An electrifying journey through the history of rock and roll, told through the lives of fifteen iconic drummers and their percussion rivals—from John Bonham and Charlie Watts to Ringo Starr and Questlove.

Rock and roll thrives on rhythm, but the drummers who drive that pulse often stay in the shadows. In Backbeats,acclaimed music historian John Lingan brings these unsung heroes into the spotlight, delivering a fascinating journey through six decades of rock history.

Lingan’s deep research and vivid storytelling explores the lives of fifteen pathbreaking drummers and their fellow timekeepers—men and women who together laid down the beat of an era. From Bernard Purdie’s legendary work with Aretha Franklin to Dave Grohl’s funk- and punk-indebted swing for Nirvana, these drummers redefined what was possible in pop music. Iconic figures like Ringo Starr, whose inventive style transformed the Beatles, and Charlie Watts, the steady backbone of the Rolling Stones, take center stage. But Lingan doesn’t stop there—he also shines a light on groundbreaking, underappreciated talents like Maureen Tucker of The Velvet Underground, whose minimalist beats rewrote the rulebook, and Sam Lay, a pivotal figure in rock’s evolution from the blues.

Packed with insider stories and exclusive interviews—from Robert Plant’s reflections on Led Zeppelin’s legendary sessions to superstar recording engineer Steve Albini’s behind-the-scenes accounts—Backbeats offers an eye-opening glimpse into some of rock’s most unforgettable moments, including the seismic shift of Dylan going electric at Newport, James Brown’s explosive creation of funk in the late sixties, and the birth of LA thrash metal in the early eighties.

More than just a tribute to an unrecognized group of virtuosos, this book is a love letter to the art of drumming itself. Backbeats shows how these remarkable artists not only kept the beat but drove rock and roll forward. It’s a must-read for any music lover, offering a fresh and thrilling perspective on a story we only thought we knew.

From 1969 to 1971, as the United States convulsed with political upheaval and transformative social movements, no band was bigger than Creedence Clearwater Revival. They managed a two-year barrage of top-10 singles and LPs that doubled as an ubiquitous soundtrack to one of the most volatile periods in modern American history, and they remain a staple of classic rock radio and films about the era. Yet despite their enduring popularity, no book has ever sought to understand Creedence in conversation with their time. A Song for Everyone finally tells that story: the thirteen-year saga of an unassuming suburban quartet's journey through the wilds of 1960s pop, and their slow accrual of a sound and ethos that were almost mystically aligned with the concerns of decade's end. Starting in middle school, these Californian friends and brothers cut a working-class path through the most expansive decade in American music, playing R&B, country, and rock 'n' roll under a variety of names as each of those genres expanded and evolved. When they finally synthesized those styles under a new name in 1968, Creedence Clearwater Revival became instantly epochal, then fell apart under the weight of personal grievances that dated back to adolescence. As musicians and as men, they embodied the contradictions and difficulties of their time, and those dimensions of their career have never been explored until now. Drawing on wide-ranging research into the social and musical developments of 1959-1972, extensive original interviews with surviving Creedence members and associates, and unpublished memoirs from people who knew the group closely, A Song for Everyone is the definitive account of a legendary and still-beloved American band. At the same time, it is also a cultural history of those same years--from Elvis to Altamont, Eisenhower to Watergate--seen through the eyes of four men who encapsulated them in song for all time, told by one of the rising figures in contemporary music writing.