5 Unsung Heroes in World-Famous Bands That Are Often Overshadowed by Their Bandmates

What makes a band so special is the sum of its individual parts, not any one player. Even backing bands with a headliner act rely on every musician pulling their weight. However, centuries’ worth of celebrity culture has conditioned us to look for the biggest star, the prettiest member, or the one with the microphone. More often than not, the front person takes all three qualifiers.

Nevertheless, the unsung heroes standing just outside of the front person’s spotlight keep things moving for everyone. They lock in the groove, contribute signature melodies, and in some cases, are the driving creative force behind the songwriting.

Although most music aficionados will recognize and respect these five musicians and ensembles, casual listeners might not fully appreciate their importance.

Mike Campbell

If you were to conduct a general poll among the masses, most people would likely recognize Tom Petty’s name before his Heartbreaker bandmate, Mike Campbell. However, Campbell is responsible for some of Petty’s best hits, including “Refugee”, “Here Comes My Girl”, and “You Wreck Me”. And that’s on top of adding all those signature guitar riffs we sing along to while Petty’s taking a break from singing.

Geezer Butler

Ozzy Osbourne is undoubtedly the most famous member of Black Sabbath. But Geezer Butler was the man behind the words that made the Prince of Darkness so ubiquitous. The unsung hero of the heavy metal pioneers contributed lyrics to some of the band’s most well-loved cuts, like “Paranoid”, “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”, and “Sweet Leaf”. Not to mention, he holds it down on the bass, serving as the perfect complement to Tony Iommi’s guitar playing.

Billy Preston

Billy Preston deserves an asterisk on this list, since he was an unsung hero of the rock band The Beatles, but he was never technically an official member. Preston showed up in the later, more contentious years, serving as a silent mediator that kept the Fab Four on their best behavior. Without him, some of the band’s latest songs might have never been made due to incessant infighting in the studio.

John McVie

So much of the discourse around Fleetwood Mac has to do with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. But where is the love for John McVie? McVie and Mick Fleetwood made an incomparable rhythm section. The bassist’s grooves helped define their most famous songs, even if people didn’t realize that the bassline is what made the song so good. His ability to break up a two-chord song like “Dreams” is a perfect example of this skill.

The Wrecking Crew

Finally, perhaps the greatest unsung heroes of all of mainstream music: The Wrecking Crew. This group of session players in sunny Los Angeles contributed the instrumentation to a vast majority of pop and rock records coming out of the West Coast in the 1960s. From The Beach Boys to The Mamas & The Papas to The Monkees to Glen Campbell, most of these albums sounded so good because of the session musicians, not necessarily the headlining artists who got all the credit.

Photo by Jim McCrary/Redferns