Battle Axes

Sean Kelly explores the cultural, musical, and historical significance of the world’s most famous guitars, revealing how they shaped the ’70s and ’80s music scene and powered some of rock’s greatest music and moments.


Battle Axes: A Hard Rockin’ History of Pointy Guitars is a love letter to the wildest shapes and designs of rock ’n’ roll’s most beloved instrument, the electric guitar. Sean Kelly, who has played with some of Canada’s most iconic recording artists, dives deep into the evolution of famous “pointy” guitar designs like the Flying V, the Firebird, and the Explorer through careful research and conversations with renowned guitarists, designers, luthiers, fans, and social media influencers. Battle Axes features in-depth interviews with past and present members of KISS, Def Leppard, Alice Cooper, Twisted Sister, Guns N’ Roses, Skid Row, Stryper, Quiet Riot, Ratt, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Triumph, MSG, Racer X, Autograph, BulletBoys, and many more. Along the way, Kelly explores how the Space Age guitar designs of the ’50s, once deemed too wild, odd, and just too ugly for mass consumption became talismanic weapons of mass distraction. We learn how outlier companies like Hamer, Dean, B.C. Rich, Kramer, Ibanez, Charvel/Jackson, and Lado capitalized on the ’80s trend toward faster, louder, and more outrageous guitar playing by creating instruments that offered visual shock value that matched the hot-rodded modifications necessary to compete in the arena rock era.


Battle Axes: A Hard Rockin’ History of Pointy Guitars is for any musician or fan of classic ’70s and ’80s hard rock. Careful with this book … it could poke your eye out!