The ‘All Along The Watchtower’ star topped a list compiled by Time magazine, beating renowned musicians including Slash, BB King, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and Chuck Berry.
Explaining why the left-handed rocker topped the list, Time’s music critic Josh Tyrangiel said: “No one merged the blues, rock and psychedelia with as much ease or wielded a guitar with as much charisma.”
While former Guns N’ Roses star Slash came second in the list, the magazine admitted he placed so highly because of his fashion sense, as well as musical ability.
Josh explained: ” A remarkably precise player who had to put up with more crap from his lead singers than any other guitarist on this list. Does he make the cut partially because of the hat? Yes. Yes he does.”
Blues legend BB King was named third in the list, followed by Keith, with Eric taking the final slot in the top five.
Time magazine’s greatest electric guitarists 1. Jimi Hendrix 2. Slash 3. B.B. King 4. Keith Richards 5. Eric Clapton 6. Jimmy Page 7. Chuck Berry 8. Les Paul 9. Yngwie Malmsteen 10. Prince
The ‘Whipping Picadilly’ rockers – who recently announced plans to tour the UK in November – moved to America several years ago and admit their US followers are often unaware of their roots.
Bassist Paul Blackburn explained: “A lot of Americans don’t even realise we’re a British band. Especially in a scene when a lot of American bands sound British like The Killers.
“Doing shows out there is brilliant though because people get so excited if you come to their town.”
The Southport five-piece – whose debut album ‘Bring It On’ won the Mercury Music Prize in 1998 – admit they originally moved Stateside in order to avoid becoming failures.
Paul added to BBC 6 music radio: “We made a decision early in our career to leave the UK after a couple of albums because we knew what was going to happen because we’d seen it happen to so many other bands.
“So we just thought we’ll start a touring career in America because if we stay here they’re going to shut us down.
“Instead of getting bitter about the British scene being very fast and fickle, we thought we’ll not do that, we’ll do something positive.”
The ‘Last Nite’ rocker insists his forthcoming solo LP will not see the end of the band he has performed with for the last decade, but will actually make them stronger as a group.
He said: “The Strokes are still going, we’re rehearsing now. I’m finding it pretty damn fun to do different things rather than be locked down to one specific sound or whatever.
“We’ve been rehearsing for months! Five or six months, I think. It’s going well. We’re all just trying to get a real good recording identity that we’re all super-psyched about. We’ve got lots of songs. We want to knock it out of the park! We’re pretty much ready to go, but at the same time we’re not going to rush anything. By early next year we should be done for sure.”
Despite the new direction, the 30-year-old rock star says his life has never been this good.
He explained: “Everything is great! It’s so cheesy and sounds like I’m lying but I feel like things are better than they’ve ever been! It’s a new road, but it’s a better road and as long as we work hard, I hope The Strokes’ best days are ahead of us.”
Julian is planning to tour Britain and America in October this year to promote his solo album ‘Phrazes For the Young’, which is due for release next month.
The Pearl Jam frontman was so overwhelmed by the attention he received when the group shot to fame in the 1990s, he “completely retreated into himself”.
The 44-year-old singer recalls: “I was almost overwhelmed by it all. I had this house - not a giant house, but three or four nice rooms, and a jukebox.
“And it had this laundry room, and I would sit in there with an ashtray that I trusted. It was like the world couldn’t get me in the laundry room.”
In the beginning, Eddie responded to the attention by revealing more and more of himself, but quickly became withdrawn and secretive as fans and the media became obsessed with him.
He said: “One of the reasons you’re protecting yourself is because you’ve been forthcoming with your emotions. So you have to build a wall. And now people are driving into the wall. That’s what f***s with your head. I felt like my brain was a w***e and I was getting mindf****d.”
The U2 guitarist claims the band have put on an “amazing” show every night of their current ‘360 Degrees’ tour, regardless of how well he is playing.
The 48-year-old rocker explained: “Ironically, I had an awful show in Poland, personally. I didn’t play well, had lots of stupid technical problems, was just uncomfortable all night and it was one of the best shows of the tour.
“You can also have the best show you’ve had for weeks and for whatever reason the chemistry doesn’t go off. It’s humbling, in a good way - you realise, ‘Oh, I don’t really matter that much.’ ”
U2 - consisting of lead singer Bono, bassist Adam Clayton, drummer Larry Mullen Jr. and Edge - have been touring since 1980.
Edge has “loved” every minute of the past three decades, but admits he’d be less enthusiastic if the group hadn’t been so successful.
He said: “There’s never a moment of, ‘ho hum, here we go again’. It’s just still so much fun. Though I’m not sure I’d be enjoying it quite so much if we were still going up and down the M1 in a coach, playing clubs.”
The ‘Just’ rockers have made ‘These Are My Twisted Words’ - which was leaked online last week - available to fans as a free download and confirmed they are likely to perform it later this month.
Guitarist Jonny Greenwood wrote on the band’s Dead Air Space blog: “So here’s a new song, called ‘These Are My Twisted Words’. We’ve been recording for a while, and this was one of the first we finished. We’re pretty proud of it. There’s other stuff in various states of completion, but this is one we’ve been practising, and which we’ll probably play at this summer’s concerts. Hope you like it.”
The group recently released another new song, ‘Harry Patch (In Memory Of)’
to download from their website.
It had been rumoured the group would release a new EP this week but as yet it has not materialised.
The dance duo insist they worry if any of their completed songs sound like they initially envisaged as they fear it will make them “boring”.
James Ford explained: “When we have ideas and they become fully realised, we think we’ve made a boring record. We’re far more comfortable when we don’t know what’s going to happen next. And when we veer wildly off course halfway through, it’s exciting.”
According to the group, their new album, ‘Temporary Pleasure’ - which features vocals from stars including Gossip’s Beth Ditto, Super Furry Animals singer Gruff Rhys and Hot Chip star Alexis Taylor - is a perfect example of their changing attitudes.
James added: “It might seem like we’re showing off, but this isn’t the album we intended to make. We planned for it to be mostly instrumental - techno-y and psychedelic. We only wanted vocals on a couple of tracks, but when we sent them out to some of those clever people who can sing and write lyrics, we got eight or nine back, all great, and we had to use them all.”
The Girls Aloud singer is considering including the track on her debut album, which is due for release later this year.
The 24-year-old beauty’s decision to work with the former ‘American Idol’
judge has reportedly angered bandmate Cheryl Cole, who is also working on a solo LP.
Cheryl - currently the most famous member of the girl group, which is currently on a year-long sabbatical - is said to be worried Nadine’s album will outsell hers.
But a record company source has denied Cheryl and Nadine will be competing with each other.
The insider told Britain’s New magazine: “Nadine is known as the best singer in Girls Aloud, but Cheryl needn’t worry, as the last thing record bosses want is the pair going head-to-head.”
Paula has previously penned hits including Kylie Minogue’s 2000 single ‘Spinning Around’.
The rapper insists the words to his remix of Jackson’s hit ‘Billie Jean’
were penned by the late singer himself.
The 41-year-old musician - whose real name is James Todd Smith - told Billboard magazine: “Michael was one of my childhood idols and has always been a great inspiration to me.
“After hearing the tragic news of Michael Jackson’s death, the lyrics for the ‘Billie Jean’ remix came to me in a dream.”
Smith scribbled down the song as soon as he woke up and decided to call it ‘Billie Jean Dream: Written by Michael Jackson’.
He recorded the song days later and released it on his official blog yesterday (10.08.09).
Smith has also invited his fans to submit their own Jackson tribute songs.
The entries will be judged by a panel of music industry professionals headed by Smith and the winner will be promoted on Smith’s website.
The Australian rocker was half-way through a concert at London’s Hard Rock Café when he suddenly fell to the ground.
He quickly stood up, joking he had swine flu before fainting again.
The band’s manager helped Nic off stage, leaving his bandmates Chris Cester, Cameron Muncey and Mark Wilson to struggle through three more songs without him.
Nic was rushed to University College Hospital in Euston, where he was treated for symptoms of gastroenteritis, acute vomiting and dehydration and held overnight for monitoring.
The band later revealed the singer had been feeling unwell all day, but insisted on performing so he wouldn’t let any fans down.
JET’s third studio album ‘Shaka Rock’ is due for release in Britain next month.
It includes a cover of Johnny O’Keefe’s hit single ‘Wild One’, which the band recorded with punk legend Iggy Pop
