What is it?

Was it the miraculous combination of humbuckers, whammy bar, soft stiff pick, Marshall stack and a shiny sunburst Strat that gave Vito Bratta the ability to cut underneath and up inside and in front of every hook in “Don’t Give Up”? It sounds like his fingers are all over the strings of that guitar—behind, beside, on top of, sliding up and down the strat’s neck, wringing a crying bend out of one chord, and then climbing back up the neck to simultaneously choke the last chord and urge a mighty but insouciant harmonic to give the vocal a bit of room to move. Grinding growling ascending arpeggios precisely juxtaposed onto descending key-changing highs that sound just right with the triplets traded with the rhythm guitar. What an amazing guitar performance! White Lion, album named “Pride,” 1980’s hair rock. So easy to dislike or dismiss without hearing, but listen to that song… those strong, sensitive fingers are so close to eliciting a guitar-gasm from that Stratocaster, and making her sing with growling, screaming energetic joy.