MusicRadar

9. Styx - One With Everything

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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