95 Forgotten Rock Guitarists

The years go by and you wonder what happened to so-and-so? So here is a list of rock guitarists who made a splash of some sort a while back and then suffered more or less from diminished exposure, waning popularity—or death. At any rate, they left a legacy of fine licks most people would like hearing again and again.

Please keep in mind, this list is in no particular order. After all, who could be considered the most forgotten rock guitarist of all?

1. John Cipollina (Quicksilver Messenger Service)

Trained as a classical pianist, John Cipollina didn’t just play the usual pentatonic rock and blues riffs; he meandered about the fretboard, producing a plethora of melodic and evocative notes, inflected with plenty of whammy bar, his signature, particularly during the psychedelic era. Simply stated, nobody played lead guitar like John Cipollina!

One of the forerunners of the San Francisco Bay Area sound in the middle 1960s, Cipollina played lead guitar for the fabulous Quicksilver Messenger Service, until the band went “poppy” in the early 1970s. Perhaps his best effort with the band was the album Happy Trails, recorded live. Then Cipollina played for Copperhead and numerous other bands until his death, attributed to respiratory problems, in 1989.

2. Rory Gallagher

Rory Gallagher, an Irish-born singer and lead guitarist was another one of those rockers from the British Isles who took American blues and gave it a modern spin. Gallagher joined the trio Taste in the late 1960s, which toured with groups such as Cream and Blind Faith, and was overall considered an impressive entity in the ilk of the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

In the 1970s, Gallagher formed his own trio, essentially going solo, as he played his brand of impassioned, energetic blues. Eric Clapton once said that Gallagher “got him back into the blues.” Gallagher was also known for his long performances. Later, his music showed a jazz influence, and his blues assumed a more “mature” sound. Rory Gallagher died of complications related to a liver transplant in 1995.

3. Elliott Randall

Growing up in New York City, Elliott Randall played with the likes of Richie Havens, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. Then, in the early 1970s, Randall formed the group Randall’s Island, and their eponymous first album, including such catchy tunes as “Take Out the Dog and Bark the Cat,” is a classic. In 1972, Randall went to California and played guitar on Steely Dan’s first album Can’t Buy a Thrill.

Guitarist Jimmy Page considers Randall’s solo on “Reelin’ in the Years” his favorite. Over the years, Randall has worked primarily as a session player for artists such as the Doobie Brothers, Carly Simon, Peter Frampton, and has also worked as a musical consultant on Saturday Night Live and for filmmaker Oliver Stone. Randall currently performs with Randall’s Rangers.

4. Leigh Stephens (Blue Cheer)

Leigh Stephens was lead guitarist for Blue Cheer, a blues-tinged, acid rock power trio that erupted upon the San Francisco Bay Area scene in 1968. The Band’s fuzzy, distorted version of “Summertime Blues,” climbed to number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their first album, Vincebus Eruptum, is a definite forerunner of heavy metal and grunge, anticipating groups such as Grand Funk Railroad and Black Sabbath. Incidentally, Blue Cheer called itself the loudest rock band in the world.

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Unfairly compared to other rock trios such as Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Blue Cheer’s music was, in comparison, raw and chaotic, like watching an erupting volcano after taking a hit of Purple Owsley. After recording two albums with Blue Cheer, Stephens went on to form Silver Metre in 1969. Stephens performed at the Summer of Love Fortieth Anniversary concert in San Francisco in September 2007.

5. Tommy Bolin (Deep Purple)

Tommy Bolin started his career as a guitarist for the rock group Zephyr, producing two albums and opening for such bands as Led Zeppelin. Then in 1972, Bolin played on Billy Cobham’s album Spectrum, which highlighted Bolin’s talent for blazing jazz-fusion guitar, and this may be Bolin’s best work. Next, Bolin replaced Joe Walsh in the James Gang, churning out two albums, Bang and Miami. Then, in the middle 1970s, Bolin replaced Ritchie Blackmore, lead guitarist for Deep Purple and also produced the solo album, Teaser.

Unfortunately, drug addiction got the better of Bolin at the very young age of 25. After playing a gig with Jeff Beck, Tommy Bolin, having taken a variety of hard drugs, died of complications thereof on December 4, 1976. Chuck Morris said that Tommy was so good he “could cry on that guitar.”

6. Frank Marino (Mahogany Rush)

One of many so-called Jimi Hendrix imitators in the 1970s, Frank Marino was perhaps the best of that bunch, with all due respect to lovers of Robin Trower, naturally. In the late 1960s, Marino had some kind of direction-altering epiphany while hospitalized for overindulgence in the drug LSD and, reacting to this, the press started saying Marino was Hendrix reincarnated, though Marino denies this hype. (Listening to Marino’s version of “Purple Haze,” you might think the story was true!)

At any rate, suitably inspired, Marino then formed the group Mahogany Rush in 1970, eventually producing over ten albums with the band. Over the years, Marino has also produced two solo albums. Interestingly, he has two sons, Danny and Mike, who play in rock bands. In an interview, Marino was asked who he would love to jam with, alive or dead, and he chose Jimi Hendrix. Surprise!

7. Shuggie Otis

A definite guitar prodigy by the age of 15, Shuggie Otis (son of R&B bandleader Johnny Otis) recorded in 1969 the album Kooper Session with blues great Al Kooper. Sounding like a younger version of Mike Bloomfield, Shuggie’s licks are titillating on the tunes “Slow Goonbash Blues” and “Shuggie’s Shuffle.” Then in the 1970s, Shuggie continued his career in the jazz and R&B vein, writing the hit song “Strawberry Letter 23.”

In 1974, Shuggie played all the instruments on the album Inspiration Information, a jazzy R&B, variety-filled experience evocative of Sly Stone and the Brothers Johnson, though it never really caught on. Incidentally, when Mick Taylor quit the Rolling Stones, Shuggie was offered the job, but he declined. More recently, in the 1990s, Shuggie Otis played with his own band in northern California.

8. Erik Braunn (Iron Butterfly)

Another guitar prodigy, Erik Braunn played lead guitar with acid rock band Iron Butterfly when he was only 16. Braunn picked lead axe on the band’s number one hit “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” one of the longest rock songs ever produced at 17 minutes. Braunn’s guitar solo on the marathon, emphasizing pedal effects, is one of the best from the period.