But I knew the configuration of a drum kit from watching drummers play, so I’d put a pillow between my legs as the snare drum, I’d use my bed as the tom, and a chair as my hi-hat, and I’d just play along to records in my room all day long.
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The Rolling Stones’ Charlie Watts, for instance, couldn’t master how to play the cheap banjo his parents bought for him, so he took it apart and played on it like a drum instead!ĭave Grohl, drummer for Nirvana, recalls, “At our tiny house, we had no room for a drum kit, nor money to buy one. They attacked household objects - oatmeal boxes, coffee cans, pots and pans, books, tables - in a percussive manner. Many drummers say they seemed to recognize at an early age that they were driven by, obsessed with, addicted to an innate desire to keep a beat. They chose me.”Īnd that’s the crux of it, evidently. He pondered it for a while and then said, “I didn’t choose the drums. These were both important contributions to those tracks, but I got no credit whatsoever.”įaced with these sorts of indignations, why would anyone choose to play the drums? In Tony Barrell’s marvelous book “Born to Drum,” which takes an exhaustive, entertaining look at the world of drumming, the author recalls asking a drummer friend that very question. I added the 5/4 time introduction to Cream’s hit ‘White Room,’ and I suggested to Jack Bruce that the tempo for ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’ was way too fast and should be much slower. But in the eyes of the law, it’s melody, harmony, and lyrics that matter. “One of the most important things in pop music, any music, is the beat. “It’s crazy,” noted the great Ginger Baker, the manic wild-man drummer behind Cream. As far as copyright law is concerned, drumbeats - no matter how creative or catchy or integral to a song they may be - are not recognized for royalties, as a guitar riff or keyboard passage might (or lyrics, of course). Financially, they lose out because they rarely, if ever, share the songwriting royalties. “He’s just the drummer” is the usual putdown they hear.ĭrummers suffer in other ways besides lack of respect. Aerosmith’s Joey Kramer recalled once overhearing a conversation between a manager and other band members where it was clear they felt the drummer was only a sideman, an accessory, rather than an integral part of the group. Naturally, this disrespect annoys the hell out of drummers. If they were replaced, most fans wouldn’t even notice, because they couldn’t distinguish any of them from Adam.” Why are drummers so underappreciated? Part of it, says my drummer friend Ted Molter, is because drummers “are sitting down, and sequestered from the rest of the band, hidden behind a wall of brass, chrome and wood. Nobody notices them until they make a mistake, and yet their consistent stellar play is the glue that holds the team together. They’re kind of like the center in football, or the catcher in baseball. With most listeners, they barely register. Lead singers, lead guitarists, even flashy keyboardists or sax players grab my attention almost every time I see bands perform, or listen to their recordings. I used to be as guilty as any rock music fan when it comes to failing to appreciate how crucial a good drummer can be. Or, put another way, “If you have an OK singer or an average guitarist, you might still have a great band, but if you have a mediocre drummer, your band will never be anything more than mediocre.” He has succinctly put into words the fundamental importance of drummers to the success of any band’s overall sound. The speaker is Jack White, the eccentric, multitalented guitarist/singer/producer behind The White Stripes and a burgeoning solo career.
But without the drums, there’s no building.” They are the girders, and the other musicians are going to add the doors, the windows, the floors, the roof and all the shiny details everybody notices. “Drummers are like the foundation of a building.
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