A multi-instrumentalist primarily known as a guitarist and singer, he is noted for his unusual approach to the instrument, his playing cited as fluid, expressive, and often resembling "animal noises or mechanical rumblings".

[1] Widely recognized as an "incredibly versatile [guitar] player",[2] Belew is perhaps best known for his tenure as guitarist and frontman in the progressive rock group King Crimson between 1981 and 2009.

He was not aware of the studio sound manipulation used to create particular guitar lines, and so found ways of replicating them himself manually using unusual playing techniques and effects pedals.

In 1977, while playing with Sweetheart at Fanny's Bar in Nashville, Belew was discovered by Frank Zappa, who had been tipped off regarding the band's talents by his chauffeur.

"[7] On the recommendation of Brian Eno, David Bowie approached Belew after a Zappa concert in Berlin with an offer to hire him as a member of his touring band.

[8] Talking Heads and Brian Eno subsequently hired Belew to add guitar solos to several tracks on their 1980 album Remain in Light.

Belew also played on Talking Heads member Jerry Harrison's solo album The Red and the Black and frontman David Byrne's The Catherine Wheel.

Joining them for recordings at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, Belew played guitar on the sessions for the band's self-titled debut album, including the hit single "Genius of Love".

He maintained this position despite several splits or hiatuses in group activity, notwithstanding a brief period in the early 1990s when Fripp unsuccessfully asked singer David Sylvian of Japan to front a new version of the band.

Having been impressed by Belew's work with GaGa and David Bowie, Fripp asked him to join a new four-piece band, at that time called Discipline.

[11] Former King Crimson and Yes drummer Bill Bruford and New York session bassist and Chapman Stick player Tony Levin completed the Discipline lineup.

Despite these tensions, the members of this King Crimson incarnation maintained enough camaraderie and mutual respect to reunite in 1994, forming a sextet with the addition of drummer Pat Mastelotto and Warr guitarist Trey Gunn.

From 1997 onward, Belew participated in several of the ProjeKcts, a series of King Crimson side projects active during the band's hiatuses, in which he predominantly played electronic drums.

King Crimson was then reduced to a quartet with the departures of Bruford and Levin, subsequently releasing the albums The ConstruKction of Light (2000) and The Power to Believe (2003).

Following the release of his first solo album Lone Rhino in 1982, Belew recorded a 1983 follow-up called Twang Bar King, which once again featured GaGa as backing band (now augmented by former Elvis Presley drummer Larrie Londin).

As a band, the Bears was a conscious attempt to create a more unified and collective group, with Belew and Fetters sharing lead vocal duties.

The album was split between relatively straightforward pop and more experimental songs, with a strong emphasis on Belew's signature electric tones, plus plenty of percussion and an unusual approach to acoustic production.

This featured a number of cover versions, plus two guest appearances by his past and current employer David Bowie, who'd hired Belew as musical director for his then-current Sound+Vision Tour.

The next phase in Belew's career saw him pursuing a more traditional singing and songwriting style (albeit with his trademark unusual guitar tones), which owed a lot to his old heroes the Beatles.

Belew has been a frequent collaborator of Nine Inch Nails, appearing on the albums The Downward Spiral, The Fragile, Ghosts I–IV, and Hesitation Marks.

[17] In 2024, Belew began a tour with Tony Levin, Steve Vai, and Tool drummer Danny Carey as Beat, performing music by the 1980s incarnation of King Crimson.

[20] FLUX:FX is a real-time audio manipulation app for the iPad that he said "lets me make sounds that I can't get with any other gear.

[25] Belew has also been seen playing an extraordinarily flexible rubber-neck guitar in the Laurie Anderson film Home of the Brave and in the video for his 1989 single "Oh Daddy".

Belew is always adjusting his live setup, and according to audio engineer Daniel Rowland, he uses an Axe-FX II, Liquid Foot 12+ controller, Roland VG-99, Kemper profiling amp, a Keeley Compressor pedal, Ableton Live (running on an Apple Macbook), Soundblox Multi-wave distortion, DigiTech HarmonyMan, iConnectMidi 4+, MOTU Ultralite 3 hybrid, Keith Mcmillen Instruments Softstep 2, and his own NOIISE FLUX:FX iPad app through the Bose L1 and Atomic monitoring wedges.

Many artists have expressed their admiration for Belew or have cited him as an influence, including John Frusciante,[28] Adam Jones of Tool,[29] Steven Wilson,[30] Henry Rollins,[31] St. Vincent,[32] Anneke van Giersbergen of the Gathering,[33] Garry Roberts of the Boomtown Rats,[34] William Rees of Mystery Jets,[35] Nick Reinhart of Tera Melos,[36] Josh Christian of Toxik,[37] and Sean Worrell of Nero di Marte.

Among the albums he contributed to during this period were Ryuichi Sakamoto's Left-handed Dream in 1981, Joan Armatrading's The Key in 1983, Peter Wolf's Lights Out and Jean Michel Jarre's Zoolook (both in 1984), Cyndi Lauper's True Colors and Paul Simon's Graceland (both in 1986), and Mike Oldfield's Earth Moving in 1989.

[40] In 1993, Belew played "synthesized guitar" on the song "God Shuffled His Feet" by Crash Test Dummies and also contributed to Sara Hickman's Necessary Angels album.

In 1994, he established himself as Trent Reznor's guest guitarist of choice, contributing to four Nine Inch Nails albums over the next nineteen years (The Downward Spiral, The Fragile, Ghosts I–IV, and Hesitation Marks).

In 2006 and 2007, Belew contributed to two Pink Floyd tribute albums produced by Billy Sherwood: Back Against the Wall, and Return to the Dark Side of the Moon.

[46] with Frank Zappa with David Bowie with Talking Heads / Tom Tom Club / Jerry Harrison / David Byrne with King Crimson with Herbie Hancock with Ryuichi Sakamoto with Joe Cocker with Jean Michel Jarre with Laurie Anderson with Cyndi Lauper with Paul Simon with the Bears with Mike Oldfield with Nine Inch Nails with Sara Hickman with Béla Fleck & the Flecktones with William Shatner with Porcupine Tree with Tony Levin with N.y.X with Gizmodrome with Turkuaz