A Few Missing Links

Of course, everyone flipping through Guitars That Shook the World will find a few favorite instruments that are missing. There are a few photographs of Billy Gibbons' more unusual guitars, but none of "Pearly Gates", the legendary 1959 sunburst Les Paul that he recorded so many hits with ZZ Top. There aren't any photos of Pete Townshend's guitars, either-and he didn't smash them all up! (There aren't any photos of John Entwistle's basses or guitars either, and he had a staggering collection of instruments to his name.) The Les Paul that Eric Clapton played on The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and that Clapton later gave to George Harrison is here, but Clapton's most famous Stratocasters, "Brownie", which he used on the Layla album (and is now on display in Paul Allen's EMP museum in Seattle) and "Blackie", his primary stage guitar from 1973 to the late 1980s (and currently on the auction block at Christie's) are both missing.

Assembling any book is all about compromise; not everyone--especially superstar musicians-can meet the deadlines needed to put a book like this together. And there are plenty of photographs of these instruments elsewhere. (Incidentally, there are several photos of "Pearly Gates", along with an interview of Gibbons, in Yasuhiko Iwanade's superb Beauty of the Burst.)

But those are minor quibbles. There are over 70 guitars in Guitars That Shook the World, and each in their own way really did shake the world, if only to help make rock & roll its most popular music.