Our penultimate Tuesday Top Ten for this '80s-centric Rocktober is going to be another fun one. I have always loved a good drum fill, and a few years back, some friends of mine started calling particularly good drum fills "delicious fills," a term I have happily adopted.
A drum fill is one of those things that you know and recognize instantly, but it's not so easy to define if you're trying to explain it to someone else. I think this article from Online Drummer does a good job of explaining it. Basically, a drum fill is a break from the the main drum beat in a song, where the drummer adds some extra flourishing beats that either provide a segue between parts of the song or just add some flavor to make the song better. These are the parts when you're most likely to find yourself air drumming. Sometimes a drum fill is the signature moment in a song.
There are some drummers who were particularly adept at fills. Ginger Baker, Bill Ward, John Bonham, Keith Moon, Ian Paice, and Alex Van Halen immediately come to mind. If you want to hear a master class in drum fills, start with Ginger Baker. Listen to Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love," where Baker's fills are constant and delicious. He could have just played the song straight and it would have been fine, but he didn't, and the song was that much better -- yet another example of why Baker is arguably the best rock drummer of all-time.
Now, what makes a fill "delicious" is, of course, in the eye (or ear) of the beholder. Here are a couple of my thoughts:
- The length of a fill can add to its deliciousness, but just because a fill is short doesn't mean it's not delicious. Also, if a drum fill becomes too long, it ventures into the "drum solo" world, which isn't what we're talking about here.
- For me, for a drum fill to be considered a "delicious fill," it should be in the middle of the song, rather than at the beginning or the end. That's not to say a fill near the beginning of a song can't be delicious. Alex Van Halen's fill eight seconds into "Dance the Night Away" (which was released in 1979, so isn't included on the list below) is one of my favorites.
- Also, for me, a drum fill is more effective -- and, therefore, more likely to be "delicious" -- when there isn't singing over it or a lot of other instruments muffling it.
The '80s had some great and memorable fills, and they aren't limited to hard rock and metal. Below are my ten favorite delicious fills from the '80s, in alphabetical order by artist. I'm also listing the drummer's name and the time of the delicious fills. Some of the songs have multiple fills, and I've noted the approximate time in the song of each of the fills. For the YouTube embeds, I made it so they start a few seconds before the drum fill (or the first drum fill if there are several), although please note that the time of the fills in the videos doesn't always match up with the time in the actual recorded songs, as there may have been some important dialogue in a video prior to the music starting. As expected, it was tough to narrow this down to only ten, so I'm also giving you an honorable mention category again. Check everything out, and air drum like a motherfucker.
1. "In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins (1981)
Drummer: Phil Collins
Time(s) of Fill(s): 3:16
As the drum fill that has inspired a thousand viral copycats, this is one of the most famous -- and delicious -- drum fills of all-time. It would be criminal to have a top ten list of delicious drum fills, regardless of decade limitations, without including "In The Air Tonight."
2. "Money For Nothing" by Dire Straits (1985)
Drummer: Terry Williams
Time(s) of Fill(s): 0:11-0:35, 0:47
"Money for Nothing" was a huge hit for Dire Straits, and before we hear Mark Knopfler's signature guitar riff, there is a flurry of delicious fills as the song builds at the beginning. Feel free to disregard the homophobic lyrics later on in the song.
3. "Rocket Queen" by Guns N' Roses (1987)
Drummer: Steven Adler
Time(s) of Fill(s): 3:44
As I've told you many times, "Rocket Queen" is, was, and always will be my favorite Guns N' Roses song. One of the main reasons I love this song so much is Steven Adler's drumming. From the first blast of his drums that starts the song out, he drives the song. And frankly, he deserves some extra love for this song because all that moaning during the middle of the song is actual audio of Axl Rose banging Steven Adler's then-girlfriend in the studio. In addition to generally great drum work throughout the song, Adler has a very delicious fill after the song starts its heartfelt second half.
4. "Alone" by Heart (1987)
Drummer: Denny Carmassi
Time(s) of Fill(s): 1:55
"Alone" makes its second Tuesday Top Ten appearance in a row. Not only is it one of my favorite power ballads from the '80s, but it also has one of my favorite drum fills, courtesy of Denny Carmassi at the 1:55 mark, when the delicious fill after the second verse kicks off the most dramatic part of the song, with Ann Wilson displaying her vocal prowess with a massive yowl before the chorus. In the video, the delicious fill happens to coincide with a shot of a cleavage-forward Nancy Wilson riding a horse.
5. "Jack and Diane" by John Mellencamp (1982)
Drummer: Kenny Aronoff
Time(s) of Fill(s): 2:32
Aronoff was Mellencamp's longtime drummer, and he has been a studio and touring drummer with dozens of other artists. I believe his nickname is the "World's Greatest Drummer," or something like that, and his ability to play well in pretty much any genre has earned him that nickname. "Jack and Diane" is one of Mellencamp's most popular and enduring songs, and Aronoff's drum fill just before the bridge is, in fact, delicious.
6. "Fallen Angel" by Poison (1988)
Drummer: Ricki Rockett
Time(s) of Fill(s): 0:11, 3:02
This is possibly my favorite Poison song, and part of the reason is Ricki Rockett's delicious fill that comes both near the beginning and end of the song.
7. "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds (1985)
Drummer: Mel Gaynor
Time(s) of Fill(s): 3:43, 4:01
"Don't You (Forget About Me)" is the song that most reminds us of The Breakfast Club, as it played both during the opening credits (though that was a demo) and famously during the closing credits, as the "Breakfast Club's" letter to Principal Vernon is narrated. But don't you dare overlook drummer Mel Gaynor's delicious fill near the end of the song, as it sounded like the song was winding down, before Gaynor's machine gun fill smacks the song back into reality and lead singer Jim Kerr takes us home.
8. "Africa" by Toto (1982)
Drummer: Jeff Porcaro
Time(s) of Fill(s): 1:06
Toto's beloved 1982 song "Africa" features a delicious fill from drummer Jeff Porcaro just before the first chorus.
9. "I'll Wait" by Van Halen (1984)
Drummer: Alex Van Halen
Time(s) of Fill(s): 0:41, 0:58, 1:30, 1:48, 2:38-2:48, 3:30, 4:03, 4:19
AVH had a lot of delicious fills in the '80s (see the honorable mention below for some other examples), but I went with "I'll Wait" off of 1984. While it's probably my least favorite song on the album, Alex's drum fills are constant and delicious. I didn't even list all of the fills from the song.
10. "Radar Love" by White Lion (1989)
Drummer: Greg D'Angelo
Time(s) of Fill(s): 3:18-3:50
On their 1989 Big Game album, Danish-American hard rockers White Lion covered Dutch hard rockers Golden Earring's classic driving song "Radar Love," and I think they paid good homage to the original. While there are several smaller delicious fills in the song (for instance at 1:19, 1:28, and 1:57), drummer Greg D'Angelo lets loose for about 20 seconds in the middle of the song, first with a fill that borders on a solo, and then will a couple follow-up fills.
Honorable mention: "Caught in a Mosh" by Anthrax (1987; Charlie Benante; 0:41, 3:47); "Burnin' For You" by Blue Öyster Cult (1981; Albert Bouchard; 1:33-1:44, 2:34, 3:20); "Love" by The Cult (1985; Mark Brzezicki; 4:00); "Holy Diver" by Dio (1983; Vinnie Appice; 1:38, 1:51, 2:15, 2:24, 2:35, 3:12, 4:19, 4:50, 5:00, 5:11); "Wasted Years" by Iron Maiden (1986; Nicko McBrain; 3:38); "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me" by Billy Joel (1980; Liberty DeVitto; 1:22, 2:24); "Screaming for Vengeance" by Judas Priest (1982; Dave Holland; 1:16); "Your Love" by The Outfield (1985; Alan Jackman; 0:28, 1:29, 2:26, 2:40); "Over the Mountain" by Ozzy Osbourne (1981; Lee Kerslake; 0:00); "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" by The Police (1981; Stewart Copeland; 2:57); "Drop Dead Legs" by Van Halen (1984; Alex Van Halen; 1:32); "Jump" by Van Halen (1984; Alex Van Halen; 0:12, 1:13, 1:58, 3:16); "Mean Street" by Van Halen (1981; Alex Van Halen; 0:42)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment