Best Seat In The House : Drummers Quiz

Answer: Ringo / The Beatles

Poor old Ringo! The quote was of course by cheeky-chappy John Lennon. Ringo got lots of stick for his rather loose style of drumming, and even compliments seemed to have an underlying feel of unwarranted mockery. However, it is true that Paul McCartney had to do a bit of drumming in the studio as Ringo just couldn't get it right.

He's my favourite Beatle, partly because of his "friendly" drumming stlye, and also because he seems the least clichéd, and the most likely to be a laugh down the pub.

Answer: Mike Joyce

Joyce was in The Smiths right through their recording career, and while most focus has always been on Marr's innovative guitar playing and Morrissey's twisted wit, there's no doubt that the rhythm section was an integral part of the sound.

When The Smiths broke up in 1987 Joyce went on to work with various artists, some of whom are quite high-profile, and even on some of Morrissey's solo work. Then, in the mid-90s hostilities broke out between Joyce and Marr/Morrissey over disputed royalties which ended up with him winning a reported £1 million.

Alan "Reni" Wren and Karl Burns are fellow Mancunians and played drums in The Stone Roses and The Fall respectively. Colombian-born Billy Murcia was the original drummer in The New York Dolls. However, he died before they recorded their debut album.

Answer: Gina Schock

The Go-Go's started in 1978 and their debut album "Beauty And The Beat" was a huge success both critically and commercially. Belinda Carlisle handled vocals, although she'd briefly been the drummer in punk band The Germs, using the stage name of Dottie Danger.

Gina Schock wasn't The Go-Go's original drummer, joining in 1979 by which time they'd taken the path of power pop rather than punk.

In the UK they are remembered for the song "We Got The Beat" which was released as a single prior to the album's release there, whereas Americans seem to associate them with "Our Lips Are Sealed". The latter is frequently used as an example of a mondegreen.

Lori Black played bass in The Melvins for a while (on "Ozma") and is Shirley Temple's daughter. Kira Roessler played bass in hardcore punk band Black Flag for a bit. "Who's Got The 10 ½" live album answers its own question with the "Kira's got the ten and a half" chant.

Answer: His stepfather

Cassidy was almost twenty years Randy California's senior and had already played with big jazz names such as Cannonball Adderley, Roland Kirk, and Thelonious Monk. He'd also played with Ry Cooder. Randy California played with Jimi Hendrix, who gave him his stage name, in The Blue Flame.

The debut eponymous Spirit album came out when California was still sixteen, and it is a wonderful blend of jazzy, bluesy, psychedelic rock that has had a huge influence on music of various genres. Even at the time, Spirit's influence could be heard in Led Zeppelin, in particular Bonham's playing the drums with his bare hands during solos (taken from Cassidy), and the guitar on Zeppelin's huge hit "Stairway To Heaven" that is clearly lifted from Spirit's "Taurus".

Sadly, Randy California drowned in 1997 whilst (successfuilly) saving his son in Hawaii. Cassidy has formed numerous line-ups of Spirit, acted on TV shows, and nowadays at a ripe old age studies history.

Answer: He was born in Cuba

Bun E. Carlos was born in the band's home town, Rockford, Illinois, and along with Robin Zander (vocals) and Rick Nielsen (guitars) is an original member who has appeared on all their releases. He's known for his very un-rock image and looks more like a private detective à la Philip Marlowe.

He gave up touring in 2010 for health reasons, and his throne was taken by Nielsen's son.

His brand of coffee went on the market in the 1990s. Although he is left-handed, he can also play right-handed.

April 1st (April Fool's Day) is fittingly celebrated as Cheap Trick day in Illinois.

Answer: Ginger Baker

The album, "Levitation", is highly-regarded by Hawkwind aficionadoes, and Baker did a sterling job, but his attitude and ego was never going to work in a band led by highly-strung Dave Brock.

It wasn't the first or last time that such friction caused the band to get new members, most famously Lemmy from Motorhead and founding member Nik Turner also left the band due to conflicting personalities. At one point Brock started using drum machines due to his frustration with sloppy drummers.

Ginger made his name in Cream and has worked with a myriad of artists.

Answer: Nigeria

Nigeria's '70s music scene was one of the most vibrant of any place at any time, and even if the record buying public in the West weren't aware of it, musicians certainly were.

The influence of Afrobeat, and in particular the polyrhythym masters, can still be heard today although the African musicians who developed it are largely unsung heroes. For some reason the Germans were most explicitly influenced and Krautrock would have been a whole different kettle of fish had key players not been listening to African stuff. Krautrock had its influence on punk and more obviously post-punk bands.

If you want to see how good drumming can be without theatrics, have a butcher's at some Tony Allen clips.

Answer: Arthur Rimbaud

Penny Rimbaud has often stated that he doesn't really like rock music but he seized the chance to do something bigger than just another trend when punk emerged. When he formed Crass with Steve Ignorant in 1977 he was already a tad older than many punk rockers (he was born in 1943) and had been an art school lecturer and involved in experimental bands.

His military drumming and virulent lyrics are key features to Crass's sound, and his sound aesthetic is also dominant on Crass Records releases of other bands' stuff.

He's remained active since the demise of Crass in 1984, making music, writing books, being an upstart, and recently, remastering Crass's back catalogue.

Answer: Grand Funk Railroad

Grand Funk Railroad were huge in the US, but never really became a household name in Europe. They were reviled by critics (as were alternative choices Vanilla Fudge and Iron Butterfly), but sold records by the truckload.

Don Brewer was a founding member along with Mark Farner, who usually handled vocals. Brewer sang the lead on the band's most famous song, "We're An American Band". They've dropped and picked up the "railroad" bit of the name several times in their career, but most people refer to them as simply Grand Funk.


In 1972 the band tried to rope in Peter Frampton, who went on to play in Humble Pie, but it never happened. They are still performing in 2011.

Answer: Kenney Jones

Tough job and although Jones is a top class drummer, Keith's style was such an intrinsic part of what made The Who so good, it was never going to happen.

Kenney Jones had previously been in the hugely underrated Small Faces, who were contemporaries and rivals of The Who. Personally I think their stuff has fared better over time, mainly because they didn't try and write rock operas, and their aggressive youthful anger, tempered by a cheeky sense of humour, has kept its ferocity.

Doug Sandom was Moon's predecessor in The Who and Zak Starkey is Ringo Starr's nipper who now plays with the band.

Scot Halpin has a very special place in rock history as he stepped in for Keith Moon at a gig when Moon had passed out at his kit due to having taken elephant tranquilisers. Guitarist Pete Townsend had to ask the crowd if anybody knew how to play the drums and Halpin put his hand up and got to play in one of the world's biggest bands of all time.

Answer: Battles

Battles' drummer is John Stainer, who used to pound the skins in post-punk noise merchants Helmet. Battles are not as hardcore as Helmet and the scope is much wider. "Mirrored" was their first full album after a load of EPs, and the sound changed a little as they introduced vocals, albeit in a rather unconventional way (for rock music).

The term math rock can be applied to any of the options. It grew out of progressive rock, merging with avant-garde music (Cage/Reich), post-punk noise bands (Nomeansno/Big Black) and jazz. The rhythms are often very complicated, there aren't really any riffs or melodies, and it all sounds rather jerky and angular. The name comes from odd time signatures that change at the drop of a hat. Lyrics, if there are any, aren't very prominent and vocals are used as part of the overall sound rather than as the main focus.

Answer: Maternity leave

Not being a fan of overzealous, showy drumming, Tucker's drumming is one of the main attractions to the Velvets for me. She wasn't one for overambitious flashiness but kept a beat and gave a sound to the band.

Unfortunately she had one of the least profitable (either artistic or remunerative) careers when the band broke up and ended up working in a supermarket. Luckily, she was involved in the reformation and nowadays gets the credit she deserves.

Answer: The Allman Brothers Band

The Allman Brothers Band started in 1969 and the original drumming partnership was Butch Trucks and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson.

Their first big album was a live recording, "At Fillmore East", which featured some lengthy workouts and typified their eclectic mix of blues, country and jazzy rock, of which the dual drumming was an integral part.

They lost a couple of members to separate motorcycle accidents, one being Duane Allman. They had a hit in 1973 with "Ramblin' Man", but it all fell apart in 1976. They've reformed, split up and got back together a few times since then.

Answer: Roland

Roland was the drum machine, but was credited on the album sleeves.

Big Black were formed by Steve Albini (guitar and vocals) in 1981 and they released two albums. They were renowned for their harsh, abrasive sound and Albini's lyrics that touched upon rather dark subject matter and wasn't dealt with in a very compassionate manner. They were also fiercely independent, and shunned fame. In fact, Albini was dead against their material being released on CD, a format he abhors.

Albini went on to form Rapeman and Shellac, both bands breaking up before they could get too big, just like Big Black, and then moved into production. He's generally known more as a producer these days, having worked with the Pixies, Urge Overkill, The Wedding Present and most famously on Nirvana's "In Utero".

Ace Tone made musical instruments, including drum machines, and Robin Gibb is in the Bee Gees.

Answer: Smith

Alice Cooper was the name of the band at first and then when almost everybody left it became synonymous with lead singer, Vincent Furnier. Neal Smith was an essential part of the band who recorded two underrated albums, "Pretties For You" and "Easy Action" before changing labels and sound for "Love It To Death", "Killer", "School's Out", "Billion Dollar Babies" and "Muscle Of Love".

He formed "Billion Dollar Babies" with the other ousted members of Alice Cooper in 1974, but they flopped. He's since flitted back and forth between music and ordinary jobs. He's worked with former members of Blue Öyster Cult, Cream, Mott The Hoople, Plasmatics, Jimi Hendrix Experience and Uriah Heep.

Nick Mason is the drummer in Pink Floyd, Phil Taylor in Motorhead.