(At Least) Twelve Drummers Drumming Quiz

Answer: John Bonham

John Bonham was born in 1948 in England and was an apprentice carpenter playing in bands such as A Way of Life and Crawling King Snakes. After the demise of The Yardbirds, guitarist Jimmy Page formed the New Yardbirds and recruited Robert Plant, who in turn nominated Mr Bonham. Together with John Paul Jones, the quartet formed Led Zeppelin, a nod to their self-assessment of the chances of them succeeding. They thought they would "go down like a lead balloon".

The strength of Led Zeppelin as a band was each musician was a master of his own instrument. In 2011 and 2016 "Rolling Stone" magazine ranked John Bonham number one in their list of the "100 Greatest Drummers of All Time." Certainly he was one of the most influential drummers in his day. Dave Grohl, in a 2010 "Rolling Stone" interview stated, "John Bonham played the drums like someone who didn't know what was going to happen next - like he was teetering on the edge of a cliff. No one has come close to that since, and I don't think anybody ever will. I think he will forever be the greatest drummer of all time. You have no idea how much he influenced me". Anyone who doubts these credentials need look no further than "Good Times Bad Times" (1969) with its two beat opening. John Bonham pioneered the use of bass drum triplets. Witness the spaces he left between the beats in "Kashmir" (1975) or the funk-like groove in "The Ocean" (1973).

John Bonham died on 25 September 1980 of an acute alcohol related cause. On 4th December the band issued a statement " "We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend and the deep respect we have for his family, together with the sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager, have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were."

Answer: Radiohead

In 2012 Ken Micallef, from "Classic Rock Drummers", stated that Dave Grohl was one of the most influential rock musicians of the past 20 years.
Mr Grohl started his career as drummer with Scream in 1986, lying about his age (He was an underage 17). In 1990 he joined Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic in Nirvana as the drummer. Whilst he was an accomplished songwriter in his own right, he declined to contribute his songs to Nirvana, in part because he thought Mr Cobain was a much better songwriter. He released these songs on a side project called Late! in 1994.

After the demise of Nirvana, Mr Grohl was somewhat lost, recording a 15 track demo, where he played all instruments except one and even that was on a single track. He drummed for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers but declined a permanent spot. Likewise he played on a few songs on Pearl Jam's Australian tour. He formed a band called the Foo fighters and released his re-mastered demo as the Foo Fighters' eponymous debut album. On tour he played guitar and left the drumming to, at first, a bevy of other drummers. Mr Grohl drummed for the Queens of the Stone Age on their 2002 album "Songs for the Deaf". Perhaps a measure of Mr Grohl's versatility was noted in 2002/3 when he was in the number one spot on Billboard's Modern Rock charts for 17 of 18 successive weeks with three different groups: "You Know You're Right" by Nirvana (drums); "All My Life" by Foo Fighters (guitar/vocals); "No One Knows" by Queens of the Stone Age (drums). In 2009, Mr Grohl teamed up with QOST's Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones to form super-group Them Crooked Vultures. they released an album of the same name and performed 76 times.

Mr Grohl continued to front Foo Fighters and with the release of their seventh studio album, "Wasting Light" (2011), they reached number one on the Billboard album chart for the first time and won a Grammy for Best Rock Album in 2012.

Answer: Stewart Copeland

Despite the limitations of being a three piece rock band, The Police played a wide spectrum of rock music with reggae and jazz influences. Stewart Copeland's drumming contribution played a huge part in that variety. Born in Virginia in 1948, Mr Copeland spent his early years in Egypt where his exposure to Middle Eastern music is expressed in his music. Left handed but playing right-handed, he played the snare drum in a peculiar way with big thumping hits with jazz based counter-tempo. Mr Copeland is a master of the syncopated beat, unlike most of his contemporary peers who tended to ignore it as a musical technique. Best tracks that showcase Mr Copeland's influence in drumming can be best seen in The Police's "Zenyatta Mondatta" (1983) album particularly "Bombs Away" and his 1985 solo album, "The Instrumentalist" with "Koteja (Oh Bolilla)" a standout.

Dominic Howard is the drummer for Muse, another exceptional talent. The other options were the other Police band members.

Answer: Buddy Rich

Buddy Rich (1917-1987) was called "the world's greatest drummer" but he was a big band and jazz drummer from a pre-rock era. He started as a professional drummer in 1937. Two years later he was invited to Tommy Dorsey's band. Buddy later went on to play with such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Ventura, and Louis Armstrong. Never having taken lessons, he was naturally gifted. He is credited with influencing many subsequent rock drummers including Ringo Starr ("He [Rich] does things with one hand that I can't do with nine, but that's technique"), Charlie Watts and Keith Moon, the latter perhaps the greatest rock drummers of the sixties.

Mr Starr was unfairly judged when Beatle John Lennon claimed he was not even the best drummer in the band. Despite this, and the disadvantage of playing a right handed kit when he was left-handed, Mr Starr set a fine example as an innovative rock drummer.

Mr Watts' arrival at the Rolling Stones was the final piece of the personnel puzzle for the Rolling Stones. Keith Richards said ""When we got Charlie, that really made it for us".

Keith Moon of the Who had such a unique style, it was difficult to pick influences. Moon the Loon was known for trashing drum kits and hotel rooms which was a shame because he was an exceptionally talented rock drummer.

According to "Rolling Stone" magazine, in 2011, Mr Starr, Mr Watts, and Mr Moon were voted numbers 14, 12 and two, greatest rock drummers of all time.

Answer: Neil Peart

In 1974 Neil Peart was invited to audition for Rush as the replacement for its original drummer John Rutsey. Rush have had a variety of styles: blues-hard rock beginnings, then progressive rock. A synthesizer period followed in the early 1990s, then a return to hard rock. What did not change was complex composition, and eclectic lyrics from science fiction, fantasy, and philosophic origins. This was due to Mr Peart who was the group's main lyricist, unusual for a drummer, especially one that did not sing! He listed his influences as many including a surprising number of contemporaries; Pete Thomas, John Bonham, Michael Giles, Ginger Baker, Phil Collins, Steve Gadd, Stewart Copeland,and Keith Moon, as well as the earlier jazz drummers such Billy Cobham, Buddy Rich, Bill Bruford and Gene Krupa.

Mr Peart lost his only child; his daughter and his wife died within ten months of one another in 1997. He left the band, desolate. In 2000 he married Carrie Nuttall and returned to the band. He officially retired from Rush in 2015.

Answer: False

Ginger Baker was "rock's first superstar drummer" according to "Rolling Stone" magazine, even though his style "melded a jazz background with an interest in African rhythms" He and bassist Jack Bruce were playing in The Graham Bond Organisation when they joined with Eric Clapton in 1966 to form Cream, considered to be the world's first super-group. They were influential in producing a blues rock fusion type of music. They released four well-received albums in the two years they were together before they disbanded. Mr Baker followed Mr Clapton and joined Steve Winwood to form Blind Faith in 1968.

Whilst considered a rock drummer, Mr Baker considered himself a jazz drummer. He influenced many subsequent rock drummers, including John Bonham, Peter Criss, Neil Peart, Stewart Copeland, Alex Van Halen and Ian Paice.

Answer: Bill Kreutzmann (Grateful Dead)

Bill Kreutzmann from the Grateful Dead never sang but this band was notable in having two drummers for part of their lifespan. Mr Kreutzman was a Grateful Dead drummer from 1965-95 but he was joined by Mickey Hart from 1967 - 1971 and 1974 - 1995.

Don Henley was the drummer and co-lead singer for the Eagles, 1971 to 1980 and from 1994 to 2016, when they reunited. Mr Henley co-wrote most of the band's songs with Glenn Frey who died in 2016.

Levon Helm was a back-up vocalist for The Band preferring to be the drummer but as Richard Manuel, the main vocalist's, health deteriorated, Mr Helm was asked to step up and be the main vocalist.

In 1965, Karen Carpenter was the drummer in the Richard Carpenter Trio with her brother Richard and upright bassist Les Jacob. Ms Carpenter did not sing as these duties were covered by a guest vocalist. However, as she became more confident she took on the singing assignment whilst maintaining the drumming role for the band. The Carpenters' soft-rock sound was formed and the hits followed. There was an interlude in 1978 when Mr Carpenter was addicted to Quaaludes and went into rehabilitation. In hindsight, Ms Carpenter was suffering from anorexia nervosa at this time, and she battled this terrible disease for five years before died when she was only 32, in 1983.

Answer: Travis Barker

In the early eighties, punk rock had smoothed out somewhat and pop punk started to emerge. The sound was based on fast tempos, distorted electric guitars with power chord changes from the punk side of the ledger fused with pop-influenced melodies, and similar subject material in the lyrics. The first hints of punk pop emerged when bands such as Bad Religion, Descendents, and The Vandals came to sound more melodious. This inspired the formation of bands such as The Offspring in 1984 (Drummer - Welty) and Green Day in 1987 (Cool), though it was several years before either band had mainstream commercial success. Blink-182 (Barker), formed in 1992 as Blink, had major commercial success with their third album, "Enema of the State" (1999) with Jimmy Eat World (Lind) hitting the big time in 2001 with their fourth album "Bleed American".

Arguably these bands were the best examples of the genre. Because of the defining fast tempo of songs, a good drummer was essential and it is no coincidence that these four bands were successful because, in part, their drummers were exceptionally good.

Blink-182, often dismissed as a novelty act because of their toilet humour in song lyrics, came of age with that defining third album. The third single, "Adam's Song", was not only a departure lyric wise, taking on a difficult topic such teen suicide, it was the making of Travis Barker. The complexity of his fills and groove were exemplary. He never looked back.

Answer: Metallica

Metallica was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 when drummer Lard Ulrich advertised for a guitarist. James Hetfield answered the ad and Metallica was born. They soon adopted an aggressive fast -paced brand of music and became one of the founding "big four" bands of thrash metal with Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer. By the time they released their fifth album in 1991, simply called "Metallica" they had developed to appeal to a mainstream type of audience, as witnessed by this album selling over 16 million copies in the United States alone.

Metallica's success increased with the intensity of Mr Ulrich's drumming: at first he was known for fast, aggressive thrash beats. He would often utilise the double bass technique in Latin break-beats. This style was copied by other metal drummers. His style then evolved into bringing groove in his drum style, including consistent heavy drum fills interspersed with a groove that utilised clean and fast double bass beats. Sometimes Mr Ulrich would sync with the rhythm guitarist rather than the bass player, the latter of which which is the norm.

Answer: False

Throughout the lifespan of Fleetwood Mac there has been no change of personnel to the rhythm section whilst there has been a myriad of changes to the rest of the band. Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie were a formidable duo from the blues rock of the late sixties through the Lindsay Buckingham-Stevie Nicks era from the mid-70s. These two did not sing nor write songs (although there were some band credits) but they just let loose with pounding driving rhythms which the rest of the band wove melodies and lyrics around. Mr McVie said to play well he would "watch Mick play [his drums and] and just follow".

While Mr Buckingham and Ms Nicks received most of the plaudits for "Fleetwood Mac" (1975) and "Rumours" (1977), it was the swooning drumming fill that launches "Dreams" and the visceral punch of tom-tom counterpoint to Mr Buckingham's driving guitar in "Go Your Own Way" that made good songs great on these two.

Mr Fleetwood did get his big break in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers but it was guitarist Peter Green who invited him in 1967 where he joined John McVie. Mr Green left that group in June 1967 and invited Mr Fleetwood and Mr McVie to form Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac. The "Peter Green" part was dropped by their second album.

Mick Fleetwood was married to Jennie Boyd from 1970-1977. George Harrison was married to her sister Pattie Boyd from 1967 to 1977 so the two were brothers-in-law for seven years though Mr Fleetwood was not Eric Clapton's brother-in-law when Pattie married Mr Clapton in 1977 as Jennie and Mr Fleetwood were divorced by then.