Maiden Guitarists Rip Up Metal Hammer Poll
The March 2005 edition of Metal Hammer magazine included a poll of 'Riff Lords', the greatest metal guitarists of all time, bringing forth the following list which might please Maiden fans:01. Tony Iommi (BLACK SABBATH)
02. Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers (IRON MAIDEN)
03. Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin)
04. Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield (METALLICA)
05. Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing (JUDAS PRIEST)
06. Slash (VELVET REVOLVER / GUNS N' ROSES)
07. Daron Malakian (SYSTEM OF A DOWN)
08. Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman (SLAYER)
09. Marten Nagstrom and Fredrik Thordendal (MESHUGGAH)
10. Edward Van Halen (VAN HALEN)
Many thanks to _OK_ of the Maiden BB
13 Comments
James Hetfield @ 4 ?! he can't even play that good ! and Hammett is a better guitarist than Maiden's.... I hate metallica, but it's a fact !
it's not really appropriate to rank guitarists by band, they should have done it seperately !
Ridiculous!
Maiden guitarists do all the housework with Hammet: wipe the floor, clean the dust and so on.
IMO, maiden guitarists are better than metallica's one.
Where is Marty Friedman???
it's not really appropriate to rank guitarists by band, they should have done it seperately !
[right][snapback]100094[/snapback][/right]
Het is a far better overall player than Hammett, but Dave Mustaine was the best guitarist Metallica ever had...and Dave and Marty should be in that list.
And where is Eric Clapton :-) or Carlos Santans ..... ?
I dont like them so much , but they are great guitarists ......
yeah wtf is wrong with people these days how could they just forget about dave and marty they should have been #4 instead of the metallica dudes. they are a much better guitar duet than hetfield/hammet both in skill and sound IMO. were they just not included in the poll? thats ridiculous 
and where is randy rhoads?! he should have been up there too...eff this list (except for maiden at #2! 
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it's not really appropriate to rank guitarists by band, they should have done it seperately !
[right][snapback]100094[/snapback][/right]
That's no fact until you prove it.
James Hetfield also is a good guitarist, remember that he also sings while playing.
Santana and Clapton aren't Metal, so therefore they aren't there...
But wheres Vai and Malmsteen?
Another one of these... remember that everyone doesn't like the guitarists that you happen to like people! The list is lacking some of my favourite guitarists too, like Vivian Campbell, Doug Aldrich, Richie Blacmore(well meybe he isnt that much of a metal player) and Joe Satriani, but that's just the way it is. It would be boring if everyone had the same opinions.
And for Hammet, I personally dont like his style of playing very much. All the solos sound nearly the same to me, but maybe that's because I dont listen to metallica that much.
These lists are always fucked 
Someone of you are saying Eric clapton, vai, malmsteen, carlos santana... They Are NOT Metal Guitarrists... Malmsteen have done some metal stuffs but in all his a neoclassic virtuose guitar! fuck! Randy Rhoads really is missing..
never heard of Malmsteen before, until a week ago or so, when he was confirmed for Graspop (Belgium) !!!
Maiden, Dio, Dream Theather,... all on 1 day !! 
The full list was a top 50 and so a lot of the guitarists you are saying should have been in the list actually were there, just further down the order.
Randy Rhodes and Dimebag Darrell were given a Special posthumous mention, as they are no longer with us. 
I hate these polls. They cause unnecessary controversy.