Possibly, but often not. I think Yngwie's style was driven by technique, and in retrospect critics, and the majority of guitar players I've spken to, do not consider his music to be substantitively driven. I'm not advocating commercial pandering. I'm a jazz player, so I know how you feel when it comes to not being appreciated by a mass audience. It wasn't that I was saying music shouldn't be complex, or difficult, it's that it shouldn't be about the guitar. You'll notice I didn't really use the term "technical" music that much. What I was refering to was the phenomenon of guitar players who are so in love with the guitar itself, that they end up making music that is more dictated by the limits and possibilities of the guitar than by what is musically interesting to them.
Frank Gambale was one of the first to use sweep picking extensively and develop it to a point of maximum efficiency. However, much of the music he plays sounds (to me) like he plays it simply because it can be swept on the guitar. He plays stuff because he can, because it utilizes an interesting guitar technique, not because the notes are interesting or because the notes speak to him in any way. I'm not saying that all his music is like this, its just that I've heard this in his playing, and it was this type of process that I was speaking about earlier. As for complex, difficult, "technical" music...I play bebop, (poorly) so I'm not criticizing that by any means.
