The drummer Roger Waters thought equalled Keith Moon: “Harder than anyone”
Drumming tends to become a bit of a lost art in the world of rock and roll. Any artist can try to put together half a melody with a few decent chords and a good melody, but when someone’s only designated job is to bang around in time in the background, it doesn’t exactly warrant the same respect as someone who is putting together a masterpiece. Roger Waters knew the power of a good drummer, and in an era where Keith Moon reigned supreme, the Pink Floyd leader thought Ginger Baker was just as good.
Let’s get one thing straight, though: there will NEVER be another Keith Moon in the history of rock and roll. Much like John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, Moon had a style that was borderline impossible to duplicate from a sheer physical perspective, flying up and down the kit every chance he got and eventually putting together drum rolls that are hard enough to hear being played at his normal speed.
Then again, that kind of drumming never got in the way of Pete Townshend’s songwriting, either. Throughout The Who’s tenure, Moon’s strength also came from knowing when to hang back, being able to reel it in from some of the most chaotic drum fills of all time to laying down a simple groove on ‘Love Reign O’er Me’.
Whereas Moon was nicknamed ‘The Loon’ for a reason, Baker was a completely different animal behind the kit. Sure, he had the same kind of unhinged gene that Moon had come packaged with, but his background in genres like blues and jazz meant that not only could he play massive drum fills, but he could also make it swing like nobody’s business.
For Waters, that swing was all that mattered to him, later telling Rolling Stone, “I remember Ginger Baker was insane back then, and I’m sure he still is. He hit the drums harder than anyone I’ve ever seen, with the possible exception of Keith Moon. And Ginger hit them in a rhythmic style all his own that was extraordinary.”
It’s that swing that actually kept Cream interesting as they made their way through the 1960s. There were still a handful of rock gems that they notched up during their time together, but there was no one on Earth who could have thought of putting that tribal brand of drumming on ‘Sunshine of Your Love’.
That kind of experimental nature probably had more of a hand in shaping Pink Floyd than many people realised. While there’s no disputing that Nick Mason was a powerful drummer compared to his prog contemporaries, hearing him think outside the box on tracks like ‘Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun’ are indebted to the strange techniques that Baker pioneered first.
But it wasn’t just about playing loud for the sake of playing loud. It was about creating a mood whenever a song came on, and Baker could serve the composition if it meant playing like a madman or locking into a groove.
