Everyone is agreed: it is the drummer who is most important. 'No group is any better than its drummer,' the Rolling Stones' late piano player Ian Stewart tells A.E. Hotchner. 'Drummers are the heart of a group,' confirms Noel Redding of the Jimi Hendrix Experience: 'a good one is worth his weight in gold.' And here is the Sex Pistols' Glen Matlock on drummer Paul Cook: 'that steady rhythm of his was the whole backbone of the Pistols' sound.' Then you have the singer, the showman - who probably does the lyrics too; and the lead guitarist, who probably comes up with the music; not forgetting the manager, even, without whom there would he no gigs, hotel rooms or backstage Jack Daniels on the contract rider.

LRB 10 January 1991 | PDF Download