December 2021 – Volume 45 • Number 12
On 10th Jan 2022
Articles in December 2021
Jack DeJohnette Excerpted From The October 1989 Issue
“I’m having more fun with music,” says Jack DeJohnette. “Now that I’m in my mid-40s, I don’t take everything so seriously. As I let go of a lot of past fears and false illusions about what music is supposed to…
Nick Mason
Excerpted from the November 2011 issue How do you feel about your drumming on the many classic Pink Floyd cuts? I’ve always been a bit disparaging of my own playing. I tend to listen to things and wish I’d done…
Keith Moon Elected to Hall of Fame in 1982
Excerpted from the September 2003 issue In his last interview, published posthumously in October 1978, Keith told International Musician and Recording World, “You can’t work out things too much. We do certain build-ups and things, but you can run into…
Art Blakey Excerpted from the September 1984 issue
The first rays of dusk suffuse Art Blakey’s Greenwich Village apartment with shards of amber gray light, and as the shadows dance upon his brow, Blakey’s face takes on a totemic grace. The snow-white hair fades out of the foreground…
Roger Taylor Excerpted from the March 1985 issue
What prompted you to start playing drums? When I was at school, I used to listen to the radio and records a lot. When I was younger, it was sort of the start of the techno-rock thing. I was brought…
Larry Mullen A candid interview with the drummer
Excerpted from the August 1985 issue Let me say first of all that I don’t do interviews, ever. I did them when the band started, and then 1 stopped because I didn’t enjoy them. I’ve seen issues of Modern Drummer.…
Buddy Rich Elected to Hall of Fame in 1980
Excerpted from the January 1977 issue When it comes to interviewing Buddy, one must learn to expect the unexpected. You can end up with a first rate story, or no story at all. He’s a very intense human being, with…
Toppermost of the Poppermost
Pop-Culture Triumphs, 1977-2021 Modern Drummer has reported on a colossal number of drummers in its 45-year history, but pop-culture doesn’t revolve solely around drums and drumming. (Drats!) Creativity does not exist in a vacuum. Other events tend to inspire, inform,…
12 Iconic Punk-Rock Drummers Sound Off
We spun through the MD archives to collect some brash, aggro wisdom from punk-rock, punk-pop, or post-punk drummers who have shared their musical insights in these pages. Punk isn’t always about diving blindly into intensity with limited technique, and some…
Bill Bruford
Excepted from the January/February 1979 issue Bill Bruford has never attained the widespread fame of Carl Palmer or Billy Cobham. But whenever Bruford’s name is mentioned, it is almost invariably prefaced by the term ‘’drummer extraordinaire” or ‘’precise percussionist.” Bruford,…
Phil Collins
Excerpted from the March/April 1979 issue Phil Collins’ muscular arms are flowing as his hands snap out the illusive 6/8 beat. The music swells around and through him while his piercing eyes look inward, directing his movements. Collins is an…
By the Numbers MD Covers Reveal Drum-Culture Stats
Forty-five years provides a lot of perspective on the artists, styles, and techniques Modern Drummer has covered, as well as how those subjects informed the drum community from year to year. Any magazine editor will tell you that choosing cover…
Neil Peart Elected to Hall of Fame in 1983
Excerpted from the April/May 1980 issue How did you become involved with Rush? The usual chain of circumstances and accidents. I came from a city that’s about 60 or 70 miles from Toronto. A few musicians from my area had…
45 Years of a Vibrant Community
It’s just unbelievable how quickly 45 years can go by. It was 1977, when founder Ron Spagnardi launched what the world would come to know, love, and behold as Modern Drummer magazine. Modern Drummer is much more than a magazine.…
Martin Chambers
Excerpted from the July 1982 issue The single biggest influence in Martin Chambers’ onstage attitude and playing considerations was Keith Moon. “He was a very good player and a very talented free player, much like Mitch Mitchell. But the thing…
John Bonham Elected to Hall of Fame in 1981
Excerpted from the John Bonham tribute issue, July 1984 John Bonham played, for the most part, a very simple drumkit, consisting of a 14x26 bass drum, a 12x15 small tom—at first mounted on a snare stand and later on the…
Remembering Ron Spagnardi
Quotes from the Original Fearless Leader No plan. No staff. Just a grand passion, the personal savings of Ron Spagnardi and his wife Isabel, and the sweat entity of his dad and their daughter. There was little hope that a…
Peter Erskine Excerpted from the January 1983 issue
If Peter Erskine isn’t careful, he’s going to start giving jazz, musicians a good name. I mean, we all know about the reputation jazz players have with the general public, right? The stereotypical jazzer is perceived to be a sullen,…
Stewart Copeland
Excerpted from the October 1982 issue How did the Police come about? I was on tour with Curved Air. We had a night off and a local journalist took me around to see his favorite local group, which was a…
