Various Artists - World's Greatest Air Guitar Album

Well, World's Greatest Air Guitar Album certainly lives up to its name. The two-disc set is jammed with outsized riffs, fretwork of the "weedly weedly" variety, and hard-charging rhythms that are sure to get eager air guitarists' fingers flying. But while it often states the obvious (Rainbow's "Since You've Been Gone," Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody"), the collection also seems to assume a certain amount of musical egalitarianism from its audience of electric guitar devotees. Left-field choices like Blur's "Song 2" or Hüsker Dü's "Sorry Somehow" certainly rock, but they look a little strange next to established classics from Motörhead and Deep Purple. Perhaps that's the true nature of what a World's Greatest Air Guitar Album should be -- admitting that Run-D.M.C.'s famous collaboration with Aerosmith is just as incendiary a moment in the history of guitar rock as, say, the screeching, crying Vernon Reid solo that explodes the center of "Cult of Personality." What really matters is that the album rocks, and that it does, even if the choices waver here and there. Air-guitar virtuosos everywhere will now be able to focus their fingers on imaginary pull offs and hammer ons instead of wasting time advancing several separate CDs to the proper moment of six string-tapping insanity. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide

Name Credits Beau Hill Producer Bill Szymczyk Producer Bob Mould Producer Brian May Compilation Producer, Producer, Cover Art Concept Charles Bud Dant Producer Charlie d'Atri Compilation Producer Dan Schultz Mastering Deep Purple Producer Double Trouble Producer Ed Stasium Producer Foo Fighters Producer Free Producer Grant Hart Producer Jack Richardson Producer Jason Mizell Producer Joe Perry Guitar Joe Walsh Producer John Boylan Producer John Kelly Producer Joseph Ward Simmons Producer Justin Shirley-Smith Producer, Compilation Producer Keith Forsey Producer Leonard Chess Producer Paul Rothchild Producer Pete Malandrone Compilation Producer, Original Idea Peter Collins Producer Phil Chess Producer Queen Producer Randy Bachman Producer Ray Thomas Producer Richard Mullen Producer Rick Rubin Producer Roger Glover Producer Russell Simmons Producer Santana Producer Status Quo Producer Stephen Street Producer Stephen Tyler Vocals Steve Chadburn Illustrations Stevie Ray Vaughan Producer Ted Templeman Producer Tex Cover Art Concept Tom Scholz Producer Xxxx (Four X) Producer