The artist Stewart Copeland called the apex of drumming: “Incredible, legendary drummer”
When it comes to how musicians rank each other, or at least how they interact with one another, former Police drummer Stewart Copeland says the hierarchical system is determined by one factor alone.
“I’m not sure if this works for actors and other celebs, too,” Copeland said in a 2023 interview with Gold Radio, “But with musicians, it’s really simple. It’s not how many records you sold. It’s not how many tickets you sold. It’s simply a matter of chronology. Who was first? The bass player in the Pretty Things outranks me, because he came before me. But Kanye has to look up to me. It keeps it simple.”
It’s unclear if Kanye would agree with that assessment, nor would anyone want to ask him at this point. Assuming that Copeland’s clean and tidy vision of the musical pecking order is somewhat true, though, there are still unavoidably those certain artists whose work transcends the timeline, so much so that any musician who preceded or followed them would have to pay their kudos.
For Copeland, the Jimi Hendrix Experience was an example of this transcendence, as their music had a profound effect on him as a transplanted American teenager attending boarding school in England in the late 1960s. Hendrix, of course, was an American in London himself, and his re-invention of the electric guitar was rightfully celebrated both in its own time and across the decades since his passing. Considering that Copeland’s preferred instrument was the drums, however, Hendrix wasn’t actually the member of the Experience that influenced him the most.
“It’s one of those strange things,” Copeland explained. “Mitch Mitchell, who should be at the apex of all drumming, is sort of forgotten because Jimi Hendrix was so big and bad. People remember the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and Jimi was so incredible that people hardly notice that sitting right behind him was this incredible, legendary drummer who changed a lot of stuff.”
At a time when most rock drumming was still quite rudimentary and rooted in pop, swing, or country-western styles, Mitch Mitchell brought a very modern jazz approach to the Jimi Hendrix Experience, backing Jimi more in the way Elvin Jones backed John Coltrane, letting the frontman follow his whims with total confidence that the band’s tight foundational groove was never in jeopardy.
Hendrix’s death in 1970 brought an abrupt end to the Experience, and sadly, Mitchell never quite found another avenue for his talents to match that original dream pairing, which might further explain why he’s become something of an overlooked cult hero rather than an icon on the level of a John Bonham, Ginger Baker, or Keith Moon.
In another recent interview, Stewart Copeland had with Jeremy Clarkson, the topic of Mitchell was raised again, leading Clarkson to stop and explain to the audience that Mitchell had been Hendrix’s drummer.
“And there’s the travesty right there,” Copeland interjected. “This great towering monument of drums…was ‘Jimi Hendrix’s drummer.’”
When Clarkson asked Copeland how he’d prefer to describe Mitchell, the response was swift and hilarious. “Well, Jimi was Mitch’s guitarist,” he said with a smile.
