100 Greatest Guitarists: David Fricke's Picks: Leigh Stephens

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Leigh Stephens

Michael Ochs Archive/Getty

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Back in 1968, before heavy metal had a name, Stephens was shredding eardrums with the psychedelic-blues trio Blue Cheer. The group bragged of being the loudest in the world, and Stephens' molten solos epitomize Sixties rock at its most untethered and abandoned.