# The 25 Best New Wave Guitar Solos of All Time > The 25 best new wave guitar solos of all time, ranked. #1 is How Soon Is Now? by The Smiths, then Just What I Needed. Every video starts at the solo. Canonical URL: New wave often pushed the guitar solo aside in favour of synths and rhythm, so its best guitar moments tend to be short, strange or used as texture. This list mixes classic solos from the Cars and the Pretenders with more experimental playing from Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp and Johnny Marr. Informed by: [uDiscover Music – The Best Guitar Solos Of All Time](https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/best-guitar-solos-ever/), [Rolling Stone – The 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-guitar-solos-1235519961/), [Classic Rock (Louder) – The 100 greatest guitar solos in rock](https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-100-greatest-guitar-solos-in-rock), [guitarguitar – Top 50 Guitar Solos of All Time](https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/news/141664/), [Guitar Tricks – 200 Best Guitar Solos of All Time](https://www.guitartricks.com/blog/200-Best-Guitar-Solos-of-All-Time), [Far Out – 10 pop songs with outrageously good guitar solos](https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/10-pop-songs-with-outrageously-good-guitar-solos/), [American Songwriter – 4 low-key brilliant guitar solos from 80s classic hits](https://americansongwriter.com/4-low-key-brilliant-guitar-solos-from-80s-classic-hits/) 1. [How Soon Is Now?](https://greatestsolos.com/song/the-smiths-how-soon-is-now/) — The Smiths · solo by Johnny Marr · 1984 2. [Just What I Needed](https://greatestsolos.com/song/the-cars-just-what-i-needed/) — The Cars · solo by Elliot Easton · 1978 3. [Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)](https://greatestsolos.com/song/talking-heads-born-under-punches-the-heat-goes-on/) — Talking Heads · solo by Adrian Belew · 1980 4. [Tattooed Love Boys](https://greatestsolos.com/song/pretenders-tattooed-love-boys/) — Pretenders · solo by James Honeyman-Scott · 1980 5. [Fashion](https://greatestsolos.com/song/david-bowie-fashion/) — David Bowie · solo by Robert Fripp · 1980 6. [White Wedding](https://greatestsolos.com/song/billy-idol-white-wedding/) — Billy Idol · solo by Steve Stevens · 1982 7. [Driven to Tears](https://greatestsolos.com/song/the-police-driven-to-tears/) — The Police · solo by Andy Summers · 1980 8. [Candy-O](https://greatestsolos.com/song/the-cars-candy-o/) — The Cars · solo by Elliot Easton · 1979 9. [Rebel Yell](https://greatestsolos.com/song/billy-idol-rebel-yell/) — Billy Idol · solo by Steve Stevens · 1983 10. [The Great Curve](https://greatestsolos.com/song/talking-heads-the-great-curve/) — Talking Heads · solo by Adrian Belew · 1980 11. [Kid](https://greatestsolos.com/song/pretenders-kid/) — Pretenders · solo by James Honeyman-Scott · 1979 12. [Eyes Without a Face](https://greatestsolos.com/song/billy-idol-eyes-without-a-face/) — Billy Idol · solo by Steve Stevens · 1984 13. [So Lonely](https://greatestsolos.com/song/the-police-so-lonely/) — The Police · solo by Andy Summers · 1978 14. [Everybody Wants to Rule the World](https://greatestsolos.com/song/tears-for-fears-everybody-wants-to-rule-the-world/) — Tears for Fears · solo by Neil Taylor · 1985 15. [Shot by Both Sides](https://greatestsolos.com/song/magazine-shot-by-both-sides/) — Magazine · solo by John McGeoch · 1978 16. [I Ran (So Far Away)](https://greatestsolos.com/song/a-flock-of-seagulls-i-ran-so-far-away/) — A Flock of Seagulls · solo by Paul Reynolds · 1982 17. [Another Girl Another Planet](https://greatestsolos.com/song/the-only-ones-another-girl-another-planet/) — The Only Ones · solo by John Perry · 1978 18. [In a Big Country](https://greatestsolos.com/song/big-country-in-a-big-country/) — Big Country · solo by Stuart Adamson, Bruce Watson · 1983 19. [Life Begins at the Hop](https://greatestsolos.com/song/xtc-life-begins-at-the-hop/) — XTC · solo by Andy Partridge · 1979 20. [Touch and Go](https://greatestsolos.com/song/the-cars-touch-and-go/) — The Cars · solo by Elliot Easton · 1980 21. [A Forest](https://greatestsolos.com/song/the-cure-a-forest/) — The Cure · solo by Robert Smith · 1980 22. [Shoplifters of the World Unite](https://greatestsolos.com/song/the-smiths-shoplifters-of-the-world-unite/) — The Smiths · solo by Johnny Marr · 1987 23. [Overkill](https://greatestsolos.com/song/men-at-work-overkill/) — Men at Work · solo by Colin Hay · 1983 24. [Marquee Moon](https://greatestsolos.com/song/television-marquee-moon/) — Television · solo by Tom Verlaine · 1977 25. [Let's Dance](https://greatestsolos.com/song/david-bowie-lets-dance/) — David Bowie · solo by Stevie Ray Vaughan · 1983 --- GreatestSolos ranks the greatest guitar solos by consensus across published lists. Agent guide: [llms.txt](https://greatestsolos.com/llms.txt) · [Sitemap](https://greatestsolos.com/sitemap.xml) · [Dataset (CSV)](https://greatestsolos.com/data/greatest-guitar-solos.csv) · [How we rank](https://greatestsolos.com/method/)