1980's The Drumming Importance of Michael

In this installment of our great drummers of each decade series we find ourselves in the 1980’s.  There are dozens of great drummers from this era.  Lars Ulrich of Metallica, Dave Lombardo of Slayer, even Phil Collins became a household drummer name thanks to his sweet sounding gated reverb tom fills from “In the air tonight.”

As I researched the 1980’s I came across Michael Jacksons “Thriller” album and I feel that this album can help any drummer of any style to succeed because it touches on the fundamental lesson of our craft.  The dance.

Drumming is the eldest instrument, even outdating the voice.  It represents the heartbeat and in the most indigenous tribes of Africa the drummer is regarded with supreme authority because only he can speak with the God’s.  When the drummer or drummers played the tribe danced honoring the Gods.

It seems that in today’s competitive driven world we as drummers have overlooked that fundamental lesson in our craft.  We strive now to be the fastest or the one with the most blazing fill.  We forget that we are there to support the tribe, in this case the band and the audience. In doing that it means we must mature at our craft taking away ego driven fills and tempos and replacing them with movement and space. 

I chose “Thriller” for the 80’s because it is not the drummer I seek to listen to.  It is the immortal Michael Jackson.  In this tribe he is the leader of the drum circle and we must support him.  In return we shall dance!