5 Guitar Solos Every '70s Fan Will Go Wild For

When it comes to music, adding a solo to a song is like dipping an ice cream cone in chocolate or caramel sauce. Sure, it's already tasty on its own, but that little something extra transforms everything and takes the sensation to an explosive, new level. The '70s featured no shortage of classic rock guitar solos to play air guitar along with, but there are a select few that could be referred to as life-changing experiences for those who heard and lived them.

These are the types of moments that encouraged listeners to pick up the six-string instrument, worship it, and dream of rocking out on the biggest stages in the world. From Van Halen's electric "Eruption" to AC/DC's heavy "Highway to Hell," they aren't just guitar solos anymore — they're pivotal events in music history.

In selecting the solos here, we chose the phenomenal ones that continue to receive love decades after they were released. It isn't only us praising them; it's the fans who think the same, too.

By all means, argue whether the best version of the band is with David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar, but there's no disputing that Van Halen is all about Eddie Van Halen and his mastery of the electric guitar. In 1978, Van Halen became the guitar god after he used his fingers to tap all over his fretboard on "Eruption," which comes off the group's debut record.

This song is all EVH, letting him demonstrate his slick skills to challenge his peers to step up their own game and show him what they got. What's most astounding about this isn't just the sheer technical brilliance of Van Halen in action, but also his control and execution of the solo. Everything he does makes musical sense. For the world, it might sound like somebody channeling the energy and spirit of rock into their playing. For Van Halen, it's just him stretching out his fingers before a gig.

In 2013, Guitar World — a publication for six-string aficionados — asked its readers to vote for the best guitar solos of all time, and "Eruption" came out at No. 1 here. It's no surprise, especially when you read the comments under the track on YouTube. "You can't understand how utterly mind-blowing this was at the time," a user wrote. "Nobody had heard a guitar played like this to that point. There is a generation of people who all remember where they were when they first heard this."

Who would have thought that Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" — from 1975's "A Night at the Opera" — would become one of the most recognizable songs of all time? Certainly, Elton John didn't when he first heard the Queen masterpiece. There's so much to love about this track — from Freddie Mercury's out-of-this-world vocal performance to the seesawing emotional turbulence throughout the song — but Brian May's guitar solo is just as good as anything else featured here.

It's not so much about speed and shredding like a madman, as May chooses the path of least resistance and matches the tone of his vocalist's voice and lyrics in the solo part of "Bohemian Rhapsody." Like a punch to the gut, you feel the guitar weep and cry out in anguish. There's a beautiful sadness to this piece of music — almost like the good cry everybody needs before the sun comes up in the morning and everything is better again.

While not a technical marvel like Van Halen's "Eruption," the solo remains appreciated by many music fans to this very day. "It's one of the all-time greats," a Redditor wrote. "I wish there were more guitarists who would do solos like that — so melodic, so singable."

Off 1970's "Paranoid" album, Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" might be best known for Ozzy Osbourne's bellowing in the intro as he sings about "witches at black masses," but do not underestimate Tony Iommi's sagacious solo about halfway through the song. "War Pigs" isn't too difficult of a track to play overall, but Iommi's lead work electrifies the occasion and turns up the X factor on this brooding banger.

Rolling Stone picked it as the 31st best guitar solo of all time, writing about how Iommi's bluesy playing grows increasingly chaotic and evokes the fear and confusion of war. The writer sums it up perfectly, as Iommi pulls out all the stops to unleash visions of hellfire and Armageddon in the listener's mind.

On Reddit, one fan provided a hot take about the song, stating, "I think most of the verses and music in 'War Pigs' sucks except for the guitar solo which is [in my opinion] the best Black Sabbath solo." Controversial to say, yes, though hardly anybody argued with the original poster that the solo is god-tier. A truly remarkable piece of music from one of the most important rock bands of the 1970s.

Kansas holds a catalog of hits and gnarly solos that could easily feature here, but let's go with "Carry On Wayward Son," which is from the band's 1976 album, "Leftoverture." Not only is it arguably the group's most famous song, but it also climbed to No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and held that spot for 20 weeks.

"Carry On Wayward Son" is so good that it doesn't just have one memorable solo; it has a few. After the vocal intro, guitarist Kerry Livgren trades in the wand for a guitar to conjure up the wizardry over the iconic riff. Livgren's licks leave no doubt that this is a guitarist's song through and through (and it is, since he's credited for writing it). Later in the track, Livgren returns like a prodigal son to burn up the fretboard and have every guitar fan sink to their knees and arch their back to feel the noise coursing through their body.

The track — and its solo — received a new lease on life in recent years after featuring in the hugely popular "Supernatural" TV show and the "Rock Band" video game series. Fans still love it too, with one commentator on YouTube jokingly writing, "I can't believe they named a state after this band."

Think of the Bon Scott era of AC/DC, and one of the songs that should come to mind is "Highway to Hell," which is the first song off the 1979 album of the same name. It's a signature tune from the Aussie legends, fusing a hard rock groove with a highly singalongable chorus into a hellacious rock 'n' roll number.

Even though the riff itself is iconic, Angus Young's solo makes the song even more headbangable. It isn't too long nor a complex piece of guitar work, as Young channels a standard bluesy approach rather than shredding through the notes like rent is due. In turn, it makes an immediate and lasting impression on the listener, then takes its exit before it becomes stale or overpowers the rest of the track.

The general consensus among fans is that Young's solos during the Bon Scott era were wrecking balls of rock. On Reddit, one user even credited "Highway to Hell" for being their own entry point into learning solos. "The first solo I ever learned was 'Highway to Hell,' and that gave me a good basis to learn other solos by Angus," the person wrote.