But The 80's weren't ALL bad. They did give us Megadeth, Queensryche, Metallica, Living Color,Anthrax,Iron Maiden,Randy Rhoads,Satriani, George Lynch,Prince. Just like everything else, the solo became homogenized (32 bars after the bridge, Aeolian, with tapping, dive bombs, and artificial harmonics). Love him or Hate him, Slash changed that to a degree, when he got back to basics on Appetite for Destruction. I guess you always have to take the good with the bad, because for eveyone of the artists listed above, there was one Poison,Britney Foxx,Tesla,Faster Pussycat,Motley Crue etc.
The nineties gave us Nirvana, STP,Pearl Jam, Bands which I can't stand, but they also gave us Dream Theater, Pantera, Sevendust, Dave Matthews. There is always a trade off.