sg should have been the face of hair metal

[zachspecial]

am i the only one that think the sg should have been the face of hair metal. its nice and pointy has incredible upper fret access and is nice and light, everything a hair metal guitar should be, so why didn't it take off during the 80s. i think it all comes down to gibsons marketing, if they would have had bright color sg's with trem systems rolling out in 1981 things might have been different. just a thought that i wanted your guys opinions on.

 

[Maguchi]

Hmm, verry eenterestink! Yeah would've been cool to see more/any SGs during the Hair Metal era.

 

[Decadent Dan]

 

[shreddy bender]

It's funny. Back in the 80's when I bought my first SG (1974 Standard), everyone I knew had B.C. Rich, Jacksons etc. My buddy had a Kramer with a Floyd Rose and asked me "Why would you get that? It doesn't even have a whammy bar?" I let him try it (he was miles ahead of anyone as a player). I let him play it.
"Oh THAT'S why! Holy $#!+ this thing ROCKS!".

 

[zachspecial]

It's funny. Back in the 80's when I bought my first SG (1974 Standard), everyone I knew had B.C. Rich, Jacksons etc. My buddy had a Kramer with a Floyd Rose and asked me "Why would you get that? It doesn't even have a whammy bar?" I let him try it (he was miles ahead of anyone as a player). I let him play it.
"Oh THAT'S why! Holy $#!+ this thing ROCKS!".

yeah i find it interesting that people were playing kramers so much, nothing against them i have one myself but a kramer baretta is probably the least aggressive and flashy body shape out there, it's literally just a strat and strats are great but they don't match heavy music at all. note that i'm talking about standard strats not super strats like an ibanez rg.

 

[shreddy bender]

I think the fixation with Kramers was the Eddie Van Halen connection. I was more into Zeppelin, Sabbath, Neil Young, Humble Pie etc. in those days (still am!).

 

[zachspecial]

I think the fixation with Kramers was the Eddie Van Halen connection. I was more into Zeppelin, Sabbath, Neil Young, Humble Pie etc. in those days (still am!).

yeah evh influenced everything within the 80s, not say he was a bad guitar player but im i the only one that thinks he's kinda overrated.

 

[DrBGood]

What a waste it would have been

 

[shreddy bender]

yeah evh influenced everything within the 80s, not say he was a bad guitar player but im i the only one that thinks he's kinda overrated.

I like Eddie but when I was a kid EVERYBODY played Eruption in my area except me. I liked riffs and power chords more.
EVH was a phenom though. He was the first to do that crazy stuff. Everyone after was just building off what he started.
Standing on the shoulders of giants you might say.

 

[cerebral gasket]

.

 

[papagayo]

Looks like the Stratocaster Buddy Guy.

 

[RGX_Custom]

This would look good in polka dots.

 

[Alathea_Sq2ured]

I like Eddie but when I was a kid EVERYBODY played Eruption in my area except me. I liked riffs and power chords more.
EVH was a phenom though. He was the first to do that crazy stuff. Everyone after was just building off what he started.
Standing on the shoulders of giants you might say.

Roy Smeck, Harry DeArmond, and Jimmy Webster were doing it in the 30's and 50's.

 

[Wound_Up]

Looks like the Stratocaster Buddy Guy.

View attachment 55693

That's immediately who comes to mind when I see a dark guitar with white polka dots. Not Randy.

 

[S.Ustain]

To me, the SG shape is assertive, clean, and forward-looking. It lacks the tasteless cheesiness of many hair metal shapes with the exaggerated points and oddball cuts, but IMO it doers not look dated the way LPs do. Even Strats are starting to look a bit more traditional than contemporary, but the SG is aging well -- or not at all. If Gibson had bothered to refine the build more successfully for better balance and rigidity, I think the SG might well have eclipsed the LP and become a really dominant guitar, and not just for hair bands! But Gibson lacked, and still lacks, the design and prototyping discipline of Leo Fender.

 

[ChubbyFingers]

I'm amazed the Wangcaster style didn't catch on.

This being a nice family site and all, I won't post up any pictures...

 

[SGBreadfan]

Let’s all be grateful it didn’t, leave that to the Charvel/Jackson/Kramers etc. of the guitar world.

 

[JackStraw]

I started going to the hockey arena's to see bands in 1978 with cousins or neighbors at the age of 11 & am very happy that bands like Firehouse, Enuff Znuff, Poison, etc.. were not playing the guitars of my early hero's Iommi, Angus, Tipton & Zappa.
Throughout the decade I was totally turned off by the embrace of neon colors & sharp guitars. Only Adrian Smith by the Powerslave tour played a pointy guitar while Dave Murray stuck with his Strat.
Super Strats intrigued me but Floyds scared me.
Hair metal beacme huge in the late 80s' & it's ridiculous guitars, spandex, makeup, & giant hair was crushed by guys my age just playing heavy music without the spectacl.
The pointy neon colored guitar went with those bands & thank goodness the SG wasn't in any of their hands.

 

[Keysdweller]

I remember bands strapping on an SG for a song or two in their sets when playing live but can't say why they weren't more popular during the hair rock. I think many bands had one in their arsenal along with many other guitars. I have always been a Gibson SG man and prefer playing them over my Strat and Paul. I got my first used SG in 1970 and have had many since them. I bought two of the new SG Supremes earlier this year and they are the best playing SG's I have ever owned after I set them up to my preferences.

 

[Gibbo SG]

All of that comes down to who played what. As they were rarely seen in that genre, as opposed to more Strat shaped guitars, they sat out that era. I'm thankful the SG is not associated with "hair metal", otherwise I'd be playing some other model. A big part of the appeal of the SG, for me, was that they were almost never seen in hair metal. My Stratocasters have als een more along the lines of the 1950's style. Glad the SG missed the boat there, otherwise I'd have gone with something else.