A good solo is an indicator of proper talent if you ask me. Some musicians have a good talent for creating memorable lyrics,some for creating memorable music, and some are barely even musicians. As a keen guitar player myself I can quite confidently state that guitar soloing is not purely about 'fretboard wanking'. I'd say you get out of it what you put into it, if you take the time to only learn the basic chords, you are only going to be able to make basic music, but if you take the time to learn scales and beyond then you can better appreciate them. I reckon the guitar is a truly unique instrument in that you can really portray great emotion and feeling in your music than you can with most other instruments and solos and licks do that better than any riff.
This is probably one of my favourites: