More often the drummer is the less than pretty chap up the back, though Dave Clark contradicted this, not only by being good-looking, but also by being the up-front leader of his band, the Dave Clark Five.Though not as good looking as the beautiful Carl Palmer, originally of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, joined by Emerson and Lake to form E.L. and P. instead of Mitch Mitchell - who nearly joined them when Jimi Hendrix left The Experience for The Band of Gypsies. Mitchell worked for The Who just before the arrival of Keith Moon, the archetypal eccentric and exuberant drummer . There's a theory that Moon was the inspiration for the Muppet's Animal, though it was in fact Henson's friend Steve Mitchell.
After the breakup of the Yardbirds, Jimmy Paige was searching for a new drummer, with a list that was rumoured to include Ginger Baker as well as Procul Harem's B.J. Wilson. Robert Plant bombarded Bonham with telegrams, and he decided to accept their offers rather than Joe Cocker's and Chris Farlowe's as he preferred their music. He died aged 32 after drinking forty shots of vodka during rehearsals. Led Zeppelin disbanded out of respect for his family.
Def Leppard went from strength to strength when their drummer lost an arm. Rick Allen joined the band when only 15, but just as the band were making a breakthrough, he lost his arm in a car crash. The band didn't consider a replacement, but supported him as, with a modified drum kit, and using his legs to do what his arms had previously, he retrained himself initially with the backup help of Jeff Rich. His fans call him 'The Thunder God'.
Although Ginger Baker was seen as rock's first superstar drummer and the inventor of the drum solo, pioneering the use of double bass drums, he prefers to see himself as a jazz drummer, though he also has influenced world music. For Charlie Watts, touring with the Stones pays the bills, but jazz was his first love, and he has a jazz band, the Charlie Watts Orchestra. Neil Peal (Rush) was originally influenced by Moon and Bonham, but later emulated jazz drummers such as Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. Josh Freeze (Nine Inch Nails) has possibly the most experience in every style of music.
Ringo joined the Beatles late, replacing Pete Best after meeting the band in Hamburg. His unusual turns of phrase, or 'Ringoisms', such as a Hard Day's Night, were often used in their songs; he sang in at least one song per album to establish the vocal personality of all four: However he saved his only drum solo as a Beatle for the last song on their final album. Ringo was the moderator in band arguments.
Not so Stewart Copeland, he reputedly had Sting's name on his drums in the later years of Police, so he could beat the living daylights out of it. Copeland formed Police with Sting after the demise of his previous band, Curved Air. Early track lists were mostly his compositions; later they were mainly by Sting. Post Police he has composed several film scores.
After Peter Gabriel left Genesis, drummer Phil Collins filled the gap as best as he could without resorting to the outlandish costumes of Gabriel. The first album with Collins as main vocalist, 'The Trick of the Tail', could almost refer to the man in the background moving into the foreground. To help ease his change to vocalist, Bill Bruford of Yes stood in for touring. Collins's first solo albums recounting the pain of his recent divorce touched a chord - 'Face Value' was an international success.
But Dave Grohl had a more impressive transformation, starting out as Nirvana's drummer, now the lead singer, guitarist, main composer and founder of Foo Fighters. Mind you, the guitar was his first instrument originally, converting to drums in an early band called Mission Impossible. He has also worked as a session drummer for Bowie, Paul McCartney, Nine Inch Nails, Garbage, Tom Petty and others.
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