Guest Top Five "songs with drums" from my youth by Tony Ruff

There's not many things I enjoy better than someone sending me a top five out of the blue, and this is one of those. Tony has had to put up with me discussing my latest top five down the pub for a number of years and finally decided to give it a go himself. It's a corker too, enjoy.

In no particular order, these are my top five songs from my teens which feature drums in some way and which probably influenced my musical taste for ever. I can’t play the drums myself (or indeed any musical instrument) but I have always enjoyed watching and listening to good drummers – especially if they are in a heavy rock ‘n’ roll band!

1. “Dreaming” Blondie - I bought this on 7 inch single (1979 I think) after I first heard it on Capital Radio (never really liked Radio 1). My brother and I shared a bedroom and he had a record player and I used to play it over and over again until he finally snapped and demanded that I use headphones. This meant that I could turn it up (to 11) and I properly got addicted to loud music from that point on. The drumming on this song is simply brilliant. There are a couple of videos on You Tube where the drumming is mimed, but there is one version where I’m sure he’s (Clem Burke?) hitting the skins as ‘live’. Mesmerizing.



2. “Overkill” Motörhead - To be honest the first time I heard this was in 1982 at Hammersmith Odeon when I saw Motörhead on the Iron Fist tour. I had a few of their albums but not Overkill and seeing/hearing the double bass drum crescendo of Philthy Animal Taylor really did blow me away. After the show I got hold of the album and the 12 inch single and played them to death. When No Sleep Til Hammersmith came out, the live version of Overkill got played so often that I scratched the vinyl at the beginning and end of the song!



3. “Bad Boy Boogie” AC/DC - Although the brilliant If You Want Blood live album came out in 1978, I probably got my hands on it a couple of years later. The third track, Bad Boy Boogie really demonstrates the amazing teamwork of drummer Phil Rudd and Malcolm Young on rhythm guitar. The song itself is dominated by Angus Young’s guitar solo but for me the sound of the drums makes the hair on the back of the neck stand on end!



4. “Rock ‘n’ Roll” Led Zeppelin - I don’t remember when I got hold of The Song Remains The Same album, but I do remember going up to Soho to watch the film in 1982 (in a dodgy cinema that usually showed more adult type films!). The live version of Rock ‘n’ Roll on this album is a classic – I only have to hear the ‘Okay lets go’ at the beginning of the track and I have to put my life on hold for the next 4 minutes. Jon Bonham - one of the best drummers, if not the best, of all time.



5. “In The Air Tonight” Phil Collins - I’m gonna get slaughtered for having this in the list but I absolutely loved it at the time. It’s more famous these days for having a gorilla play the drums but there’s no escaping the fact that it has great drums on it. It was either this one, or ELO’s Mr Blue Sky.



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Top 5 Drummers who also Sang

Watching the recent BBC coverage of Glastonbury I was enjoying Primal Scream playing their Screamadelica album and got to pondering how many other drummers had gone on to be better known for doing something else. Having racked my brains for all of ten minutes I could only think of drummers who became singers. I'm not sure why this is but there's enough examples to suggest most drummers secretly harbour the desire to be the front person in the band. Let's see if I can get through this without mentioning Phil Collins.

1. Bobby Gillespie - I'm not a very cool person. On a scale of 1 to 11 I'd be struggling to make 1, Bobby Gillespie is off the scale. Not satisfied with playing drums on "Psychocandy" the seminal debut album from the Jesus & Mary Chain he was also vocalist and main man in Primal Scream. Prior to this success he also briefly roadied for Altered Images. I am extremely jealous of his career choices. To be honest I'd have been satisfied carrying Clare Grogan's maracas around.

2. Karen Carpenter - My Mum & Dad's record collection was chock full of Carpenter's albums so I grew up with their melodic but slightly syrupy sound. I love them though. I think some of those tunes are just ingrained in my psyche and Karen's voice is truly beautiful. I love the fact that she considered herself a drummer who sang. People who have greater musical understanding than I do have suggested she was an excellent drummer too. A sad loss but her star shone brightly whilst she was here.

3. Dave Grohl - Nicest man in rock. You don't need me to tell you but Grohl ensured his place in the history of rock by playing drums with Nirvana. He then went on to form Foo Fighters, another multi-million selling rock behemoth, with whom he played guitar and sand lead vocal. Dave can pretty much do what the hell he wants and has also been seen on the drum stool for Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures and thrash metal tribute Probot.

4. Calum Gunn & John Baille Jr - Two people but for the purpose of this post one entity. Calum & John started out alternating between drumming & lead vocal duties for the fight pop noise of Dananananaykroyd but as the gigs inevitably careered towards friendly chaos they'd end up both at the front of the stage. This led to them recruiting another drummer (Paul) to get on with the job of keeping time whilst John & Calum do what they do best in getting the audience to have a ball and cuddle each other.

5. Andy Sturmer - Lead vocalist and drummer with US power pop combo Jellyfish, Sturmer was also the bands main songwriter. Jellyfish were all about Beatles inspired harmonies and everyone in the band contributed. Sturmer was the main man though and played a stand-up drum kit at the front of the stage rather than be relegated to the shadows. After Jellyfish split he became involved in production and wrote a number of theme tunes for Cartoon Network including brilliant catchy efforts for Ben 10 and The Teen Titans.

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Top 5 Drummers I have seen live

A moment of happenstance last week led me from a post on Drowned In Sound about the best drummers you've actually seen to the news from Planet Rock that one of my choices, Micheal Lee, had died at the shockingly young age of 39.

My first recollection of Michael Lee was when he left a promising thrash metal band Holosade to join Little Angels. I was already a Little Angels fan at that point and was instantly impressed with his "if it moves hit it" style. He demonstrated an ambition for bigger things when he left Little Angels (actually I think he got chucked out after they found out he'd gone for an audition) in 1991 to join the Cult, playing with them on their Ceremony tour and featuring on the 1993 Live Cult album. Lee was a fabulous drummer, very much in the mould of John Bonham, and I got to saw him play with Robert Plant & Jimmy Page on the No Quarter tour. That was the last time I saw him live though he went on to drum with a succession of re-formed bands including Thin Lizzy, The Quireboys and Echo & The Bunnymen.

In tribute to Michael here's my top 5.

1. John Convertino (Calexico)

2. Todd Trainer (Shellac)

3. Michael Lee (Little Angels, Plant & Page)

4. George Hurley (The Minutemen)

5. Ian Mosley (Marillion)

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Top 5 Drummers

Back to music for a bit and I thought I'd compile my contenders for a Top 5 supergroup. Drums, Bass, Guitar, Vocals and a wild card fifth choice. Starting at the back then with the Drummer and I'm in trouble straight away. Got quite a big list of contenders and at least seven I feel I can't miss out. Can I have a Top 5 Drummers that doesn't include Keith Moon or John Bonham? No.

1. John Convertino (Calexico) - I'm no musician and so my choices are not necessarily based on technical skill. That said I'm pretty sure John Convertino is an incredible drummer. He has a great variety of style which covers hard and heavy thumping to more subtle rhythm keeping. Not what you'd expect from an alt-country performer, really powerful and a slick dresser to boot!

2. Dave Grohl (Nirvana) - I tend to like drummers whose style basically involves hitting the drums really hard. Grohl has a little more in his technique than that but still knows when all you have to do is to make a very loud noise.

3. Brian Chippendale (Lightning Bolt) - Loud and fast. Somehow he provides vocals for the Bolt at the same time. Something you really HAVE to see live. Your head will be ringing by the time it's over. Your ears might be bleeding.

4. Keith Moon (The Who) - Mad but special. I never got to see him live which drops him down the list but there's no way I could leave him out. Unique.

5. John Bonham (Led Zepplin) - The founding father of "very loud drumming". Bonham deserves his spot for the drum beat on "When The Levee Breaks" alone. Then again he could easily have lost it for the interminably long live drum solos he used to play during "Moby Dick".

This is cheating but here are the contenders who missed the cut; Clive Bunker (Jethro Tull), Ian Mosley (Marillion), Ian Paice (Deep Purple), Neil Peart (Rush), Matt Tong (Bloc Party), Todd Trainer (Shellac), George Hurley (Minutemen), Micheal Lee (Little Angels), John Coghlan (Status Quo), Brendan Canty (Fugazi), Ginger Baker (Cream), Al Jackson Jr (Booker T & the MG's).