Drummers and the stuff they popularized

Kenny Clarke - Time-keeping on the ride cymbal.

Bernard Purdie - The shuffle...the Purdie Shuffle.

Charlie Watts - No hi-hat on 2 & 4...just snare.

Keith Moon - Destroying drum kits.

Levon Helm - Singing and drumming? (Anyone, correct me if I'm wrong on this one...)

Tony Williams (and Vinnie Colaiuta) - The 'Blush-da' lick.

'Gene' from Blue Oyster Cult - The Cowbell. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)
 
Carl Palmer, Large Gong and Bell as part of kit.

Allman Bros Band. First time that I saw Two drum kits in one band. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Passing out on stage! Numerous drummers!

Throwing sticks at the audience. Can't remember who did that first.

Smashing kit on stage. We all know who that was.
Carl Palmer what a great drummer but Bonham brought Gongs to the rock kit if i'm not mistaken.


Bonzolead
 
Allman Bros Band. First time that I saw Two drum kits in one band. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Not quite so:

Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead, 1968 with the release of Anthem of the Sun. Hart joined the band in late '67 after Kreutzmann was the sole drummer on the eponymous first Grateful Dead album.

The Allman Bros were formed in 1969.
 
Again, this isn't about who was first, it's about who is the most widely recognized for something.

It would be a good thread: drumming 1st.

For example: Billy Cobham/quadrant 4 was the basis for AVH/Hot for teacher shuffle beat.
 
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Not quite so:

Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead, 1968 with the release of Anthem of the Sun. Hart joined the band in late '67 after Kreutzmann was the sole drummer on the eponymous first Grateful Dead album.

The Allman Bros were formed in 1969.
Thank you, I was already corrected on that in a post in this thread and a PM. Frank Zappa was also mentioned.
 
Ringo...playing open hats for sloshy sound for entire song. Also first to really detune toms to super low pitch....Day in the Life for example.
We owe Moon thanks for the hefty hardware we all enjoy today. In the early days he would mount his racks with TWO Rogers tom holders, one mounted right infront of the other on the kick.
Peart made elfs and wizards popular.
 
Don't forget the great Martin Drew, who played with Oscar Peterson for many, many years. His "equipment" contribution, as I remember, was that he invented and patented a seat cushion for drummers with hemorrhoids. Invaluable for the afflicted!

Paul
 
Yep, I did take into account that Bill did that, but per Rush fans and MTV, more simmons were sold due to Neil. He was the popularizer, but not necessarily the 1st.

According to Rush fans, Neil invented ALL drumming. Not the best standard, and MTV is hardly an objective measure, except for those who actually watch MTV. One thing I will credit Neil for is for his scripted drum solos. A tribute to his incredible attention to detail and precision, and a curse to breathability and spontaneity..

Bruford was way ahead of his time, and was the first artist who popularized the Simmons kit as their chief representative for years, until that disastrous Madison Square Garden gig, when the entire system went down, and he had a drum duet with Alan White, armed with only two cymbals, a high hat and a snare drum against White's mega-arsenal.

I'll add Carl Palmer for drum synthesizers, and perhaps the revolving riser for solos (I'm sure his mentor, Buddy Rich, did the same, however). The Moody Blues started the drum machine travesty...

Carl Palmer what a great drummer but Bonham brought Gongs to the rock kit if i'm not mistaken.

I think Palmer beat him out by a year or two. I don't think Zep introduced the gong into their music (or Bonzo's solos) until after LZ IV came out. Could be wrong, however. ELP had gong in their music from the first album in 1970 onward.
 
According to Rush fans, Neil invented ALL drumming. ..

I used to say the same thing about Travis Barker fans....
...but in this case, I remember seeing Rush all over MTV in the mid 80's with the Simmons, at that point I had still never seen Bruford or King Crimson. The exposure the simmons got was pretty huge and sold a lot. Much like the Peartians flooded store and bought tons of huge red tama superstar kits. My neighbor *had to* have a simmons kit to add to his kit.

I think Gene Krupa beat Ringo to low tuning by a number of decades. I don't know how to scope the popularity because big band was hot back then, even overseas. Jury is out for that.

Was it Uriel Jones that popularized the Motown kick drum sound? Even though few knew who he was, everyone heard his work. He describes the sound in "standing in the shadows of motown." It's different than rock of the 60's or bigband, because it has some thump, and sustain. In fact, it's a pretty good universal sound now.
 
Was it Uriel Jones that popularized the Motown kick drum sound? Even though few knew who he was, everyone heard his work. He describes the sound in "standing in the shadows of motown." It's different than rock of the 60's or bigband, because it has some thump, and sustain. In fact, it's a pretty good universal sound now.

I believe it was that old cardboard box he referred to that had that irreplaceable
thump sound that he loved. He spoke of how hard it was to replicate that sound
in the studio on an actual kick drum.
 
Gene Krupa.

Taken from Mr. Krupa's biography:

1) Gene has often been considered to be the first drum "soloist." Drummers usually had been strictly time-keepers or noisemakers, but Krupa interacted with the other musicians and introduced the extended drum solo into jazz.

2) Gene is also considered the father of the modern drumset since he convinced H.H. Slingerland, of Slingerland Drums, to make tuneable tom-toms. Tom-toms up to that point had "tacked" heads, which left little ability to change the sound. The new drum design was introduced in 1936 and was termed "Seperate Tension Tunable Tom-Toms."

3) Krupa was called on by Avedis Zildjian to help with developing the modern hi-hat cymbals. The original hi-hat was called a "low-boy" which was a floor level cymbal setup which was played with the foot. This arrangement made it nearly impossible for stick playing.

4) Gene's first recording session was a historical one. It occured in December of 1927 when he is noted to be the first drummer to record with a bass drum. Krupa, along with rest of the McKenzie-Condon Chicagoans were scheduled to record at OKeh Records in Chicago. OKeh's Tommy Rockwell was apprehensive to record Gene's drums but gave in. Rockwell said "All right, but I'm afraid the bass drum and those tom-toms will knock the needle off the wax and into the street."


From the Ziljian site:

Krupa asked Zildjian to develop a thinner cymbal, which immediately became very popular. He also helped promote the use of more special-purpose cymbals. This had a big impact on the Zildjian Company's developmental efforts

Great post. I think most of us here use their own conscious memory as the starting point for many of the "firsts."

When i was a kid, I thought Carl Palmer was the first to have a non-improvised snare-dominated drum solo on a studio recording (Baker and Bonham used primarily toms), until I read that Carl grew up listening to Gene, Buddy and Louie. A little research educated me quite a bit.

And this is doubtless true of most of these perceived pioneering efforts.
 
Travis Barker popularized punk drumming. No he did not invent it nor did he invent punk, but thousands of drummers attribute thier start to him. I would say he's the reason that punk had seen a resurgence in the early 2000s. The reason i give credit to him and not blink as a whole, with out Travis there would be no Blink. (and that is true in more ways than one, you can look it up if you'd like or just accept that i already have. LOL. =D j/k j/k)

so yeah...

Travis Barker = Punk Drumming
 
Travis Barker popularized punk drumming. No he did not invent it nor did he invent punk, but thousands of drummers attribute thier start to him. I would say he's the reason that punk had seen a resurgence in the early 2000s. The reason i give credit to him and not blink as a whole, with out Travis there would be no Blink. (and that is true in more ways than one, you can look it up if you'd like or just accept that i already have. LOL. =D j/k j/k)

so yeah...

Travis Barker = Punk Drumming

If you're going to go that route, Tre Cool and Green Day were before Blink 182.
 
Bonham - cranking the reso heads way higher than the batter.

Correct me if I'm wrong...
 
If you're going to go that route, Tre Cool and Green Day were before Blink 182.

yeah i know that, and while addmitedly i may be a little young to remember when they started. I don't remember watching those guys and going "ZOMGWTF!! Did you see that!!" the first couple of times I watched them. Travis brought a whole new aspect to it, and made it fresh enough, original enough, and catchy enough to be noticed by ALOT more people.

not to take anything away Tre Cool, i definitely enjoy his drumming, he's just not Travis.
 
According to Rush fans, Neil invented ALL drumming. Not the best standard, and MTV is hardly an objective measure, except for those who actually watch MTV. One thing I will credit Neil for is for his scripted drum solos. A tribute to his incredible attention to detail and precision, and a curse to breathability and spontaneity..

Bruford was way ahead of his time, and was the first artist who popularized the Simmons kit as their chief representative for years, until that disastrous Madison Square Garden gig, when the entire system went down, and he had a drum duet with Alan White, armed with only two cymbals, a high hat and a snare drum against White's mega-arsenal.

I'll add Carl Palmer for drum synthesizers, and perhaps the revolving riser for solos (I'm sure his mentor, Buddy Rich, did the same, however). The Moody Blues started the drum machine travesty...


I think Palmer beat him out by a year or two. I don't think Zep introduced the gong into their music (or Bonzo's solos) until after LZ IV came out. Could be wrong, however. ELP had gong in their music from the first album in 1970 onward.
Bonham brought the gong in 1970 for the LZIII tour and along with that he also had tympani's CP is one of my favorite's but JB is where is at the whole package (feel,power,& showmanship)

But I will say CP has one of the best snare solos I've ever seen he did a solo with just a snare drum very very cool.

Keep Swattin,
Bonzolead
 
yeah i know that, and while addmitedly i may be a little young to remember when they started. I don't remember watching those guys and going "ZOMGWTF!! Did you see that!!" the first couple of times I watched them. Travis brought a whole new aspect to it, and made it fresh enough, original enough, and catchy enough to be noticed by ALOT more people.

not to take anything away Tre Cool, i definitely enjoy his drumming, he's just not Travis.

I just remember working in a music store, and suddenly, instead of just Metallica and Nirvana wanna be's, tons of kids walking in with the punk look, going on about Green Day as if they had just invented a whole new musical style that no one had every played before.

I was just sitting there thinking, Sex Pistols anyone?
Hello, not new. LOL.

But I guess Barker did take it to a different level, being covered in tattoos with a little more of a flashy style of playing, and becoming a celebrity outside of just drumming for a band. He has a bit of what Tommy Lee had going for him in the 80s.
 
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