Farewell John Sykes

Guitarist John Sykes has died at 65. He is best known for his work with Whitesnake, Blue Murder and Thin Lizzy. Many of our Glam heroes considered Sykes a great influence and legend of the guitar craft.

Another one of stars gone too soon - and I remind you all of this every time I have to make one of these posts: don't delay! See your faves live while you still can!

Comments

[stu]

got to meet sykes on the ‘94 tour for blue murder’s second album. hung out with him for about half an hour talking shop. great memories. huge loss for me, several of his songs are top 20 for me. i just wish he had been able to put out more material.

[Metalboy!]

RIP, John Sykes.

Let us pray to the Metal Gods!

[Him]

Tried posting this the other day. Not sure what happened. But I did want to add my two cents here, as this loss made me sad . . .

RIP, John James Sykes. Another sad loss to the hands of time.

You are a lucky guy, Stu. Must have been amazing. And those Metal Gods might hear you, Metalboy! But they give and they take of their own accord. No prayer can stop that.

Can’t complain about his contributions to ‘Tygers. Amazing stuff. Sykes seemed out of place in Thin Lizzy (then again, Lynott wasn’t in good shape in those days), even if I love “Cold Sweat.” I thought Blue Murder were on the edge of becoming ‘something’ (even if Franklin jumped around like he had a spastic colon!). I also like some of his solo work.

And his contributions to Coverdale’s _finally_ successful attempt to break into the mainstream with Whitesnake can’t be overstated. Like several others, Coverdale employed his usual tricks . . . all in service to him staying firmly in the only spotlight he would allow in his band. The fact that he has acted blasé in recent years about the chip that Sykes carried on his shoulder because of that experience is galling. It only goes to prove that Cover-version (thanks, Plant!) loves to play the droll and witty captain in front of his fans, only to treat those he employees like interchangeable cogs in his preening (more recently, screeching and now thankfully silent) Ego Factory.

I think Sykes finally decided, post-Blue Murder, to say ‘eff it’ and move at his own pace and cater to his own interests musically (hence, Bad Apple never getting off the ground). He probably had the money and the temperament to do whatever he wanted. And he did. We should all be so lucky.

Though Sykes didn’t get the wider acclaim that some might have wanted, he certainly left his mark. We were lucky to have him around for as long as we did. Again, RIP.

Hope everyone in the BBG! Universe is doing well.