Rock Drum Solos: C/D/S/D

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

I just realized I was gushing about Made In Japan after listening to only 3/4 of it. About half of the remaining side was a drum solo.

So are there any rock drum solos you really love? Are there any broad aesthetic arguments why they're good or bad? Why do they get a worse rap than guitar or keyboard solos or a capella vocal performances?

― sundar subramanian, Wednesday, 12 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

They all suck. At least "Eruption" doesn't go on forever. Most drum solos just seem to never end. There's a drum solo on Caress of Steel but I think it's only 1 minute long.

― Kris, Thursday, 13 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ringo's drum solo on _Abbey Road_ is some sort of stupid brilliance.

― David Raposa, Thursday, 13 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Roger Daltry song "Under A Raging Moon" (written by John Paar of "St. Elmo's Fire" fame [not to be confused w/ the Eno song]) was about Keith Moon, and it had a section where 3 or 4 different drummers each took a solo, perhaps trying to "channel" Moonie. One was Stuart Copeland, as I recall. In any case, I liked it as a teen, the conceptual angle seemed cool.

― Mark, Thursday, 13 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

carl palmer on pictures at an exibition dude! Also every king crimson improv with bill "god" bruford! http://www.metal- rules.com/ubb/icons/icon1.gif

― chaki, Thursday, 13 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

even a piddling little minute of so is annoying, even if it's by someone I normally love - like Robert Wyatt's crap jazzy stuff in soft machine.

― philT, Thursday, 13 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Christ! The drum solo is so ancient it's laughable. In the words of "Ghost World" it's so bad it's been good and back to bad again. Drum solos are useless. You may as well busy yourself with a guitar solo.

I'm not saying that rock music in general is dead tho -- it's simply a joke. I can't understand how, years and years after the ultimate rock parody ("This is Spinal Tap") anybody at all can still take rock music seriously. It's just funny.

P.S. Keith Moon had some shining moments on "Who's Next" but I think his 'lead drum work' on "Happy Jack" is the best example of The Who's orchestral nature and their ability to channel this through even a wild man such as Moonie...

― Adam Bruneau, Thursday, 13 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Chad Wackerman's drum solo on "The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue," from The Best Band You've Never Heard In Your Life -- a thing of wonder. But Zappa -- and his bands -- could get away with things others couldn't.

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Thursday, 13 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Adam, thats silly. If someone is playing drums with all their feeling and its bitchen to your ears then its good. There is no parody involved. True funk transcends all your silly "rock is dead" mumbo jumbo.

― chaki, Thursday, 13 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Drum solos are fine. Anyone into timbral variation should find something to like about them.

― dave q, Thursday, 13 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Clearly a man who's never heard "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party (In Three Movements)" (or whatever it was called) by Nick Mason on "Ummagumma."

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 13 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Sonic Youth's "100%" is in fact the same song as "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (sing 'em if you don't believe me), and has a better drum solo.

The drum solo at the end of the Ex's "Frenzy," if you want to call it that, is pretty astonishing.

Do Clyde Stubblefield's drum breaks in "Cold Sweat" and "Funky Drummer" count?

― Douglas, Thursday, 13 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

(wow, we've got this far without anyone mentioning "The Rhythm Method" yet)

Do Donald Johnson's intros count?

― Jeff W, Thursday, 13 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

There is this guy who plays upside side down big cans and a snare with a huge rip in the head on the corners between 42nd st and 34st and 8th and Broadway here in midtown Manhattan. All he plays is a eighth-note pulse at about 130 bpm. Most of the time, it's his beating is uneven and constantly changing volume. His is obviously slightly mentally off. But he is, bar none, my favorite drummer of all time. Pure genius.

― Gage-o, Thursday, 13 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think drum solos are counterintuitive to what I think the drummer's role in a rock band is. They're no better than bass solos. If drum solos are only good for timbral variation they pale in comparison to noise so again, what's the point?

― Kris, Thursday, 13 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Another vote for Bruford. Yes, I like King Crimson.

― Sean, Thursday, 13 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Anyone else like the drum solo at the beginning of "The Operation"?

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Thursday, 13 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Rock drum solos=dud and unengaging for the most part (I'm thinking the overblown Tommy Aldrige solos on those Ozzy live albums, Deep Purple, etc.), but they don't have to be. They can be fantastic as part of a song, over a vamp (like every one of Bruford's solos on Indiscipline), or done in a way that keeps the groove going (Stanton Moore from Galactic had some great ostinatos when I saw them over the summer, for one example).

Drum solos in jazz, latin and most other kinds of music=CLASSIC.

― Jordan, Friday, 14 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Drummer solos in most other kinds of music do NOT = classic, sorry-- not most of the time, anyway

― M. Matos, Friday, 14 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Strange. David, the drums on Abbey Road popped directly into my mind as well.

(I have to stop listening to that record several times a week. I think I've been doing it almost non-stop since I was thirteen.)

― Dan I., Tuesday, 18 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

twenty years pass...

I notice Marcello is on this thread so I'm surprised he never mentioned this - though maybe it hadn't been released 20(!) years ago. From "Live at ABC Kingston" by Cliff Richard & the Shadows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7a6rlbV3ts

― Buckfast At Tiffany's (Tom D.), Wednesday, 24 August 2022 10:06 (three years ago)

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