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[Stephen Perkins] I love drumming.
When my eyes are closed and I'm playing the beat,
it's the same if there's, you know, 40,000 people
or if there's 40 people or four.
It's really just moving the air with these vibrations
and getting people to feel the power of the drum.
It's punctuating life with rhythm.
When I play drums at the drum circle
or big concerts, you feel like you're connecting with people.
[drums continue beating]
Once you start playing,
nothing else really matters, you're in the moment.
It's a great instrument to play.
When I was young, I saw a show about Benny Goodman,
and they had the real Gene Krupa in the movie.
And every time they went to Gene, he was slamming.
And they go to the audience,
they were snapping, and I just thought that it seems like
the coolest thing in the world to play and drive a song and turn people on.
[jazz music playing]
[audience cheering]
[kettle whistling]
[Nicko McBrain] I believe it was a Monday.
We used to have bath nights in the house.
Me dad was there ironing. Me dad loved to iron.
Which was great, my mum loved it.
I think that's why she married him, you know. [chuckling]
Anyway, set up near the ironing board.
And we had a little, like, black and white TV set.
So the TV show was on.
[scatting]
[mimicking jazz music]
Off they go, and I've gone… [gasps]
"Whoa, who's that, Dad?"
[mumbles]
[mimics Dad] "That's, er, Dave Brubeck Quartet, son."
"No, no. Who's that on the drum set?"
"Oh, that's Joe Morello, son."
"Wow! He's good, isn't he?"
I said, "I just want to be like him."
"You'll never be as good as Joe Morello," goes my dad's report.
And I'm like, "That's me done."
The video that changed my life was Mötley Crüe's "Wild Side",
where I saw Tommy Lee rolling around in a drum cage
and I thought, "Oh, my God, that's the job for me."
I'm done, I need to play drums.
[heavy rock music playing]
[cheering]
I was, like, super shy, like the shyest girl that you could ever have met, erm,
and I just… I went to this drum club and…
You know, in The Matrix, when Neo suddenly sees all the code?
It felt like that.
Like, I couldn't do it yet, but I understood it.
I understood the principles of it.
[Roger Taylor] It was the sort of drum break on "Wipeout" by The Surfaris,
which is one of the first things I learned, I think.
And I… "Oh, I can do that, you know, is it…"
[drumming]
And that's great.
You know, when you suddenly think, "Oh, I can do that."
[drums beating]
[Stewart Copeland] As an 11-year-old, I was into Sandy Nelson.
The records focused on the sound of the drums and the sound of what he was doing.
I remember dragging my mother, "Mom, listen…
what he's doing there, see, Mom, see. Hear that 'shh' sound?"
"That's because he's playing the drums so fast that it sounds like…"
"Hey, Mom. No, Mom. No, listen, listen."
And here, you know, I sort of have a vague memory
of harassing my poor old mom to listen to Sandy Nelson.
[rock music playing]
[Chad Smith] They just looked so cool.
[chuckles] You know, when you're young and impressionable,
everything about it was mysterious and magical and dangerous.
You gotta remember, this time, rarely were people on television.
And you looked at the records, the actual albums, and you opened them up,
so it really left a lot to your imagination.
[music playing]
[musical clinking]
I had this incredible drum set.
I mean, it was growing exponentially.
Every day there'd be something else in it.
I went out in the kitchen and I picked up a pair of knives
and I beat the living daylights out my mum's cooker.
There's all these pieces of enamel flying off my mum's cooker.
Dad comes in…
"What's going on in here?
What's this confounded racket you're making?"
I'm beating it… I ain't stopping.
I'm Joe, I'm that dark sunglass guy.
I'm giving it the big one on the top of the cooker.
I played on pans and pots and random drums.
And my dad had goalie pads, he was a hockey player.
I did that for, like, a year,
until finally, they were like, "Okay, I think she's serious,
we'll buy her a drum set."
When my first toy drum kit arrived, I had to be the happiest kid in the universe.
And I'll never forget that little kit because it was one of those drum kits
that you get from Sears and Roebucks, you know?
And it was… I call it a Beatles kit
because it had a picture of the Beatles on the front,
you know, and it was made of cardboard and paper. [laughs]
And it took about a day for me to tear that up.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Beatles!
-[cheering] -["Twist and Shout" playing]
-♪ Well, shake it up, baby, now ♪ -♪ Shake it up, baby ♪
[Jim Keltner] The TV is on.
I'm in the other room and I'm hearing Cynthia say,
"Come on. You got to watch this.
You got to watch this."
♪ Come on and work it on out ♪
For people of my generation, the Beatles on Ed Sullivan in the States
was a pivotal point, an epiphany for a lot of people.
♪ Come on and work it on out ♪
It was like these guys from who knows where, from outer space somewhere,
you know, came down playing this amazing, you know,
rock 'n' roll music.
-[cheers and applause] -One, two, three, four.
[McBrain] And there's Ringo, sitting up there.
He's, like, 25 yards off the ground, with a Ludwig Super Classic drum set.
♪ …way beyond compare ♪
That hi-hat open. [mimicking drums]
And he could dance while he played, which was great.
I loved him.
[Abe Laboriel Jr] Looking back at that early footage again, there's this fire,
this intensity to the way Ringo played and would splash the cymbals.
And he was, you know, up high and on the edge of his seat.
[shouting]
[screams]
He had a punk energy, the fire with which he's playing and driving that band.
And when you remember that they had a hard time hearing each other,
but he was laying down the beat and driving that band.
To me, there's nobody like him.
[cheers and applause]
His main influence was American, solidly American.
I mean, from early on…
[boat horn blowing]
They were in Liverpool, so they had the advantage
of getting the newest records coming from the sailors.
They were able to hear the American rock stuff
that was happening at the time, and they were hugely influenced by that.
[man on radio] The Mersey Sound. Yes, Liverpool's selling pop music.
Liverpool kids are proud of the fact that their city is providing
the world with beat music and an offbeat cult of fashion.
Tune in for a bit.
[R&B music playing]
Everyone wanted the same thing.
They wanted to be an R&B band because that was cool,
even though we were playing all sorts of other nonsense,
but the ambition was R&B.
And everyone was listening to, you know, the old blues records,
Muddy Waters, Lightnin' Hopkins, Howlin' Wolf and so on.
[Bob Henrit] We listened to the music.
We made it our own.
We messed around with it and we sent it back to America and America loved it.
And they loved it because it was being made by funny guys with funny haircuts.
So it didn't matter whether we were playing it right or playing it wrong,
they loved it.
[Smith] Here's these young guys from England playing it 'cause they dig it.
Like Charlie Watts would say,
"The Stones, we just wanted to be a good, you know, R&B cover band."
That's what they were for a while, you know,
until they started writing their own songs.
And that's kind of naturally the way it goes.
They packaged it in a way that us Americans just ate it up.
[rock music playing]
Charlie.
It's about the groove, dude, Don't… You know, all that other shit?
Doesn't matter. Just hit that magic sweet spot,
the good foot, the whatever it is. Of course, they got excellent lyrics
and wonderful musicianship on the guitar.
Great, you know, all kinds of other qualities.
But it's that ramshackle groove that's unique that many look for,
but few can achieve that sophisticated dishevelment.
And that's why the Stones are the Stones.
[indistinct singing]
Yeah, Charlie Watts is an English drummer who plays like no other English drummer.
He… He just doesn't.
He didn't… Never smiled.
You got a couple of them… out of him,
you know, in the early days.
He was a jazz drummer. He was a big band player,
playing in a pop band.
He… That was his thing.
But he… And he just had this thing
where… Ringo was this… [playing cymbal]
And Charlie… [playing cymbal rhythmically]
It's like he'd…
He'd leave a beat out.
On his hi-hat.
And I thought, "God, that's fucking brilliant."
["Honky Tonk Woman" playing]
That's what I'm gonna do. I wanna be him.
If you listen to the beginning of "Honky Tonk Woman"
by the Rolling Stones, it starts out at a certain tempo.
♪ She tried to take me upstairs for a ride ♪
This is the great Charlie Watts, one of the best all-time drummers ever.
And by the end, he's probably like…
If it starts at 103, he's probably at 109 or something.
♪ It's a honkey tonk woman ♪
[Smith] But you don't sit there and go,
"Oh, God, that song is really speeding up."
It's just naturally… That's how they play.
-Whoo! -[song ends]
"Merry Christmas, Mommy plus Dad."
[man] Well, usually drumsticks come in pairs.
So that's probably what the other part is.
Yeah.
Eventually, after ruining enough cooking ware, my parents acquiesced
and got me an actual drum set when I was four years old.
[drums beating]
-Yes! -[child] No!
-Yeah! -[man chuckling]
-[child] No! -Yeah!
And here's the drumstick. Yeah!
[Ben Thatcher] I remember getting a drum kit at the age of six.
I lived in a tiny little house in a village.
So making noise wasn't a very popular thing to do down my road.
[woman] Okay, open them.
[drums playing]
[screams in excitement]
My favourite!
Oh, my God, this is a drum set!
[squealing] It's a drum set!
It's a drum set!
[woman laughing]
It's a drum set!
Yay! [laughs]
[woman] You okay?
Mmm-hmm.
For Christmas, I got an acoustic kit, and I remember, like,
falling against the wall because I was so overwhelmed
and excited, and just… Like, this was it.
I mean, it was like giving me a lifetime supply of gold
or… I don't know, it was just like,
this is the most incredible moment of my life.
It was a sign, that my parents were going,
"We believe you can do this, too."
But what that meant was I could go and do live gigs.
That was the big thing about having my own drum kit.
I was like, "I can actually…"
"I could be a professional now."
So my father would sit down and show me a beat.
I'd play it and then he would pick up the bass and we'd jam.
That's what playing the drums has always been for me,
is an opportunity to play with other musicians.
And, uh, to listen to what they're doing.
Yeah!
[yelling indistinctly]
[Nick "Topper" Headon] I was introduced to drums,
so I started playing the drums when I was 13.
I'd seen Keith Moon on Top of the Pops.
-♪ People try to put us down ♪ -♪ Talkin' 'bout my generation ♪
All of a sudden, this band came and they were louder
than anything you'd ever heard, and they were violent,
and had great songs and charisma.
-♪ Why don't you all fade away ♪ -♪ Talkin' 'bout my generation ♪
[Taylor] The Who were phenomenal.
And Keith Moon, a drummer like nobody had ever seen.
From this sort of seeming chaos, er, beautiful to watch, erm,
came this great… came these great drum parts.
[Headon] And I got it all wrong.
I thought, he's the best looking in the group.
He's right at the front.
It's all about him.
All the cameras were shots of him.
I want to be Keith Moon. I want to play the drums.
Of course, I started playing the drums,
and by the time I realised that drummers sat at the back
and just kept the beat, it was a bit too late.
But he was why I started wanting to play the drums, Keith Moon.
[Smith] There, to me, was a guy who has a natural sense of time.
He's not just keeping a straight beat, although he could do that.
But the way that he expressed himself on his instrument was very unique.
♪ Yeah, my generation ♪
[Smith] I think that the really great drummers have that.
My brother was the coolest kid on campus,
and there was a band in the school as well, The Black Knights.
So Ian, obviously, as the coolest guy in Beirut,
should be the drummer in the band. So Ian had the drums in his bedroom
and he was trying to figure them out.
But he couldn't really, and when he would leave,
I would sneak into his room on pain of death.
I would sneak into his room and get on there
and try and do what he was doing, and actually…
But I can do it.
This can't be right.
I must be doing it wrong.
I picked up my dad's sticks and I got my sister in,
and I told her to bring a spoon in, a tablespoon.
So she brought the spoon in.
So I said, "Do this, just hit it. One…"
"And count to yourself, 'one, two, three, four.'"
And so I played against that. And that was the thrill of my lifetime.
That's when I knew…
what syncopation was all about, what it was like to groove.
I had a neighbour named Kent Kleeder
who had a drum set, a really bad drum set.
So he said, "Sit on this drum set, Taylor."
"And you do this. You go,
'One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.'"
"And on one, you put your foot, and that's called a kick drum."
"So you go, 'One, two, three, four. One, two…'"
And I was like, "Okay." [mimicking drums]
And then he goes, "On three…"
"This is a snare drum."
"You cross your hands and you hit the snare drum on three."
-I went… -[drums playing and mimicking drums]
And he goes, "Stop."
I'm like, "What?" He's like, [sighs]
"You're a fucking drummer, dude."
And it was, like, literally like a lightning bolt.
And I'll remember…
everything about that moment
for the rest of my life 'cause everything changed.
Well, my dad was a drummer and I didn't want to play drums
'cause I was like, "I want to be different and unique."
"I don't wanna be the drummer as well."
So, uh, my dad was like, "I'll buy you a guitar
if you play drums for just a year in the school band."
So I joined the school band.
I did a whole year.
And then, even till now, he never bought me a guitar,
so it felt like a little bit of a bribe, but it worked.
I am going to go pick out a drum kit from Ross, the Drum Doctor.
So I'm going drum shopping today,
which is my favourite kind of shopping to do.
I'm picking out a kit to do a little jam with
some drummer idols of mine, actually.
These are people that I totally look up to.
I can't believe I'm going to be in the same room as them
and then also playing drums with them.
Um, I feel like that's such an honour, but I'm very excited to do it.
[whispers] Wow.
Whoa.
-[Ross Garfield] How's it going? -Pretty good.
-How are you doing? -I'm good.
This is awesome.
I love this. I want everything. [laughs]
Welcome to my temple of drums.
Yeah, this is amazing.
-Thank you for having me. -Yeah, it's my pleasure.
-Glad you could make it. -Yeah. Thank you.
Feel free to tap on them and, uh, figure out what works for you.
Yeah.
You got a lot of choices.
Looks like you have plenty of choices, so it might take me a while to pick one.
[Garfield talking indistinctly]
[Garfield] When I started Drum Doctors, I had, uh…
I think I had five drum sets and twelve snares.
I had good taste back then because that stuff is still renting today.
And this is, you know, this was 1981 that I started it.
[Bowen] Do you know how many kits you have total in here?
Honestly, I don't.
Yeah, it's never-ending. [chuckles]
[Garfield] I felt that because I had been the drummer
and I saw what a drummer needed,
that I could be better at taking care of them
than a roadie who was just basically a guy who is moving stuff,
who really didn't understand how to tune a drum or
really how to set up a drum or,
you know, all the little intricacies.
[Garfield talking indistinctly]
[Bowen] I like big sounding drums.
-[Garfield] Mmm-hmm. -[Bowen] Like the deep tones.
I feel like I look like I'm a delicate, fragile person,
but when I get behind the kit I want it to sound big.
-Yeah, with the right combinations… -Yeah.
…and the tunings and stuff we could make you sound as big as you want,
without giving away too many of my secrets.
Yeah. [laughs]
[hard rock music playing]
♪ Little monster ♪
♪ I got my eye on you ♪
[Thatcher] Music doesn't have to be that serious.
Let's just go and have fun.
♪ Tell me what's on your mind ♪
And, well, I'm in the best job in the world.
I'm having the best time of my life.
[hard rock music playing]
My mentality is you have come here
for an hour and a half to forget about everything else going on in the world.
Those moments are so precious in life.
And it's a privilege
to be able to walk on stage and put on that show for people.
[crowd cheering]
[Hawkins] Ben from Royal Blood.
He's got great time, great feel.
And he gets it, you know?
And they get it, as far as being a live band.
[Smith] It's a thing.
When I go see players, I want to see guys
with intent,
that are doing it with conviction
and doing it because… 'Cause you fucking mean it.
If not, go flip hamburgers.
[crowd cheering]
[Thatcher] All my favourite drummers are American
who have learnt from English drummers,
who have probably learnt from American drummers.
But it all comes back to England, doesn't it?
Obviously, 'cause we started it.
My dad, when I first started playing, here's a tip.
He said to me, "Son, this is your feet.
So this is your left foot on the hi-hat.
[mimicking drum beats]
So that left foot will go backwards and forwards and rock.
If you look at a lot of the old jazz drummers from the '60s, '50s,
that's how they play.
And that left foot is their timekeeper."
Right?
[tapping foot]
And that's all it's doing, backwards and forwards.
My old man says, "Son…
I want you to sit there and do the same on the right foot, but the other way."
[tapping feet rhythmically]
So…
So, erm…
What was the question? [laughs]
There's a theme here, and there's a theme for a reason
as to why these drummers liked jazz drummers and liked jazz.
Well, at the beginning, it was all about jazz drummers
'cause of the conversation. Elvin Jones.
[jazz music playing]
Art Blakey.
Buddy "The God" Rich, because it doesn't get better.
[Blackman Santana] There's a big difference
between playing rock and playing jazz.
You're able to make the music move and change and grow.
You're able to interject your ideas and your opinions.
You're able to play around the form,
you're able to play across the bar line,
able to change directions real quick.
Playing in most rock situations or in pop rock situations,
um, the goal is to play a groove.
There's a beauty in that, to being able to lay down something
that just feels great, you know, and allows the music to float.
♪ I want to get away ♪
♪ I want to fly away Yeah ♪
And it makes people want to dance.
You know, you play a nice…
[scatting]
It's going to make somebody feel a certain way.
You know, when somebody starts tapping their foot,
you know you're in there.
The difference between playing that and playing jazz…
[mimics soft drum playing]
You know, you want that to feel good.
Until rock 'n' roll came along
in the '50s, very, very few pieces of popular music
had a straight eight… [mimics drum beating]
It was all… [scatting]
So everything I heard had that in it.
And when I started to play,
even if the basis of the song was [mimics beat],
in my head I'd still be feeling, where does the swing come in it?
And even if I wasn't playing the note, I'd be thinking it.
[mouthing]
The sort of grace note.
Grace note is a tiny little touch on the drum,
which influences the next note.
And without that, the feel you're trying to achieve
is impossible because all you end up hearing is "do, da, do, da."
But you get… [mimics beat] That little… changes everything.
And sometimes you don't have to play them, but you got to think them.
[man] One of the remarkable things about your playing
is the way you manage to get a kind of dialogue
going between your feet and your hands.
Not only are your feet each playing different rhythms,
but so are your hands.
And that, of course, doesn't account for cymbals, it's like a one-man orchestra.
Yeah, you can get good tings on a cymbal.
Can you give us an example of this kind of instrumental conversation?
The great Ginger Baker, who is a jazz drummer
trapped in a rock man's body.
When I saw Ginger Baker with his double bass drums
and right in the middle and playing, I think, "N.S.U."
and just thinking, "Now that is what I'd like to be."
He wasn't at the back.
He was actually part of the band
and actually interacting with Jack or Eric, or whatever.
It was a very different dynamic to Ringo being 15 feet behind on a riser.
[Paice] He was an amazing Jazz bebop fusion-type drummer.
When Cream came along, he just changed it all round.
It's like they said, "Okay, that's enough of that.
I'm going to do this now."
And when you hear Ginger playing with Cream…
[mimics beat]
…all of a sudden, it's not that jazzy thing any more.
He's made a new statement in rock 'n' roll.
-[man] Ginger Baker on drums! -[crowd cheering]
[Maloney] I don't care about Ringo.
I don't care about Charlie.
I'm sorry.
It's all about John Bonham.
Led Zeppelin.
Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin, that's it.
What is that?
Check this shit out, motherfucker!
Every drummer in America in 1975
wanted to sound like John Bonham, because he was the best.
He got the best drum sound.
His drums were tuned the best.
He was in the biggest band, he was the best.
[Smith] You got to remember, Robert Plant and Bonham were, like,
19 or 20 when they joined the band. Something like that.
Like, that's young, man.
And here's a guy who comes out
a fully realised musician, like the first Zeppelin album,
he's doing his doubles.
The first song, "Good Times, Bad Times."
He's doing his John Bonham thing from the very get-go.
[Taylor] I think Freddie saw them at the Marquee before I did,
and then he said, "Well, come on, you've got to see this band, they're great."
We went to the Lyceum in the Strand.
They sort of shuffled on,
and Bonzo just sort of did a little warm-up.
And we both sort of… Wow!
You know, most drummers didn't sound like that.
Tremendous power and speed.
And he was technically brilliant.
[Keltner] I didn't know what Led Zeppelin was.
We were kind of tripping backstage and I tapped on the bass drum,
Bonham's bass drum, and it just went "boing!"
Like, what? Like, there was no…
Like, my bass drum was, you know, Hollywood recording ready
with the blanket in it and the front head off,
and his was just exactly the opposite.
Both heads on, nothing inside.
You could tell, it just went "boing!"
And I said, "Maybe it's kind of like a Salvation Army kind of thing."
You know, I was thinking, like, maybe some big marching bass drum kind of sound.
That night, to watch them was incredible.
[Maloney] I had a rough childhood,
and I think that as a girl, like, you're supposed
to keep your feelings in or whatever.
But for me, I got behind the drum set
and I beat the shit out of it, and it was my release.
I wanted to take the beater of the kick drum
and just smash it through and just crack my snare as hard as I could.
And that's what I could learn along to Bonham's playing.
Everything you need to know as a drummer,
just listen to Led Zeppelin and you'll learn it.
[Hawkins] When you're that age, fifth grade,
you need something to kind of hang your hat on.
If you're not a great athlete or you're not, like…
the best-looking kid in the world or whatever,
you need something.
And once I found drums, it kind of became my coat of armour.
We started playing these clubs in Detroit,
and we would play three sets a night, six nights a week,
and it was like,
"This is it, I've made it. This is the greatest thing ever."
I'm walking around in my bare feet in these, you know,
beer-soaked clubs in Detroit and playing music, and girls,
and everything that went with that,
and it was like, "Wow, this is really something."
"I'm a professional musician, making $165 a week." [chuckles]
But I was doing what I wanted to do, what I loved.
I got paid 20 quid to be in the house band
when I was like 14, and I was like, "I'm a professional!" [chuckles]
That was the overriding feeling.
It was like, "I'm doing it. And I'm…" It just felt right.
I was… I was…
I was on my path and I was heading exactly where I wanted to go.
Telling your parents you want to drop out of college
to be in a rock band and tour with a bunch of boys,
my parents were a little bit iffy about that.
It was funny. They gave me a year.
They said, "We'll give you a year to do that, and then, you know,
go back to school and go back to your plan."
The first tour we did, our parents closing that van door. It was a 15-passenger van,
they closed it for us and they're all in their driveway waving at us.
And I remember we all looked around, we were like, "Are we really doing this?"
We were so excited, no parents with us, you know what I mean?
It was just a bunch of 18-year-olds in a van travelling around the US.
You know, I was playing music every night.
We weren't making any money.
We were sleeping on people's floors.
If we couldn't sleep on people's floors, we would just sleep in the van.
[singing]
You know, I think I was just so happy to be doing what other people,
I think, had always, like, dreamed of doing.
[Taylor] The dream was, you know, to achieve success in America.
So you go there, all very wide-eyed
and everything's very big and the distances are huge.
The touring really was hard work.
[Hawkins] I mean, there was the lightning bolt at Kent Kleeder's house.
The second thing, a couple months later, was the Queen concert.
[Perkins] My first concert ever was Queen,
and Roger Taylor was like a garage punk rock drummer
in this glorious orchestral band.
And his parts were orchestral, but his attitude was just…
That was my first experience of seeing a band, and I still feel it,
smell it, taste it, hear it.
[Hawkins] And Roger Taylor,
he played the whole drum set, like, it was kind of like an orchestra.
He played such perfect parts for songs,
but yet would let you know he's there, too.
It wasn't just timekeeping.
Every once in a while, some flashy, perfectly placed fill would happen.
That to me was like, that's how you…
That's an arena band, that's what you want to be.
[audience cheering]
In the first half, we saw how rock stars have become more and more distant
from their audiences. Some are tax exiles and live abroad in California or Europe.
Others only appear on stage in vast stadiums where tickets cost plenty
and they appear as small dots on the horizon.
All the people in punk bands, we didn't really have a choice.
We weren't ever going to be in a prog rock band.
We weren't ever going to be able to play
sophisticated time signatures and have flute solos,
that just wasn't what we wanted.
♪ I got a feeling inside of me ♪
♪ It's kind of strange Like a stormy sea ♪
♪ I don't know why… ♪
[Scabies] High energy, fast tunes,
that's where I was comfortable. That's what felt good.
It was something with adrenaline, you know, rush.
And that was exactly what the rest of the band wanted.
♪ I got a new rose, I got her good ♪
♪ I guess I knew that I always would ♪
If they are singing, don't bash too many drums.
When the singing stops, do whatever you like
to bring in the next bit.
♪ I never thought This could happen to me ♪
[Scabies] You watch a guitar player play a solo, and they go,
"Oh, I'm tearing every note from my soul.
Oh, I'm in tears." And I'm gonna go…
The drummer's like,
"Yeah, get a load of this.
I'm here, I can do."
I'll never work again.
If I came off stage with half an ounce of energy,
it was a poor gig.
It was play as fast as you could, I'd be gasping for breath.
It's just like sprinting.
You just sprint and you give it everything you can.
The punk rock discipline, it's real discipline.
It's not jamming.
You don't jam, you know, you play your part and you work hard to write that part.
And you work hard to have the endurance so you can play it.
The four of us would come off and just collapse on the floor.
It was 100% we put in, 100% to everything.
♪ Tommy gun ♪
♪ You ain't happy unless you got one ♪
♪ Tommy gun ♪
♪ Ain't gonna shoot the place up Just for fun ♪
My role on stage really was just to anchor it.
And they'd all run around, like three Eddie Cochrans,
making brilliant noise and stuff and looking amazing.
And then if they got lost, they'd turn to me.
And I'd go…
♪ Tommy gun ♪
And that became my role in The Clash.
♪ Tommy gun… ♪
A rule of rock 'n' roll, it says,
you're only as good as your drummer, and that is really true,
because if you try and imagine a group and the drummer is falling apart,
then no matter what you're putting on top, it's going to fall apart.
♪ Okay, so let's agree ♪
♪ About the price ♪
♪ And make it one jet airliner… ♪
[Headon] I basically just taught myself.
I used to watch Top of the Pops, and I'd watch how drummers play.
I realised they sat like this and they played the hi-hat.
You know, if you've got a brain, it's quite easy to figure it all out.
Then I'd buy an album, and I'd know they sat like that,
and I'd listen to it and I'd copy it.
Finding someone who not only had the chops but the strength and the stamina to do it,
was just the breakthrough for us. If we hadn't have found Topper Headon,
we'd have never, ever got anywhere.
Every now and then, even punks on amyl nitrate got to chill.
There's only… Sniffing glue will only get you so far
into the evening. And, so they gotta chill.
But there's no chill punk music, 'cause it ain't punk if it's chill.
But Don Letts, the DJ of the time,
figured out that dub reggae would fit the bill perfectly.
It's hostile, it's dark.
It's really pissed off, but chill.
And it was The Clash, credit must be given,
who first had the inkling of an idea.
"Hey, why don't us white boys try to play some of that?"
[Perkins] And as the things progressed and the music started to get
a little more dynamic, you really heard the drummer become more aware
of this Jamaican, African drumbeats that he was throwing in.
It was organic. Nothing was…
Nothing was contrived or planned.
As I played with the group and we started rehearsing
some more numbers, a few funk influences crept in.
Er… "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais." [mimics beat] Came in as a fill.
A few other bits and pieces. We went and saw Taj Mahal at the…
I think it was at the Venue in Victoria.
And I nicked a few bits off Taj Mahal. It just became like a melting pot.
Like, my philosophy of drumming became the philosophy,
or was the philosophy of The Clash.
I'm not saying I made it, it just became the philosophy of The Clash.
We'd try and play everything.
I had been listening to a lot of reggae anyway,
and was already trying to figure out
that it's totally wrong, the way that that guy… drummer is doing on the drums.
Wrong, wrong, wrong!
No, no! But it's kinda right.
And so figuring out that you play the backbeat
and the downbeat at the same time…
Well, what are the other beats for? You listen again and check it out.
Geez, really? Really?
And it's hard to do on your own because it doesn't work,
unless the uptick is there on the guitar.
You know, it's very much his personality, and then there's a great unconventionality
to how, where he places the beats. You can hear the world, the global influence.
You can hear the areas that he grew up in
in the way he plays, the way he offsets the beat,
the way he accents things, the way he doesn't always have
to rely on playing two and four again.
And I think, again, it's inspired by the melody
and the bass and guitar lines.
And he's… You can tell he's equal with the variations
that the other guys in the band play.
And he was always just turning the beat around,
and putting stuff on upbeats and doing…
And constantly surprising you throughout a pop song.
Throwing fireworks.
That's really what he was doing, you know?
You hear 'em
and you see 'em go out, but they don't blow exactly
when you think they're gonna, you know?
And then they blow. And then another one blows
a little later and then a third one.
He's very…unpredictable.
And that's really hard
as a drummer, because people feel comfortable when they can predict
what's happening with the drum part, and it's repetitive.
And I guess that's the magic of him, is Stewart Copeland
would make you feel comfortable in the most uncomfortable drum part.
♪ Roxanne! ♪
♪ Yeah, Roxanne! Roxanne! ♪
Let's talk about events.
Keith Moon has many events in his playing,
and he takes cues from the music, from the lyrics, from the topic.
The subject matter.
And so he is this orchestral drummer with great chops,
and he picks and chooses these events to happen.
And people, when they hear Moon,
they think maybe it's just chaos and he's all over the place.
And if you'd listen to this track, he's got different themes, different ideas.
And he uses them and takes the song to another level.
Dynamics, peaks and valleys, the beginning.
♪ Who are you? Who, who, who, who? ♪
♪ Who are you? ♪
[Perkins] The hi-hat intro, where he's working with the vocals.
He's having a good time and disco was big back then.
I think he was nodding his hat to disco.
And then to see that he took this hi-hat part and made it special.
As the song grows into the first verse, he reacts off the lyrics.
♪ I woke up in a Soho doorway ♪
♪ A policeman knew my name ♪
♪ He said, "You can go Sleep at home tonight ♪
♪ If you can get up and walk away" ♪
[Perkins] Say, "Yes, I'm with you."
"I'm exactly connected to the lyrics
and the music, and the subtleties of the story."
And I think that's the brilliance of Keith Moon is his storytelling.
♪ Who are you? ♪
♪ Who, who, who, who? ♪
♪ Who are you? ♪
♪ Who, who, who, who? ♪
Always unpredictable.
Even when I play to the song, I remember,
"Oh, he starts the fill on the one, not one and." And it always reminds me
of how different he is and how he thinks.
So I love the challenge of the song
because of these great themes, we have the hi-hat intro,
the pocket verse with the big fills,
the choruses, which go from hat to ride, but very reactive.
Then, of course, the big…
I call it the timpani part, but it's mallets on toms,
which he brings that orchestral event like I was talking about.
I love going to see a symphony. And I think Keith
would watch and listen to that and bring it all into his playing.
And he would take these moments and bring them to life.
♪ Who are you? Who, who, who, who? ♪
♪ Who are you? ♪
And I think the energy that Keith brings to it
and the sense of humour… that's so English.
♪ I really want to know ♪
♪ Who are you? Who, who, who, who? ♪
♪ I really want to know ♪
♪ Who are you? Who, who, who, who? ♪
♪ Who are you? Who, who… ♪
I have such respect for Keith Moon,
but it was just… It was so crazy and, like, out of control.
Go right ahead, Keith, make a scene again.
[indistinct shouting]
You know, a lot of you young rock 'n' roll musicians
are going to be big stars someday.
Just like Keith here.
We know what it's like to be on tour,
going from town to town, ending up in some crummy hotel like this one.
Let's face it. When you get to your room, the first thing you want to do
is destroy it.
♪ Who are you? ♪
[Henrit] Moonie was often very dangerous.
He wouldn't just send the television out of the window,
he would make sure it was working all the way down.
So he would get coax for the aerial, and he'd get an extension lead
so it was working, and he'd chuck it out.
Right out the window, Keith.
[Henrit] If you didn't laugh immediately, he wouldn't stop.
He'd just keep going until you laughed.
It could take hours.
He was a fantastic drummer.
No other drummers played like Keith Moon.
It was all about him.
I loved his personality. It was just wild and he just stood out.
[Paice] I got to meet him a couple times and he was a sweetheart.
But you could look into his eyes and say,
"This man will never get to be 40 years old."
[Henrit] Somebody should have taken Moonie aside and said,
"You know, you're gonna kill yourself."
And he would have said, "Yeah." And that would have been probably
the end of that particular conversation.
You can't party 30 hours a day, 28 days a week.
♪ Sweet dreams are made of this ♪
♪ Who am I do disagree? ♪
♪ I travel the world and the seven seas ♪
♪ Everybody is looking for something ♪
[Andy Gray] When you're playing with synthesizers,
they are basically electronic signals.
So now instead of having a really organic thing,
which would be a drum and a snare and a skin moving,
instead of having that, you've now got something
that's as punchy as a synth, and that is the other
big thing about a drum machine, it's a really punchy sound.
[vocalising]
The LinnDrum was a drum machine that became a classic, first of all,
because it sounded a bit like a drummer.
It was a computer
with the ideal drum sound stored, and it was ready to go.
You just hit play and record, and boom, you were off.
And it always come back as you put it in.
So it's a big change.
Well, this is the LinnDrum known as the Linn 2.
You can put it in record.
See this clip going round, when it gets to the beginning hi-hat…
[clicking]
Then you can put the kick and snare.
[beat playing]
Turn the click down.
So, great stories of the Human League replacing all their drums on Dare
once the LinnDrum came along. It suddenly gave this album this sound
like no one else.
♪ You were working as a waitress In a cocktail bar ♪
♪ When I met you ♪
[Perkins] In the '80s, when the electric drum sound
became so important in the music, there was a sense that the drummer
and the opinion of the drummer and all the backstory of the drummer
wasn't needed any more, and was like putting on a drum machine on an organ.
[mimics beat]
And you can write a song to that, but there's no reaction.
♪ Don't, don't you want me? ♪
♪ You know I can't believe it When I hear that you won't see me ♪
There was a sense of what's next for a drum set player?
And as a young man, I loved hearing those sounds,
but I wanted a real drummer in my life and still have those sounds.
♪ You'd better change it back Or we will both be sorry ♪
♪ Don't you want me, baby? ♪
The impact of the drum machine has affected music in a lot of ways.
It became very regimented, you know.
And the human element of the feel was taken out, you know,
and I like the human element, because I'm a human being.
I look back at the '80s and think about MTV.
And what you saw on TV was what you wanted to replicate.
"Oh, this looks cool."
[mimics drum beating]
[Perkins] And the drummer's got a big drum set, and there was a spectacle,
the camera and the playfulness the drummer gets with the camera and the attitude.
And nothing's better than watching a drummer move.
And so people get a chance to kinda tune in to what drummers can do,
what's possible.
I remember seeing it on MTV, erm, and I remember throwing all the cushions
off my sofa, and jumping around and doing roly polys on them,
and just had… It was fun again, it was just crazy.
You know, even that video and watching all the kids
moshing and crowd surfing, and that's what I wanted to do.
♪ With the lights out It's less dangerous ♪
♪ Here we are now, entertain us ♪
♪ I feel stupid and contagious ♪
♪ Here we are now, entertain us ♪
[Thatcher] Dave Grohl, the way you never saw his face.
And he was just so in the music.
And so just going for it that he had no idea what was going on around him.
He was in his own world.
♪ A denial, a denial, a denial, a denial ♪
[Thatcher] And it's such a force of music coming at you.
You just enjoy it.
And as a kid growing up, listening to that just made me excited.
[Bowen] I think I'm leaning towards…
-probably this kit. -The gold sparkle?
-The gold sparkle. -Okay, 22 or 24?
[Bowen] I think 24 would be cool,
'cause I like the way it looks and I definitely know you could make it sound…
really good.
-Pretty classy looking set. -Yeah.
[Garfield] First of all, I want to make sure
that they're happy with the kick drum sound.
[indistinct talking]
I want to make sure they're happy with the snare drum that we have.
And we'll change snare drums as many times as we need to
to get it right.
The snare drum is the main voice of the drum set.
And everybody has different ways of describing it.
I want it to be more of a thump, or a thud or, you know, more crack.
So that's always a lot of fun for me.
Get these drums sounding big for her.
But then the toms need to have the character
that's complimentary to the kick and the snare.
A lot of times I get someone asking for a retro sound, they want a '60s sound.
And I'll bring 'em a '60s drum set as well as '60s cymbals to go with it.
It gives me a chance to really kind of,
you know, do my art, and that's a big part of it for me.
She ought to like that. Good place to start.
I'll put the final tuning on 'em once we get into the studio.
[Smith] I auditioned for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
I knew who they were, you know, "Oh, the guys with socks on their dicks,"
but I wasn't that familiar with their music.
♪ If you're sick-a-sick and tired Of being sick and tired ♪
So at the time, the guys were, like, very much
what kind of funny haircut did you have,
and what kind of tattoos do you have, the aesthetic, and what you look like.
And I'd come from Detroit.
I had long hair, bandanna, cutoff shirt, and they looked at me,
"Oh, God, get this guy out of here."
So for me, it was really like, "I'm gonna kick these guys' asses.
I'm gonna, like… And then go to, like, double time
and see if they can, like, go there to the next level."
And later they talked about it, like,
"You were the first guy that really took over on the audition.
Everyone kind of just played along."
It's an intangible thing, that chemistry.
And I've been fortunate to be in groups
that have had it, and certainly Red Hot Chili Peppers do.
[audience cheering]
[McBrain] So you get together, and you jam.
[scatting]
Key of A, key of G, whatever.
Somebody starts it. You all just jam.
Right? When I sat in that room and played and jammed with the band,
there was a magic. There…
I knew that I was where I should be.
And it took me almost ten years of my professional career
to find the same like-minded four other guys that were there
for the same reasons, to make that great music that we all made in that room.
♪ Run to the hills ♪
♪ Run for your lives ♪
♪ Run to the hills ♪
♪ Run for your lives ♪
When I was 22, I auditioned for the band Hole,
and I was one of 22, 23 drummers, and I got the gig that day.
I always say, you know, you say it and it happens,
like, you just put it out there.
So a couple of months later, Hole is on hiatus,
and I get a phone call one morning at 7:00 a.m.
"Nikki Sixx is looking for your phone number,"
and I seriously thought I was sleeping.
I thought I was dreaming and I was like, "What?"
She's like, "Their drummer's ill."
And so Nikki called me and asked if I would be
interested in playing Mötley Crüe.
And I was like, "Are you serious?
If you're serious, I'll fly out right now."
So I was on a plane that day.
I had notation paper and I was listening to all the songs notating them.
And I was like, "I don't even need this. I know every song by heart."
Now, I don't know if you've noticed tonight,
but we got a girl playing drums tonight.
[Maloney] I thought it was going to be a few days,
and it wound up being six months
that I was working with the band and, you know, it was the dream of my life.
My, you know, 12-year-old self
was watching them on MTV, and now I'm playing in the band.
Unfortunately, I didn't have the drum cage.
No, but I did have some rock 'n' roll stories from that time.
[singing]
There are people, like, "Are you kidding me?"
"I'm not going to this concert."
"Hell, no. A girl drummer, Mötley Crüe, what?"
And then by the end of the concert, they would see the same people,
and they would be like, "She blew my mind!"
"Oh, my God."
So, watching the fans' reaction, of them just wanting to hate me so bad,
and by the end of the night, I won the entire crowd over.
-[woman] Hell, yeah, Sam, you rock. -[Maloney] Thank you so much.
-Thank you. -Thank you.
This is what it's about.
Future drummers of America, right here.
♪ I got another confession to make ♪
[Blackman Santana] You get a bunch of drunken idiots,
there's going to be someone making a stupid comment.
"You're a girl, what are you doing playing drums? You're a little girl."
[Bowen] I would be kicked out of my own dressing room
because, you know, the security guard thought that I was just a random fan
that was backstage trying to hang out with the band,
or, you know, I wasn't allowed into the venue.
[Davies] In sound check, always was the feeling of the other bands,
who were generally sort of like, older blokes,
looking at me like, "What is this joke?"
Until I got on stage and then I would literally see their mouths drop.
And I was like… "I love that feeling 'cause I don't need to say anything."
You know, all I need to do is let my playing do the talking.
♪ I needed somewhere to hang my head ♪
♪ Without your noose ♪
♪ You gave me something that I didn't have ♪
It was, and it is great to have a sense of who you are,
because when you know who you are and you're solid in that,
nobody can tip you, you know, they can't push you over.
♪ …under arrest again But I'll break loose ♪
[Bowen] The sound engineer at the venue
came up on stage while I was setting up my drums,
and he said, "Give me your sticks, I'll sound check for you."
"But don't worry, I'll hit them like a girl."
And, again, was laughing and stuff.
So I was like, "I'm just going to laugh with you. That's fine."
And when I got on stage later that night and played,
I broke, I think, three or four drumsticks 'cause I was so mad.
I was like, "Oh, you want to see me hit like a girl?
I'll show you. I'll show you how."
♪ Is someone getting the best The best, the best, the best of you? ♪
[Maloney] Like, guys pick up a guitar to get laid,
but girls play drums because they want to.
You don't pick up the drums because, like, you think
you're going to be a star, you pick it up because you fucking love it.
[Garfield] You know what? I think that drummers are more down-to-earth.
I think that they're more primitive, just where they come from.
They come from rhythm, they're all about rhythm.
And I find that the drumming community is a very warm and inclusive group.
They really are a good bunch.
-[host] This is Jess. -Hi. How are you?
-Nice to meet you. How are you? -Nice to meet you as well.
-I'm okay, I'm a little nervous, but… -Nervous?
[Bowen laughs]
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct chatter, laughing]
[imperceptible]
[drums beating]
[Smith] And I look forward to just trying to continue to be better
and a better bandmate, a better musician,
a better songwriter, uh, and just play as well as I can all the time.
And I fucking love it and it's fun.
Playing the drums is fun.
[mimics drum beating]
[scatting]
[mimics drum beating]
[Blackman Santana] And I can play my drums all day, all night and I love it.
You know, I don't know if that's a fault… [laughs] I'm not really sure.
I've gotten into a little bit of trouble with that,
you know, over the years.
[Davies] I'm from North London.
I didn't grow up with anything, really,
apart from just this mad sort of, like, obsession and love.
[Headon] The best thing about being a drummer
is I saw the world doing the job I love.
You can't get better than that.
[Maloney] It's the best feeling in the world.
I'm controlling the way this crowd is moving, it's just me
and 80,000 people in the stadium.
And this is the coolest fucking time of my life.
[Perkins] If the guitar plug goes out during a Rage show,
it would be a bummer, but if the kick drum pedal breaks,
that's a problem.
You have 100,000 people, like, "Now what?" You know?
[Bowen] I don't know what my life would be without drums.
Everything that has come along with me playing drums
has been so rewarding, I would never trade any of it.
[Perkins] You feel like you're connecting with people, you don't know them,
and you feel like you can raise the level of happiness.
That's my thrill, is to inspire more people to be creative.
Just play music because you love it. And dream big.
And if it happens, fucking A, man.
Dreams do come true.
♪ Ah, the irresistible force ♪
♪ Met the immovable object ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ Ah, the irresistible force ♪
♪ Met the immovable object ♪
♪ Banging and banging And banging and banging ♪
♪ And banging together ♪
♪ Ah, the irresistible force ♪
♪ Met the immovable object ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ Ah, some may call me a lucky shot ♪
♪ No, no, no, but it was not ♪
♪ Banging and banging And banging and banging ♪
♪ And banging Banging and banging ♪
♪ And banging and banging And banging together ♪
I hope that that's how I go out, man, just, you know…
[drums beating]
[body thuds]
Wait, I'm not dead yet! Wait! I'm coming back to life!