I was thinking about redoing my ginormous list of the 10 best everthings, but I decided to do this instead, since most of my issues were with the guitar list. So, here you go:

Guitarist (bands)

Rock

1. Eric Clapton (Cream, solo, Yardbirds, Derek & the Dominos)

Clapton at his finest: "Crossroads" with Cream (1968 )

2. Jimi Hendrix (Jimi Hendrix Experience, solo)

Hendrix at his finest: "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" with the Experience (1968 )

3. Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin, Yardbirds)

Page at his finest: "Stairway to Heaven" (1971)

4. Pete Townshend (the Who)

Townshend at his finest: "Won't Get Fooled Again" (1971)

5. Joe Perry & Brad Whitford (Aerosmith)

Perry and Whitford at their finest: "Love in an Elevator" (1989)

6. Dickey Betts & Duane Allman (the Allman Bros. Band)

Betts and Allman at their finest: "Blue Sky" (1972)

7. Angus and Malcolm Young (AC/DC)

the Youngs at their finest: "Back in Black" (1980)

8. Keith Richards (the Rolling Stones)

Richards at his finest: "Sympathy for the Devil" (1968 )

9. Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen)

Van Halen at his finest: "Eruption" (1978 )

10. Alex Lifeson (Rush)

Lifeson at his finest: "Working Man" (1974)

Alternative

1. Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)

Cobain at his finest: "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (1991)

2. Mike McCready & Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam)

McCready and Gossard at their finest: "Alive" (1991)

3. John Frusciante (the Red Hot Chili Peppers)

Frusciante at his finest: "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" (album) (1991)

4. Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins)

Corgan at his finest: "Geek U.S.A." (1993)

5. Rivers Cuomo (Weezer)

Cuomo at his finest: "Say It Ain't So" (1994)

6. Tom DeLonge (blink-182, Angels and Airwaves)

DeLonge at his finest: "Enema of the State" with blink-182 (album) (1999)

7. Jonny Greenwood & Ed O'Brien (Radiohead)

Greenwood and O'Brien at their finest: "Paranoid Android" (1997)

8. Dave Baksh (Sum 41)

Baksh at his finest: "In Too Deep" (2001)

9. Kim Thayil (Soundgarden)

Thayil at his finest: "Black Hole Sun" (1994)

10. Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters)

Grohl at his finest: "Everlong" (1997)

Real Metal

1. Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath)

Iommi at his finest: "War Pigs" (1970)

2. Kirk Hammett & James Hetfield (Metallica)

Hammett and Hetfield at their finest: "Master of Puppets" (1986)

3. Dave Mustaine & Marty Friedman (Megadeth)

Mustaine and Friedman at their finest: "Hangar 18" (1990)

4. Chris Poland (Megadeth)

Poland at his finest: "Good Mourning/Black Friday" (1986)

5. Glen Tipton & K.K. Downing (Judas Priest)

Tipton and Downing at their finest: "Painkiller" (1990)

6. Slash (Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver)

Slash at his finest: "Paradise City" (1987)

7. Randy Rhoads (Ozzy Osbourne, Quiet Riot)

Rhoads at his finest: "Crazy Train" with Ozzy (1980)

8. Dave Murray & Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden)

Murray and Smith at their finest: "Number of the Beast" (1982)

and for lack of any other guitarists in this category...

Glam Metal

1. Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi)

Sambora at his finest: "Livin' on a Prayer" (1986)

2. Mick Mars (Mötley Crüe)

Mars at his finest: "Dr. Feelgood" (album) (1989)

3. Ace Frehley (Kiss)

Frehley at his finest: "Shock Me" (1977)

4. Steve Clark & Phil Collen (Def Leppard)

Clark and Collen at their finest: "Photograph" and "Pour Some Sugar on Me" (1983, 87)

5. Robbin Crosby & Warren DeMartini (Ratt)

Crosby and DeMartini at their finest: "Wanted Man" and "Round and Round" (1984)

90s/00s Metal

1. John Petrucci (Dream Theater)

Pertucci at his finest: "Under a Glass Moon" (1992)

2. Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave)

Morello at his finest: "Rage Against the Machine" (album) (1992)

3. Synyster Gates & Zacky Vengeance (Avenged Sevenfold)

Gates and Vengeance at their finest: "Beast and the Harlot" (2005)

4. Herman Li & Sam Totman (DragonForce)

Li and Totman at their finest: "Through the Fire and Flames" (2006)

5. Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains)

Cantrell at his finest: "Man in the Box" (1990)

6. Daron Malakian (System of a Down)

Malakian at his finest: "BYOB" (2005)

7. Dan Donegan (Disturbed)

Donegan at his finest: "Indestructible" (2008 )

And there you go. My first blog post in forever. How'd I do?

Another blog dedicated to the under-appreciated bass guitar. Each song here includes an awesome intro, recurring riff, or bridge part. For those readers ho aren't music geniuses, a bridge is a transitional section of a song. Usually preempts a guitar solo or change in tempo/key/etc. of the song. This list is in the same format as all my other lists. Here we go:

Sweet Emotion- Aerosmith (Tom Hamilton)

Simply great technique. It's what makes the song the song.

Are You Gonna Be My Girl- JET (Mark Wilson)

Appropriate intro for the song. It sets the mood nicely. Until guitar takes over, anyway.

Reptilia- the Strokes (Nikolai Fraiture)

Simple, but powerful. Follows through nicely with the rest of the song.

Suicide and Redemption, Cyanide- Metallica (Robert Trujillo)

New guy Robert Trujillo proves his worth with the beginning thumps of this 10-minute instrumental off of Metallica's brand new album. The riff near the beginning of Cyanide is pretty nice, too.

Sleepwalker- Megadeth (James Lomenzo)

Another latest album by thrash metal legend Megadeth. The bass intro accompanies the guitar intro very nicely. It's nice and clean, but alas disappears when the song dives into it's angry thrash that continues till the song ends.

Constant Motion- Dream Theater (John Myung)

Great bridge beat here. Brief, powerful, and everything a good bridge should have.

Working Man- Rush (Geddy Lee)

Geddy's awesome bass talents shine brightly in the bridge for this 7-minute epic off of their first album. Noteworthy indeed.

Suck My Kiss- Red Hot Chili Peppers (Flea)

Admit it, if you were a bass guitarist, you'd wanna be like Flea. Never sitting on the sidelines and always ready to kick out another great line. This song is no exception, which brings me to our next track...

Tell Me Baby- RHCP (Flea)

This one is just made of pure musical win. Listen to it once for me, and I dare you to come back and tell me you weren't blown away by the awesome bass skillz shown here by the musical genius that is Michael "Flea" Balzary.

Okay, that's all I've got for right now. Enjoy!

In northeastern Ohio, it's friggin' windy right know. It's blowing doors open all over my house. It's getting a little annoying.

Rock Band 2 came out today only for Xbox 360 due to some exclusivity contract signed with Microsoft by Harmonix, developers of RB and former developers of the Guitar Hero franchise. Jeez, that sentence was long. Sadly, my Xbox 360 is still sick and I am unable to purchase said awesomeness. *sad face* I guess I'll have to wait another week or so. Damn.

Also, my uncle came to town this weekend and took us to a big fancy restaurant downtown. It was a delicious (and fancy) meal, but it took like two friggin' hours to get served le course de main...that's fake French for my f***ing steak. On the way in, we saw Cedric the Entertainer and posse on their way out, which was kind of cool. I didn't have a camera or any paper, so I have no proof (but come on, if i was lying, I would have seen someone much more famous).

So that's the deal right now. Enjoy.

For lack of anything to blog about, I'm gonna start doing this. I will feature a band or two on Wednesdays who have proved to be friggin' awesome, post their albums and band members. More than likely, one of them will end up being "The Man" (or woman, depending on who's most awesome). This week:

Dream Theater

Genre: Progressive metal

Current Members:

James LaBrie (vocals)

John Petrucci (guitar)

John Myung (bass)

Mike Portney (drums)

Jordan Rudess (keyboards)

Former Members:

Charlie Dominici (vocals)

Kevin Moore (keyboards)

Derek Sherinian (keyboards)

Studio Albums:

When Dream and Day Unite- 1989

Images and Words- 1992

Awake- 1994

Falling Into Infinity- 1997

Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory- 1999

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance- 2002

Train of Thought- 2003

Octavarium- 2005

Systematic Chaos- 2007

It's a good start, this is still a little baby idea for a blog. It'll probably get better as I continue it. For now, I'll leave it at this.

The box for my (X)box came! I can finally send it home to be cleaned! He will be so happy! And so will I. It's probably gonna take another two f**king weeks, though. Darn it. For now, enjoy this scrapbook of things I will miss:

That is all.

I love making lists.

Some songs just can't pump out the world's best solo, but the opening guitar riff may just keep you hooked through the rest of the song. Maybe the song has the benefit of both. It all depends on the man (men?) behind it all. Today, I shall honor the most kickass riffs that rock 'n' roll has ever spawned. Maybe you've heard of it, maybe you haven't. It's not my place to judge. Whatever, here we go.

Song- Band (man behind the riff)

(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction- the Rolling Stones (Keith Richards)

Day Tripper- the Beatles (John Lennon[composed by] George Harrison[performed by])

Aqualung- Jethro Tull (Martin Barre)

Black Dog- Led Zeppelin (Jimmy Page)

Smells Like Teen Spirit- Nirvana (Kurt Cobain[guitar riff], Krist Novoselic[bass riff])

Message in a Bottle- the Police (Andy Summers)

Rock You Like a Hurricane- the Scorpions (Matthias Jabs)

Iron Man- Black Sabbath (Tony Iommi)

Smoke on the Water- Deep Purple (Ritchie Blackmore)

Walk This Way- Aerosmith (Joe Perry)

Born to Run- Bruce Springsteen (Bruce himself)

You Really Got Me- the Kinks, covered by Van Halen (Dave Davies, then Eddie Van Halen)

Sweet Child O'Mine, Welcome to the Jungle- Guns N' Roses (Slash)

Purple Haze- the Jimi Hendrix Experience (Jimi Hendrix)

American Woman- the Guess Who (Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings)

Wow, I fit waaaaaaaaaaay more in there than I thought I was gonna. Awesome.

Okay, first off, observe my new banner of Don LaFontaine. The guy who does all the deep-voice movie trailers. He's the latest edition of my blog heading "series," "The Man" where I highlight everyone who has proved themselves to be the man. It is supposed to say he died September 1, 2008. It was too big, and got cut off, so...yeah. My message has been said in the picture.

Now, about the blog title. This is a tribute to all the guitarists that Rolling Stone magazine screwed over on their lists, particularly this one: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5937559/the_100_greatest_guitarists_of_all_time/

If you're too lazy to read all of it, I'll tell you who's where when I get going. First off, two guys who should be on there, but aren't.

Joe Walsh and Don Felder of the Eagles. Walsh is the main guitarist, and Felder is their primary soloist. If you listen to "Hotel California" even just once, you will see that this is treason.

Joe Walsh Don Felder cover of "Hotel California" album

Pete Townshend of the Who. C'mon, Rolling Stone, 50th? Seriously. If you feel like digging back through my blogs to find my huge list of the best rockers, Pete is my 4th best guitar player evar. He should have been way higher than this. At least ahead of George Harrison (#20 or 21 on RS's list, I beleive). He was also the last guy to be "The Man".

Eddie Van Halen. Okay, this was f**king nuts. 70th? What the hell is wrong with you, RS? Have you ever heard a Van Halen song before? He should at least be top 15, maybe kick out one of those guys no one's ever heard of. Readers, take your pick.

"And that's what really grinds my gears."

Okay, so I filled out all the paperwork for my poor little Xbox to be sent home to get cleaned or replaced. All the way in Redmond, Washington. It's going to be a long and painful journey, but I'll make it. To quote Peter Griffin: "And now we play the waiting game"

Just watch the first 30 seconds of this video to hear what I sound like right now.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6072268619806992782&ei=Go29SNb_D4TSrAKt3NX9DA&q=red+vs+blue+58&hl=en

Once again, if someone could tell me how to format links, that would be awesome.

But more to the point, my Xbox 360 died last night during a round of GH3. It got infected with a special form of Xbox cancer known as the red ring of death (RRoD). So now, I need to find out how to send it back to Microsoft so that they can clean it for me....or more likely send me a new one. So just about 2 weeks (judging by the time it took for my brother's to get sent there and back when his got infected) with no Rock Band, no Guitar Hero, and no Halo. And just when RB2 comes out (Sept 14, I believe) too! So, until then.

Exactly what it says, an unordered list of rock's best-looking band logos and mascots. Names are added where applicable. Here we go.

Led Zeppelin- "The Four Symbols"

Each symbol was picked by one member of the band. The "Zoso" one was picked by Jimmy Page, second from the left is John Paul Jones's, third from the left is John Bonham's, and the feather is Robert Plant's. There are several interpretations of these. Collectively, they are thought to represent fire, water, earth, and air from left to right. Page's was reportedly made by altering a symbol that he found in a book. Jones's is a triquetra symbolizing "a person with confidence and competence." Bonham's is a representation of man, woman, and child (which also resembles an aerial view of a drum kit, his instrument). Plant's symbol is the feather of the Egyptian goddess Ma'at representing "truth, justice, fairness and writing."

Blue Öyster Cult- "Hook-and-Cross"

BÖC's symbol is that of Kronos, the king of Titans and father of Zeus in Greek mythology. It is also the alchemical symbol for lead, an extrememly heavy metal (leading to the creation of the term "heavy metal").

Megadeth- "Vic Rattlehead"

Vic is Megadeth's skeletal mascot, an embodiment of the phrase "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil." His ears are covered with metal caps, his visor is riveted on his eyes, and his mouth has been clamped shut. His fictional story is addressed in the song "Skull Beneath the Skin" off of the album "Killing is My Business....and Business is Good!" In reality, Dave Mustaine (frontman of Megadeth) sketched the original drawing of Vic for the cover art of "Killing is My Business," but Combat Records lost the artwork and improvised a completely different result. The original artwork was supposed to be recovered and placed on the re-issue of "Killing is My Business"; however, this never came to pass.

Metallica

Featured on all of their studio albums until 1996's "Load" (and due back for this year's "Death Magnetic") is the ominous name of the band. Just an awesome, almost legendary moniker for thrash metal.

Aerosmith

Simple, yet complex. I like it.

AC/DC

Again, really simple, but made of pure logo win. If you live anywhere (and I'm guessing you do) you've probably seen someone wearing this on a t-shirt.

Ozzy Osbourne

I'm running out of logos with backstories...

...so we'll leave it at that for now.

For some odd reason, the Rock Band team is having technical difficulties uploading the Moving Pictures album by Rush. It's not up yet, and they don't know when it will be. Damn. I was looking forward to this. Once again, here are the songs and their run-times (just for sh**s and giggles)

Moving Pictures (1981) by Rush

Tom Sawyer- 4:33

Red Barchetta- 6:06

YYZ- 4:24

Limelight- 4:19

The Camera Eye- 10:56

Witch Hunt- 4:43

Vital Signs- 4:43

Maybe tomorrow...

It was pretty much your usual first day of school. Only difference is that I'm an 8th grader.

We came in, everyone came back from last year, no new kids and unloaded all our sh** onto the floor. Our normal homeroom teacher is out for a month due to surgery, so we have a substitute until she recovers. We met our new music teacher, who made a good first impression on us all. We've had at least 5 people fill the position in the last year, but I think this guy's here to stay. At least until I leave my school for high school. We didn't switch classes, we just spent the day with our homeroom teacher getting sh** organized. I guess it was fun.

Tomorrow ought to be a little worse, with the actual class-switching. Oh, well.

If you will refer to the post that lives just downstairs from this one, you will see next week's DLC for Rock Band. Among them is YYZ, an instrumental track by Rush. Rock Band songs feature guitar, bass, drums and singing parts.

I wonder how this will turn out.

Longest title evar party.

Okay, so now that it's Friday it's officially time to start counting down all the way to Monday. It's my first day of school as an 8th grader, kind of good kind of bad. I've had a great summer, really. So, when are you guys going back?

Also, I thought I would try something different for Friday bloggings. I'm gonna start putting up the DLC for Rock Band that will become available on Tuesday for Xbox 360 owners and Thursday for PS3 owners. So, give me some feedback on this idea. Okay, this week's DLC will be an album download. Rush's eighth studio album and the 27th best guitar album of all time according to Guitar World magazine. All tracks are original master recordings.

Track Listing:

1. Tom Sawyer

2. Red Barchetta

3. YYZ

4. Limelight

5. The Camera Eye

6. Witch Hunt

7. Vital Signs

Here's the tl;dr version: School starts on Monday, Rush's Moving Pictures is Rock Band DLC this week. Have a nice day!

I have nothing to blog about, so I thought I would share some joy with you. But, to share the joy, I need to tell you this first.

I decided to change my sig, because my many fan bars were getting boring. So I put up an achievable picture. Now, the joy-sharing can begin.

The thing in my sig is taken from this video: a PSA from the guys at Rooster Teeth, the makers of everyone's favorite machinima (see "about me") Red vs. Blue.

http://rvb.roosterteeth.com/archive/episode.php?id=296

P.S.-, if someone could tell me how to make links without having to spell them out, that would be awesome.

P.S.S...or um...P.P.S.- Be warned, this video contains strong language and excessive amounts of Caboose. Not intended for people who are afraid their ears will explode if they hear the "naughty words."

...the following people who wouldn't fit in my previous blog. First off, the picture of Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead that wouldn't fit down there:

And now, the Honorable Mentions for Frontmen/Lead Singers:

Jon Anderson of Yes (1944-present)

Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull (1947-present)

Paul Rodgers of Free and Bad Company (1949-present)

Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits (1949-present)

Rivers Cuomo of Weezer (1970-present)

Honorable Mentions for Guitarists:

Steve Howe of Yes (1947-present)

Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits (1949-present)

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath (1948-present)

Tom Petty (1950-present) and Mike Campbell (1950-present) of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

That's Mike on the left, and Tom on the right

Eddie Van Halen (1955-present)

This is my list of the 10 best everythings in rock.

10 Best Drummers

1. Keith Moon of the Who (1946-1978 )

2. John Bonham of Led Zeppelin (1948-1980)

3. Lars Ulrich of Metallica (1963-present)

4. Stewart Copeland of the Police (1952-present)

5. Ginger Baker of Cream (1939-present)

6. Joey Kramer of Aerosmith (1950-present)

7. Neil Peart of Rush (1952-present)

8. Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead (1946-present)

[photo not available]

9. Bill Ward of Black Sabbath (1948-present)

10. Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers (1961-present)

Honorable mentions: The Rev of Avenged Sevenfold (1981-present)

Jimmy Chamberlin of the Smashing Pumpkins (1964-present)

Trent Reznor of the Nine Inch Nails (1965-present)

Ringo Starr of the Beatles (1940-present)

10 Best Bassists

1. John Entwistle of the Who (1944-2002)

2. John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin (1946-present)

3. Cliff Burton of Metallica (1962-1986)

4. Chris Squire of Yes (1948-present)

5. Tom Hamilton of Aerosmith (1951-present)

6. Michael "Flea" Balzary of the Red Hot Chili Peppers (1962-present)

7. Geddy Lee of Rush (1953-present)

8. Gordon "Sting" Sumner of the Police (1951-present)

9. Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath (1949-present)

10. Jack Bruce of Cream (1943-present)

Honorable mentions: Nikolai Fraiture of the Strokes (1978-present)

Mark Wilson of JET (1980-present)

Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe (1958-present)

Dr. Matt Destruction of the Hives

10 Best Frontmen/Lead Vocalists

1. Roger Daltrey of the Who (1944-present)

2. Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin (1948-present)

3. Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones (1943-present)

4. Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath and solo (1948-present)

5. Jim Morrison of the Doors (1943-1971)

6. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith (1948-present)

7. Bruce Springsteen (1949-present)

8. Geddy Lee of Rush (1953-present)

9. John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival (1945-present)

10. David Lee Roth of Van Halen (1954-present)

upside-down Dave

Honorable Mentions: Tom DeLonge (1975-present) and Mark Hoppus (1972-present) of Blink-182

Jack Bruce of Cream (1943-present)

Tom Petty of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1950-present)

Paul McCartney of the Beatles (1942-present)

10 Best Guitarists

1. Eric Clapton of Cream, Derek and the Dominos, and solo (1945-present)

2. Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970)

3. Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin (1944-present)

4. Pete Townshend of the Who (1945-present)

5. Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones (1943-present)

6. Kirk Hammett of Metallica (1962-present)

7. John Fogerty of CCR (1945-present)

8. Joe Perry of Aerosmith (1950-present)

10. Tom Scholz of Boston (1947-present)

Honorable mentions: Tom DeLonge of Blink-182 (1975-present)

Brad Whitford of Aerosmith (1952-present)

Synyster Gates of Avenged 7x (1981-present)

Kurt Cobain of Nirvana (1967-1994)

Robby Krieger of the Doors (1946-present)

Angus Young of AC/DC (1955-present)

Rivers Cuomo of Weezer (1970-present)

Allen Collins (1952-1990) and Gary Rossington (1951-present) of Lynyrd Skynyrd

Jeez, that took a while. You can probably imagine.

I forgot to put horn solos in my last blog, duh! I knew there was something missing.

Horns

Brown Sugar, Can't You Hear Me Knocking?, B*tch- the Rolling Stones (Bobby Keys)

Same Old Song and Dance- Aerosmith (Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Stan Bronstein, Jon Pearson) [there's a lot of horns in this song]

Rag Doll- Aerosmith (Tom Keenlyside)

Love in an Elevator- Aerosmith (Bruce Fairbairn)

Again, not too many of 'em, but it's a decent sized list, and I'll probably remember more eventually. Until then...

This blog goes out to all those long forgotten instruments that everyone wanted to play before Guitar Hero took over the world. This will honor keyboards, pianos/organs, and string arrangement solos and/or intros that have proven themselves in the world of music. Let's begin.

Pianos, Organs, and Keyboards/Synthesizers

Jessica- the Allman Bros. Band (Chuck Leavell)

Critical Acclaim- Avenged Sevenfold (Jamie Muhoberac)

Highway Star- Deep Purple (Jon Lord)

Foreplay/Long Time, Smokin'- Boston (Tom Scholz)

Constant Motion- Dream Theater (Jordan Rudess)

Tom Sawyer- Rush (Geddy Lee)

Won't Get Fooled Again, Baba O'Riley[for piano and synthesizer]- the Who (Pete Townshend)

Strings

Baba O'Riley- the Who (Dave Arbus)

Afterlife- Avenged 7x (Marc Mann and the band)

As you can see, I don't know of a lot of rock's great string arrangements. But, there's keyboard instruments aplenty. As always, enjoy my selections.