Most Groundbreaking 80s Metal Guitarist?

I know---this is almost impossible... but try... who, in your humble opinion , the most groundbreaking 80s metal guitarist?

Hard choice but I went with Eddy. Everything seemed to change after they appeared on the scene. I still remember seeing the first VH tour where they were the opening act for Sabbath at Boutwell here in Birmingham in 1978. Van Hallen absolutely just blew Sabbath away and I will never forget the sheer energy of that show. Eddie just came out on fire and that kind of playing stood the whole guitar world on its EAR!!

Yep... Eddie did stuff with 22 frets, 6 strings and a Floyd Rose that had not been done to that point... for sure!

I'm gonna have to go with one of my all-time favorite bands and say Rik Emmett from Triumph. They didn't seem to have the mainstream attention that a lot of bands did back then but I sure loved their sound! I saw them on their "Allied Forces" and "Never Surrender" tours and they were great! If I remember right, I think that Rik also played a double-necked electric on a couple songs.

Anybody remember this song?

"I don't ask for much,
the truth'll do just fine.
Won't you, lay it... on... the line."

Quote :

"I don't ask for much,
the truth'll do just fine.
Won't you, lay it... on... the line."

I remember it.

Voted for Eddie, BTW

LOVED Triumph... saw them on the A.F., Never Surrender and Thunder 7 tours... one of the best bands I ever saw live---especially the Thunder 7 show... Rik was awesome and very innovative... great player---he's still putting out great music--if you do a google search on him you'll find him!

I had to say "Other". My vote would go to GEORGE LYNCH. His work in Dokken blows me away, especially the Back For The Attack album. It is a clinic in solo fills.

Quote :

My vote would go to GEORGE LYNCH.

Good choice!

Interesting as welkl, because both Lynch and EVH would admit to being non-technical players, in the sense of being very structured. Both were mostly self taught and know very little theory.

Follower of Jesus wrote:

I had to say "Other". My vote would go to GEORGE LYNCH. His work in Dokken blows me away, especially the Back For The Attack album. It is a clinic in solo fills.

Lynch was a MAJOR influence on me as was Michael Shenker.
As good as both those guys are I still think EVH did more to change the face of rock guitar than both put together. Everything seemed to change after the first van Hallen album came out!!

That was a hard poll. I also went with EVH. He seem to have the biggest influence on guitar players back then. Joe Satriani made Guitar Rock popular in the late 80's. Steve Vai's crazy stuff really didn't get noticed until the early 90's but his work with David Lee Roth in the late 80's started him getting some recognition. George Lynch definitely had an impact on players and so did Randy Rhodes and Michael Schenker.