Like a lot of people, my favourite instrument in a band was the guitar. The more guitars, solos, riffs in a song the better! Of course, I had favourite guitarists, including Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton to name a few (and I think I’ll get into that whole discussion in a separate entry). These were guys that were front and centre with their bands, and were very well known. Not as well known are those guitarists that contributed significantly to the success of the bands they were in, so I’d like to shine a little light in that direction.
So, shout out to Mick Ronson! I was aware of Mick Ronson from his work with David Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust phase (my personal favourite stage of his). Mick was the guitarist in the Spiders from Mars band through The Man Who Sold The World, Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and Aladdin Sane albums. Mick was also involved in producing, arranging and playing with artists such as Bob Dylan, Ian Hunter (of Mott the Hoople fame), Lou Reed and Elton John as well as doing solo work. There is good biographical info on Mick on wikipedia and Allmusic.
I’ve pulled out a little sample of Mick’s work, so please enjoy!