# Good usage of drum machines in rock?



## Mesa (Mar 2, 2012)

Nigh-on impossible task, the wondrous box of goodness/the annoying black block that means the drummer of many an 80s band could contribute to the recordings by sitting in the pub.

A superb example:





_"That song and the whole album really embrace the simplicity of blues and techno music with the complex challenge of how to blend them together," says guitarist Billy Gibbons._


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Quite a bit of Sly & The Family Stone's There's A Riot Going On album. Primitive machine (these were early days) but results were nicely understated and helped to cultivate a new strain of funk. Probably used as much as it was due to drummer Greg Errico drifting out of the group and a coke-fuelled Sly wanting total artistic control - in fact, most of the original band ended up having a lot of their contributions wiped while Sly's obsessive overdubbing wore the master tapes down to near-inaudibility. Could (and perhaps should) have been a recipe for disaster but a stone-cold alpha-plus masterpiece emerged some two years and $1m later.


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## Schubussy (Nov 2, 2012)

/\ One of my very favourite albums, good example.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

I don't know if it could be considered as rock, anyway Prince's The ballad of Dorothy Parker is such a great track that I like the drum machine too.


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## TudorMihai (Feb 20, 2013)

This is not exactly rock, more like pop-rock; Genesis used the drum machine quite often and in a very creative way. Phil Collins also used the drum machine in his solo career. Anyway, here are some examples from Genesis:

Mama






Tonight, Tonight, Tonight






Fading Lights






You can also check Hold On My Heart (



) and Driving the Last Spike (



), both from the album We Can't Dance (1991), Man on the Corner from Abacab (



) and Duchess from Duke, the first time Genesis used the drum machine (



).


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## hello (Apr 5, 2013)

SUICIDE


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## Mesa (Mar 2, 2012)

FRANKIE PUT A GUN TO HIS HEAD

FRANKIE'S DEAD

EEAAUUUAAHHGH

ahh Suicide are great, but rock? 

Also, cheesy? Yes. Good? Also yes.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Mesa said:


> FRANKIE PUT A GUN TO HIS HEAD
> 
> FRANKIE'S DEAD
> 
> ...


what else? It's new wave and there aren't guitars, but I think they could be certainly considered a rock group.


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## MJongo (Aug 6, 2011)

As soon as I read the topic title I instantly thought Suicide.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

> Nigh-on impossible task, the wondrous box of goodness/the annoying black block that means the drummer of many an 80s band could contribute to the recordings by sitting in the pub._"That song and the whole album really embrace the simplicity of blues and techno music with the complex challenge of how to blend them together," says guitarist Billy Gibbons._


Concerning_ Eliminator_, WIK says "Both Billy Gibbons and Manning took charge of the studio sessions to make an album with various electronic instruments. Despite the credits on the album, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard did not attend most of the sessions. David Sinclair, of _The London Times _ writes in his book _The Story Of ZZ Top_ that Hudson suggested to Gibbons the possibility of using a drum machine for the final recording of the Eliminator album."

In the concert I witnessed, ZZ Top used sequencers at that time, which drummer Frank Beard would synch to via headphones. At least, that's the way they did it when I saw them in concert during this time.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

TudorMihai said:


> This is not exactly rock, more like pop-rock; Genesis used the drum machine quite often and in a very creative way. Phil Collins also used the drum machine in his solo career. .


That's bizarre! The guy was a drummer. Why would he use a machine?


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

Mesa said:


> Good usage of drum machines in rock?


For rehearsals whenever there is no room for a drum set or the drummer is too drunk. Otherwise, real music should be made by human beings, not machines of any kind.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Tuxedomoon - No tears


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## niv (Apr 9, 2013)

I think there are a million good usages of drum machines, but of course, that requires you to actually like their sound and the idea of a machine doing music


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## cwarchc (Apr 28, 2012)

Any music, apart from the voice, is "machine" made
A machine is a tool that consists of one or more parts, and uses energy to achieve a particular goal.
violin, cello, piano, drum etc etc


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

When Kraftwerk turned exclusively to electronic drum pads I think it was Ralf Hutter who deadpanned; "Now our drummers don't have to sweat any more...".


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## oogabooha (Nov 22, 2011)

B)


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

I thought Eno used drum machines creatively on _"Another Green World" _in the song_ Sombre Reptiles:_






Also, Todd Rundgren in the opening instrumental song of _Something/Anything?_.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

i like this two choices millionrainbows, breathless is one of my favorite instrumental pop tracks.


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

elgars ghost said:


> When Kraftwerk turned exclusively to electronic drum pads I think it was Ralf Hutter who deadpanned; "Now our drummers don't have to sweat any more...".


But I thought they would buy a new shirt for their drummer!

Best usage of drum is in Jazz music ... In rock and metal music it's look like they want to make a headache!


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Arsakes said:


> But I thought they would buy a new shirt for their drummer!
> 
> Best usage of drum is in Jazz music ... In rock and metal music it's look like they want to make a headache!


I don't think I have ever heard a drum machine in jazz music.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

cwarchc said:


> Any music, apart from the voice, is "machine" made
> A machine is a tool that consists of one or more parts, and uses energy to achieve a particular goal.
> violin, cello, piano, drum etc etc


Sure, but in case of violins, drums etc there is still the hand, the talent and the self-expression of a human being behind it. With a drum machine you can set it to play any number of beats per minute you want, but where is the talent in that? I'd like rock music to remain a genre which is all about the musicians' talent and skill and not about what gadgets they own.


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## oogabooha (Nov 22, 2011)

Y'know, I forgot an example that should be really obvious for me: Bomb the Music Industry! were a band formed by Jeff Rosenstock who originally was the only member in the band. He recorded and released a lot of their material by himself, using drum machines...and for punk music, it's pretty creative.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

SiegendesLicht said:


> Sure, but in case of violins, drums etc there is still the hand, the talent and the self-expression of a human being behind it. With a drum machine you can set it to play any number of beats per minute you want, but where is the talent in that?


I thought that it should be programmed to work. Or do you think that any composer working in electronic music is without talent just because a machine play his music? 
Well, so any composer who doesn't play his own work his without talent even if he compose for acoustic instruments.
By the way, I'm not a fan of drum machines, usually i find their sound simply horrible, ma the idea that electronic music in general means no talent is a bit absurd to me.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

norman bates said:


> I don't think I have ever heard a drum machine in jazz music.







I'm pretty sure Miles Davis and Pat Metheny have used them too.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

^
^

Miles did, from (I think) the Decoy album released in 1984. Sadly, I wasn't too keen on the overall results from his last decade. Miles as usual (and quite rightly) had no qualms with embracing up-to-date instrumentation and the latest studio technology but too many of the arrangements from this period sound over-slick and inorganic to me - this was a symptom of the 80s where so many artists went for the 'bigger' and 'cleaner' production sound but this, plus all the programming, synth-drums and slap-bass, has not made his later output age all that well, I don't think.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

starthrower said:


> I'm pretty sure Miles Davis and Pat Metheny have used them too.


this track doesn't sound like a drum machine, and at cd universe it says that there is Dennis Chambers on drums. 
About Metheny has done the album with the orchestrion, that i think it could be considered an acoustic drum machine.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

It's a drum machine. Dennis Chambers does not play on every track.


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