Rock and Roll Garage

The virtuoso Swedish guitar player Yngwie Malmsteen became one of the most successful solo guitarists from the past decades. He first achieved fame as a member of Steeler, recorded one album with Alcatrazz and then focused on his praised solo career. Known for his incredible technique, the musician was invited to join many other bands over the years, including UFO and David Lee Roth's solo band. Curiously, Steve Vai, who replaced him in Alcatrazz, ended up being Roth's guitar player. He recalled in an interview with Guitar Player magazine why he didn't accept those offers. Yngwie Malmsteen recalls an invitation to join UFO and David Lee Roth "Well, it depends on how you mean. When I first came to the States, I was offered to join UFO. And then on the same day as I offered to do the UFO thing, which was a big step from Steeler, I guess, I got contacted by the thing that became Alcatrazz. It wasn't called Alcatrazz (at the time). They didn't have any songs, nothing. I wrote all the songs. And I chose that situation because I wanted to write songs instead of just… As much as I like UFO, I didn't wanna be stepping into someone else's thing. "I was asked to join Dave Roth's band. What happened was that he was leaving, or left already, Van Halen, and I was doing a big American tour (with) AC/DC. And then right after that I did my own tour of America with a band called Talas opening up, which was Billy Sheehan's band. And Dave would come to the shows all the time. Plus, we would hang out too, at the Troubadour and stuff, back in the party days." He continued: "And it would've been a great thing, but I think that… I mean, he obviously asked Billy Sheehan too, so Billy took it. I mean, it wasn't officially on a paper like this or something like this, but it was very obvious what he was thinking about. And at the time, I was thinking, 'Oh, no. I'm doing great,' whatever," Yngwie Malmsteen said (Transcribed by Blabbermouth). In 1984 Malmsteen released “Rising Force”, which is still considered a landmark for “neoclassical metal” music and shredding technique. The record won the Guitar Player’s award for Best Rock Album. Also was nominated for a Grammy Award for “Best Rock Instrumental”, reaching no. 60 on the Billboard album chart. Since then he has released 22 studio albums, the most recent one being “Parabellum” (2021). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4OxW_0qqv8&pp=ygUQeW5nd2llIG1hbG1zdGVlbg%3D%3D

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