Fats Domino: The only rock star Charlie Watts ever listened to
There isn’t a set of rules that says rock stars must be friendly with one another. For every two bands that seem like artistic brothers joined at the hip, there are just as many that have bad blood with anyone who dares to cross their path on any good day. Each of The Rolling Stones managed to be quite friendly with many of their contemporaries, but in terms of recreational listening, Charlie Watts only had time for Fats Domino in his record collection.
Because looking at each of the members’ upbringings, Watts was never that interested in the traditional rock and rollers that came before him. There had been many artists that had been electrified by the likes of Elvis Presley or Chuck Berry, but Watts was far more interested in trying to become the next jazz drummer for acts like Miles Davis or Charles Mingus.
Even when joining The Stones, Watts wasn’t completely sold on the music he was about to play. There were hints of rock and roll throughout everything that the group did, but the emphasis on genres like blues was what kept Watts coming back, especially when he could get inventive and throw in jazz fills to the mix. But if Presley was a little too boneheaded for him, Fats Domino was the middle ground between blues boogie and pure rock and roll swagger.
Whereas most people would just stick with traditional blues, the rhythmic aspect of Domino was what made people keep coming back. Bo Diddley already had a signature rhythm to call his own, but listening to Fats Domino play his classics, you’d swear that the man had never heard a straight rhythm in his life, always keeping things extremely low to the ground and grooving whenever he got behind his piano.
For someone like Watts, this was the perfect vehicle to get someone into rock and roll. Anyone who has ever picked up a guitar in their life could start out with this kind of groove, but the key is being able to put the same element of swagger into it whenever it’s time to bring the rest of the band into the fold.
Watts may not have found himself in a jazz band as he expected, but he used Domino as his way of acclimatising himself to rock and roll, saying, “Fats Domino was the only performer of what’s called rock and roll that I ever loved as a kid. I never liked Elvis or any of that. But I loved Fats Domino.”
The drummer wasn’t even the only one looking to add some variety to the rhythm once he heard Fats Domino. Ginger Baker of Cream had already been most drummers’ conduit into jazz, and given that John Lennon chose ‘Ain’t That A Shame’ as his first real tune to learn on the guitar, that sense of swinging rhythm helped him play off of Ringo Starr whenever The Beatles attempted something a little more bluesy.
More than anything, Domino’s technique really reminded people like Watts about what their job is in a rock band. The guitar player can get all the accolades that they want, but it’s about being able to take those licks and put them in time.
