While the wife and me were out for a spin a while ago, I had the sudden urge to pop in a CD that I hadn't heard in its entirety for some time. Yes' "Big Generator". I remember I got the cassette for Christmas back in the 80s from my then-ladyfriend Michelle and played the heck out of it. When I switched over to CDs, my friend Pete bought me that format of the record and I gave him the cassette.
It's a remarkable album, really. A lot of the songs stick out for me for various reasons, not the least of which is Jon Anderson's incredible voice and harmonies, and he's such a prolific writer. Also, though, the drumming of Alan White, one of my favorite drummers in a long list of them. His sound is so snappy with tons and tons of tasty fills, and he never overplays. White is gone now, having passed away a little over a year ago. That saddened me, because even though my hopes of ever seeing Yes live were slim at best, now I'll never get to see him play, and he was one of a kind.
On Yes' "90125" record, released almost 40 years ago (!!!), I was taken by my first listen of their "Owner of a Lonely Heart" single. The drums stand out almost immediately with that snappy snare sound that caught my attention in an instant. This was my introduction to Yes, who formed actually back in '68, and changed incarnations many times over the years. Every musician in that band is impeccable. But I only really connected with Yes from the "90125" record forward. This band, I would say, is probably the most prominent of the pioneers of prog rock; with "90125" being a bit more on the pop side, but on "Generator" they sort of veered back to their prog roots a bit more. I like modern prog, not so much anything before the 80s, though. And I'm still choosy about it now - but when it clicks with me, I dig right in. Asia is another band that was prog-ish, but more on the pop side. Their drummer, Carl Palmer, was fantastic too. His style is a bit more active, but what he plays always fits. Asia's original lineup in '82 had two Yes members; I hesitate to say "former" members, because they seem to go back and forth from Yes to Asia a lot. The most notable member in Asia for me was John Wetton though, whose voice is one of my all-time favorites. He died in '17... sadly without any real fanfare. His baritone was distinctive and full of feeling. His bass playing was exceptional too.
But back to Alan White... a fellow named Jay Schellen replaced him, as per White's wishes, apparently. Mr. Schellen was a huge fan of White's drumming, so he seems an appropriate replacement. I've never heard him yet, though. I wonder if his sound is like White's. I have to assume it is if he was such a huge fan. White's snare sound is one I've tried emulating sometimes over the years, and you could hear it if you heard me playing back in the day.
There are other drummers too, though, that I really liked that I took to. I remember as a boy in grade seven, the first thing that made me get into drums was KISS' "Alive!" album, pretty much start to finish. Peter Criss is one of the all time greats of rock drumming, in my own opinion. He took lessons from swing king Gene Krupa, after all - Gene Freakin' Krupa. You can certainly hear the swing influence in Criss' style, most notable for me as a drummer using a tightly closed hi-hat a lot, which rock drummers seldom use. A more washy, splashy hi-hat is most common and kind of takes away from the actual sound of drums, if used too much. Which I admittedly have been guilty of. I remember grabbing a bunch of boxes that Mom used to have from getting groceries at the grocery store, and I'd take them and beat out "100,000 Years" on "Alive!" with a pair of drumsticks I whittled out of an old broomstick. I'd invite friends over sometimes to watch me. I had no idea how to play drums at that time, so when my brother Greg bought me a used small set of sparkle-blue Silvertone drums, I didn't have much of a clue what the hi-hat or bass drum pedal was for, so I had to figure it out on my own by watching drummers on TV. My newfound buddy Larry played guitar already, so we kind of learned our chops together in those early years. Larry was my age, early teens, and was a smoking hot player even then, and he only got better. I did too, I guess, but I'd really rather not toot my own horn. But I will say that all the head trauma I experienced probably messed my noggin up on timing issues, even to this day, but I'm far more conscious of it. Doesn't matter, it's fun to do. I'd love to have a band together again sometime and just work up our own cover versions of songs and have fun playing in public someplace. But that ship may have sailed on me. I played some shows in the late 80s, and then got spurned by a lot of bands I played with or tried out for, for whatever reasons, I helped form YQM with a couple of friends, played one show, released a rather unfinished CD, and the door pretty much closed after that. I'll never give up drums, but opportunities to play with others just aren't there anymore.
Nonetheless, besides the gentlemen I just mentioned, here's some other drummers I emulated or got influence from, in no particular order, except for the first...
Eric Carr - Definitely my all-time favorite drummer. The guy could write, play guitar and bass, sing, and got ample opportunity to do it all during his short career before he cruelly died the exact same day as Freddie Mercury of cancer. I feel like he really never got his due. When my old Silvertone drums bit the biscuit and I had nothing to play, I just about gave it up. Peter Criss had left KISS, and didn't even play on anything substantially anyway after KISS' "Alive II" record. Carr came into the picture and first drummed on the puzzling "The Elder" album debuting for the band; but it was the next record where he gave KISS the desperate kick in the ass they needed, and played some of the finest drum tracks in the history of rock, to me. Lots of drummers refer to that "Creatures of the Night" record as "the drum album" because it was so thunderous. It excited me enough to start playing again, even if it was on Tupperware containers. I eventually saved up enough money from my paper route to buy another used drum kit, and with the inspiration from Eric Carr, beat the snot out of the things with Larry playing guitar. Man, the power that Carr had playing drums with KISS... it saddens me to think too much that he's just not here anymore. I feel like even better years were ahead of him. Carr played on five more studio releases before he passed away in '91. It's tough to say what my favorite track of Carr's is... "Saint and Sinner" on "Creatures" has a real creative groove to it that I even ripped off here and there. A runner up might be "Forever" on their "Hot in the Shade" album. It's a tender, loving ballad... until Carr brings the thunder and wakes the song up. His John Bonham influence is shining through pretty bright here. He gives the song exactly what it needs in all the right places.
Stewart Copeland - Sticksman for The Police. My head turned to The Police when I heard their third record, "Zenyatta Mondatta", and the crack and energy that spewed out of the speakers was nothing short of electric. If Eric Carr's style inspired me to continue playing, Copeland inspired the way my drums sounded. I'd tune my snare drum as tight as I could to emulate The Police. I positioned my drums low and flat like he did, which forced my posture to become more relaxed and made me more visible, even. Not that I even considered that. All those Police records have really tasty sounding drums on them, but "Zenyatta" was my clear favorite. Sadly I never got to see Copeland live, though. My favorite song he's played on is tough... but I might go with "Voices Inside My Head", an instrumental with a real sonic vibe that paves the way to some real feisty fills by Copeland towards the end. I'd give "Zenyatta"s "When the World Is Running Down" a fairly close runner-up. I have great memories of playing that with Pete when we jammed.
John Bonham - Kind of a no brainer... but I really only got into Zeppelin around the late 80s when I started jamming a lot with my friend, bass player Pete. Finally I got to play with a bass player! A drummer can only become so good until he learns to jibe with a four-stringer. And Pete and me just naturally synched. We provided some pretty good punch to whatever band we were playing for. He was a big Zep fan and I found out more about them from him, eventually wondering what the hell took me so long to get into it. Bonham was Eric Carr's biggest influence, as you can clearly hear. What I liked about Bonham the most was his less-is-more style, though he brought the speed when it was called for, and also the shuffle in a lot of his beats. In this age of programmed drums and drum triggers, you can't really hear that kind of style anymore. My opinion on drum triggers is they helped usher in the use of drum machines, because to have triggers is almost the same thing. They take away the humanity of the playing. When Bonham died, Zeppelin ceased to be, justly so I think. You really can't replace a guy like him. Charlie Watts is great for the Stones, one of the greatest really. But it's hard to say the Stones can't go on without him. And they are. I'd say my favorite track of Bonham's is "Achilles' Last Stand", which chugs along like a steroid-laden locomotive; with maybe "Kashmir" as a runner up.
Ringo Starr - If any drummer taught me that subtlety can sound good, that'd be Ringo. I would say he's the most underrated rock drummer in history. I heard so many people crap on his playing because maybe he wasn't Keith Moon or something. But try to picture Keith Moon playing for The Beatles. I really didn't pay much attention to the bubble-gum Beatles at all, it was the more proggy sound they experimented with in the latter half of their lifespan that I grabbed onto. Some of the stuff he played was just so off the wall that if you were a fan of early Beatles, you might not think it's the same guy. Maybe my favorite performance of his is "Abbey Road"s "Come Together" - no one ever played like that before and made it sound so great. "Magical Mystery Tour" might come in second, with the great teasing tempos. The song's beginning and ending are like the North and South poles, different but necessary to begin and close out the song, and Ringo carries both of those.
Alex Van Halen - I'll say this about AVH... it has to have been a bit of a drag to be as great a drummer as he is in a band with the legendary Eddie, his brother, but he was content to let his brother shine. The sad thing with AVH is, I really think he'll only be as appreciated as he should be when he passes. That's how it was with Freddie Mercury - The U.S. press dragged him through pig slop until he died. The old saying "everyone loves a dead person" is applicable there. I loved playing his stuff on drums, but there's some stuff that I just can't. There's a reason why you don't hear cover bands playing the ultra popular "Hot For Teacher", and it's not just Eddie's playing, it's his brother's contributions that stick out in a case like that. His use of the cowbell was so perfectly placed. You can't play the start of "Dance the Night Away" without it. But the track I really love is "Fair Warning"s "Hear About It Later", one of my favorite songs EVER all around. That drum break with the cowbell before the guitar solo is iconic to me, and so friggin' fun to play. AVH's playing left an emotional mark too, in songs like "HAIL", "I'll Wait" and "Romeo Delight", to name a few. His is another snare sound I've tried to copy. The way he uses the crash/ride cymbal so effectively through his career made me seek out what model he plays, which was an 18" Paiste Rude crash/ride. Yeah, those suckers aren't cheap. I still don't have one.
Jerry Gaskill - My old pal Steve, God rest his soul, introduced me to King's X back in the late 80s when I was working as a clerk at a corner store called Green Gables. He came in and handed me a tape of theirs called "Gretchen Goes To Nebraska", and I popped it into the player I had at work for the night shift and listened to it a couple of times. It didn't really grab me. It was borderline prog, but heavy and very melodic, and you could clearly hear the chops in all three musicians. I gave it another chance. Then another. And before I knew it, those songs wound up engrained in my head, and I became obsessive with them. I sought out their other records and got them and have been a fan since. I was fortunate enough to see them in Toronto in the early 90s on their "Dogman" tour, then again four years ago or so in Portland, Maine. Jerry's drumming stuck out pretty big time for me, it was so powerful and grooved with Doug Pinnick's bass playing, and he never overplayed or did anything that didn't fit their songs to a 'T'. It didn't matter how difficult the playing was to him, either, when it came to him singing, he's just so well rounded. If I had to pick a favorite song with is playing, besides the title song, it might be "Don't Care" on "Dogman", a slow, prodding, punch-in-the-gut of a tune that allowed him to bust out toward the end with a ferocity that matched the song's subject matter. Runner up might be a ripper of a tune called "Give It Up" on their "Three Sides of One" record that came out a year ago. Again, I love how he locks in to good with Pinnick's bass playing. He plays a relatively small kit, too, but brings the thunder like it was an AVH kit.
Eric Singer - I was real fortunate to have met Singer in 08 when he was touring with Alice Cooper on a brief break from touring with KISS. Singer's style makes me think of a studio musician's, because he's so perfect and precise with his playing, he often doesn't even need a click when he records. He's played with so many acts like Black Sabbath and Lita Ford and others, and he was always able to match his style with whomever he was playing for. He really made his mark on KISS' "Revenge" record, though, when he subbed for Eric Carr, who fell ill with cancer at the time, and eventually took the spot when Carr passed. It was a great fit. Singer's very knowledgeable about all styles and is quite a historian with rock drumming, incorporating many of his idols' styles into his own playing. I love how his kits are set up, positioned low and flat and not without tons of cymbals to accent whatever song he's playing on. His playing is actually restrained on KISS' studio albums that he's on, but if you listen to a track like "Watchin' You" on KISS' "Alive III" album, you can hear he's not really holding back and puts on a clinic. Maybe my favorite runner up track would be "Sure Know Something" on KISS' "Unplugged" album, where he puts his own spin on the original version played by Anton Fig (in place of Peter Criss at the time) from KISS' "Dynasty" album, which I also really like. But Singer's version seems appropriately moodier, which is often hard to come across with a drummer. I'd peg Singer as a thinking man's drummer, as he's so aware of the song environment that he's playing in.
Neil Peart - Clearly there's no denying Peart's impact on the music world, not just with his drumming, but he also wrote much of Rush's lyrical content. I wasn't a fan of early Rush, though, as it just didn't quite catch my ear. I found it a bit excessive for my own taste. But when they refined their sound in the early 80s, that's when I took interest in their releases. There's really nothing he does that isn't great, even if a song is only so-so, he still leaves his undeniable stamp on it. Peart might have played monster drum kits, but he utilized everything that he had around him, rather than just having it there for eye candy for other drummers. Every song of his was a clinic. Another thinking man's drummer. I found it actually fun to listen to his stuff just to figure out how he did some of his licks, and once you learn them, it's gratifying to use it as a sort of education to incorporate it in your own style. Not that I'm anything like he is, of course not, I'm just kind of a wannabe chump. One of my favorite songs he's on is "Where's My Thing" from Rush's "Roll the Bones" record, for which I think they won a Grammy for Best Instrumental. Any drummer listening to his chops on that has their brains light up all over the place with all the stuff he does in there. It's kind of indulgent for all three guys, but it's an instrumental after all, so they can just fly freely. I really like his playing on "Bravado" from "Roll the Bones" also, where he's somewhat subdued while still leaving his distinct mark on the beats. Really, there's a ton of stuff that sticks out with Peart. Heaven has some pretty incredible drummers these days.
Tommy Lee - Motley Crue's drummer is unquestionably irreplaceable, even though he was replaced for a short time (by another great, Randy Castillo), coming back to the band after a bit of internal turmoil, which happens with most long enduring groups. My ears and eyes perked up when I saw the Crue's "Looks That Kill" video in MTV's infancy in the early 80s, and what I saw was the next KISS, with all the theatrics and costumes and kickass soundtrack to go with it. Lee was the first real drummer to incorporate visual flash with his playing, creating a trail of pretenders in the wake of Crue's success. Something rather gratifying to me was reading him say once that he'd heard KISS' "Creatures" album and loved Eric Carr's drumming so much, he wanted to cop that for their "Shout At the Devil" release. It's hard to imagine "SATD" being quite as big as it was without Lee's contributions, arguably the best musician in that band. With his stick twirling during playing, cymbal catching, and crazy booming bass drum sound (capitalized on with great effect and success on their "Dr. Feelgood" release), Lee brought the fun to playing drums in a big way. It left a big mark on how I play. Between him and Eric Carr, the life on a lot of drum skins and sticks of mine was considerably shortened. I play really loud because of those two guys primarily. I'd pick "Looks That Kill" as my favorite track with Lee's playing for those reasons. After that I might pick "Live Wire" from their debut "Too Fast For Love", where he clearly leaves his name stamp all over it. He's not afraid to use that cowbell, either.
Cozy Powell - I've only really recently come to appreciate how great Powell was on pretty much everything he played. He played with some seriously punchy hooks, making memorable fills without going overboard. The things he's played on that I really love were Whitesnake's "Slide It In" release, where "Slow and Easy" really nails down how to get an audience to clap along to the music. He had a fairly big kit, not "supersized", but big enough though, with 26" double bass drum (!!!... mine are 22") and he used Remo Powerstroke drumheads I think right until his untimely death in '98. I point that out because Powerstroke heads were predominant in the 70s and 80s, and not so much past that. I used them for a bit, but opted for the thicker Remo Emperor heads, simply because they're a bit tougher and a little less ring. But listening to Powell's drumming with Whitesnake, Cinderella and Rainbow, to name a few, made me rethink that a bit. This guy played just about everything, from rock to jazz, and has a ton of credits to his long resume. "Slow and Easy" is probably my favorite work of his, just because of its punchiness and how he carries that song. There are too many things he's played on to just pick one, though, so I'll just leave it at that. I'm still kind of 'discovering' his playing, but what I heard left no doubt to me how great he was.
Gina Schock - Say what you will about the Go Go's, arguably the best and most pioneering all-girl band that came out in the early 80s, but those ladies knew how to write and play songs. I really like Kathy Valentine's bass playing in this band, coupled with Schock's drumming. Her style makes me think of a kind of swing/rock fusion kind of sound, with lots of energy and really crisp sounding snare fills. She utilizes her tom drums brilliantly, hearkening back to a lot of the doo-wop bubblegum bands of the 60s. Maybe that's why they were pegged as "girl Beatles" early on, with their simplicity and go-getter vibes especially on those tracks on the first record of theirs. I can't think of any version of that band without her, though they've never replaced anyone anyway. I think the song I'd vote for as my favorite of theirs might be "How Much More" from their debut "Beauty and the Beat", where she plays pretty much like I described. I think she made that band sound better than it really was, as least early on. I'd give a runner up to "Turn To You" from "Talk Show", where the rest of the band catches up to her feisty-ness and latches on to her energetic grooves. The whole band can play, but she's the best of them.
Liberty DeVitto - When Billy Joel broke big with his "The Stranger" album, it was in part because he acquired the services of Phil Ramone as producer, and part because he got to use his own band in the studio for the first time. Joel's buddy DeVitto was in on this on drums, and man, does this guy kick some serious ass. He puts the "ow!" in "Power", pulverizing his kit when he plays live without ever sacrificing the quality of the songs he's playing. I love every record of Joel's he's ever played on, but I'm partial to the Ramone-produced era, maybe for nostalgic reasons. The records that really stick out for me for DeVitto are "52nd Street" and "Songs In the Attic", the latter being a live album of tracks from releases prior to "The Stranger". Boy, does he bring life to those songs. Joel's one of the best songwriters of all time, in my opinion, and he couldn't have found anyone better to lay down the beats for his songs than DeVitto. The guy's a powerhouse in every sense of the word, playing with the truest of passion and precision, knowing exactly what a song needs. I honed my own chops on playing his songs a lot in my early years of drumming, although it was by myself, because I never really had any musician friends who wanted to play Billy Joel material. Probably my favorite selection for a song might be "Captain Jack" on "SITA", a moody title that carries some serious weight live thanks to his merciless pounding in the sections of the song where it called for it. You could hear Joel getting revved up in that song when DeVitto cranked up the energy factor - but there are several subtle moments in that tune, too, where he just locks into the feel of the story of the song. The other song I'd pick is, without a doubt, "Rosalinda's Eyes". You really hear his jazz influences here, as you do with the whole "52nd Street" album. But in particular, I love how he plays out the end of the song. As the years have passed, I feel more and more nostalgic whenever I hear it, taking me back to that late 70s feeling. Only the best musicians can produce that kind of air.
David Robinson - I first heard of The Cars when I took a trip to Ontario to stay with my brother Peter when I was 13, and he had "Candy-O" on his turntable. I heard him play it a few times and thought it was pretty catchy. From there I discovered the other Cars albums as they came out. One big thing that stood out to me, even as a youngster, is how splashy drummer Robinson's snare drum sounded, and even the toms had a penetrating, "boom" kind of sound. On those early releases, you could actually hear that the toms were open (or one-sided, skins-wise), and I always appreciated the honesty of that kind of sound from drums in the 70s and 80s. Robinson's style is very accurate, like a human metronome, punctuating the songs' music and giving real definition to the urgency of the changes when it needed it. Every time I listen to The Cars I get the urge to play my own kit. It's actually great material to learn drums on. I've always believed Robinson is one of the most underrated drummers in all of rock history, actually. You don't hear the rapid fills or tricked-out beats with odd time changes, but that's the whole point; the simplicity of his style adds appeal to the already catchy music. One of my favorites is actually the song "Candy-O", with his great use of floor toms in the chorus and laying the train tracks for the boogie of the whole tune. I can't not mention "Touch and Go" from their "Panorama" album, either. That song's a tour-de-force for the whole band, with one of the best guitar solos ever from Elliot Easton, a superb walking bass line in the chorus from Ben Orr, never-failing keys from Greg Hawkes and of course Robinson's pinpoint accuracy dotting the changes throughout the song bringing the whole thing together. He's just a joy to listen to, drum-wise, for me.
Larry Mullen Jr. - U2 is one of the biggest bands on earth, in large part because of this guy. Mullen actually started the band, and Bono took over, though Mullen has no regrets about that, of course. Those early U2 albums, the first three, you can hear the urgency and even anger sometimes in his playing, especially on the "War" album. It's on those early releases that you really hear his gutteral approach to drums, when Steve Lillywhite was the prime producer and just set him loose. On "War" in particular, it almost sounds like the drums are turned up extra loud in the mix - fitting for the album's title. But make no mistake, his drumming and innovative non-use of hi hat strikes at times helped change the direction of the sound of much of U2's catalogue. Just take a listen to "A Sort of Homecoming" from "The Unforgettable Fire" for example, where he opts to drive the beat with 16th notes on a floor tom he places to the left of his snare, accenting with a rack tom. He did something similar on "The Joshua Tree"s "Where the Streets Have No Name", opting instead for a rack tom instead of a floor one. It was on "Achtung Baby" and "Zooropa" where he got particularly adventurous, though, no doubt spurred on by his producers Lanois, Eno and Flood. His sound is particularly crisp on those offerings. On "All That You Can't Leave Behind" and "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb", he lets up slightly on the former, with great effect, and unleashes once again on the latter, at times bordering on a punk/metal vibe - like on "Vertigo" and "All Because of You". His biggest influence is The Ramones, after all. Of the multitude of tracks to choose from, "Like a Song" from "War", a somewhat obscure song, is a standout for me - he kicks that anger into high gear literally, seemingly matching Bono's urgency in his vocals by translating the words into drums as best he could. On the other end of that, on "So Cruel" from "Achtung", he plays effectively restrained, letting Bono's heartbroken lyric take center stage while supporting it with an uncharacteristic higher-end rhythm. I can't not mention how great he sounds paired up with bassist Adam Clayton.
That's the bulk of what I consider to be influential drummers of mine throughout the years. There are plenty of others I'm just not recalling, but this would wind up being some kind of boring old book if I were to continue. And I've already taken days to write this particular blog post! But had a lot of fun doing it, actually.
There aren't a lot of modern day drummers on that list, simply because machines and triggers have more or less taken over drums on recordings, unfortunately. Live drums are a different kind of subject, and they're a lot more fun to listen to than studio recordings mostly, in person. But the way I see it, the art of drumming is slowly fading from the recording industry. Even the stuff that's done well is so manipulated by production and computers and crap like that, that it's hard to find something that sounds honest anymore. It's why the last few years I've opted to look backwards at music that I might have missed out on over the years. And that's an endless library to go through, thankfully.
If you've found this interesting enough to read all the way to this point, thanks for doing so. I truly appreciate you visiting my humble Ragnar Station.
