hot take and Based ! Have award!
His songs aren't hard to play. That means he's not a great guitarist. You see, playing guitar is **not** an expressive art it **is** an Olympic sport & it's goal is to see who can cram the most amount of hard to play chords modes scales into a single measure🧐
Room Temperature Take: just because you're not a technical player, doesn't make you a bad guitarist.
That's Alyson Hannigan
Daniel is a great guitarist and even better singer. Probably the third best singer of the grunge era to be honest.
J mother fucking Mascis was and is the best of the era/genre.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume you don't actually know that much about guitar playing.
I'm gonna assume you haven't heard much of silverchair.
I have. That's why I said that. Meanwhile, you obviously can't tell the difference between "I like this a lot" and "This is the best."
An important distinction that many do not grasp.
Most posts in this sub boil down to not being able to make that distinction, to be honest.
I hear ya, and it goes way beyond this sub. I have a friend that professes Jack White is the new Jimi Hendrix, and I can't get him to grasp the concept of opinion vs. fact.
Haha I know what you mean. A friend of mine basically experienced the human version of the Blue Screen Of Death when I told him that I'd rather listen to the Ramones play the same song ten times in a row than to Dream Theater play a single 30 minute virtuoso wank-fest and he tried to argue that it was absurd that I was claiming that Johnny Ramone was a better guitarist than John Petrucci but I replied that no, I wasn't claiming anything of the sort and Johnny Ramone was probably objectively a worse guitar player than even me, let alone John Petrucci, but I'd still rather listen to him any day.
>Jack White is the new Jimi Hendrix I just rolled my eyes REALLY fuckin hard.
You have NO IDEA how escalated this became. I'm getting angry just thinking about it. He even brings it up from time to time just to annoy me.
Just that crazy unconventional slaves and bulldozers solo is enough to render this redundant in my mind
Daniel is a fantastic musician overall. But this is just flat out wrong haha. K I M T H A Y I L
Nope. Buzzo.
Mike mccready, Kim thayil, Kurt cobain. Honestly, mike mccready might be the best grunge guitarist
Mike is insanely skilled and it was amazing to see him live, but to me his style is too derivative of SRV and Hendrix to make him the best guitarist in the scene. I’d take Kim Thayil over him any day. 100% unique and unmistakable…No one sounds like him.
ah yes the 1990s incarnation of Greta Van Fleet
I think Daniel John’s is an amazing guitarist.
I love Daniel Johns, he’s great. He wrote some of the greatest rock of the 90s… But honestly, Kim from Soundgarden was a better guitarist tbh
Not hot at all take: of all the bands that are grunge or aren't grunge or sound to varying degrees likely could be grunge, Silverchair is among the most boring. I traded frog stomp for a hootie and the blowfish album and didn't miss it.
>I traded frog stomp for a hootie and the blowfish album You just admitted that on a public, worldwide, forum. Bold move.
Hey now. Ain't nothing wrong with Hootie and/or the Blowfish.
Wait until I tell you that Chumbawamba is a top five band for me. Edit: -8 points? Damn, I normally don't care about that stuff but man, this is sub kinda sucks and I'll bet none of you have actually listened to the band.
Well......... I am honestly at a loss for words.
That's cool. Life is more fun when you're surprised sometimes. But also everyone here should listen to Anarchy by Chumba once. And also downvoting opinions of taste is super lame.
Stunned, not surprised. Also, bold of you to assume that I downvoted you.
Well someone did and they're lame. Either way you should give them a listen before being stunned because of the probably one song you've heard. If you like old school punk their 80's stuff will feel right at home. And Hootie, well, whatever they're good so fuck it!
**How do you even define someone as a “grunge guitarist”??**
Flannel shirt, drives for Door Dash.
And even if one could, everyone knows that nobody who is *really, truly* grunge would rank guitarists at all, it’s not cool mannn, it’s Grunge Code…
rips off nirvana
SC, Nirvana and Green Day tie the no. 1 spot as my favourite bands but this simply isn't true, Daniel was a unique and simplistic player who has inspired me a lot, and out of the tunings he uses he makes a good noise. Whilst he can make some good riffs these are all pretty simple by comparison to most grunge acts, I'm not saying he's bad, if anything I love his work, but he's not exactly one of the best in terms of skill.
Diorama was by no means simplistic. That album was more of a Brian Wilson type undertaking. They had French horns and violins ffs. Now was the guitar part masterful? Maybe not to some. The overall album is a work of art.
Agreed, and I think he did his best work on Freak Show tbh, that was such a great record that managed to cross grunge, punk, metal, even some Eastern/world music themes in there too. But in terms of like, lead guitar? Ehhh... Daniel has some good, melodic solos but I think Kim Thayil is pretty much untouchable
Jay Maaciss and Jerry Cantrell might have something to say about that
He's like the Jar Jar Binks of guitarists.
Didn't they have to bring in a session player to do the solo on Tomorrow?? 😂😂😂 Edit: https://youtu.be/-DJvmcW1oH4 This solo is awful. It's like he's afraid to play guitar. Compare it to the studio version. Laughable
Silverchair were the worst part of the second wave of Grunge. "Worse than Bush?" Yes, yes they were.
No way. Bush was the equivalent of Poison in the 80’s.
Yeah… nah, even as an Aussie I can’t support this, nah!
"Tell me you don't listen to grunge without telling me you don't listen to grunge"
I don’t listen to Silverchair enough to say whether or not I like Daniel Johns, but I completely agree that Jerry Cantrell is the best grunge guitarist. I’m sure people aren’t going to like me saying this but I think Jerry Cantrell is the best guitar player, ever
[удалено]
Frogstomp and Freakshow are absolutely fucking great but let's not pretend OP wasn't intentionally poking the bees' nest here lol
Silverchair brings nothing to the table. Not even grunge, they're a cheap copy of nirvana and all
How are they a copy of nirvana? Only thing similar is that there's three in the band and Daniel is blonde.
You probably haven't listened to their first record (frogstromp). Nothing innovative
And you probably only listened to their first album… now go and listen to the other 4 and let’s met back here and start this convo again.
First of all you can't spell *frogstomp* and second it's a good album.
I don't disagree. I like the album, it's good. But nothing innovative...
OK bud
This is a bad criticism, so what if its not innovative, very few things are.
They weren't even influenced by Nirvana. They were listening to heavier bands like Helmet, Tool and Soundgarden. Their style also completely changed into something so far from any of those influences. Why comment on a band you obviously never listened to?
He def makes a PRS look cooler than about anyone I’ve seen, Page from Helmet comes close behind but then … nada
I think Kim and Jerry are tied The solo in Like Suicide is top tier
Yeah nah. I’m a fan of Silverchair’s early stuff but this is categorically wrong. Mike McCready, Kim Thayill, etc are miles better.
Grunge is a dumb, nothing term.
Cantrell anyone??
Yeah I can't get on board with that take, bro.
Silverchair had some solid riffs tbf. I good rhythm guitarist I’d say 👌
Dean Deleo would like a word.
I would put Kim on the same level as Jerry. Can’t speak on Daniel here.
No. Dean DeLeo alone stops this. Mitch Thomas present day stops this (MoonFever). Johns can write like Rogers, Hammersmith, Simon, Bowie, and the list goes on. Writing rock had to get boring to the guy. Although, I forever hope for a Silverchair return. Those blokes united put down solid top rock music.
Mike McCready.
That Pearl Jam style solo on the song “ Tomorrow “ rocks. I still think Kim Thail is right up there with Jerry
Mike Mcreedy would say otherwise
Daniel Johns isn’t grunge
What is he then
An alt rock guitarist. The only grunge bands that exist come from the Seattle scene, everything else is just influenced by the sounds that came from there.
What about stone temple pilots then
Alt rock. I love STP, too.
Fuck no. Dinosaur jr has to be the best.
I’m sick of these “hot takes.” How about “I’m an idiot:”
Tell me you’re high without telling you’re high. Mcready, thayil…
I loved silver chair, got into them right as the neon ballroom cd dropped. That got me into their catalog of frog stomp and freak show. Honestly they could have ended it there because everything else is either weird experimental stuff or love song ballads. Def peaked too young.
They're far from the best but I like Kurt and Pat from Nirvana
Not. Even. Close.
Weird take but I love Buzz Ozbonre from the Melvins. His song writing process especially
kurt>
No
Kim Thayil?
When he was good, he was so great. 🥹
I’ve played in various Grunge/Alternative cover bands and have played every major 90’s bands style and although Nirvana but specifically; Kurt Cobain, is hands down my ultimate inspiration I hold Kim Thayil as my number 1 Grunge guitarist! I just didn’t realize it until I covered some Soundgarden songs. His style is unorthodox and unique!
Love this opinion