Guitar World Staff Picks: Brad Tolinski's Top 10 Albums of 2012

Usually, this is where I bitch about the horrible state of the music industry and what slim pickings there are for true guitar hounds … but this year was actually jolly good fun.

A lot of veterans stepped up to the plate (Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, Edward Van Halen), and so did a few new, impressive hot shots (Periphery, Gary Clark Jr., HAARP Machine).

The following list name checks some of the obvious guitar delights, but I also tossed in a couple things that kept reappearing on my iPod because I just enjoyed listening them.

Be sure to check out two other lists, namely Guitar World's Top 50 Albums of 2012 and Guitar World's Top 15 Blues and Roots Rock Albums of 2012.

Brad Tolinski is the editorial director of Guitar World.

Over the past 20 years, Brad Tolinski, editorial director of Guitar World, Revolver and Guitar Aficionado magazines, has interviewed Jimmy Page more than any other journalist in the world. Those interviews have led to a new book, Light & Shade: Conversations With Jimmy Page, which was published October 23. Get your copy here!

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