3 of the Greatest “Guitar Heroes” of Punk Rock History

A “guitar hero” is, on a basic level, an incredibly talented guitarist, particularly of the rock or metal ilk. When we think of the greatest guitarists of all time, we think of the hard rock grooves of Jimi Hendrix or the shredding metal talents of Eddie Van Halen. However, there are also quite a few punk rock guitar heroes out there, and I think they deserve some love. 

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Johnny Ramone

Johnny Ramone of The Ramones was a shoo-in for this list, and I feel like just about any fan of punk rock would agree with me there. He was an enormous influence on what punk rock sounded like in the 1970s through the 1990s. He wasn’t picky about legacy brands and opted for a cheap Mosrite Ventures guitar. Ramone also managed to inject a healthy dose of blues into his style of playing, which was otherwise unheard of in punk rock. His politics among the punk rock community were polarizing and off-putting, but when it comes to guitar-playing ability, there was no one like him during The Ramones’ peak, and there’s been no one quite like him since his passing in 2004.

Bob Mould

Best known for his work in Hüsker Dü, Bob Mould was a master at bouncing between genre-specific guitar-playing styles, from pop punk to hardcore to the late-1980s flavor of alternative rock. Mould is a fantastic songwriter as well, and if you listen to his work from Everything Falls Apart through Here We Go Crazy, you can hear his technical ability as a guitarist improve with his songwriting prowess. He’s still a killer guitarist today, decades into his career.

Kim Shattuck

The Muffs leaned more toward pop punk sensibilities than pure punk rock, but I think they’re worth mentioning on this list of guitar heroes, considering how enormously underrated Kim Shattuck was. She was a fantastic vocalist and guitarist. She was a stunning songwriter of heartwrenching pop-punk songs as well. I rarely hear about her in conversations about 90s guitarists that were outside of the mold, and that’s a shame. Her riffs were catchy, and her bends were addictive, and adding on that touch of nasty distortion made her guitar work sound very different from everyone else’s at the time. Rest in peace, Queen.

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