Bands made better by drumming?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

What band (living/dead; bad/good) would be most improved by adequate drumming? (Warning: If you call out VU and Mo Tucker, you go down in a hail of gunfire....)

The request is for otherwise-promising bands with lousy drummers...but if you feel the need to bring up otherwise-middling bands that are made splendid by their drummers, by all means do.

― St. Joy (St. Joy), Monday, 20 March 2006 06:46 (twenty years ago)

I dont know how they would be otherwise but Mastodon's drummer definitely sets them apart. And without their drummers I don't think people would even be batting an eye at Deerhoof and uhmm... I don't think Hella would exist.

― Period period period (Period period period), Monday, 20 March 2006 07:01 (twenty years ago)

Explosions in the Sky's drummer has always seemed particularly excellent for their music. Mono's drummer has always seemed particularly uninspired on studio recordings, at least. The live stuff I've heard seems a lot better.

― vartman (novaheat), Monday, 20 March 2006 07:32 (twenty years ago)

Hugo Largo?

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Monday, 20 March 2006 07:32 (twenty years ago)

godspeed you black emperor has the worst drummer in the world

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Monday, 20 March 2006 08:02 (twenty years ago)

Great band made even better by drummer: Swans + Vincent Signorelli, Love Of Life tour. (not saying that their other drummers sucked, just that he was better at that time for that material)

― StanM (StanM), Monday, 20 March 2006 08:04 (twenty years ago)

Agreed about Explosions in the Sky. Also the Selmanaires.

― Amy Meacham, Monday, 20 March 2006 08:24 (twenty years ago)

Trip Shakespeare's first album, Applehead Man, ostensibly credits a drummer, but has the most synthetic, clunky, Linn-drummy-sounding shit on earth. Wonderful songs are ruined by a hideously flabby tub-tub sound that resembles a flat tire being bounced off of a PZM mic.

On subsequent albums, the drumming of Elaine Harris kicked them into full, rockin' power-pop glory and some of the most underrated albums of the '90s.

― Myke. (Myke Weiskopf), Monday, 20 March 2006 08:33 (twenty years ago)

My Bloody Valentine. The drums on Only Shallow are pathetic. I think I remember Grandaddy having invasively boring drumming in places as well.

― Ogmor Roundtrouser (Ogmor Roundtrouser), Monday, 20 March 2006 09:34 (twenty years ago)

I agree about Grandaddy. Boring drums. Could do better.

I think Bloc Party stand out for the quality of their drummer. He is a beast.

― JoseMaria (JoseMaria), Monday, 20 March 2006 10:35 (twenty years ago)

I rather like the robo-drums on Loveless, actually.

― Myke. (Myke Weiskopf), Monday, 20 March 2006 11:29 (twenty years ago)

People are always saying that the dude from Bloc Party isn't that technically "good", he just plays extravagantly for the type of band he's in.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Monday, 20 March 2006 11:40 (twenty years ago)

Dude from Bloc Party : I said on here a while back that he was a crap, showy drummer. After getting the LP I realize that I was 100% wrong.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Monday, 20 March 2006 14:38 (twenty years ago)

The Who. Great band, great songs, but Moon's drumming (and behaviour :) ) added something unique that nobody else had.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 20 March 2006 15:02 (twenty years ago)

Also, Metallica and Def Leppard

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 20 March 2006 15:02 (twenty years ago)

What I characterize as bad drumming is usually not "technically lacking" -- more likely that it is "simply not adding a damn thing to the music." The drummer for Blur was excruciating in that respect. Timing was fine. But his beats were so infuriatingly dull, insistently uninspired. Shame to see a good guitarist go to waste like that.

― St. Joy (St. Joy), Monday, 20 March 2006 15:05 (twenty years ago)

OTM. Moon was not technically brilliant, just an inspired maniac who lifted a very good band to being a genius one

― dr x o'skeleton, Monday, 20 March 2006 15:09 (twenty years ago)

Mission Of Burma… Peter Prescott SUX! I saw 'em two years ago and he was a trainwreck merchant nonpareil…he sounds terrible in their initial era too…

the Eagles "rock" tunes, like "Already Gone" and "James Dean" would have rocked if Henley could rock. he sounded fine on ballads and "One of these nights," tho…

if your drummer is bad, then your band is bad.

― veronica moser (veronica moser), Monday, 20 March 2006 15:09 (twenty years ago)

I always thought Eagles' best songs were either ballads or country influenced midtempo ones.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 20 March 2006 15:24 (twenty years ago)

Kid Millions from Oneida and Jeremy Barnes from Neutral Milk Hotel are the two best drummers I've ever seen live. I'd pay good money to see them face off in a drum battle.

― ample parking (Garrett Martin), Monday, 20 March 2006 15:27 (twenty years ago)

The Shaggs

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 20 March 2006 15:39 (twenty years ago)

Battles to thread.

― jimnaseum (jimnaseum), Monday, 20 March 2006 15:41 (twenty years ago)

(I'm meaning in the good drummer sense, in the shit drummer who the band would be better without - Mogwai).

― jimnaseum (jimnaseum), Monday, 20 March 2006 15:43 (twenty years ago)

Oasis were better with Tony McCarrol's dunderheaded stomp-clumping than Alan "Geneva" White's tedious cod-military roll "trick".

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Monday, 20 March 2006 15:52 (twenty years ago)

I think Adam Wade limited Jawbox. He hit the skins hard but with surprisingly little feel. Then he joined Shudder to Think and nearly sank "Pony Express Record" (which I loved anyhow). Shudder's previous drummer (Russell?) had been OK.... But when Wade joined, he took the "math rock" thing *way* too seriously. Drums on "Pony Express Record" are moronically disjointed, as though Wade couldn't be bothered to "make rhythm"....

― St. Joy (St. Joy), Monday, 20 March 2006 15:58 (twenty years ago)

(Do tell, Mark.... In which category are The Shaggs: (a) otherwise-promising band with lousy drummer; or (b) otherwise-middling band made sublime by drumming...?)

― St. Joy (St. Joy), Monday, 20 March 2006 16:00 (twenty years ago)

Pink Floyd, though to be fair, Mason was a lot better circa the Pompeii era...

― Joe (Joe), Monday, 20 March 2006 16:02 (twenty years ago)

every band would be made better by having a good drummer

― Dominique (dleone), Monday, 20 March 2006 16:03 (twenty years ago)

Oasis were better with Tony McCarrol's dunderheaded stomp-clumping than Alan "Geneva" White's tedious cod-military roll "trick".

Both are rubbish IMO. Oasis are still a good band, because they have never been about the drums anyway, but the drumming is shit. The best drums in the Oasis catalogue are on "Supersonic", which featured original drummer Paul Arthurs, and on "D'You Know What I Mean", which is built on a drum sample from Public Enemy.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 20 March 2006 16:09 (twenty years ago)

Jesus & Mary Chain. And most other indie bands pre-1989.

― bham, Monday, 20 March 2006 16:14 (twenty years ago)

Is that Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs on "Supersonic", Geir, the dude who actually, um, played rhythm guitar? You fucking ignorant condescending prick.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Monday, 20 March 2006 16:28 (twenty years ago)

McCarroll was definitely better - he couldn't do anything more than a basic thump it's true, but he had a nice Ringo-esque drag at times e.g Columbia and Up in The Sky.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Monday, 20 March 2006 16:32 (twenty years ago)

The best drums in the Oasis catalogue are ... built on a drum sample from Public Enemy.

-- Geir Hongro

― naus (Robert T), Monday, 20 March 2006 16:51 (twenty years ago)

I don't know if that says more about Oasis, the Bomb Squad, or Geir.

― naus (Robert T), Monday, 20 March 2006 16:53 (twenty years ago)

Big Black. thy would sound better if a drummer, not even a good one, just a drummer was there instead of that drum machine.

― puller sam, Monday, 20 March 2006 16:58 (twenty years ago)

WTF Keith Moon is the greatest rock & roll musician of all-time! Someone had to say it.

― nicky lo-fi (nicky lo-fi), Monday, 20 March 2006 17:04 (twenty years ago)

You know, the combination of Public Enemy's sense of rhythm and Noel Gallagher's sense of melody is not neccessarily the worst combination in the world. :)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 20 March 2006 19:42 (twenty years ago)

Big Black. thy would sound better if a drummer, not even a good one, just a drummer was there instead of that drum machine.

Am I allowed to disagree? Strongly? Thanks.

― StanM (StanM), Monday, 20 March 2006 20:06 (twenty years ago)

ugh this thread makes me self-conscious

― pssst - badass revolutionary art! (plsmith), Monday, 20 March 2006 20:24 (twenty years ago)

plsmith's band! way better with him/her in there.

(better?)

― StanM (StanM), Monday, 20 March 2006 20:26 (twenty years ago)

Medications would be really, really dull without their rather good drummer. Live, at least. They're still a bit dull on record.

― Raffles: Gentleman Thug (Raffles: The Gentleman Thug), Monday, 20 March 2006 20:28 (twenty years ago)

The Dresden Dolls would not be half the band they are without Brian Viglione. Literally, since they're just a two-piece. He is an an absolutely phenomenal drummer, and with him, Amanda Palmer's songs come to life in a way that I don't really believe they could otherwise.

― Emily B (Emily B), Monday, 20 March 2006 21:29 (twenty years ago)

Low could use a real drummer.

― adam (adam), Monday, 20 March 2006 22:43 (twenty years ago)

The guy who played on the Go-Betweens 'Lost Album' - Tim Mustapha? Sure, I know those recordings were never intended for release, but you can see why they got rid of him.

― Niall, Monday, 20 March 2006 22:52 (twenty years ago)

Any band mentioned on this thread

― The Day The World Turned Dayglo Redd (Ken L), Monday, 20 March 2006 22:59 (twenty years ago)

(j/k)

― The Day The World Turned Dayglo Redd (Ken L), Monday, 20 March 2006 22:59 (twenty years ago)

Haha, ouch. But true.

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 20 March 2006 23:00 (twenty years ago)

Low could use a real drummer

Mimi's just fine.

― Ben Dot (1977), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 01:11 (twenty years ago)

the drums on Stone Roses albums are a underrated presence. they're quite complex, yet don't leap out for your attention.

― Mervin Heinz, Tuesday, 21 March 2006 01:32 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, Mimi's fine I suppose. Well, nice voice anyhow. But seeing the comment on Low reminded me that I'd preferred Codeine to Low back in the mid '90s (when such debates seemed relevant). And now that I'm comparing the sounds of the groups in my head...I'm realizing why I'd rejected Low: Codeine (and Rex, for that matter) sounded like Low...but with a better drummer....

― St. Joy (St. Joy), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 01:50 (twenty years ago)

Telescopes

― The Day The World Turned Dayglo Redd (Ken L), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 01:51 (twenty years ago)

but if you feel the need to bring up otherwise-middling bands that are made splendid by their drummers, by all means do.

Nirvana, Nirvana, Nirvana.

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 01:55 (twenty years ago)

WTF Keith Moon is the greatest rock & roll musician of all-time! Someone had to say it.

-- nicky lo-fi (ilmforsur...), March 20th, 2006.

No they didn't.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 03:17 (twenty years ago)

it's interesting that people seem to be having a relatively difficult time identifying bad drummers (or at least answering the question). What do you think that means? Personally I'm not sure I'd know a really bad drummer if I heard one.

― Mitya (mitya), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 03:19 (twenty years ago)

Maybe most bands need to have a good drummer in order to be held in high esteem.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 03:20 (twenty years ago)

I'm looking at my CD rack, and I hardly see anything where I don't like the drumming. But I tend to buy things that have good drumming.

The only thing off hand is the Joanne Brackeen album Invitation, which has drummer Billy Hart on it. He's not really a "bad" drummer but he has a cheesy sound and approach that I don't like.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 03:22 (twenty years ago)

strokes strokes strokes

― friendship7, Tuesday, 21 March 2006 03:26 (twenty years ago)

Re: Strokes, I continue to be impressed by the fact that Fab played like one drum fill on the entirety of Is This It. Ballsy, and I think in some intangible sense it improves the record.

― Sean Braudis (Sean Braudis), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 05:29 (twenty years ago)

The New Pornographers drummer, Kurt Dahle, is their secret weapon. Twin Cinema is his.

as for more minimal drummers, look no further than Robert Gotobed. the master.

― nerve pylon (flat_of_angles), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 05:43 (twenty years ago)

Ah, and here I was, thinking the "lack" of drumming works for Low. And the restraint on Mogwai's drums, I think it's generally works; fuck, Malmsteen and Van Halen aren't writing their songs. If it works, it works.

Dredging up Cliche 101, but Sam Fogarino of Interpol is half of one of the best rhythm sections.

Mastodon's drummer, if I was that guy, and I was eating lunch with the engineer ... butter knife to the belly, for reals, for fuckin' up my sound.

― angelo flores (flores), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 06:44 (twenty years ago)

"The New Pornographers drummer, Kurt Dahle, is their secret weapon. Twin Cinema is his."

True, though not so much of a secret.
He was one of the producers of the record, and i think Carl Newman give him more credit, especailly after saying their record-to-come will be a led zep influenced among others:clearly,a Kurt Dahle influence.i hope it will come out good, cause sometimes overplayed/strong sounded drumms can get to much attention, in favour of other instrumenrs/vocals.to make things short:sometimes it's good to be humble behind the kit.sometimes..

― puller sam, Tuesday, 21 March 2006 06:50 (twenty years ago)

How much better would early Talking Heads have been with a good drummer?

― Dadaismus the Blind (of Alexandria) (Dada), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 10:27 (twenty years ago)

fuckin' absu!

― cb, Tuesday, 21 March 2006 10:40 (twenty years ago)

Sonic youth have always had rubbisj drums, they could so easily have got someone a lot better.

― mei (mei), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 14:02 (twenty years ago)

Sonic youth have always had rubbisj drums, they could so easily have got someone a lot better.

The real tragedy is that Steve Shelley used to be unstoppable; for a while there he seemed like one of Keith Moon's more distinguished disciples (on one show I saw in 1990 he was absolutely channeling Moon). Now he just sounds stoned and listless. For that matter, so does the rest of SY.

― Lawrence the Looter (Lawrence the Looter), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 14:09 (twenty years ago)

Captain Beyond - the drumming on "Thousand Days of Yesterday - Time Since Come and Gone" is just awesome.

― So Ho La (So Ho La), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 15:11 (twenty years ago)

If we're still talking about bands that could have done with a better drummer then I'm surprised no-one's mentioned Quicksilver Messenger Service, in fact, I'd throw Jefferson Airplane in there too

― Dadaismus, the Male Poster (Dada), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 15:16 (twenty years ago)

Echo & The Bunnymen with Pete De Freitas and then without.

― The Equator Lounge (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 18:00 (twenty years ago)

Spoon are great with Jim Eno, and I bet wouldn't be as great without him.

Also, just saw the band +/-, and their drummer was awesome. Lifted the music above mere indie rock levels.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 18:12 (twenty years ago)

Wow. I was just getting ready to say that Spoon needs a new drummer. Eno just plods, if you ask me.

And...I completely agree that Gotobed greatly abets the Wire sound, esp. on those first two records.

― kwhitehead (stephen schmidt), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 18:36 (twenty years ago)

... when he'd only been playing the drums for a few months

― Dadaismus, the Male Poster (Dada), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 18:38 (twenty years ago)

"Wow. I was just getting ready to say that Spoon needs a new drummer. Eno just plods, if you ask me."

no way!!! he is perfect for their minimalist approach.
and so are everyone else in Spoon for that matter.

Mogwai would do better with a new drummer.and a new guitarist.
maybe they sohould break up and build a new band.i'll tel them to do so.they always do what i say.

― sad dog, Tuesday, 21 March 2006 19:28 (twenty years ago)

Prince shouldn't have played drums on 'Fury' on his new record (the song from SNL). It's fun to hear, but he should've left it to Michael B. or the machines.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 19:31 (twenty years ago)

peter prescott is fucking aweome. mental.

Oasis is the answer.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 19:35 (twenty years ago)

Prescott's fills sound like my mother's pots and pans falling out of the kitchen cabinet…

most new wave bands of the '80s—the ones that didn't use electronics or did use electronic drums— were very, very bad.

― veronica moser (veronica moser), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 19:41 (twenty years ago)

Great band made even better by drummer: Swans + Vincent Signorelli, Love Of Life tour. (not saying that their other drummers sucked, just that he was better at that time for that material)
-- StanM (Stan10...), March 20th, 2006 12:04 AM.

OTM. Punishing, transcendant, utterly possessed.

Since this has turned out to be the thread where we praise drummers whose playing elevates a band, shame on everyone for ignoring Jimmy Chamberlin.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 19:50 (twenty years ago)

Jim Eno thirded. I can't think of an adjective less suited to his playing than "plodding." He's crucial to their sound, which is evident live.

― Dr. Gene Scott (shinybeast), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 20:25 (twenty years ago)

Neu!

and i like the psychic ills drumming, if not the drummeR (he kind of messed up when i saw them live). and i am in luv with the bass player.

― killy (baby lenin pin), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 21:00 (twenty years ago)

Neu! what-ever, dude, I don't even know what to say.

― pyjamagrama (teenagequiet), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 21:07 (twenty years ago)

fifteen years pass...

My own best-of.

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 30 June 2021 10:19 (four years ago)

I'll second what someone said upthread about Bobby Caldwell - his playing on the 1st Captain Beyond record provides momentum and energy to what could just seem like an assortment of heavy riffs.

Judas Priest improved a lot between their first and second albums when they got a better drummer. Genesis kept trading up until they got Phil Collins, of course.

― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 30 June 2021 22:01 (four years ago)

xpost 😬

― bruce spr!ngisH3r3 on broadway (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 30 June 2021 22:13 (four years ago)

Mayhem improved immensely with an actual skinsman behind the kit instead of Mannheim.

― not up to Aerosmith standards (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 30 June 2021 22:14 (four years ago)

I don’t know if Nick Mason is very economical when he plays or he’s not a great drummer but I feel that he’s the least interesting musician in Pink Floyd - excluding vocals.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 30 June 2021 22:28 (four years ago)

Charlie Watts is also very basic, I’ve seen the argument that the Rolling Stones were pretty much a blues band and they didn’t need a great drummer but hey, so was Led Zep.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 30 June 2021 22:31 (four years ago)

There was this indiepop Band in Brooklyn 10 or 15 years ago, the Cause Co-Motion. Probably more than any other band I've seen, they always had me thinking 'that is not at all what I would do if i were playing the drums'.

― Fauna Sukkot (Deflatormouse), Wednesday, 30 June 2021 22:44 (four years ago)

The Nick Mason thing came up in another thread recently, so I won't respond to it again except to say that I don't think another drummer would have been better in PF.

The Stones stuff I've listened to is mostly the early records where you can't hear a kick drum or w/e to save your life, so I can't really comment on Watts but he might be another one of those.

― Fauna Sukkot (Deflatormouse), Wednesday, 30 June 2021 22:48 (four years ago)

I love The Cure. Love, love, love them. Jason Cooper is a complete dud as a drummer - no spark, no surprise, just a dull thud. All of their previous drummers were better, particularly Andy Anderson (RIP). But Cooper has been with them since the mid-90s and doesn't seem to leaving any time soon.

― Stem Cell Maria (Dr. Joseph A. Ofalt), Wednesday, 30 June 2021 23:40 (four years ago)

mason is not a showy drummer in the least, i can play almost all of his parts and i suck, but he’s got a sense of feel and space that works for the rest of the band, who are also all about feel and space over technique. plus his fills are catchy

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Thursday, 1 July 2021 01:02 (four years ago)

pink floyd rules

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Thursday, 1 July 2021 01:02 (four years ago)

I didn’t expand on it but the reason I can’t tell if he’s a good or a bad drummer is that he is a very good fit for Pink Floyd. Having an economical drummer allows the songs to breathe more and Gilmour and Wright are usually filling the music with so many interesting textures and ideas that maybe having a more active drummer would’ve ruined it by diverting your attention towards him.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, 1 July 2021 14:36 (four years ago)

That said: there are some segments and songs where a better drum section would have helped bring power into the song (eg: set the control for the heart of the sun, one of these days, almost every song on “Animals”)

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, 1 July 2021 14:40 (four years ago)

Animals in particular feels like the most “aggressive”, “rock-iest” PF album and I think that’s the one where a great drummer could have shined.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, 1 July 2021 14:44 (four years ago)

I think you could argue that Nick Mason is the member most likely to have been a nobody if he wasn't in Pink Floyd, but I wouldn't want to hear them with a different drummer.

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 1 July 2021 21:08 (four years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.