by Not just today World Rat Day – it’s World Drummer Day too! This universal celebration of percussion is no doubt chosen because the calendar date is 4/4, the most commonly used time signature in music.
It’s an old joke about drummers. How do you know when there’s a drummer at your door? He doesn’t know when to come in.
While they may be the focal point of derision within many bands, today we’re recognizing the best of the lot by compiling a list of the five best types of drummers to grace the sonic airwaves.
The old school rock solo
It’s impossible to have a conversation about great drummers without starting with the greats of rock and roll. There’s a reason that when he’s asked to do an impression of a drummer, the entire planet emits something a little like Keith Moon’s playing.
The late Keith Moon was the driving force behind mod legends The Who. He lived fast but he played faster. Moon inspired the rock styles of his peers Roger Daltry, Pete Townsend and John Entwistle.
Where else, apart from the classics, do you hear something as brazen and joyful as a drum solo? My favorite Gealach example is the way Gealach hits her suit in the musical interludes in the band’s sweeping odyssey ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’.
John Bonham of Led Zeppelin deserves honorable mentions in this genre of drummer, whose strong playing was an integral part of the band’s daring fantasy, and Dave Grohl, whose dedicated instinct gave life to Nirvana and his own project, the Foo Fighters .
The ultimate hip hop example
The best hip-hop masters have one thing in common, a love for big beats. The annals of hip-hop are filled with ugly examples that have been used and abused to create iconic songs since the genre exploded in the 80s and 90s.
With one of the most sampled drum breaks in music history, Gregory Coleman might not have been a name you expected on this list, but we promise you’ll recognize his sound.
Coleman was the drummer for the funk and soul band The Winstons who released a track called ‘Amen, Brother’ in 1969. The Winstons disbanded shortly afterwards in 1970 due to difficulties operating as a multiracial group in the southern US.
But the sound of the Winstons lived on. The drum break from ‘Amen, Brother’, known as the “Amen Break” is the most widely sampled recording in music history, appearing in everything from NWA’s ‘Straight Outta Compton’ to the song Futurama theme.
Sadly, the Winstons only found out about the use of the Amen Break in 1996 after the statute of limitations had expired for a claim of copyright infringement and therefore received no royalties. Coleman died in 2006, homeless and in danger, and probably unaware of his contribution to music.
The accompanying percussion
Especially in the world of rock music, a bit of showmanship is best. But for many bands, the secret weapon is often a drummer who doesn’t overdo it. Someone who keeps paradidling to a minimum and instead understands the value of accompanying percussion over gauche solos.
Enter Ringo Starr and Meg White. Although Starr may have suffered ire from fans and band members alike (“He’s not even the best drummer in the Beatles”), he is undoubtedly one of the cornerstones of the foursome’s incredible success .
Performing and recording at the dawn of an era, Starr shaped the mold of what a rockstar drummer could be. Not only interested in being loud, Starr was all about innovation. He approached the equipment with the same sense of wonder and experimentation that his peers were known for. Each one offers a new opportunity to experiment with a different combination of sounds.
If you want to experience Starr’s brilliance, don’t expect the surprises he puts into ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’.
In a similar way to Starr is Meg White of the White Stripes. Usually ignored during their heyday because of Jack White’s magnetic philosophy and the theories about their relationship, Meg’s drumming is often limited to routine.
But once again, that’s the choice not to acknowledge a drummer who brought simplicity to a simple layout. Anything more and the minimalist blues aesthetic of the White Stripes would fall apart. You need more proof, put on the horror of a song called ‘Thit in Love with a Girl’.
Heavy Metal Hitters
We couldn’t ignore these guys, could we? In the metal genre, there are plenty of talented drummers to the ranks of friends. While Meg White and Ringo Starr would go without some of their gear in favor of a stripped back sound, this is a genre where double pedals, countless cymbals and seat belts are the norm.
Talk to any drumming nerd and Neil Peart will always be part of the conversation. The punchline of this classic joke is:
“How many drummers does it take to change a light bulb?”
“Five: One to screw the bulb in, and four to talk about how well Neil Peart could do it.”
How did he get this honor? Simple. He was the drummer and lyricist for the hugely popular rock band Rush. Nerd music is loved for a reason, and Rush put out some incredibly technically complex music that was always a blast to listen to, despite its clichéd theory. Need more proof? Check out this single at a gig they played in Frankfurt.
The jazz drummer
Although these drummers are largely from the rock and roll tradition, it would be remiss not to give credit to the drummers who dominated the music for as long as these rock stars could have existed at all. be.
We are talking, of course, about the blues and jazz genres. Although percussion is often a more subtle accompaniment in the classical white western tradition, the Black musical genres that dominated the 19th century and gained worldwide popularity in the 20th century created a musical tapestry that could be established with the explosion of popular music in the 60s. on.
So who better to be our last great drummer on World Drummer Day than jazz’s greatest rhythm master: Art Blakey.
The high bop legend brought his amazing sense of swing and relentless intensity to push his group to the end. They want to take standards and push them up a notch, as seen with ‘The Drum Thunder Suite’ from Blakey’s best album with his group the Jazz Messengers, ‘Moanin”.
