Steve Albini on What Made The Rolling Stones Dummer Charlie Watts So Special

My book Backbeats: A History of Rock and Roll in 15 Drummers tells a familiar story from an unfamiliar vantage. Moving from Chicago blues to Phil Spector’s early-1960s confections to the British Invasion, the birth of punk, metal, grunge, and hip-hop, the book tracks the seven-decade story of rock and roll as if drummers were the main characters.

And why not? Though they aren’t typically as famous as guitarists and singers, drummers have been just as crucial to the creation of this music, possibly even more so. Rock and roll was a rhythmic revolution above all, and who could imagine what it would look like without the Bo Diddley beat (created by drummer Clifton James), the “Be My Baby” intro (played by Hal Blaine), or the thunderous power of John Bonham?

Charlie Watts embodies