As the best pop music proves, there is much more to a drummer than somebody who keeps the other musicians in time. Led Zeppelin could not continue without theirs and Mitch Mitchell's sad death received heavy coverage thanks to his prowess behind the kit. So why is great drumming so magical?
The three things I've learned about drummers:
1. They are always the first person in a room to take their shirt off.
2. More often than not, they don't give a tinker's cuss about what sort of music they are playing as long as they are playing.
3. They all love Steve Gadd-style drumming videos and will distribute YouTube clips of people like Bernard Purdie teaching the drums in an amusing fashion.
This nerdy behaviour is important because a drummer can't afford to be sloppy; they are responsible for providing a framework within which the other players can (and do) get away with murder. But they can also do a lot more:
The drums can define the genre
heavy-metal heaven Be My Baby Billy Joel Jesus and Mary Chain Mercury Rev the Pipettes Hairspray Deerhoof
Or they can define the whole song
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover The Beatles' Come Together Flaming Lips' Slow Nerve Action When the Levee Breaks
Tom-toms are not just a better way of finding the venue
In the case of Bow Wow Wow, the drums define a whole band – or several if you count sticksman Dave Barbarossa's work with Adam and the Ants and his influence on bands right up until today's tom-tom heavy Yeasayer. These patterns step out of the hi-hat, kick and snare rock tradition and use extensive tom-tom battery to reference a wider cultural world including the drummers of Burundi.
Make use of the hi-hats
My drumming friend Barney praises the Ramones for Tommy's nifty wrist work at such a constant tempo but the gift of the hi-hat is really in the detail. Drummers love Stewart Copeland and he rewards them by carefully fiddling with his hi-hats to please the faithful.
How to play "lead drums"
Pioneered by Mitch Mitchell, the role of all the instruments in a three-piece needs to be extended. Mitch, in the Jimi Hendrix Experience played more as a counterpoint to the guitar and bass than an accompaniment. He was followed by, among others, Keith Moon in the Who and other jazz-influenced drummers like Patto's John Halsey and Deep Purple's Ian Paice who plays through the verses in Burn as if they were a drum solo.
Finally, the one drumbeat guaranteed to send me running? That godawful baggy beat: a whole generation trying and failing to copy James Brown's Funky Drummer sample. Carefully choosing excerpts to support my case (yes, the Stone Roses did it pretty well) I give you Northside's Take Five (although the setting of Boston's More Than a Feeling to a baggy beat is at least more spirited than I remember). Even My Bloody Valentine were swept away enough by the baggy tide to set the otherwise gorgeous Soon to the baggy shuffle. So please, no mention of Flowered Up as we nominate the best air drum tracks of all time.
