FBO: 'Vote for Hear N Aid's 164-Second Solo'

WHO PRAYS FOR 164 SECONDS?
The FBO has been bombarded with requests that the taped-together solo-after-solo in Hear N Aid's 'We're Stars' (1985/6) be included in the FBO's Top Five Guitar Solos.

You may have missed this the first time around, but Heavy Metal Nation was justifiably furious by the lack of metal representation in Band Aid and We Are the World songs in early 1985, and Ronnie James Dio spearheaded a humorless effort to up the ante with frizzy hair, leather pants and the occasional moustache. It was recorded in May, but -- hilariously -- contractual problems kept the song from being released until WAY after Live Aid and the sing-for-peace fad had faded: January 1, 1986. One month to the day later the space shuttle exploded, and many (not realizing that Hear N Aid came out earlier) criticized the song theme -- 'we're stars' -- as a rub at NASA.

See this video:

Vote:
Using the tabs to the right, please vote on whether or not you think this solo deserves to be the FBO #3 Best Guitar Solo of all time. Symbolically the 2:44 solo vote ends on the 24th at 2:44pm.

Some FBO observers have suggested that the guitar solo, which begins at the 2:21 mark and runs 2:44 in length (an even 40% of the song), is merely one guitarist doing everything. Dio and company managed to get their hair right -- too bad no one was around to film the actual recordings of the solo. Here metal nuts like Neal Schon of Journey and Brad Gillis of Night Ranger play a little guitar to the camera, but many of the solos don't appear to be at all linked with the recording.

Also take special note of the pink outfit of Kevin DuBrow (Quiet Riot), that Dio doesn't let Ted Nugent or Vince Neil (Motley Crue) get any lead vocals, and the priceless still at the end of the 7:12 video (which includes heart-felt backups that these guys probably didn't record, yet cling one-ear to headphones as if this was The Take to change Africa).

It's also worth noting that FBO Contributor Robert Reid interviewed Ronnie James Dio from Russia's Far East in 2005. Dio was starting a Russian tour at the Theater of Musical Comedy in Khabarovsk (pictured, left). He is a humorless man. Read interview here.


FBO Admin
Mobile/Semi-Permanent HQ -- Brooklyn, NY

FBO: 'Evaluating the Best Guitar Solos of All Time (#4)'

ONCE AGAIN WITH CYNICISM...

Why do we have guitar solos in the first place? Some of it is to prove the bravado of the lead guitarist, who wants to put himself ahead of the lead singer in the limelight for a sec. Others like solos to give the listener a little break FROM the singer -- so you don't have to listen to Accept's groany screams nonstop. Others go for less ball-buster melodies, ones that actually play off the song melody, for a tuneful twist. Eddie Van Halen had a fourth option: hatred for his fans.

The first single from Van Halen's 1984, which came out in late 1983, was the synth-dominated 'Jump.' The band likely feared it would be controversial -- that Van Halen, the playful hard rockers of SoCal/Holland would switch from the guitars -- but it quickly became the band's biggest-selling single.

In the video, famously made for something like $400 (a nod to the Stones' 'Start Me Up' in a sense), guitarist Eddie Van Halen 'plays possum' on his guitar, strumming along as his guitar-less song surrounds him (a bit of guitar comes in during the pre-chorus). Mid-way through (see the 2:15 mark) he holds up a finger, as if to say, 'Hold on, I'll throw something your way, kids,' then tears out the most cynical guitar solo of all time.

The solo to follow -- accompanied with Eddie's cheetah jacket and goofy-as-if-stoned grins that run along the whole video -- tries to fit as much crunch and 'tapping' finger-pulls as is possible in a mere 15 seconds. It's way too busy and fast for the simple pop song, and he's doing it only to get people pre-emptively 'off his back.'

--> 'Here's some guitar, as loud and fast as ever, so deal with the keys.'

What's more, expecting negative fall-out for the synths, he follows it with an actual keyboard solo -- the first time you see him playing the keyboards in the video -- as if to prove a point: this is music too.



This is cynicism and hatred. Not something easily accomplished by a 15-second guitar solo in a three-minute-plus #1 hit song. For that Eddie deserves credit.

What's funniest is there turned out to be little, or no, backlash for the 'sell out' move. The album was clearly Van Halen's most inspired album since their first in 1978, and it sold to equally rapturous fan bases on both sides of the gender line.


FBO Admin
Mobile/Semi-Permanent HQ -- Brooklyn, NY

FBO: 'Evaluates Five Best Guitar Solos of All Time (#5)'

VERY GOOD PLAY!
The FBO debuts a rolling feature, not slave to any clear-cut time table, that will highlight the five best guitar solos of all time. In doing so, a few things will be considered:

a) melodic achievement
b) physical delivery of solo
c) tenacity
d) unexpectedness

The number-five slot easily merits inclusion in any short list for all four of these attributes. Our video presentation gives background on the choice as well as shows a snippet of the 23-year-old classic.

Spoiler alert: the Elvis grin is hard to see. Look at the 2:08 mark closely.

Stay tuned for more 'great solos of all time' in the weeks and months to come.


FBO Admin
Mobile/Semi-Permanent HQ -- Brooklyn, NY