Curated playlist
American rhythm guitarists
- Bob WeirBob Weir was sixteen on New Year's Eve 1963, far too young to be let into any club in Palo Alto. He and a friend wandered the back alleys anyway, hunting for a door that would open. What they found was the sound of a banjo. They followed…
- Lou ReedLou Reed made a record that almost nobody bought, and a future president of Czechoslovakia still credited it with changing his life. Václav Havel picked up The Velvet Underground & Nico while visiting the United States. He later said it…
- Tom PettyTom Petty was ten years old in the summer of 1961 when his uncle, who was working on the set of Elvis Presley's film Follow That Dream in nearby Ocala, Florida, invited him to watch the filming. Petty became a Presley fan on the spot.…
- Eddie Van HalenEddie Van Halen summed up his whole life in a few sentences at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in 2015. "We came here with approximately $50 and a piano, and we didn't speak the language. Now look where we are. If…
- Mike ShinodaMike Shinoda has toured Japan with Linkin Park about four times, and the first visit began with a smell. Stepping off the plane, he later recalled, "it smelled like my aunt's house, in the airport, it smelled like Japan." He had not yet…
- Dave GrohlDave Grohl, born David Eric Grohl on the 14th of January 1969, once sat at number one on the modern rock charts for 17 of 18 consecutive weeks. The run stretched from the 26th of October 2002 to the 1st of March 2003. He managed it as a…
- Neil DiamondNeil Diamond, born on the 24th of January 1941, once stretched his food budget to just 35 cents a day. Decades later, the American singer-songwriter had sold more than 56.5 million records in the United States alone. That total places him…
- Jack BlackJack Black is an American actor, comedian, singer and musician, and in 2025 he attached his name to the shortest song ever to reach the Billboard Hot 100. "Steve's Lava Chicken", from A Minecraft Movie, lasts just 34 seconds. It edged out…
- Lenny KravitzLenny Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance four years in a row, from 1999 to 2002. That run broke the record for wins in the category. It also set a record for consecutive wins in one category by a male…
- Fred DurstFred Durst chose the name Limp Bizkit because he wanted a name that would repel listeners. It was a strange strategy for a man who would become one of the most recognizable faces of nu metal. Durst was born Frederick Allen Mayne III on the…
- Chris CornellChris Cornell was born Christopher John Boyle, and the voice he grew into covered nearly four octaves, from C2 to A5. Critic Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote that as the voice climbed, it could meet hard-rock turbulence with, at the…
- Eddie VedderEddie Vedder was born Edward Louis Severson III on the 23rd of December 1964 in Evanston, Illinois. The surname the world knows him by was not the one he was born with. He grew up to become the lead vocalist, primary lyricist and one of…
- Sean LennonSteve Jobs once brought Sean Lennon an early Macintosh for his ninth birthday.
- Steven Van ZandtSteven Van Zandt answers to several names. Born Steven Lento, he is also known as Little Steven and as Miami Steve, and each name marks a different stretch of his working life. In Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band he plays guitar and…
- Dave MustaineDave Mustaine fronts Megadeth, a thrash metal band that has released seventeen studio albums and sold over 50 million records worldwide. In 2017 the title track of its album Dystopia won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. Yet the…
- Adam LevineAdam Levine was twelve years old when he played his first professional gig at The Troubadour. He was so nervous that he played with his back to the audience. Today he is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist and only continuous member of the…