The drummer never gets the glory heaped on a band’s frontman, but this week Rolling Stone shines the spotlight on these under-appreciated rock gods with our weekend rock question: Who’s the greatest drummer of all time?
From classic greats like John Bonham (watch his drum solo on “Moby Dick” in this clip) and Keith Moon to contemporary visionaries like Dave Grohl and ?uestlove, we honor the musicians who keep the beat and energize our favorite tracks.
The new issue of Rolling Stone—the Playlist Issue—started with an idea from Roots drummer ?uestlove. We asked him to tell us his favorite songs, but he said he wanted to go deeper. “In my eyes, what defines a true artist is their filler,” he said. “I happen to like the Stevie Wonder songs that aren’t hits. I can say the same thing for Springsteen and Bob Dylan. Prince’s hits are like a red carpet that he lays out to lead you to the good stuff.”
The Playlist Issue features fifty artists sharing lists of top ten songs from artists and musical mini-genres that they know, and love, deeply. Highlights include Yoko Ono on her favorite John Lennon songs, My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way on the best glam rock tunes, Win Butler on Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith on Bob Dylan’s love songs. Over the next five weeks, RollingStone.com will post these and bonus, online-only lists, with streams of many of the songs as well as audio from interviews with some of the best-known list-makers.
This week we’re posting the following playlists:
• Bono on David Bowie
• Jack Johnson on Bob Marley
• Chris Robinson on the Rolling Stones
• Rufus Wainwright on Leonard Cohen
• ?uestlove on Prince
• Peter Wolf on R&B
• Dave Grohl on Eighties hardcore punk
• Ezra Koenig on U.K. Pop Hits
• Cee Lo on Dirty South Hip-Hop
• Annie Lennox on women with soul
• Jenny Lewis on Seventies California rock
?uestlove on playing with Springsteen on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: “I mean, I’ve done some intense playing on our show, but that was the most intense playing I’ve ever done. He completely surpassed any expectation I’ve ever had for any mythical god of rock figure.”
