Slayer guitarist Kerry King has picked his five favorite guitarists and revealed which one he thinks is “the most overlooked.” He didn’t want to get involved in a ranking – but he did name his absolute favorite.
In an episode of the “Lipps Service” podcast, the 60-year-old listed his favorite Schrammlers one after the other. As if fired from a pistol, he named five names, briefly and succinctly – he only gave a somewhat more comprehensive comment on two of them. We classified the musicians and linked them to King.
5. Ritchie Blackmore
He named Ritchie Blackmore as his first guitarist. King had already expressed his appreciation for the ex-Deep Purple member in the past. In an interview with ROLLING STONE in 2017, he named his ten favorite metal albums, one of which was “Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll’” by Blackmore’s band Rainbow.
“I’ve been going through a big Ritchie Blackmore renaissance lately. He’s written some great stuff and doesn’t get the credit he deserves. I love ‘Rising’ and ‘Stargazer’, but for me ‘Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll’ has the best overall package, song for song. There’s great stuff on there. “That stuff is just heavy,” praised King at the time.
4. Tony Iommi
Tony Iommi is one of King’s role models – in 2006 he was even able to present the Black Sabbath guitarist with an award at the “Classic Rock Awards”. He was incredibly nervous because he was so overwhelmed by him.
“I had a lot of heroes, Judas Priest, Sabbath, Ritchie Blackmore. But, yes, Tony was special. I had to conquer this colossus and overcome it,” he recalled this year on the Greek show “TV War.”
3. Eddie Van Halen
“Without question” Eddie Van Halen is on his list, the musician told “Lipps Service”. Speaking to The Columbus Dispatch in 2007, he named Van Halen as the very first guitarist who inspired him to play his instrument: “Eddie Van Halen. You can’t even talk about the guitar without mentioning him.”
2. Glenn Tipton
When Kerry King mentioned Glen Tipton, he added that the Judas Priest shredder was his favorite guitarist of all time. He is also the “most overlooked,” says the musician. “If you look at his leads and think about when he played them, he rethought a lot of them,” King said in an interview with Lipps Service.
1. Zakk Wylde
The last person the thrash metal pioneer named was a contemporary and companion. “I would go with a super heavy hitter who is my brother and say Zakk Wylde,” King said.
When he was asked in 2008 whether he wanted to take part in a project outside of Slayer, he mentioned the Black Label Society frontman as an option. “If I had the opportunity to play a song with Zakk Wylde, I would do it in a heartbeat,” he told Terrorizer at the time.
In the business for 44 years
Kerry King himself is the co-founder and co-lead guitarist of the thrash metal band Slayer. In 1981 he founded the band with Jeff Hanneman, which was one of the most important in its genre until its dissolution in 2019. This year he launched his solo career with the album “From Hell I Rise” and brought together an all-star group of well-known metal musicians. Slayer announced two reunion concerts in the USA for 2025 – but made it clear that there would be neither new music nor a new tour in the future.