Five classic rock drum beats that should have been saved for disco
We are living in an age of music where genre is well and truly becoming obsolete. From rock ‘n’ roll to hyperpop, the idea of staying within the confines of one specific style doesn’t make sense.
Throughout the history of music, artists who are willing to blend different genres and step outside the confines of their style. It was done by the likes of Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles, as they merged pop, rock, folk and psychedelic music. In the modern age, the genres which are blended are much more extreme, and it makes for music which sounds as though it shouldn’t exist, yet we are grateful it does.
It takes a good ear to pick out where genres have potential to overlap, but once you are able to select different patterns, you’ll be able to pinpoint exactly where different styles can be compared with one another. One of the most common crossovers when it comes to rhythm is classic rock and disco. You would be surprised how many classic rock drum beats are perfectly suited for disco classics.
Don’t believe us? Here are some of the greatest classic rock songs ever written, which have a rhythm section that would work perfectly on a disco track.
Five classic rock drum beats that belong in disco:
‘Crazy Train’
We’re all probably listening to Ozzy Osbourne a bit more than usual in the wake of his death (other than Roger Waters, of course), and upon doing so, you might have picked up on something. The drums in ‘Crazy Train’ have a little bit of funk to them, so much so that they wouldn’t be remotely out of place on a disco tune.
The spaced-out introduction with just bass kicks and toms is the perfect beginning for a disco song, one which would be introduced with sporadic timing and some large synth hits. As things start to get more upbeat and frequent, that’s when you have the chance to start using more guitar lines, bass runs and vocals. Just think it over, the truth is that the drums on ‘Crazy Train’ would be perfect for the dancefloor.
‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’
You don’t even need to take my word for this one, Dave Grohl has already admitted that a lot of the songs he wrote for Nirvana were originally taken by legendary disco groups. The upbeat and funky sound that you hear plastered all over Nevermind is a direct descendant of disco. For a genre which is often labelled as being too one-dimensional, it really proves its versatility in moments like this.
“I’m the most basic fucking drummer,” said Grohl when discussing his early music, “If you listen to Nevermind… the Nirvana record… I pulled so much stuff from the Gap Band and Cameo and [Chic]’s Tony Thompson on every one of those songs. All that… that’s old disco!”
‘I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll’
There are some rock songs which you can dance to a lot easier than others. When you listen to some heavy metal songs, you might struggle to see how you could bust a move to the music. However, that’s not the case when you check out Joan Jett and the Blackhearts classic offering with ‘I Love Rock N’ Roll’.
If ever there was a rock track built for a boogie, it’s this one. The drums aren’t the most complicated thing in the world, they have the standard stomp, stomp, clap sound to them; however, there is beauty in their simplicity. You can bounce your way through this track, as every single second feels like something you could pretty easily get lost in.
‘Paradise City’
Guns N’ Roses were an incredibly necessary band. At the time, rock music was facing a massive identity crisis, as the bands who made up the genre were very much style over substance. It felt as though every single song had been put together in minutes, following the same formula, and then along came Guns N’ Roses offering something new, something with more bite.
While you can certainly listen to their music and get some aggression from it, the rhythm section in a lot of their tracks is incredibly upbeat and fun. One of the perfect examples of this is the song ‘Paradise City’. The simple 4/4 that floods this song which dreams of a rock lover’s paradise would sit perfectly on a disco tune, with shimmering vocals layered across the top of them.
‘Miss You’
Okay, this one might be a bit of a hack, as ‘Miss You’ is already borderline a pop song, but let’s go all in and imagine these iconic drums on a disco song. You can’t picture that and then not put it on a list like this, can you?
As one of Rolling Stones most upbeat, catchy and danceable songs, it’s not much of a surprise that these drums would work so well on a disco beat, but it’s still worth noting. The idea of some high pitched vocals on this kind of rhythm section is enough to get the stiffest of toes tapping.
