Henry Rollins names the album that sets the benchmark for rhythm sections
No half-decent rock band is complete without its rhythm section, even if the limelight is often soaked up by the lead singer or guitarist. Rhythm is, after all, the backbone of rock and roll in its entirety, going right back to the days of greased-back hair and five-dollar shakes in the 1950s. According to punk hero Henry Rollins, though, one rhythm section puts all others to shame.
Punk, at the risk of generalising one of rock’s most expansive subgenres, is not often renowned for its dedication to rhythm. After all, when the scene first emerged from the depressing fog of the 1970s, musical theory and talent weren’t entry requirements; ‘here’s three chords, now form a band’ was its musical manifesto, and that outsider DIY style paved the way for a multitude of legendary outfits, many of whom weren’t quite aware of just how revolutionary their musical output was at the time.
Californian outfit Black Flag were among those pioneering groups, introducing audiences across the United States to the raw power of the punk revolution. From the very beginning, Black Flag maintained a pretty solid rhythm section, capable of backing up their eventual frontman in former ice cream salesman Henry Rollins, but even they could not stand up to some of the all-time greats when it comes to rock and roll rhythm.
A self-professed music nerd with a record collection even more extensive than his own discography, Rollins has rarely shied away from an opportunity to espouse the joys of his influences in recent years, even if his formidable confrontations did once strike fear into the hearts of music journalists across the land.
In addition to being an invaluable source of punk history, though, Rollins’ musical knowledge stretches far and wide, and Black Sabbath are always a favourite topic of discussion. That shouldn’t be all that surprising, though, as there aren’t many rock bands out there – punk or otherwise – that do not owe a core part of themselves to the pioneering hard rock output of the Birmingham outfit.
For Rollins, the appeal of Sabbath is as expansive as it is enduring, but their classic rhythm section of Bill War and Geezer Butler certainly takes some beating. “Bill Ward and Geezer Butler are one of the greatest, if not undermentioned, rhythm sections in rock,” he told Goldmine in 2018.
That masterful rhythm section is evident on every Black Sabbath record of that period, of course, but 1971’s Master of Reality is a particularly good example, according to Rollins.
“This album not only has Tony Iommi capturing one of the greatest tones ever committed to tape, but Ward and Butler swinging as hard as they’re crushing it,” the frontman shared. “This is a perfectly balanced bit of playing. This is the record I evaluate other rhythm sections by.”
Although there’s no arguing with Rollins – Master of Reality being, of course, one of the greatest rock albums of all time – it does paint a rather harsh view of every single other band that he listens to. After all, there aren’t many rhythm sections, if any, in fact, that can live up to the standards set by Butler and Ward on that album.
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