AD: Dimebag Darrell for DR Strings

Dime

Pantera were still in high gear when this DR ad came out: Far Beyond Driven was in the books and The Great Southern Trendkill was on the horizon. There’s some nice face time for Darrell’s Dean ML here too.

Scanned from Guitar World, March 1995.

 

AD: Brian May for Korg

Brian Harold May CBE

Though Brian May wasn’t incredibly active musically in ’02 (he made a few guest appearances on other artists’ recordings and, oh yeah, played “God Save the Queen” on the roof of Buckingham Palace), he was still appearing in full page ads. This Korg ad was one of two in Guitar World, March 2002. (See the other here.)

 

AD: Brian May for Burns

Brian May Signature model

Brian May’s “Red Special” has a long and multifaceted history. The instrument has been mass produced by the guitarist’s own Brian May Guitars since 2004. Prior to that versions of the iconic axe were manufactured by Guild (as shown in this DiMarzio ad from ’85) and by Burns, as shown here. Scanned from Guitar World, March 2002.

 

AD: Riggs for Fernandes

Mike Riggs

Riggs was another in a succession of Rob Zombie cohorts with gear deals. (J. from the White Zombie days even had a Fernandes endorsement back when.) This beautifully garish ad was running around the time of the Rob Zombie album,  The Sinister Urge (inset), in the creation of  which Riggs was involved.

Taken from Guitar World, March 2002.

 

AD: Jackson Randy Rhoads V

’56 – ’82

A grim anniversary: Today marks 31 years since Randy Rhoads’ death. He deservedly lives on in guitar circles, of course, in music and gear, his distinctive Jackson V still being widely used. This ad showing the many mutations of the Rhoads V appeared in Guitar World, March 2003, two decades after Randy’s passing.

 

AD: Nuno Bettencourt for Washburn

1995: No Respect

By ’95 Extreme’s star had faded somewhat. That year’s Waiting for the Punchline sold over 100,000 copies; respectable but fractional compared to the band’s prior releases. But Nuno Bettencourt still (deservedly) rated full page ads in guitar mags. This promo featuring Washburn’s N4 and N8 comes from Guitar World, March 1995.

 

AD: John Jorgenson for Takamine

“Accuracoustic parametric eq system”

The Hellecasters had some nice endorsement deals in the ’90s. This Takamine ad featuring John Jorgenson comes from Guitar World, March 1995, placing it in the range of that group’s Escape from Hollywood album.

 

AD: Tony MacAlpine for Hughes & Kettner

ATTAX

Music that was big in the mid-90s: Hootie & The Blowfish, Boyz II Men, Alanis Morissette; not exactly a guitarist’s dream. But adventurous players like Tony MacAlpine were still consistently releasing albums and getting endorsements somewhere underground.

This Hughes & Kettner ad has been pulled from Guitar World, March 1995 and highlights Tony’s “latest” album Madness, though it seems Premonition was released in ’94.

 

AD: Mike Clark of Suicidal Tendencies for Jackson

“No bullshit”

Suicidal Tendencies’ on and off career dates back to 1981 and guitarist Mike Clark has seen a lot of service in that time. Clark has endorsed multiple brands through the years including B.C. Rich and Yamaha. This Jackson ad comes from Guitar World, March 1995, roughly the days of the band’s Suicidal for Life.

 

AD: J. Yuenger for Fernandes

“Feedback Is Good”

Here is a Fernandes ad that ran just as White Zombie were about to release Astro-Creep: 2000 – Songs of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head, J. Yuenger and company’s final studio album.

Scanned from Guitar World, March 1995.