“We knew listeners usually wanted a memorable song rather than an insane guitar solo or riff, but we wanted to be extreme”: Jason Becker and Marty Friedman on their wild ride making Cacophony’s Go Off! – one of the Eighties’ most in-your-face shred albums

Cacophony 'Get Off!' cover.

Looking back on recording the scintillating Go Off! with Marty Friedman, Jason Becker, who was 18 when the album was released, says, “It was all special to us, especially now that we both know how precious and fleeting those times were.”

Given Becker’s ALS, one can understand the sentiment. But still, “precious” is an interesting way to define one of the more in-your-face guitar extravaganzas of the ’80s.