Personally I was thrilled when rock and metal acts started playing some decent solos again. Something that comes to mind is Slipknot, actually. Now. I must stress I'm not a fan, but it interested me when it was revealed that the band had been asked not to play any solos on their records for years by their label and management as solos weren't in vogue. Then, the label finally gave in once the band was big enough, and their solos were awesome (technically speaking rather than melodically).

Granted, I'm a shred addict through and through, but I can appreciate a beautifully melodic solo too, and really misssed them throuhgout the whole grunge thing. Plus there was nu-metal, which seemed to further dumb down guitar playing, but at least with nu-metal there were some acts doing interesting things with different time signatures.

Anyway, just thought I'd jump in and worship at the altar of expressive, impressive and infuriatingly good solos ;)