REB BEACH VS. KIRK HAMMETT: LET THE INTERNET MESSAGE BOARD FIGHTS COMMENCE!
Do people really compare Reb Beach’s guitar playing to that of Kirk Hammett a lot? I’ve never heard that fucking comparison in my life. I think you know how many hours of my life I’ve wasted sitting around stoned and contemplating metal to a ridiculous degree, and never in any of the many, many conversations I’ve had with friends about the guitar playing of Kirk Hammett or Reb Beach has the other musician’s name come up. I’m not even sure what the comparison would be, other than they’re both shredders. They play completely different styles of metal, and I don’t recall Beach ever being as fond of the wah pedal as Hammett.
My point being, I have no idea why Classic Rock Revisited asked Reb Beach to compare his playing to Hammett’s, but they did. And Reb Beach, as it turns out, is no Kirk Hammett fan. A transcript of Beach’s answer, courtesy the fine folks at Blabbermouth, follows:
“I don’t know the guy [Kirk], but I think he’s one of the worst guitar players I’ve ever heard in my life. I’ve never heard a solo from that guy that was any good. . . This guy is out of tune, and his vibration… what is it? Vibrato. Oh my god. It sounds like a beginner.”
He continued, “Back in the ’80s, he was always voted best guitar player, and I’m like, ‘What?! That guy is terrible.’
“I hate to say that because I might meet him one day.
“What’s he play in? MEGADETH? METALLICA? Is he in METALLICA? Oh, then I have no problem doing that because in their biggest video, ‘Nothing Else Matters’, when they threw darts at a poster of Kip Winger, and then they showed it live — 20,000 people every night laughing at WINGER — I don’t mind saying that Kirk Hammett sucks.”
I know that some people feel a lot of hatred for Hammett’s guitar solos, I guess ’cause they feel like he overuses the wah the way Zakk Wylde overuses the pinched harmonic. But the only hostility I’ve ever felt towards Hammett is for being such a pussy and letting James and Lars steam roll him and cut any soloing from St. Anger (not that soloing would’ve helped St. Anger all that much).
My point simply being that I’m not sure I can get behind Beach’s claim that Kirk Hammett has never, ever played a good solo. And certainly, pretending to not know which band Hammett is in (because come ON, we know you know) is moronic.
That being said, if Beach is pissy that Metallica made fun of Winger, well… I can only assume that Beach never actually listened to what he was playing in Winger.
Fan boys flame on in the comments section below.
-AR
