The one drummer Mick Fleetwood considered “out of reach”
As much as Mick Fleetwood is an exceptional drummer and Fleetwood Mac wouldn’t exist without him, he’s not a virtuoso who gets considered in the greatest of all time conversation.
While he can do solos, if the song requires it, Fleetwood has never been one to go out of his way to be the centre of attention. Instead, his best attribute, along with his immaculate sense of feel, is lifting those around him, both musically and as a leader.
Fleetwood was more than a drummer to Fleetwood Mac; he was the glue that did his best to keep the group together. During their tenure, been through enough adversity to tear them apart ten times over. While Fleetwood had issues of his own, he remained a constant in their line-up, which would have crumbled without his calming presence.
By his own admission, Fleetwood was never the most talented artist of his instrument in the world. As a result, his name is often rarely discussed alongside undisputed greats like John Bonham, Neil Peart, Keith Moon, Tony Allen, Ginger Baker, or even Ringo Starr.
His drumming journey began thanks to his love of jazz, which led to a teenage obsession with Sandy Nelson, who was so talented that he even had chart success with instrumentals. The Fleetwood Mac drummer once said of his first idol: “Sandy Nelson was someone who was played on the radio, and I couldn’t believe you’d have a drummer with a hit record. He became a hero. My dream was to be Sandy Nelson. And all I’ve done is drum, so I have no complaints.”
Even when Fleetwood Mac had begun to establish themselves in the 1960s, Fleetwood didn’t let the success get to his head, and was looking at a number of his peers in absolute awe. They may have been playing the same stages, but in the eyes of Fleetwood, he felt it was impossible to compete with Cream’s Ginger Baker, a drummer that he considered to be in a league of his own.
Baker, who sadly passed away in 2019, not only had a maverick approach to drumming, but to life to. He approached the instrument in the same cavalier fashion that he did with everything, with his powerful technique depicting his. Admittedly, Baker rubbed people up the wrong way, which ultimately led to the short-lived nature of Cream, but his drumming more than compensated for his personal faults.
While it was impossible not to know Baker’s name on the London scene, the two men notably crossed paths at the first-ever Fleetwood Mac concert, which took place in 1967 on a bill alongside Cream in Windsor. Fleetwood was already a fan thanks to Baker’s work with the Graham Bond Organisation, who he described as “a wild band” to Modern Drummer in 2009, and seeing him perform with Cream only made that fondness grow stronger.
Following his passing, Fleetwood said in a heartfelt tribute: “I’m incredibly saddened by the loss of Ginger Baker. I looked to Ginger’s ability as a drummer as being in a stratosphere way out of my reach. In fact, most of us fellow drummers would look to him as an original untouchable.”
He continued: “A spirited and strong opinioned man, Ginger always said it like it is and was not one to mince words. But one thing for sure, when he sat behind that kit with a ‘Hellhound on [his] trail’ those of us around him bore witness to one of the highest forms of explosive passion.”
Even if he tried his best, Fleetwood would never have been able to unleash the same level of fire and fury as Baker, who was one of a kind. Instead, he chose to admire his art and accept that a different approach, authentic to him, was necessary for his drumming. Undoubtedly, this was the right idea, as the concept of a character like Baker existing within the tumultuous world of Fleetwood Mac is calamitous.
