The Don Henley debate

k3ng

Silver Member
I was just having this small 'debate' with a mate the other day.

Would you consider Don Henley a drummer? Well he's nothing on Phil Collins of course, but would you consider him a fully fledged drummer or just a singer/songwriter who so happens to play drums as well?

I'm convinced that he can be mentioned as a drummer. Though my mate says he hasn't done any serious 'drumming' to be merited the title.

Just a fun thing to share your thoughts on. Take it away guys.
 
I was just having this small 'debate' with a mate the other day.

Would you consider Don Henley a drummer? Well he's nothing on Phil Collins of course, but would you consider him a fully fledged drummer or just a singer/songwriter who so happens to play drums as well?

I'm convinced that he can be mentioned as a drummer. Though my mate says he hasn't done any serious 'drumming' to be merited the title.

Just a fun thing to share your thoughts on. Take it away guys.

Well, I believe he was a drummer before he was a singer or songwriter...I may be wrong here.

He worked for The Eagles so yeah....you are right here I reckon.
 
He has recorded so many songs as a drummer, with the eagles and lets not forget they started as Linda Ronstat's band.I am sure he as recorded with many more then this.
If that is not a drummer I do not know what is.

But I have to say, that man knows how to write a great song!
 
Just the fact that he can sing and play drums at the same time makes him a very talented singer AND drummer in my book!
 
Well I've never had a debate on this subject but he's definitely a drummer. He plays drums and sings but if you've sold millions of albums as a drummer then..... yeah. I guess I don't understand how you can debate this at all.
 
Yeah, I can see how you could get into a "debate", but, in my book, the way he always played for the song, and had such great time...I'd say he did some "serious drumming".

Not "complicated" drumming as far as a ton of notes, but most have found it harder to play less, and slower, and keep it going exactly the same for 3 or more minutes, than doing a bunch of "cool drum sh*t".

I'm not a big Eagles or Don Henley fan really, but I can appreciate what he's done.
 
He's world famous with the Eagles and has made a living for over three decades. In my book that makes him a professional musician who plays the drums.
 
in my books if you play and are learning drums you're a drummer. but if you play drums in a band, particularly a successful band then you are unquestioningly a drummer. i don't really get the debate. i think your friend's values are skew. does he consider someone a drummer for agiven value or 'serious'? does he only class people as drummers if they do something unique on the drums? or that they only play drums and not other instruments or vocals? phil rudd plays no more or less complex drumming than don. is he not a drummer? what about meg white?

j
 
Henley is amazing. An incredible talent. His music will be remembered for generations to come.

As a drummer he played for the music. Simple and solid.
 
Crazy argument...the man played the drums on numerous mutli million selling albums and toured the world with the Eagles in countless performances playing drums to millions of people. If he's not a drummer then he faked it pretty good all those years.

I believe Don would probably be proud to say he is a drummer first as would Phil Colins...
 
I agree with Nutha, if you play the drums in a successful band for that many years you are definitely a drummer. The fact that he can sing, is an incredible writer just makes him a terrific musician and a credit to the rest of us drummers...we are musicians.

Perhaps your friend is confusing being a "speed drummer" or one who focuses on complicated patterns, etc. with being necessary to qualify as a drummer...playing simply and for the music can count for more in my opinion toward "being" a drummer.

My two cents...
 
This is an example of how drummers can feel insecure about the role they play in a band. We are musicians, and musicians are artists. Drums are our vehicle. On the road there are Hummers, VW's, trucks, sports cars, all kinds. Personally debating about music is like debating about religion. It either moves you or doesn't. Don Henley most probably goes to bed thinking about his tom sounds, and his kit, a song or venue. The cultural role we play in our circuses has to be accounted for as well. Levon Helm is another example, Ringo.....
 
Henley is a great drummer. His feel for what the songs needed or need is great. He might not be a chop master deluxe, but not all bands need that and part of what makes him great is that he was OK with that concept. His song writing talent is a bonus.
 
I love Don Henley. As a singer, songwriter, producer, and, of course, a drummer!

He's been drumming for 40 years, people!

There IS NO debate.

Next?
 
I wasn't going to pipe in on this, but I was joking with a friend at work about it and how ridiculous it was.

Not only is Henley a drummer, he is a professional drummer.
 
Hmm, there seems to be way too much agreement in this thread, and we can't have that on an internet forum.

While it's clearly ridiculous to simply argue that Don's not a drummer since he played the drums for the Eagles, I don't think that was his primary role. His contributions in the areas of songwriting and singing were much greater than his contributions in drumming. I suppose that's my opinion, but you never see Don pop up as a big influence on another drummer. You can certainly like his drumming if you want, but it wasn't his biggest contribution to music. So I'm going to change the statement of the argument: Don Henley isn't a drummer first and foremost. He's a fantastic songwriter and a good singer, and his drumming was good for the music. While sometimes being a good songwriter can put you on a list of the top 100 guitar players or whatever(*cough* Kurt Cobain *cough*), even though I think it shouldn't, it's probably not going to win you many drumming awards.

Now we have at least a little discord.
 
Strangely enough, just listening to Hotel California; heard a lot of worse drummers that Don Henley. Some of his 'simple stuff' is deceptively intricate - but then again I love the Eagles and don't like Phil Collins...
 
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