I play and I LOVE playing rhythm. Sure, it’s not as glamorous as a radical riff that splits the cosmos but it’s the base of the whole tune. It’s like a sandwich….
Rhythm guitar is the bottom piece of bread: With out the bottom piece, your sandwich has nothing to sit on and it will fall apart.
Bass guitar is the top piece of bread: It’s not necessarily needed but things can get messy without it.
Drums are the substance (meat): With no substance, your sandwich is just a snack and won’t fill your hunger. You need the percussion to keep time and give every instrument a reason to play together.
Lead guitar is the add-ons: The lead is veggies/extras because it takes the sandwich from something to eat to survive to a delicious meal that you want to eat even if your not hungry because it’s delicious.
Vocals are the condiments: Mustards, mayos, whatever you prefer. A sandwich can be good without them but they do give that little bit of extra flavor. A bad vocalist can ruin a band just like a bad batch of mayo can ruin a sandwich.
Also, when you play lead, there is all that pressure on stage to hit your licks in time and not miss a note during fast sweeps and solos whereas the rhythm just kicks back and plays the riff that keeps the train moving along. If the lead messes up, the rhythm looks like the guitar god of the night. Not that you wish for the lead to mess up because your all on the same team after all but… you get what I’m saying