Has The World Forgotten What Shredding Really Is?

Not to sound like a jerk, but the guy from the Decemberists' guitar solo on the Colbert Report's "Rock'n'Awe Countdown to Guitarmageddon" was pretty weak. Although he was playing a B.C. Rich Warlock, you would think that if they had invented the guitar schredding counter-challenge that they would have someone who could actually shred in their band, even jokingly. It was like watching a junior high kid try to show off at Guitar Center. From what I understand, the Decemberists are not a band that normally showcases shredding guitar solos to begin with, which is what makes their counter-challenge funny, but if you are going to play a B.C. Rich Warlock with tons of distortion, you should at least be able pull off a pinch harmonic, right? But no, this guy just jumped from one poorly-executed cliché to the next while "grounding" his one-minute solo by going back and playing this one GoBot riff over and over again. Dude just looked nervous. Not exactly the demeanor (or wardrobe) associated with playing a guitar called a Warlock.

I guess what I am saying is that it doesn't take a lot to know what good "shredding" sounds like, although Colbert still had to call in Peter Frampton's talkboxing ass just to make sure his victory was secure. And Peter Frampton's solo, while pretty OK, is hardly what I would call "shredding." Has America really forgotten what a good unaccompanied guitar solo is supposed to sound like? For your reference, I give you Randy Rhoads' unaccompanied solo from Suicide Solution by Ozzy Osbourne. This, mis amigos, is shredding.