The Unsung Heroes of Rock
Ever since Freddy Mercury, singers (or, more specifically, “frontmen” - any member of the band who only has control of a single aspect of the band and yet is always at the front of photos) have pretty much got all the credit and admiration for his/her band’s work. That and lead guitarists. Did Pete Townshend make up the awesome bass solo in My Generation? Hell no! Did Kurt Cobain play guitar, drums and bass in Nirvana? As if. Does Pete Wentz arrange every aspect of a Fall Out Boy song, let alone make up a decent bassline? No, no, FUCKING NO.
So, here is my tribute to the unsung backline of the music industry - because not all bands are Nine Inch Nails.
Tre Cool (Green Day) - Besides being an awesomely fast, stamina-heavy drummer, Tre Cool is hilarious. One time he dressed up like a Canadian Mountie and snorted doughnut sprinkles. So awesome is this man that, according to punk legend, he once took a unicycle seat to the nads, had one shoot up inside him, and walk away with everything except his vocal chords intact.
Chris ‘Shifty’ Shiflett (Foo Fighters) - Although even I concur that Our Lord Almighty Dave Grohl is the heart and soul of the Foos, Shifty here is the liver and gallbladder. Without him, who would do the utterly eye-watering tremolo solo in Best of You? No-one, that’s who. Pat Smear, hang your head in shame.
Ben Johnston (Biffy Clyro) - His drumming isn’t exactly Portnoy-standard, but he’s one hell of a backing vocalist. Wait, what? That’s right, you fools, sometimes the backing vocals make the lead seem like some drunk gargling Stella. For proof, see the “You WILLLLLLL BE FOOOOOLDING STARS!” bit in Folding Stars.
Tim Commerford (Audioslave/RATM) - “Bom bom bom BAM BAM BAM bom bom bom BAM BAM BAM”. Possibly the greatest intro to a song that only has five lines of lyrics, repeated a billion times.
Kyle Gass (Tenacious D) - With Jack Black robot-ing all over the place, its easy to forget the D’s overweight, sandal-wearing guitarist. But not only is he nothing short of gifted with a mandolin (oh, and guitar. I guess) he also has the best line in the whole film:
Satan: And what if I win?
JB: Then you can take Kage back to Hell.
KG: (long pause)……………………………..what?
Makes me lol.
Ian D’Sa (Billy Talent) - Fact: this man, a world-famous guitar wielder, used to be an animator on Angela Anaconda. I shit you not. This utterly bizzare career choice only highlights the sheer genius of this Elvis-haired, British-born (woo!) nutcase’s musical career. The robotic staccato intro to Fallen Leaves. The stabby riffs in This Suffering. The anthemic shouting on Line & Sinker. And, of course, the vocals in the final chorus of The Navy Song - just by listening to it you can tell he sang it with his hands wrapped around the microphone, completely ignorant to the hilariously distorted face he was pulling, and with his eyes about ot pop out of their sockets. Utterly mental.
