Artist:Joe Satriani
Song:Surfing with the Alien
Album:The Essential Joe Satriani
Guitarist Joe Satriani became famous because of his technique and especially his speed. He never had a hit single. So he's mainly an album and touring act. He has sold over ten million albums and is the best selling instrumental rock guitarist of all time. He's not as popular today as when Surfing with the Alien was released in 1987. But he's still touring. Joe Satriani's popularity is based on fans being dazzled by his technique. Think about that and I'll get back to it later. He was born July 15, 1956 in Westbury, Long Island, NY. He was inspired to play guitar after hearing of Jimi Hendrix' death. He studied with legendary jazz pianist Lennie Tristano and his guitarist Billy Bauer. Satriani began teaching guitar and his one major student was Steve Vai. They now have a band together but if you are familiar with them, now you know why they sound alike. Satriani moved to Berkeley, CA in 1978 and taught guitar to Kirk Hammett of Metallica, David Bryson of Counting Crows and Charlie Hunter. But his whole purpose of moving out west was to get a record deal. Satriani spent his own money to record the 1986 album Not of This Earth. He was in The Greg Kihn Band at the time. Satriani signed with Relativity Records with Epic Records distribution. Epic swallowed Relativity in 2002. Satriani has recorded for Epic for most of his career. The 1987 album Surfing with the Alien was certified Platinum without a hit single. It got radio play mostly on college radio. Satriani wrote and produced the album. The song Surfing with the Alien is a tribute to the Marvel Comics character The Silver Surfer. Because Satriani was working on a low budget, he mostly uses Bongo Bob Smith's drum machines. Jeff Campbell played some live drums and he would go on to work frequently with Satriani. For the next few years, Satriani was very popular with guitar geeks. This 2CD comp covers his entire career. But he faded in the mid 90s. So he founded G3 in 1996. This was a touring band of guitar gods like Steve Vai and Eric Johnson. They released a series of home videos. He was also in the band Chickenfoot featuring Sammy Hagar. I've heard Satriani's music over the years and it all sounds the same to me. I'm impressed by Wes Montgomery's technique because he's doing different things all the time. Satriani does the same thing all the time. Satriani left Epic in 2020. His latest album The Elephants of Mars was released in 2022 on the German label earMUSIC. Recently he has been touring with the reunited G3. So Satriani isn't as popular as he was in the 80s. But he's still a good concert draw. Here's the video for Surfing with the Alien by Joe Satriani.
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