Thrash legend Kerry King picked his five favorite guitarists of all time during a recent interview on a podcast and also named which of them he thinks is the “most overlooked.”
King, who will play shows with both Slayer and his solo band in 2025, appeared on an episode of the Lipps Service podcast. They shared a clip of the guitarist naming his five favorite guitar players and while he couldn’t rank them, he was able to name his five picks pretty easily.
The rocker responded to the question pretty simply, so we listed his five choices below and provided some other context of him talking about them in the past. Keep scrolling to see them all.
Ritchie Blackmore
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King has talked about his appreciation for Ritchie Blackmore in the past, specifically during an interview with Rolling Stone where he named his 10 favorite metal albums and chose one by Rainbow.
“I’ve been going through a big Ritchie Blackmore renaissance recently. He wrote some great stuff and doesn’t get the credit he deserves. I love Rising and ‘Stargazer,’ but to me Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll has the most bang for your buck, song for song. There’s great stuff on there. The shit is just heavy,” King praised.
Tony Iommi
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Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi is one of King’s idols, and the Slayer musician actually presented him with an award at the Classic Rock Awards back in 2006. King admitted he felt incredibly nervous because he was starstruck, but he was fortunately able to overcome it.
“I’ve had a lot of heroes, be it from Judas Priest to Sabbath and whoever the hell, Ritchie Blackmore. But, yeah, Tony was the one. I had to climb that mountain and get over it,” he recalled on the Greek show TV War.
Eddie Van Halen
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King said Eddie Van Halen is “without a question” on his list. While speaking with The Columbus Dispatch in 2007 [via Blabbermouth], King named Van Halen as the very first guitarist who inspired him to play the instrument.
“Eddie Van Halen. You can’t even talk about guitar and not mention him,” King asserted.
Glenn Tipton
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Glenn Tipton is King’s favorite guitarist of all-time, according to the video clip and he also suggested that he is the “most overlooked” guitarist.
“Because if you look at the leads he was doing and when he was doing them, he kind of innovated a lot of that stuff,” King said to Lipps Service.
Zakk Wylde
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“I’ll go with a super heavy-hitter that’s my bro, and say Zakk Wylde,” King said when picking his last choice.
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Back in 2008, King was asked if he was interested in working on any projects outside of Slayer, and he name-dropped Wylde then too.
“If I had the opportunity to play a song with Zakk Wylde, I’d be all over it,” he told Terrorizer [via Blabbermouth].
Check out the Lipps Service clip for yourself below.
Kerry King Picks His Five Favorite Guitarists + Which of Them Is ‘Most Overlooked’
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