Glenn Branca

Glenn Branca came out of New York's late-70s no wave scene, first with Theoretical Girls, then with a much bigger idea: guitars as an orchestra. He retuned electric guitars, sometimes setting several strings to the same note, and massed them together until their overtones rang and clashed into huge, shimmering walls of sound.

The Ascension, released in 1981, is the gateway: four guitarists, including Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo, locked to a pounding drummer, building from tense repetition to a near-euphoric roar. Thurston Moore also passed through his ensembles, and Branca's Neutral label put out Sonic Youth's debut EP and Swans' first album, Filth. He went on to write symphonies for as many as a hundred guitars.