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The 12 most bombastic synth solos of all time

The greatest players' finest moments

Scot Solida, Thu 4 Jun 2009, 3:02 pm UTC

9. Styx - One With Everything

(Note: embedding on this video has been disabled. Click here to watch it on YouTube)

We're pretty sure that even Styx themselves would admit that they have had more than a few moments of bombast. During the reign of Dennis DeYoung (a seriously underrated keyboardist himself), they filled stadiums with some pretty heady concepts and flash playing. These days, they split front-man duties between founder James Young, classic Styx guitarist Tommy Shaw and Canadian prog rocker Lawrence Gowan, an entertaining performer who is no slouch behind the keys. The solo in the rockin' One With Everything has it all: speedy riffage, dramatic, arm-flailing flourishes and one of the coolest custom keyboard stands we've ever seen.

8. Herbie Hancock - Chameleon

Jazz Fusion was a hybrid of the technical and improvisational aspects of jazz with the pomp and circumstance of rock. Few were better at it than Herbie Hancock, and while it would have been pretty easy to list any number of performances of his hit Rockit, once we saw Herbie's mystical posturing over his ARP Oddie in this clip, we knew it was the one. We half expected the thing to levitate up off of the keyboard stand. As a bonus, his incredible Odyssey solo is preceded by a scorching Rhodes improv.

7. Howard Jones - Things Can Only Get Better

Hojo also appeared in our keytar roundup, albeit as a contributor to a Grammy supergroup performance. Here he is, fronting a very '80s-looking band as they lay down a spectacularly funky version of Howard's biggest hit. Jones breaks with new wave's minimal approach when strapping on his keytar for a big, brash solo that could put more than a few guitarists to shame. It's almost enough to draw attention away from that massive mullet.

Next page: Geoff Downes, DragonForce and Edgar Winter

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User comments (4)

  • unifaun

    Avatar for unifaun

    21 weeks ago.

    There's someone missin': Tony Banks' "Cinema show" synth solo on the 1973 album "Selling England by the pound". Maybe it's not the most bombastic but it's really awsome what he plays on ARP Pro Soloist, a synth with only 30 presets where most of it were just crap.
    No cool show unlike some of the winners but he really plays a great piece of music!!

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  • Bobo_Grimmer

    Avatar for Bobo_Grimmer

    22 weeks ago.

    Tis crazy really when you watch Rick. he make's it look so easy. :)

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  • simonkrogh

    Avatar for simonkrogh

    23 weeks ago.

    It's Dream TheatER, not TheatRE.
    Great collection though. Thanks.

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  • Lupacante

    Avatar for Lupacante

    24 weeks ago.

    what?! no caravan?! david sinclair's solos on 'nine feet underground', or on 'with an ear to the ground you can make it' are incredible...why is he so under-rated?

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