Here are some iconic songs that represent the type of guitar lead sounds that I aspire to:
Black Magic Woman - Santana
Day After Day - Badfinger
While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Harrison/Clapton
Reelin' In the Years - Steely Dan
The Thrill is Gone - B.B. King
Sultans of Swing - Mark Knopfler
Layla - Eric Clapton
Bohemian Rhapsody - Brian May
Hotel California - Felder & Walsh
You get the idea...sustained, clean-ish, controlled distortion. I am not trying to emulate Slayer.