The good grooves
I love a good drum groove. I'll take Steve Gadd over some octopus-styled prog-rock drummer any day. What Gadd did on so many Paul Simon recordings (50 Ways To Leave Your Lover, Have a Good Time, Late in the Evening) is of more interest to me than anything Neil Peart has ever done.
This is not to say that a drummer cannot show off their chops. John Blackwell is mind-blowing but even when he's twirling sticks and doing crossovers behind his back he is thinking about the groove; it's all about the groove.
James Brown's drummers (particularly Clyde Stubblefield and Jabo Starks, together and alone) are constant inspirations - and I can listen to straight drum-only grooves by Bernard Purdie (in fact I do, with this album and its sequel volume.)
I am not sure I could name all of my favourite groove players or my favourite grooves, but I think of Stevie Wonder - particularly Superstition, Higher Ground, You Haven't Done Nothin' and I Wish. I think of anything with Steve Gadd on it (especially Paul Simon's solo work) and I think of Steely Dan (Gadd of course is crucial there with his sight-reading work on the title track of Aja).
Jazz, soul and funk are key places to find an emphasis on the drum groove. Certain pop tunes too of course - but you can't forget rock. Charlie Watts creates signature grooves for The Rolling Stones by never p
laying the hi-hat on the two and the four when he is hitting the snare. And by choosing to lock in with Keith Richards's rhythm guitar rather than the bass line. What about Aerosmith's Walk This Way - as good as the strut of the riff is, the song needs that drum groove to make it work.
A good drum groove might be Questlove just laying the butt of the stick down on the rim, creating a fat, deep click. Or it might be Purdie with the ghost-notes working to create that magic shuffle. It could be the various Gadd-isms that include playing with four sticks, making that triplet-feel between the hi-hat, snare and bass really dance and blending Latin and jazz styles with soul and pop.
A good drum groove could come from a monster play like Keith Carlock (check this out). But a really flashy, over-the-top player might not make a piece really groove.
But a good drum groove - and a good groove player - might come from music you don't really care about. I have almost nothing positive to say about The Dave Matthews Band. It is thin music, wannabe world-pop that sounds like a very poor version of The Grateful Dead in their early 1990s gigs. But the band's drummer, Carter Beauford, is a tasteful and talented player. And he has really created some great grooves to sit beneath the very average songs.
Play an album like Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years, or Steely Dan's Aja (I particularly like Peg)and you will hear how subtle a great drum groove can be.
Play Primus's John the Fisherman and you will hear a subverted funk approach sounding almost incongruous within a quirky alternative band.
Play anything by The Beatles and you will hear how Ringo Starr was constantly innovating - never playing the bass drum during fills, leading with the wrong hand around the toms, creating hypnotic pieces based around a simple pattern (Tomorrow Never Knows) and you will hear a drummer who could hold back and not play fills.
Speaking of not playing fills, Al Jackson was happy to just ride the cymbal or sit on the hi-hat and just push that groove into place.
DJ Shadow's Endtroducing 
is one of my favourite drum groove albums of all time. Hear how he literally builds drum grooves from scratch; taking beats and pieces from all manner of pop ephemera and making his own deep, soulful sounds by recontextualising; making hybrid patterns.
A good drum groove always has space, no matter how busy it might become. That space is best between the snare and the hi-hat.
I've told you some of my favourite drum grooves. And some of my favourite groove players...so who are some of your favourite players and what are some of your favourite pieces/songs with kick-ass grooves?
Sponsored links
Newest First
Oldest First
@ Si - yeah - both great players, fav VU grooves: Some Kinda Love, The Gift, Hey Mr Rain. And of course that's just getting started.
Femmes stuff is a lot of fun to play too.
Remi from the Stone Roses - wicked drum grooves - "Fools Gold". And Dave Lovering from the Pixies has his own unique style that has never been repeated - Surfer Rosa a prime example.
Thomas Haake pretty much beats any drummer who ever lived
yes yes on the Dave Lovering call. Way underated as a minor player in the Pixies, but to me he was the reason why I love them so much.
I was going to mention Stevie Wonder, and specifically those songs you mentioned. And i was sticking up for Ringo and Charlie on "The Hit List" blog yesterday too. The Stones would lose a lot without his groove....especially on Voodoo Lounge. Not there best album, but the drums stand out. And Ringo is magic on "Rain", and the track you mentioned. John Bonham is known as a rock drummer...one of the best of course, but listen to him on something like "Fool In The Rain", and you see there was so much more to him. Chad Smith can groove when he isn't rocking out too! Not to mention Stewart Copeland!
I love Stephen Perkins.
Check out Thomas Prigden from The Mars Volta. Here's a video of him at a Jazz fesitval, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjrSihEI5CI. He also has a whole heap of show off videos on youtube.
Also check out Aaron Spears http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPCXsVniUj0. Watching a man that big move so fast is almost hypnotizing.
John Bonham on D'yer Mak'er is fantastic. He drives that mother!
Right there with you on Endtroducing, one of the best drumming albums.
One thing that comes immediately to mind is Battles. The drummer for them is amazing (he used to be in Helmet, I think), and I think the grooves drive all of their tracks (most notably in Atlas).
Some of African Head Charge's stuff from the late 80's and early 90's constitute some of my favourite drumming moments.
From TV to a tent: Family of eight evicted
Adele's ex-boyfriend deserves credit
Mallard sells festival tickets online at profit
Homeowner's handling by police terrifies wife
Robyn Malcolm lays it all bare
Pub owners give up, open kindergarten
Can Paris Hilton save her image?
Nats to discuss Mondayising holidays
Letter: The nakedness of skateboarders
Mojo Mathers gives maiden speech
Should you take your groom's name?
Auckland, Wellington expensive for expats
NZ dollar up on strong retail spending
Reconsider Crafar farms deal, Government told
Should you take your groom's name?
Man fined for selling derogatory clothing
iPads make learning a delight for pupils
A million-plus to beat bovine TB
There is a special place in my heart for people like Mo Tucker or Victor DeLorenzo. There are few greater joys in this life than crude drummers bashing out those evil jungle rhythms. Death to the Double Kick Pedal!