The Best 80’s Rock Guitar Albums

This was GNR’s first full studio album and the one which (not immediately) catapulted them onto the world stage.

Did you know that the album was originally to be produced by Kiss frontman Paul Stanley? Following a number of disagreements with Axl Rose however, the relationship ended before work had fully begun.

From a guitar perspective, we can learn much from this album - Slash’s tones came from a 1977 100w Marshall Super lead head. No surprise there, but the amp had been specially modified to give more gain and mid-range. Want the signature Slash tone on the record? - lots of extra gain and turning the ‘Middle’ pot on your amp way up!

Slash also famously didn’t actually use an original Les Paul during recording. His guitar of choice was a cheaper ‘Kris Derrig’ Les Paul copy. This was run directly into the amp with no notable effects with all clean tones being achieved by Slash simply turning his volume down.

That famous delay during the opening riff of ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ is actually achieved by a specific setting on the Roland SRV reverb unit. This was also used subtly on the intro for ’Sweet Child of Mine’

The solos on Appetite really set the standard for melody and composition; each one feeling almost like a song within a song. Interesting fact - it was producer Mike Clink who worked closely with Slash over many weeks to help give his solos structure and direction. The lesson here is; sometimes it’s helpful to get musical input from a non-guitar player!

Due to Jon Bon Jovi’s mild obsession with Cowboy culture, this album was originally called ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ (formerly the title track). The first draft of the album cover saw the band in full western attire in a mock-up saloon.

It was the single ‘Living On A Prayer’ which gave the band its accelerated fame. However, this track, along with ‘You Give Love A Bad Name’ was originally written for power ballad songstress Bonnie Tyler and nearly didn’t happen! Did you know that the original recording of ‘Living On A Prayer’ is actually 43 seconds longer? - returning to the main riff and ending with a full-scale talkbox solo! We have Joe Walsh of The Eagles to thank for the famous talkbox riff which we all know as Richie Sambora is quoted as crediting a combination of Joe Walsh and Peter Frampton as a direct inspiration.

From a guitar tone point - the album is has a couple of surprises. As mainly a single guitar band, Richie Sambora employed the clever use of a readily available octave pedal - the doubling effect giving him that large ‘double-tracked’ sound. The main amp of choice was a run of the mill Marshal JCM800.

Guitar wise, the album featured two signature models - firstly Richie’s notorious white custom made Jackson with reverse strat type headstock, Floyd Rose term and humbucker - single coil - single coil configuration. The second guitar was a Kramer signature (seen on music videos from album singles) with star fretboard inlays, 3 humbuckers and a pointed headstock.

The band’s fourth album was commercially inspired by Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’; in which every song could be a single. The album is one of the longest available on vinyl clocking in at 62 minutes.

The recording of Hysteria took place over 3 years and was plagued with delays; most famously drummer Rick Allen’s car crash which saw the unfortunate loss of his left arm. Rick reassessed his technique, relearned songs and even crafted a prototype of his new kit while recovering in his hospital bed. The album title is a reference to the media hysteria surrounding Rick’s accident. This was also the last album before the death of second guitarist Steve Clark.

Studio production for Hysteria broke the mould by combining the Def Leppard trademark layered vocals with multi-layered guitar tracks, recorded individually. Parts often consisted of single note loops combined to give an overall sense of depth. The guitar playing itself took a new direction; focusing on melodies within the song as opposed to straight-ahead rock riffs.

In terms of guitar tones, this was very odd indeed. The amplifier of choice was a line out of a small headphone amp - the cutting edge ‘Rockman’ amp, designed by Tom Scholz of the band Boston. The unit contained built-in compression, distortion, echo and chorus (remember this was way before the rise of digital amp modelling!). This choice was entirely attributed to the layering guitars as larger valve amps proved too ‘crunchy’ for this task.

Did you know that big power ballad ‘Love Bites’ was originally penned as a country song?

1984 saw Eddie Van Halen take more creative control of the band and, despite being heralded as a guitar hero, he had ambitions to give the new album a more synth-based sound. It was this direction that gave Eddie the push to build his own home studio and regain creative control. He was told more than once that this was a crazy move, and so defiantly named the new studio 5150 - the official police code for an escaped mental patient.

Obviously, with this being a Van Halen album; there’s a wealth of guitar magic to talk about. Firstly; Eddie’s amp of choice for the album was his trusted Marshall Plexi. The amp featured none of the usual gain enhancing modifications, however, it was maxed out to 10 and a dummy load box was employed to bring the in-studio volume down to a manageable level. This allowed for fully natural gain without the use of any drive pedals. Eddie then added an MXR EQ to boost his mids and for modulation; an MXR Phase 90 and Flanger. All-time base effects came from an Echoplex EP3 tape echo. Eddie was also very vocal about the plate reverb used on the previous records and so this is absent through the record.

The famed ‘Frankenstein’ guitar had been retired by this point and the main guitar on the album was Eddie’s signature Kramer 5150, although ‘Hot For Teacher’ and ‘Drop Dead Legs’ were played on a 58 Flying V.

There’s some notable, more out of character guitar moments on the album too - take a listen to the fluid, modern-sounding legato runs on the outro of ‘Drop Dead Legs’ and the solo for ‘Girl Gone Bad’. You may be surprised to hear that this was the result of Eddie’s fascination with Alan Holdsworth during the making of ‘1984’. he has often cited Holdsworth as an enduring influence on his playing.

Some of the most memorable Van Halen lead work took place on this album; the solo for ‘Jump’ has become almost as famous as the song itself. It’s a little known fact that the solo is actually two takes spliced together to give the well crafted lead break we all came to know. If that’s not enough trivia for you - have a careful listen to the growls on ‘Panama’; that would be the sound of Eddie placing a mic next to his Lamborghini whilst revving the engine.

So there we have it; some inspiration to get your ears and fingers in a playing frame of mind! Plus a few fun facts to impress your friends with!