I was having a conversation with my wife last night about why do people feel that we need attractive people to sing in bands. I liked the music of Milli Vanilli. Who cares who was signing it. And then I came up with list of ugliest bands. And she was no one listens to bands like Rush or Kiss though. Only lame old dudes listen to bands like those. And she was right. Why do guys listen to such shitty music?
But the list of ugliest dudes bands: Rush, Paul Simon, Lou Reed, Motorhead, Kiss, Tom Petty, the edge, Joe Cocker, Meatloaf, Dee Snyder, the Ramones, Radiohead. Oh and Billy Joel and Rick Ocasek.
Rush isn't a band it is a conglomeration of talentless hacks.
I absolutely hate Rush but to say that drummer is talentless is ridiculous.
The drummer might be the worst part of Rush. Not only does he have no clue as to the point of a drummer in a band he writes some of the worst lryics of all time. This is why I don't get it when people say Ringo Starr is not a great drummer. Of course he is. Being a talented musician has no relation to how many drums you can hit and how fast you can hit them It has to do with making good music. Maureen Tucker is a great drummer. The Velvet Underground would have been awful if you had some guy trying to steal the show back on drums.
Wow. I may be agreeing with atomic twice in one day.
But I agree. I think rating a musician on technical proficiency is as stupid as those reality shows who try to find music stars by just judging which notes they can hit. And not the songs they sing.
Neil Peart, I guess, is a very technically skilled drummer who can probably get perfect scores on "Drum Hero" but if Rush songs bore me to tears (which they do) then the battle is lost.
Stephen Malkmus had a great theory about how the better (more technically precise) a drummer got in a band, the worse they got. I believe R.E.M. and Husker Du were two of his examples.
It's all masturbatory bullshit. Rating WHO'S THE GREATEST DRUMMER or WHO SHREDS THE MOST ON GUITAR? Eddie or Yngwie? If they don't have songs, nothing matters.
Every macho dickweed slagged off Meg White as a drummer but I thought she was great. She didn't have to play "YYZ" to be half of a great live band. I'll admit, the way her titties bounced when she drummed does influence my decision.
Brian
P.S. Charlie Watts from the Stones. He's another great drummer in my book.