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There was a handful of guitar players in the 80's who wanted nothing more than to play
their guitar faster than a hummingbird doped up on a nectarized I.V.,
and Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck (Yngwie Malmsteen) of Sweden was one of
them. Malmsten was Yngwie's mothers maiden name, which became his
last name at the age of 10. After anglicizing both names, he has
been known as Yngwie ever since. Yngwie was the neo-classical
guitar pioneer of the 80's, followed by many talented guitarists such as
Jason Becker, Vinnie Moore, Tony MacAlpine, and Marty Friedman.
Yngwie Malmsteen came from a
musical family and starting playing the guitar at a very young age (his
first band was formed when he was 10). At 18 year of age, Shrapnel
Records brought Yngwie to the USA after hearing a demo tape, and he
ended up playing with the bands Steeler and
Alcatrazz
before releasing his own album,
Rising Force, in 1984.
The album hit 60 on the Billboard Charts, so Yngwie quit Alcatrazz and
started his own band: Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force.
As the 1980's marched on, Yngwie
released several more albums with various vocalists and backup
musicians. After a serious car wreck in 1987, Yngwie was in a coma
for a week and reported nerve damage in his hands. Evidently he
recovered, because the bands 1988 release,
Odyssey, was his best selling album to date. Many of you
will remember the song "Heaven Tonight".
Throughout the 1990's, Yngwie
Malmsteen continued producing new material, although his popularity in
the USA waned right along with the popularity of heavy metal in general.
Never the less, Yngwie continued plodding along, both in the studio and
on tour. In 2003, he could be found on tour with Joe Satriani and
Steve Vai as part of the super group G3. Yngwie makes his home in
Miami, FL these days and rarely makes it back home to Sweden. At
the time of this writing, the Yngwie Malmsteen Discography was as
follows:1984: Rising Force
1985: Marching Out
1986: Trilogy
1988: Odyssey
1989: Trial by Fire Live in Leningrad
1990: Eclipse
1991: The Yngwie Malmsteen Collection
1992: Fire and Ice
1994: The Seventh Sign
1995: Magnum Opus
1996: Inspiration
1997: Facing the Anmial
1998: Double LIVE!
1999: Alchemy
2000: Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra
2000: War to End All Wars
2002: The Genesis
2005: Unleash the Fury
2008: Perpetual Flame
2010: Relentless |
