Johnny “Guitar” Watson, who took his stage name from the campy Joan Crawford western Johnny Guitar, was a highly influential soul, blues and funk guitarist whose career began in the early 1950s. Watson attacked his guitar strings so hard (“stressified on them,” as he put it) that he would often have to replace them during a performance. Listen to his 1954 number “Space Guitar” and tell me this isn’t the most crazy, sci-fi advanced guitar playing that was done in that entire decade. The man is beating the shit out of his guitar here. He’s also pioneering the use of feedback and reverb as well:
 

 
Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Frank Zappa were known to be aficionados of Watson’s innovative guitar technique and showmanship. In a 1979 interview, Zappa stated that Watson’s 1956 song “Three Hours Past Midnight” was his favorite song of all time and “inspired me to become a guitarist”:
 

 
Watson’s “Gangster of Love” was covered by Steve Miller and referenced, too, in Miller’s AM radio classics “The Joker” (“Some call me the gangster of love”) and “Space Cowboy” (“Some call me the a gangster of love”; “Is your name “Stevie ‘Guitar’ Miller?”)

In the late 1960s, Watson’s slick soulster style pompadour hairdo gave way to a new look: fedoras, gold teeth, bell-bottom suits, platform shoes, huge sunglasses and flashy jewelry. Watson dressed like a pimp and acted like a pimp and according to Sam Cooke biographer, Peter Guralnick, Watson was an actual pimp (because it “paid better” than music!).

The mid to late 1970s was the time of Watson’s biggest fame. He died in 1996 while touring in Japan.

This 45-minute performance on the German TV series Musikladen from 1977 absolutely tears the roof off the mother. His band is insanely good, too.