Yngwie critiques his peers!

[SwampDonkey]

I just found this link to an old Malmsteen interview with Guitar World from back in 1994. He participated in a blindfold test where he listens to unnamed tracks and comments on the playing. Really interesting, and funny. Satch, Hammett, Vai, Dimebag, Petrucci, he comments on them all, great stuff. If you haven't already seen it, it's definately worth a look:

Smells Like Mean Spirit (http://webpages.charter.net/cynthias/smells.htm)

[drunkenmosquito]

Heh, funny stuff...

But, as far as I can see Yngwie doesn't have his own guitar hero, to him there are no great guitarists, no one sounds good enough. Am I right?

[fizz]

LOL!!!

*about metallica*

"I feel some sort of connection with them. I think the band heard some of my eary demos, which sounded something like this. (Malmsteen demos first surfaced on college radio stations in Northern California, where Metallica is based) I'm not saying I influnced them, but maybe I did."

*about Death*

"The singer sounds like he's sitting on a toilet seat, pushing a big one." - I find this amusing for all the wrong reason, lol.

There are tons more of ridiculous, hypocritical comments in there, but I couldnt be bothered to pick 'em all out :)

[Mr B]

heheh, I think I'm gonna e-mail this to the Pantera website because I can just imagine what Anselmo, Dime and co would do to him if they found out...Other than that, a lot of the stuff he says is quite profound and occasionally justifiable.

[Pezcore]

lets face facts. malmsteen is a wanker, has always been a wanker and will always be a wanker. not only can i not stand the man i cant stand what he passes for 'music'. no soul whatsoever, totally leaves me cold.

sure the guy can sweep pick at a trillion miles an hour, but his 'music' sucks ****.

[Black Star]

if he says one more bad thing about mike portnoy (dream theater drummer). i'm gonna shove my foot up his ass sideways and disconnect it.

****ing wanker...but he's still a great player.

[FleaBass]

well according to him EVERY ONE is out of tune and NO ONE knows how to bend a string he HE influenced METALLICA..... is it me or is some1 sitting on a thrown lookin down on the music world like they are god or somthing???

but thats just what I get out of it. hey im probally wrong :D

[Daledude2]

yeah, eitehr there not playing in tune or they bend strings... too bad in his song "blue" he does a lot of bending... stupid hypocrit.

[SwampDonkey]

It's not that they bend strings, it's just that every guitarist in the universe bends strings out of tune except him. He must measure his frequencies in nanohertz or something :D

[FleaBass]

yea... it would be funny as hell if every1 was in tune and he just didnt have a musical ear.... what a wake up call that would be!!

[mikemet]

The man is a butthole! All he ever does is critize others! I know that he is a great player but I CANT THINK OF ONE OF HIS SONGS! Now on the other hand I can think of a million songs written by those so called sucky artists! Is he even known outside of the guitar world?

[drunkenmosquito]

NO!

[Stargazer-SG1]

Originally posted by mikemet
The man is a butthole! All he ever does is critize others!

Mmmh, are you people insane or something ?!?

This is the FIRST...TIME...EVER...A...MUSICIAN...
MADE...HONSET...REMARKS...ON...OTHER...
MUSICIANS.

How many times do you want to hear the same 'safe' remarks over again ?!? What's the point of being 'humble' if you end up saying nothing at all ?!?

I don't like Malmteen and judging from the way he talks he isn't exactly the smartest person on the planet either, but i enjoyed this comments, they were 'refreshing', finally somebody who is 'asshole' enought to speak his mind.

People here are free to judge anybody at will, but frankly, the only people who's judgement i would be interested to hear never speak for fear of being labelled as 'arrogant', or 'buttholes'.

Let the guy talk, let everybody talk, i would defenatly love to ear this guys trashing each other :)

[suppaenitetere]

Umm... theres a clear line (not even a fine one, its double striped!) between not liking someone elses music and being an arrogant pricked. He crossed the line frequently there. Apparently everyone in the world besides him is tone deaf, everyone should have the same taste in tone/distortion as him, we should all consult him before we choose our notes, and insults one of best and most innovative music producers out there. Gee, i wonder why he wasnt asked to play on the tribute... Hendrix would roll over in his grave.

An example of a tasteful way to be honest is Kurt on pearl jam. When asked about them(the thousands of times) hed respond "I've talked with eddie on the phone a couple of times and hes a real nice guy, i just really dont like their music, what can you do?"

[Stargazer-SG1]

Originally posted by suppaenitetere
Umm... theres a clear line (not even a fine one, its double striped!) between not liking someone elses music and being an arrogant pricked. He crossed the line frequently there. Apparently everyone in the world besides him is tone deaf, everyone should have the same taste in tone/distortion as him, we should all consult him before we choose our notes, and insults one of best and most innovative music producers out there. Gee, i wonder why he wasnt asked to play on the tribute... Hendrix would roll over in his grave.

You are giving him too much credit, he never said EVERYBODY in the WORLD is tone deaf, unless you think those 10 bands to be the WHOLE WORLD :rolleyes:

Quit overblowing his words, all he did was stating opinions.

Originally posted by suppaenitetere

An example of a tasteful way to be honest is Kurt on pearl jam. When asked about them(the thousands of times) hed respond "I've talked with eddie on the phone a couple of times and hes a real nice guy, i just really dont like their music, what can you do?"

No, that's just a wimpy way to do it.

"Hooo, i can't allow my opinion to be heard, let's just talk about how nice Mr. Vedder is, that will give me the chance to 'tastefully' express how much that band sucks."

Besides, he didn't even know who was playing when making those comments.

Imagine that "Hu, yeah, i'm positive mistery band here are all a bunch of nice people even though i have no idea who they are and for all intended purposes might be a bunch of a$$holes, and, ho yeah, they suck, who are they anyway ?!?"

;-)

[SwampDonkey]

I kinda agree with Stargazer on this one. I don't agree with everything malmsteen says (i don't think anyone does except the man himself), but I respect his honesty. If something sounds like crap to him, he says "this sounds like crap!" No beating around the bush. He's still an ass, but when this ass talks, I listen! :)

[ibleedmarshall]

I can't stand that he thinks that no one is on his level. Even if Kirk Hammett couldn't play solos, whose albums only get realeased in Europe, because they would only see ten copies in the states? I think Yngwie is a great player from what I've heard, but he such an ass. Honesty is nice, but Yngwie just seemed to not like much...

what a turd

Although it would be fun to have him comment on Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, the crappy pop punk bands, and the like. That would be an awesome article!

[GuitarGriff]

Let the music speak for itself. He doesn't have to like Kirk Hammett if he doesn't want to, be if my memory serves me correctly, I believe the first 5 Metallica albums were certified platinum + (The other ones might be too, but I'm not sure). Now how many of Malmsteen's albums sold over a million copies?

Yeah Malmsteen, if your music is so great and perfectly in tune, then why does nobody outside of the guitar world listen to it? :(

[GuitarMonky55]

even people who strictly listen to rap know who metallica is, yet most people, even alot who are really into guitar, dont know who malmsteen is. heres my thought:

mayb he learned how to play guitar when he was really young, and as he grew up thru elementary and middle school he started watching every1 else learn to play, but as always, ppl suck when they start out. and he had a very, very, grossly large head. so he, naturally with the size of his head, began criticizing them. then he became addicted to the criticising, and he twisted his mind so severely that now he thinks that he is still the only person that can decently play the guitar, and everyone who plays guitar that isnt him should just give him their guitars and go learn to knit sweaters all day long, because he is apparently the only person in all of human existence who actually could play guitar, and no one else will ever match his brilliant tallents

that was the most amazing sarcasm i have ever spoken.

[telemarsh]

i gotta say, i respect malmsteen's honesty in coming out and saying "this is sh*t" but he went a step beyond and said that he is the only person who can play guitar well enough to be "good" in his eyes. he thinks he is a gift from god, and if no one thinks he is a god-like guitarist, then they are wrong in his opinion

he just comes across like a nad muncher to me, i don't like him

[ibleedmarshall]

I agree with you telemarsh. I like the honesty, but it is annoying when no one seems to be on his level to him. And am I the only one who thinks that there are other guitarists who can bend notes into pitch?

Yngwie is a great guitar player, I agree, but he's definetly not the best...

[GuitarGriff]

Yeah, great technically.

In my opinion, his creativeness on guitar is garbage, which is funny because he claims he knows guitar so well he can play anything he hears in his head.

Hammet is better, Page is better, Hendrix is better, David Gilmour is better, and Angus Young is better. Enough said.

[ibleedmarshall]

too bad there's no postal delivery on Sunday...

("Sunday, Bloody Sunday")

Sorry that joke sucked...

[Mr B]

I wonder did the guy who killed John Lennon talk like the way you guys talk about Bono......

[guitarg0d]

You have not ear at all!. First of all, he bends awesomely, if you cant hear it, then shut up.
Second of all, maybe you envy him and cant understand his music, because its too complex.
Lastly, he has no guitar hero because Violin players...

[Aginor]

How can you say that Angus Young is a better guitarist than Yngwie. All he ever plays is pentatonics, sure he does it better than most people ( I am a fan of his) but Yngwie is in a completely different class


Let the music speak for itself. He doesn't have to like Kirk Hammett if he doesn't want to, be if my memory serves me correctly, I believe the first 5 Metallica albums were certified platinum + (The other ones might be too, but I'm not sure). Now how many of Malmsteen's albums sold over a million copies?

Yeah Malmsteen, if your music is so great and perfectly in tune, then why does nobody outside of the guitar world listen to it?

For the same reason that very few non musicians listen to classical music. You probably don't like classical music either since you can't appreciate his music. And as for your first point, I'm sure Britney Spears or someone's sold more albums than metallica does that means she's better than metallica?

If Yngwie says a bend is off pitch he's probably right. He was born with perfect pitch, I doubt there's anyone here with perfect pitch so how would ye know better than him. At least he has the guts to play the music he loves even if it's not popular and give an honest opinion about other people's music

[FleaBass]

Originally posted by Aginor
.... I'm sure Britney Spears or someone's sold more albums than metallica does that means she's better than metallica?....

GASP... that wil never EVER EVER happen.. over my dead body and the bodies of my dead children, adn their children and their childrens children and so on... NEVER

-

[Griffin_Page]

These last people have made some good points. Yngwie is awesome, yes maybe his egos a bit too big but his music is awesome, the style is incredible, and the virtuosity is untouchable. Leave it at that.

[Zero]

Yngwie is an awesome technical guitarist... and a total, unmigitated ass... but then, many virtuoso players (whatever their instrument) are. Paganini, the world's greatest violinist, was quoted as saying "I am ugly, yet when I play women come and fall at my feet." He was also accused of being possessed by the devil, because it was considered inhuman that anybody could play as fast as him... tapping on violin... lol! :) But it just goes to show, there have always been virtuosos, and they have always been asses... I'm sure there are exceptions, but for the most part... I don't think so. :)

That's my take on it, at least.

[FleaBass]

i AM yngwie

:D :D :D

-

[Mr B]

nice try, but I don't see the chicks fallin' at your feet!

[FleaBass]

give it time my good sir give it time

-