hear the drummer get wicked

...or so goes the immortal phrase of rap legend Chuck D, 46 seconds into Public Enemy's 1990 single 'Welcome To The Terrordome' (that title an inverted reference to the debut album by Frankie Goes To Hollywood).

Tonight's post is in fact more of a reference to 'Hear The Drummer (Get Wicked)' by Chad Jackson which samples Chuck D, and is one the better tracks from the early days of sampling technology, in a line that begins in something like 1982 with former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren's 'Buffalo Gals' (inspiration for Neneh Cherry's excellent 1988 'Buffalo Stance'), and goes through classics like 'Theme from S-Express' (also 1988) and '19' by Paul Hardcastle (1985).

What makes Chad Jackson cool, and so much better than scraping-the-barrel, how-did-it-even-get-released rubbish from the same time like this or this (what would I do without dodgy charity shop compilation albums?), is the way his track is such a celebration of all the drum parts he samples, and through them a celebration of the original live drumming that made it all possible.

Finally, then, after this lengthy detour, is the point of tonight's post: the inspiring rhythms of legendary drummers.  First up Steve Gadd, whose brilliant drum part propels Paul Simon's 1975 single '50 Ways To Leave Your Lover'.  The very same year Gadd also played on 'The Hustle' by Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony: talk about versatile!

To my mind at least, you can't talk about great pop music drummers without mentioning Tony Allen, self-proclaimed 'master drummer of Afrobeat, 'drummer and musical director of Fela Kuti's band Africa 70 from 1968 to 1979' (thank you wikipedia), according to Brian Eno, "perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived" and the man Blur's Damon Albarn sings "really got me dancing" before the two collaborated in The Good the Bad & the Queen.  The first Tony Allen track I ever heard is still my favourite: 'Afro Disco Beat'.  There's so much going on I could listen to it again and again all day.