1. “The Golden Age of Not Even Trying,” Dead!
This is a young U.K. band that [Shinedown bassist] Eric Bass turned me on to. It’s hard for me to get inspired by a lot of new rock records, but these kids have attitude and tone for days.
2. “Anxiety,” Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit
Just a massive guitar song and brilliant wording. I’ll often text Jason asking how to write a song! [laughs] He’s a poet and one of the best writers of our generation. Such an underrated player.
3. “Walls,” Kings of Leon
It’s simple and has amazing lyrics and an amazing melody. They just seem to become better with every album, which is rare these days.
4. “The Waiting,” Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
To me, this is one of the simplest and best 12-string riffs of all time. Anytime an album starts with, “Oh baby, don’t it feel like heaven right now,” that’s as rock and roll as it comes!
5. “Square Hammer,” Ghost
What a riff and what a melody! I just love this band and everything they do. It just sounds like a badass guitar album from the Seventies.
“Jim Morrison was carried out because he was shouting abuse. Jimi Hendrix was there. We were all getting drunk”: Ritchie Blackmore recalls the first time he saw two-hand tapping – at a wild show in 1968
“I was playing with the Scorpions, and I broke a string and had a solo coming up. My brother and I swapped guitars really quickly”: Michael Schenker talks Vs, his early flirtations with offsets, and how he joined one of hard rock's biggest juggernauts
