Polyphia guitarist Tim Henson sat down with Guitar World and shared his opinion on where guitar music is today. Henson also suggested that Machine Gun Kelly’s shift to pop-punk played a role in its resurgence.
“I’d say guitar music got cool! You know, maybe we had a little bit to do with that, maybe we didn’t,” he said.
“Around that time, Eminem did the thing with MGK [Machine Gun Kelly], and kind of made him switch genres [the rap icon and Machine Gun Kelly had beef so fierce that MGK left the hip-hop world and turned his hand to guitar-forward pop-punk in 2020 – Ed]. And then MGK got a number-one record with a guitar on the cover, which is really cool. So shout out MGK for making guitar cool again,” the rocker added.
Henson’s recent comments are not limited to only this recent interview. A few years back, the guitarist once again named MGK as the father of guitar music. “I’d say that Machine Gun Kelly did that,” Henson told Alternative Press. “MGK is the father of guitar music! Seriously, though, guitar is so prevalent right now.”
He continued, “Look at MGK, WILLOW, acts like Internet Money and Lemonade. Guitar itself has been making a comeback. We’re just doing what we do. We exist in a time that we exist in. We don’t want to take credit for something that’s happening anyway.”
MGK has not responded to Henson’s praise. Meanwhile, Polyphia is scheduled to play two shows in East Rutherford, New Jersey on August 27–28, two in Chicago, Illinois on August 31–September 1, and two in Toronto, Ontario on September 3–5.
