The pseudo-classical leanings of '70s prog masters like Yes and King Crimson vanished from popular music until the mid-1980s, when Eddie van Halen's virtuoso guitar technique begat legions of young men and women obsessed with speed and precision on the fretboard. Soon, talented young guitarists were raising the bar for technical accuracy ever higher, trading traditional blues-based rock scales for more technically complex classical runs. But none was faster or more precise than Yngwie J. Malmsteen, a young Swede whose 1984 debut album, Rising Force, sent shockwaves through the guitar community, inspiring a new school of shredders who placing the classical compositions of Paganini and Bach in a heavy metal context. Their music was largely instrumental since vocals would only obscure the blistering arpeggios, scales, and other six-string dive-bombs. While neoclassical metal artists displayed dazzling technique, their performances bordered on novelty, and by the end of the decade, heavy metal fans had grown weary of the relentless histrionics. As with so many other metal genres, the onset of grunge permanently swept neoclassical metal into the dustbin of history.

Notable Artists: Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Steve Vai, The Great Kat, Joe Stump

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