Motown seems to be the record label which changed the role of the drummer from a musician who accompanied the band and kept time to a musician who drove the band’s performance with a driving 4-to-the-bar beat.
On classic 60s Motown smashes such as “Uptight” by Stevie Wonder and “Reach Out I’ll Be There” by Four Tops we hear Benny Benjamin or Richard “Pistol” Allen driving the track along with an relentless and irresistible beat on the snare punctuated by cross-rhythms on the bass drum.
Motown is also the label that I see as bringing drums to the foreground – seriously front and centre - on loads of smash hits. Check out the single mix of “25 Miles” by Edwin Starr and you’ll see what I mean.
I’ve taken an almost lifelong interest in Motown drumming – simply because I think that it’s wonderful stuff - and I’d love to hear what others think about it, too.
I therefore have a few questions that I’d like to put out there about Motown drumming in Detroit: -
- Do you have a favourite Motown drummer and, if so, why?
- Do you have a favourite era for Motown drums and, if so, why?
- How do you think the sad loss of Benny Benjamin affected Motown?
- Motown drumming in the late 60s and early 70s had a different feel to Motown drumming in the mid-60s. Why do you think this is? [[Could it have been the loss of Benny Benjamin, for instance? Or something else?)
- Would the dynamic duo of Uriel Jones on snare and toms and Richard “Pistol” Allen on hi-hat and cymbals have come into existence had Benny Benjamin still been around and on top form?
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