“Gold standard”: The overlooked drummer Dave Grohl hailed as a benchmark hero
When Ringo Starr was asked who the greatest drummer in the world was, he said “I am” in a matter-of-fact fashion akin to a passport control guard asking you to confirm your identity.
It bold, but beyond the classic myth that he wasn’t even the best drummer in The Beatles, many sticksmiths would agree. To some degree, Ringo’s self-analysis explains why. “I had that [the confidence] a long time ago, it’s just that they started asking me about it. At the beginning, because of the songwriters, which is a very powerful force in The Beatles,” he said.
“I was just playing the drums and nodding my head, so I didn’t get noticed,” the charming drummer continued. And yet you can still identify his beats from a mile off, Dave Grohl says that being distinctive from afar is still the definitive “gold standard”. It might not be the height of virtuosity in the eyes of the uninitiated, but being able to ‘play to the strength of the song’ while imbuing it with percussive character is the benchmark for any drummer.
Sadly, it isn’t always viewed that way. Recently, Meg White’s distinctive yet simple drumming style was also brought into question (quite oddly, given that she has been out of the limelight since The White Stripes broke up in 2011). This came about when Twitter user Lachlan Markay sparked debate over her drumming ability with the post, “The tragedy of the White Stripes is how great they would’ve been with a half-decent drummer.”
The outrageous take – which ordinarily we wouldn’t have given air time if it hadn’t prompted such a widespread and fundamental debate – continued, “Yeah yeah I’ve heard all the ‘but it’s a carefully crafted sound mannnn!’ takes. I’m sorry Meg White was terrible and no band is better for having shitty percussion.”
Since then, Jack White has penned a poem in support of his former sticksmith, and his ex-wife Karen Elson has also leapt to Meg’s defence alongside a string of other esteemed musicians. However, some of the most pertinent praise for Meg White in the backwash came from Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl.
Long before this drummed-up controversy, Grohl told Rolling Stone that he has always admired her simplicity and placed her among his favourite drummers of all time – even taking direct inspiration from the ‘Icky Thump’ star. When discussing his possible involvement in Rush following the death of Neil Peart, Grohl noted: “I know the arrangements, but I’m like Meg White to Neil Peart.”
While this might not seem like high praise for the disco-shaped drummer, Grohl quickly clarified that a central tenet of successful music is the knowledge that for different strokes, there are different sticks. “She’s one of my favourite drummers!” Grohl explained, “she is one of those drummers that if you hear 15 seconds of her recording, you’ll know who it is, and that to me has always been the gold standard.”
In fact, you could even argue that Jack White’s guitar-playing has never been quite as distinctive without her complementing trashy beats. As Grohl adds, “That’s always been the challenge. You want to know when you hear it, like, you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s John Bonham. Oh, that’s Charlie Watts. That’s Ringo. That’s Stewart Copeland. That’s Meg White’.”
As Ringo Starr hinted at himself, what would be the point of blasting off a solo during ‘Blackbird’? Understanding what is needed for the rhythm is an essential aspect of drumming. If you can bring your individual flair to that, then you have yourself a truly great drummer contributing to great songs and embellishing them further, rather than getting fruity for the sake of their own ego. In short, you have a reliable hitmaker like Meg White.
Without her, the landscape of modern music would be very different. As Iggy Pop passionately decreed when inducting The White Stripes into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, “She gave the drum kit a good whack like Fred Below did for Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry. I think it was Meg’s support that helped launch the rocket of racket that was Jack White.”
