Grunge’s greatest guitarist, according to Jerry Cantrell: “I always admired his playing”
The 1990s blessed the world with a new wave of guitarists, the heirs to the greats of days gone by, who were taking the instrument in a much heavier, more pulsating direction than before. Famously, many of these came from the Pacific north-west and the grunge scene. Together, they inspired a generation of players, and it proved to be a turning point for guitar music, setting it on a different course. Whilst there are many influential players from this era, one of the best and most distinctive is Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains.
Together with the band’s late frontman Layne Staley, Cantrell formed one of their era’s most potent partnerships, which gave the world classic tracks such as ‘Man in the Box’ and ‘Heaven Beside You’, and peaked with the release of their second album, 1992’s Dirt. A masterful record for many reasons, it is carried by the power of Staley’s vocals, the dark lyricism of Cantrell, and his incredible guitar playing, which ranges from searing on cuts like ‘Them Bones’ to emotive on ‘Down in a Hole’.
Since Jerry Cantrell is such a force in modern guitar playing, he has been asked numerous times to name his heroes. And, like any player worth their salt, it is usually a long list, which includes Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen and Slash. In his time, the Alice in Chains leader has also been regularly asked to discuss the best Seattle guitarists from grunge’s height, a contentious topic for anyone, let alone someone who was right at the heart of the movement.
When speaking to Guitar World in 2021 to promote the release of his solo effort, Brighten, Cantrell was again asked about grunge’s finest guitarists. He was even pushed to name who he thought was the best from the scene, and in response, he chose Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil.
“It’s tough to say; everybody’s so unique,” Cantrell said. “Kim Thayil is crazy. He’s got a crazy style that is unique unto itself. It’s a blend of different styles – super-big and out of control, but right on the fucking edge of coming off the tracks and going right back on. I always admired his playing.”
Mentioning Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard and Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain as other contenders, he continued: “I always liked Stone Gossard’s style, too. Super-punk, but also really melodic and based in some kind of regular rock, hard rock, blues-based riffs and stuff. Kurt Cobain was like a cross between punk and pop. His style had a lot of ferocity, and he wrote super-memorable, simple stuff.”
However, there is only one deserving of the crown for Cantrell. He concluded: “I don’t know… If I had to pick one, it would be Kim.”
For Thayill, his work with Soundgarden has always been split into two categories, the songs he likes listneing to and the ones he likes playing, and that sums up his unique standing in grunge. “As far as listening, I always loved the song ‘Nothing to Say’ off of Screaming Life,” he explained. “And there are a few things on Superunknown, like ‘4th of July’ and ‘Limo Wreck’. I also really like the song ‘Tears to Forget’, which is also on Screaming Life, just for the way it’s constructed. It’s fun to play acoustic guitar, of all things. Although it’s a hardcore song, I wrote it on acoustic. And I like playing it by myself on acoustic.“
Adding: “Then as far as playing with the band, it was a lot of fun when we were doing that sort of loose and careening thing that I described seeing in Guns N’ Roses. So again, songs like ‘Slaves and Bulldozers’ and ‘Beyond the Wheel’ really allowed for the band to kind of explore that – the spontaneous elements and the wild elements.”
The truth is, Thayill is one of the most accomplished guitarists, grunge or otherwise. He skill is not in how fast or how loud he plays, but the dexterity with which he can attribute his talent to the undulating needs of a grunge band.
Watch Kim Thayil in action below.
