15 Criminally UNDERRATED Guitarists Who Changed R&B Forever 70s and 80s

15 Criminally UNDERRATED Guitarists Who Changed R&B Forever 70s and 80s Some of rock's most consequential guitar players never got the covers, the recognition, or the royalties their work deserved. This countdown explores fifteen guitarists from the 1970s and 1980s who shaped the course of rock music from the inside out — the architects behind sounds you know by heart, in most cases without ever knowing the name attached to them. From the man David Bowie described as his "perfect foil" who co-wrote major portions of the Ziggy Stardust catalog without receiving publishing credit, to the Irish guitarist Jimi Hendrix called the greatest in the world, to the Free guitarist whose gravestone reads "All Right Now" — this is the story of what rock history keeps almost forgetting. Martin Barre improvised his most famous solo in two takes with Jimmy Page watching from the window. Andy Powell and Ted Turner invented twin lead guitar four years before Thin Lizzy made it famous. Randy California wrote a guitar figure in 1968 that would shadow the most famous rock song ever recorded for the next half century. Leslie West played Woodstock on his band's third gig ever and went on to influence Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads, almost entirely unannounced. These aren't obscure footnotes. These are the foundations. Rock in Vinyl exists to find them, tell them whole, and make sure the right names get said out loud. Subscribe for deep-dive rock history that treats the music — and the people who built it — with the weight they actually deserve.