Hope You a Fine Fourth: Here's More Noise

  • By Mike Dewey
  • July 2, 2011
  • 271
                        
SUMMARY: It's one man's ipinion, but here are the Top Ten drumming performances of all time as Mike Dewey brings down the curtain on another summer countdown. Last week, we experienced some of the best drumming ever laid down and this time around, we count down the Top Ten. Is everybody ready? Let's rock. 10. "She's My Girl," The Turtles (1967): This is ear candy, featuring a gorgeous melody, otherworldly harmonies and lyrics, that for their era, were pretty risque. The Turtles are one of those bands whose string of hits seems to hurt when it comes to voting for the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and that's a shame. Johnny Barbata's use of the high hat accents the tune's build-up, but it's his staccato burst at the climax -- a Johnny Gun, if you will, right at the two-minute mark-- that makes this a Top 10 performance. 9. "Like a Rolling Stone," Bob Dylan (1965): It's the drumbeat heard 'round the world, the way Bobby Gregg kicks this masterpiece into gear, that majestic, angry, attention-grabbing WHOMP! that signals a new direction. It's only one second, but it could be the most important moment in all of rock as it jettisons itself from folk into uncharted frontiers, the undiscovered country, to lift a lick from "Hamlet." 8. "(I Know) I'm Losing You," Rod Stewart (1971): As usual Rod surrounds himself with the best musicians at the pub -- usually most of the Faces -- but on this track, it's Mick Waller who turns a Motown classic (recorded by the Temptations in 1966) into classic. True, you don't even hear a peep out of him until almost 40 seconds in, but after that, it's his ride. And what a ride it is. Swirling figure 8's, booming bass, cymbals dancing and snares that are just, well, perfect. 7 "The End," The Doors (1967): Some wags call this 11-minute-plus epic "Oedipus Wrecks," and I can understand that, but I've always been drawn to it, precisely because of its arrogance and what-the-*!%# attitude. But it's because John Densmore's down in the trenches, doing the dirty work and allowing Mister Mojo Risin to wander down those dark halls of hallucinatory and nightmarish phantasmagoria that it resonates. This is drumming without a map. This is trying to tame the beast. This is beyond scary good. This is great work. 6. "Prove It All Night," Bruce Springsteen (1978): The Mighty Max Weinberg has often been called the heartbeat of the E Street Band and it's true. He's as steady and reliable as a fine-tuned engine and, when the time is right, just as powerful. What makes this track is the giddy-up-and-go that he unleashes at about the 3:22 mark, a signature lick that kicks things into overdrive. It sounds overdubbed, and maybe it is, but there's just something economically furious about it that elevates it into this rarified air. Ironically, for most of the tune, he's mimicking a human heartbeat. 5. "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)," The Raspberries (1974): Call it power pop or sophisticated bubblegum or, perhaps, the greatest song ever recorded by an Ohio band. (I know, I know, James Gang freaks ...), but this is a quintessential drum explosion, some serious stuff laid down by Michael McBride. He's got this float-like-a-butterfly-sting-like-a bee groove working as he slithers his way through the shimmering lyrics and tight arrangement and then, just when you think the piano coda is fading to black, he goes all Muhammad Ali and punches the lights out. It's as pure a rock moment as there is and it's like a sledgehammer slammed down out of nowhere, man. 4. "Rain," The Beatles (1966): I'm not nearly smart enough to know why Ringo Starr's amazing performance on this record is so, well, everlasting. He starts things off with a 1-2, 1-2, 1 cadence and, leads the band -- at the top of their game -- into a chimerical and mesmerizing journey. This one's best experienced wearing headphones and, no I don't mean earbuds: a good old-fashioned pair of foam-cushioned Koss will do nicely. Listen to the separation, the atmospherics, the drums ... and this is Ringo at his best, playing something he hears in his head ... and John, Paul and George have no choice to follow him to the end. 3. "Baba O'Riley," The Who (1971): Also known as "Teenage Wasteland," this tune kicks off the band's finest record, Who's Next, in astonishing fashion, and it's Keith Moon's show. After the Moog synthesizer intro, Keith decides to say, in no uncertain terms, "Hey, kids ... listen to this!" and turns into a human whirligig, smashing everything within his reach with a ferocity that had been his trademark since "My Generation." In truth, more than half of this Twenty-One Drum Salute could have been Keith Moon's work. He was that good. 2. "When the Levee Breaks," Led Zeppelin (1971): Sternum-crushing, even moderate volume, John Bonham's blues-based riff careens from chaos to control and then heads over the cliff. As the last song on Zeppelin's greatest record, "Levee" leaves a listener listless and drained. There's no way you can even think of playing it again. You need a night off, it's that powerful. Bonham's packing so much power it's as if the studio is struggling to contain him. There's a reason he was known as "The Hammer of the Gods" and this is the sonic proof. 1. "Gimme Shelter," The Rolling Stones (1969): Gentlemanly Charlie Watts is known as the only drummer in rock history who never took a solo, because, the legend goes, he didn't have to. This modest man, who wouldn't say dung if he had a mouthful, mastered his craft loving American jazz, but in his hands, that love turned into the British Beat, specifically the Stones Sound. On this track, which has so many moving parts, he's the metronome with a vicious slash, carving up the rhythm with a sly surgeon's touch and turning in, arguably, the best performance of his unparalleled career. The lyrics describe Armageddon and the guitars clash and burn and Merry Clayton's vocals hint at horrors yet to show their faces ... but Charlie's controlling it all and, if you're into air-drumming, ain't nothin better, especially the way he crashes the cymbals after every four-bar blast. Sublime. Mike Dewey can be emailed at CarolinamikeD@aol.com or snail-mailed at 6211 Cardinal Drive, New Bern, NC 28560.


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