My opinion on what "killed" the solo? The "anti-playing" backlash, created by Nirvana, and grunge. These guys were either incapable of playing anything challenging, or simply did not put in the effort. As a result, Nirvana got extremely lucky, let's face it, Their songs are sh*t, but their timing was good. I love the fact that "artists" who write three chord songs with lyrics about depression are considered to be profound, intuitive, visionary...Give me a break. So the music "band wagon" jumped to the 'anti-playing' trend, and is slowly coming around thanks to bands like Godsmack, even Sevendust. And as far as Cobain being a visionary? , the best thing he did was pull the trigger.