The Golden Age of Household Names...

You're lucky to have caught that!

I never once heard RT on the radio when I was growing up. It would have fired me up, I'm sure - but actually my dad's vinyl was well-stocked with Fairport Convention so I was listening to him that way.

All I remember about British radio was BBC DJs endlessly playing awful manufactured Simon Cowell pop groups, bad 70s glam anthems, and Terry Wogan's stream-of-consciousness (which was pretty entertaining, bless him).

 

ubiquity

a time existed when guitars and guitarists were not so commonplace
the rarity added to the mystique

 

Ah, I was introduced to Richard Thomson at a much younger age, in the 70s.

 

There’s lots of great music outside Boomertown.

 

There's an incredible amount of great guitarists and other instrumentalists these days, but there isn't a monocultural media to present the cream of the crop so most of them are hovering in the local, regional scenes.

Tashi Dorji, Shane Parish, Tosin Abasi, Josh Martin/Little Tybee, Sarah Louise, Bill Orcutt, too many to name, really. But you gotta look for em.

 

This place gets older and whiter every day, nice to hear an outside perspective

 

... also, surprised no one's mentioned Doyle Bramhall II.

I suppose in his 50s so no spring chicken any more .... but also not in his 60s/70s ... or, mainly known as a sideman so does he punch above his weight?

 

To me mass appeal or notoriety doesn't make a "guitar hero". To me guys like Kotzen, Satriani, Vai, Saraceno, Buckethead, all the guys that have had a lifetime of top level play also deserve that title. The fact that they're not "household" names just means the radio/MTV didn't pick them up and get them out to the masses.

 

At least over here Michael Kinawanuka could be one to watch, though I think Smoothrecluse is right, sadly.

 

Michael Kiwanuka’s great!

 

i mean i don't care if my instrument or its virtuosos have mass appeal or not. but i understand what the OP is getting at. i didn't know most of those guys until i started playing for a while (and still don't like them). i didn't know who kotzen was until 4 years ago. i don't know who saraceno is. but jimi hendrix and jimmy page made me want to learn how to play the guitar when i was 8 years old. there's some value in that. it would be cool for kids and laypeople to have a new crop of people to look up to without regurgitating any more decades of a very narrow subset of boomer music.

 

Yes Eddie's passing nailed the coffin shut on dad rock, which had been a dusty museum/historical re-enactment for decades now already

 

I think the role of the guitar hero has changed a lot - a lot of names the OP mentioned made their name in the mainstream. Nowadays the mainstream pretty much ignores ‘guitar hero’ music.

If you look a little deeper, though, there are guitar heros to find - Tyler Bryant is a killer blues guitarist, as is Melanie Faye, Daniel Donato. They are fantastic players, they just don’t have that mainstream audience.

Looking a bit more mainstream, someone like Mac Demarco has revolutionised bedroom recording and logo and has brought up a whole generation of chorus/vibrato loving teens

 

Seems like the best picking nowadays is in the country area. Brad Paisley to name just one, but there are many others.

 

Cool!
Like what?

 

Nothing against the New Breed but, they simply do not have the ability to Dominate the Airwaves like the old folks did.
Too many channels, stations, websites ....
Back then, the Road to the Audience had no choice but to go through the Record Company's, Radio and Television networks of that time.

I honestly believe that there will always be Youngern's who will blow our collective Wigs across the room with their Talent.

 

Lots of names already were posted here, but a recent band I enjoy listening to is Triggerfinger. And a completely different style is Grand Corps Malade.

 

I think the guitar community does a great job of tearing down anyone who dares to stand front and center. Jack White got a prime TV spot last night, tore it up with a Tele, and all the 'players' line up to **** on him.

The old and tired, "Well, I just don't get him..." IS old and tired.

 

Agree 100%, my point was that those guys got radio airplay. Today's "guitar Gods" don't. Guitar driven music has to be looked for. Kotzen and Saraceno have been around since the 80s and are both pretty prolific, Kotzen especially.

 

The general public probably know Hendrix, Clapton and BB, if they're older, but Chet? Only if they're really old. And most people under 40 probably don't even know them, let alone the others mentioned here, except Jack White and John Mayer. You guys live in a guitar bubble, and don't realize it.
I think the masses probably know Ed Sheeran, St. Vincent and H.E.R more than anyone mentioned here. They're the guitar heroes on the radio these days, or on the streaming services, since I don't think young people listen to radio. They do everything on their phones, even in their car.