10 pop songs with outrageously good guitar solos
Pop music was never made for the virtuoso musicians of the world. Even though artists like Eddie Van Halen had ways of throwing in some genuine fretboard fireworks onto the hit parade back in the 1980s, it wasn’t like anyone was itching to see the next Madonna video in the hopes of what the guitars were going to sound like or if there would be a massive drum solo. Sometimes, the guitarists can’t quite be tamed, though, and some of the biggest guitar breaks of all time have come from people as unexpected as Backstreet Boys.
But it’s not like pop music was ever shy of anything fancy in the guitar department. They still wanted to grab the ear of the listener by any means possible, and if they happened to have a killer guitarist in the band or hanging around the studio, it didn’t take them long to plop them into the studio and see what they could do with any of the tracks.
That doesn’t exclude the true visionaries of rock guitar, either. There might be the odd moment where a guitar god manages to sit in on a session and pump out something incredible, but some of them have been hiding under people’s noses the whole time without even realising it, with people either tuning into the singer first or waiting for when the chorus comes in so they can sing their hearts out.
As all guitars know, though, the importance of a solo is making something as lyrical as what the singer’s doing, and these moments leave the rest of the band looking like amateurs on the bandstand. While the whole point behind playing sessions is to serve the song, there’s no telling when a tune needs to fade into the background and when they need someone to tear up their instrument.
‘Start A Band’ – Brad Paisley & Keith Urban
The modern country scene, ever since the 2010s, has seemed to have forgotten about its roots. Although there are still critical darlings that are carrying on the good word that Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson helped spread back in the day, a lot of what clogs up the charts ranges from either passable to decent tunes about hard living or the bros that want to talk about partying and drinking beer every chance they get. But for all of the cornball lyrics, one thing no one can deny is that the guitar playing has always been fantastic.
And it’s not like any of the trappings of modern country are suddenly gone in Brad Paisley’s ‘Start A Band’. Some of the lyrics are more than a little bit cheesy about a kid with a guitar in his hands and a dream in his head, but hearing Paisley and Keith Urban trade country-style guitar licks back and forth is an absolute dream for anyone who learned off of the talents of Carl Perkins or Brent Mason back in the 1990s.
Beyond the actual solos, this should be required listening for anyone not willing to give country a chance. It can be more than a little lame if you don’t know where to look, but everyone deserves to take a few lessons from these licks to see what happens when someone spends ages working on their craft.
‘Maniac’ – Michael Sembello
The 1980s has always been the home of the soundtrack song in pop culture. Many might have fond memories of watching the biggest movies of the 1970s, like The Godfather, but if the score for that movie was fantastic, fans were ripped out of their seat the first time they heard ‘Danger Zone’ being played in Top Gun. And while Michael Sembello was by no means the same tunesmith as Kenny Loggins, he could play his ass off when he wanted to.
Then again, anyone up on their music history already knew of Sembello’s talent going in. He had already been a veteran of the studio scene working on Stevie Wonder’s greatest records, and listening back to ‘Maniac’, it’s not like he doesn’t know his way around a hook. But after he gets done on synths, he puts together a solo that could put Eddie Van Halen to shame, complete with massive tapping runs that sound like someone losing their mind.
Even though the song is almost enough to overshadow a movie as middle-of-the-road as Flashdance, you can’t say that Sembello didn’t come ready to put the work in. He was always teetering on the edge of legendary status as a session player, but this proved that he could hold his own next to every other shredder when the time called for it.
‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ – Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears have always been a duo that seems to build songs rather than write them. Even though their song-crafting is immaculate on some of their 1980s classics, the production is also breathtaking, like the massive chant chorus on ‘Shout’ or hearing the melodrama seeping through the speakers on ‘Mad World’. But when someone is making that many massive hooks, they need to still serve the song at the end of the day.
But ‘Everybody Wants to Rule The World’ isn’t a song built on its epic guitar solo. While the bass and keys are doing most of the heavy lifting on the verses, the jagged guitar that comes in during the middle break is almost too metallic for its own good until it tones things down and starts playing the most tasty solo to come out of the 1980s pop charts.
Even though the riff at the beginning is the one people remember, there’s nothing too flashy about this break, taking the basic chords of the song and adding little flourishes right before the next chorus comes back in. No part of the guitar is competing with everyone else in the mix, but whoever had played went to the George Harrison School of Guitar Accompaniment and passed with flying colours.
‘You and I’ – Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga was never afraid to show her hard rock chops when she wanted to. She could justifiably sing along to Led Zeppelin when she wanted, and even if the performance with Metallica was absolutely egregious, the dress rehearsal proved that she could still hang with James Hetfield and hold her own. But for someone known as the modern Queen of Pop, she needed another royal if she wanted to make something that truly rocked.
Despite ‘You and I’ being more heartland rock than glam rock, bringing in Brian May was a choice too perfect not to work. Half of Gaga’s best songs are based around that same flashy image that Queen excelled at, and hearing May weave together a bluesy solo in the middle of everything is what wraps the tune together, as if Gaga turned into the female version of Paul Rodgers during that breakdown section.
But this solo deserves attention for how much it doesn’t sound like Brian May, usually relying on one guitar rather than his habit of laying together different pieces on top of each other. Gaga could have easily worked with another rock god to turn in a passable guitar solo, but only a true artist is able to not only make May wail but also try something that is a bit outside of his normal wheelhouse.
‘Running With the Night’ – Lionel Richie
The R&B scene has never been a genre blessed with trademark guitar solos. Though there have been some real titans of the genre, like Parliament Funkadelic and Earth, Wind and Fire, the emphasis tends to rely on the groove and bringing in a guitar that happens to be playing rhythm in the background. Lionel Richie already knew how to make a guitar serve the song on The Commodore’s ‘Easy’, but getting Steve Lukather on this track was a match made in heaven.
Because looking at his resume, Lukather has always been a musical chameleon. No one gets the gig working with Michael Jackson by being a slouch, and after years in the session scene with the other members of Toto, Lukather already had some experience knowing what his guitar could do, and he puts it through its paces in the back half of this tune, constantly switching to different tones and managing to weave in elements of rock guitar with the odd jazz lick thrown in for good measure.
The only real tragedy is that the solo comes at the very end of the track, meaning that most listeners hearing the song on the radio would hear it fade out or cut to the DJ back in the day. For anyone who picked up the record or wants to hear the long version of the tune, Lukather offers up a smorgasbord of licks that will leave every listener stunned and any prospective guitar players itching to learn his every move.
‘Give In To Me’ – Michael Jackson
When talking about Michael Jackson’s history with guitar players, it’s easy to pick out his work with Eddie Van Halen for a list like this. However, when listening back to Eddie’s note-perfect performance on ‘Beat It’, it tends to work more as a true-to-form rock song than anything to do with pop. Everyone knew how great Eddie could be, but bringing in some fresh blood with Slash was the best way for ‘The King of Pop’ to mix things up.
Despite Slash still being known as the wild man out of Guns N’ Roses, his shredding had never felt heavier than working on ‘Give In To Me’. ‘Black Or White’ may have been what sealed the deal for pop fans, but this is where Slash got to truly stretch out, practically turning the song from a heavy groove a la ‘Dirty Diana’ into a metal song in places before Jackson comes back in to deliver the final blow.
Although Slash was becoming known more as the curly-haired rock god in Guns N’ Roses, he had developed his signature sound before he even laid down a note. There might not be any top hat present on the recording, but from the first note he hits, everyone knew that they were in for a wild ride knowing the same man behind ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ was coming in.
‘Let’s Dance’ – David Bowie
Every part of David Bowie’s career was based on a gamble of sorts. There had been moments when he was in the limelight, but seeing him turn into one of the biggest pop stars of the 1980s caught everyone off guard when he started working with Nile Rodgers. Bringing in a disco legend was one thing, but seeing him get bluesy with Stevie Ray Vaughan showed the world the latest new guitarist in town.
Although blues was far from the biggest genre in the world circa 1983, the title track alongside Texas Flood that same year proved why Vaughan was already a legend. There had been other bluesy players that flirted with the mainstream like Eric Clapton, but no one seemed to attack the guitar like Vaughan, putting thick strings on his Fender Stratocaster and playing some of the most satisfying bends that anyone will ever hear in a rock song.
It’s just a shame that Vaughan soured on Bowie shortly after the session ended, especially considering that he wasn’t featured in the video and seeing ‘The Starman’ mime his solo in the middle of a desert while wearing gloves. Still, everyone had done their job; Bowie walked out of the sessions with another massive hit, and Vaughan had the ear of every guitar player looking to bare their soul on the fretboard.
‘Private Dancer’ – Tina Turner
The entire road Tina Turner took to make Private Dancer is nothing short of miraculous. It would take the strength of over 40 men to take on the abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband, Ike, but once she dumped in the trash where he firmly belonged, this was her way of striking back looking like she didn’t have a scratch on her. While Mark Knopfler was there to provide support on the songwriting front, it doesn’t hurt to have one of the greatest guitarists alive sitting in on the session.
Compared to the smooth sound of the track, having Jeff Beck provide the guitar solo of the title track is icing on the cake. The whole tune had already been centred around the quiet tragedy of a woman dancing for money, but Beck manages to craft the guitar version of that woman, always on the verge of crying out in pain but still staying strong throughout every second of her day.
But still, even someone like Beck couldn’t bear to overshadow the massive performance that Turner gives on this track. Anyone can try their hand at making something that will leave the singer in the dust, but when someone has lived the multiple lifetimes that this song talks about like Turner has, it’s impossible for anyone to get in her way.
‘Bold As Love’ – John Mayer
Whenever any guitarist decides they are going to cover Jimi Hendrix, take this one crucial word of advice: DON’T. Everything that Hendrix ever touched during his lifetime turned to absolute gold, and even if someone tried to perform ‘Purple Haze’ at a jam session, they are normally treading on very thin ice by trying to play something exactly how he did. So when I say that the same person behind ‘Your Body is a Wonderland’ managed to do justice to Hendrix, it should come as no small feat.
While John Mayer is far from everyone’s favourite guitar hero considering his personality, hearing him do justice to ‘Bold As Love’ is actually surprisingly refreshing on the album Continuum. The same pillowy delivery is in his voice at times, but on this track, playing the guitar is almost second nature to him, playing everything precisely right as if he knew that Hendrix was watching from the great beyond.
But like Hendrix himself, Mayer knew that he was always going to have to put his own spin on it. Because playing the guitar live is like the player showing the audience the shape of their own heart, and in three beautiful minutes, Mayer managed to make everyone forget about his reputation and see the real musical genius hidden underneath all of those ballads.
‘Larger Than Life’ – Backstreet Boys
For a while in the 1990s, it seemed like the boy band craze was going to bring about the death of rock and roll. People may have still been listening to the likes of Green Day and The Offspring in the latter half of the decade, but once acts like NSYNC started storming up the charts, the rockers realised they had some competition from the kids with the sweet dance moves and frosted tips. While the Backstreet Boys may have been one of the dominant forces of the genre, they didn’t skimp out on the session players in ‘Larger Than Life’.
Then again, this has always been a bit of a black sheep in the guitar community. The lion’s share of party people belting along to this song are more interested in the massive hook behind everything, but when not listening to the full-frontal assault of Max Martin production, the guitar solo is surprisingly brutal to get under one’s fingers, playing massive runs that are reminiscent of Angus Young if he managed to practice under someone like Joe Satriani.
And considering most of the biggest names in grunge were trying to run away from solos as fast as they could, ‘Larger Than Life’ needs to be in the conversation for one of the best guitar solos of the decade. Most people might think of something like ‘The Unforgiven’ by Metallica or a number of John Squire’s best moments, but whoever played on ‘Larger Than Life’ deserves a raise and a rock and roll metal of honour for making a boy band sound this intense.
