Who Are the ‘Big 4′ of ’80s Hard Rock Guitarists?

Who are the "Big 4" of '80s hard rock guitarists?

It's a daunting task picking the cream of the crop from a decade that was defined by its staggering technical virtuosity. But we're going to take our best crack at it — and attempt to rationalize some of our surprising omissions.

Let's get the big one out of the way first: This list does not include Eddie Van Halen . We've limited our picks to guitarists who debuted in the '80s, and because Van Halen released their debut album in 1978, their namesake axman is sadly disqualified.

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That still leaves an enormous crop of outrageously talented guitarists from which to choose. In making our choices for the Big 4 of '80s hard rock guitarists, we evaluated their technical ability, songwriting p