Music Monday - The drums, the drums!

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I have recently started trying to play the drums so I have been more aware of the drums in various music I have been listening to. There are also various songs I know with distinctive drums that I would like to be able to play eventually. So I am taking that as my theme for #MusicMonday. I am giving a part of the rewards to @the-bitcoin-dood as he got me onto this tag.

One that a lot of people will think of is In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins. On the first half of the song it sounds like it could be a drum machine or maybe it's just some electronic drums which were a fairly new thing in 1981. Okay, I had to look it up and it is a Roland drum machine. A friend bought one of those a while back as it was used on lots of famous recordings. It's not until 3:15 that the famous drum break comes in. I think Phil was going through tough times when he recorded the Face Value album as he had just got divorced and the songs reflect that. I saw Phil on his No Jacket Required tour and of course he played this.

Another distinctive drum pattern kicks off the first track of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie. It is in 6/8 time with some beats in unusual places. It may take me a while to learn it. I have seen the band Holy Holy who include original drummer 'Woody' Woodmansey a couple of times so I got to hear him do it live. I also saw young Nandi Bushell play it at a Bowie Celebration gig a couple of years ago.

Dave Grohl mostly plays guitar in the Foo Fighters, but he came to fame as the drummer with Nirvana. He is a player who gives it everything.

A very technical player is Gavin Harrison who played in Porcupine Tree. A lot of their songs have varying time signatures, but he seems able to cope with anything. There does seem to be a trend for massive drum kits in prog bands.

I am a big Led Zeppelin fan, but I have been mostly focused on Jimmy Page's guitar up to now. Drummer John Bonham is also very influential. He could really hit those drums hard.

Another song that came to mind is this title track instrumental from Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop album. The drummer is Terry Bozzio who also played with Frank Zappa.

I am not saying these are the best drumming songs, but they are some I have enjoyed. I welcome your suggestions. I bet someone mentions Rush.

Rock on!



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33 comments
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When a drummer becomes so famous, he releases a single that focuses on just the drums. It was a long time ago and I remember thinking... eh? then...

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Not sure if I remember that, but some very 80s synth sounds going on. It is a bit of a novelty tune, but then some forms of music are largely about the drums, such as a lot of African music. I love drums, but I need some melody too.

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This was in the glam rock days, I know you were late getting into music so likely missed it.

"Dance with the Devil" is a solo drum instrumental by Cozy Powell based on the song "Third Stone from the Sun" by Jimi Hendrix. It reached No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart in January 1974. It was recorded as Cozy Powell's session work for RAK was taking off, and as his band Bedlam was finishing. The bass player on the track is Suzi Quatro.

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Earlier than I thought, but that performance could have been a bit later. I know I was not really into music around 74, but I would have seen Top of the Pops at least some of the time. Back when Gary Glitter could get on TV. I saw him play at Coventry Poly some time later.

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Face Value was a great album as I recall. That drum run is so legendary that even my grandson (5 at the time)/played it on his first drum kit.
I like those drum patterns that confuse the listener as to where the actual beat is. Like on Hey Joe.
It feels good to hear the pattern when it finally comes together. 🎼🎶🎸👍

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You've got to be good at counting to do those tricky ones. Have you watched the Art of Drumming series on Sky Arts? It's very good.

!ENGAGE 20

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Sounds interesting I'll check it out. I'm having a lot of fun with the Mooer. Loads of drum patterns 👍🎶

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Just watching it now...Jeez I didnt know Ginger Baker was still alive? He looks ancient. Time flies?

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He died over a year ago. He wasn't modest. There was a prog about Cream on after the last episode, but I didn't stay up for it. There are some good documentaries on there. I love stuff that gets into what it's like to be a musician.

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He was a great drummer. RIP. Cream...the original supergroup 😋
The drum docs are interesting. Thanks for the heads up.👍🎼🎶

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I can't believe you left out Def Leppard. He's only got one arm! I got to see Jason Bonham play with Sammy Hagar and it was a really awesome show. He definitely got the skills from his dad! Good luck learning to play. Just remember it is more important to be able to twirl the sticks properly! :)

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I saw Def Leppard the the Freddie Mercury tribute. I know there drummer was in a car crash and it's impressive to carry on as he has lost that left right balance. Jason has played with lots of people and even did the Led Zep reunion. I would have liked to have been there, but there was massive demand for tickets.

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I'm glad you mentioned Porcupine Tree, one of my favorites. Have you listened to their song called Anesthetize? The drumming in that is haunting and technical. There is a good video on YouTube, I'll find it and try and include it here. A but a bit fiddly on my mobile though.

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I have the album on my drive. Definitely haunting. !BEER

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Terry Bozzio and John Bonham were probably my two favorite drummers of all time.

Great selections here. I was debating whether to do a MusicMonday music compilation today, now I might have too. Just posted a guitar restoration update in the guitar community. Might be a two post day for The Dood.

I can't believe you're getting into drumming. That's awesome! I've been thinking about grabbing a super basic drum machine to practice with. Just something easy to program that I can add a little depth to whatever I'm practicing.

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Having played with some bands I know how important a good drummer is. They drive you along. The Hydrogen drum app is pretty good. I have managed to control it with my pads. Can probably pickup old drum machines fairly cheaply, but some get cult status and the prices get silly.

!ENGAGE 25

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Points Boosting refund to @steevc! 🤓
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(Edited)

Aaah that drum intro in "When the levee breaks" is really something! There is a very interesting story about how they used an echo unit to achieve that sound while recording it.

I'm a HUGE Zep fan and, in my opinion, Bonzo is one of the greatest drummers that ever lived!

I'd like to mention a guy who I believe doesn't get the attention he deserves: The Police's Stewart Copeland!

I've always liked The Police but never really paid close attention to Stewart but one day I was chatting with my band's drummer during rehearsal and he pointed out how Copeland is such a brilliant drummer. Can't stop praising him since then!

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I know Led Zep recorded in a big old house and recorded some drums at the bottom of the stairs with mics hanging above.

I love The Police too. Copeland's drumming is excellent. He's done some good TV shows about music recently.

!ENGAGE 20

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You've listed here some classics with for me the most know, the Phil Collins one. Drummachine material indeed :) Much of the hit songs back then, made use of drum machines. A relatively new thing, but much used when it became available. I'm a noob in that respect but have some friends who know everything about drum machines and are able to distinguish many of them. It's amazing when they talk about this and that song, using this and that drum machines.

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The technology has come a long way. You can get a phone app that does more than what Phil had available back then. I think there are emulations of a lot of the classic machines. I'm interested in learning the basics so I can know how to program better drums too.

!ENGAGE 20

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True, many to all hardware drum machines are available as software and plugins to eg Abelton. Many use these plugins, but I also see the older generation music producers using hardware over software. They usually say: Hardware is more organic, more dynamic, less clean. Must say, sometimes my ears can hear the difference as well. That said, a studio full of hardware may cost a few 100k Euro while a laptop with some software is much much less expensive.

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Thanks for continuing to make Hive awesome.

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Hello @steevc, here we will be waiting for your future covers, I just saw your new drum kit, it is very nice, greetings.

Suddenly some guns and roses song, in the future?

!wine

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Not sure about GnR songs. I'll look at what's easy for a beginner.

!BEER

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Sorry, out of BEER, please retry later...

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