84   Eddie Cochran

He became a rockabilly star at nineteen, in 1957, and died at twenty-one. In between, his itchy, aggressive strum of fat, irresistible rhythm figures was a mighty weapon that could be wielded to battle authority ("Summertime Blues"), rally the troops ("C'mon Everybody") or summon some lovin' ("Somethin' Else"). "Summertime Blues," Somethin' Else (1998)


Essential Recording: "Summertime Blues," Somethin' Else (1998)

85   Randy Rhoads

In 1980, Ozzy Osbourne hired the diminutive, classically trained twenty-three-year-old Rhoads from Santa Monica, California, away from Quiet Riot. His screeching, arpeggiated solos on "Crazy Train" introduced the one true contemporaneous peer of Eddie Van Halen. Were it not for his 1982 demise in a plane crash, his already enormous influence on metal-guitar playing would have increased a hundredfold.


Essential Recording: "Crazy Train," Ozzy Osbourne/Randy Rhoads, Tribute (1987)

86   Tommy Iommi
of Black Sabbath

Heavy, really heavy, starts here. While others were spinning solo stairways to the stars, the left-handed Iommi went in the opposite direction. Black Sabbath took rock's simplicity and simplified it even further. The occasional minor chord and a low, rumbling tone added to a guitar sound dripping menace and foreboding.


Essential Recording: "Iron Man," Paranoid (1971)