Transport Yourself Back A Decade Or Five With These Classic Rock VideosIn Correlation With Our Drum Charts
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"A Hard Days Night" by The Beatles | "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?" by Creedence Clearwater Revival |
| The opening scenes to the Beatles first movie. Great story about the title song. After filming through the night at the movie studio, the Beatles emerged outside unaware of the time. Ringo was coming out the door saying "That was a hard day's..." He looked around, saw it was day, and finished his thought: "That was a hard day's night." John took note of Ringo's wordplay, went home and wrote the title song that night! The next day the Beatles rehearsed it and recorded. From Ringo's statement to John's writing it, to the Beatles rehearsing and recording = under 24 hours. How's that for under the gun? | Slightly psychedelic view of CCR in their heyday. |
| "Heart And Soul" by Huey Lewis & The News | "Heart Of Rock And Roll" by Huey Lewis & The News |
| This is how people looked and danced in the '80s. Real nice hook on the chorus. | Song starts and ends with a real heartbeat, moves into a geography lesson. |
| "Here Comes The Night" by Them | "Here Comes The Sun" by The Beatles |
| Before there was Van Morrison the solo artist, there was Them, the '60s rock quintet from Belfast, Northern Ireland. The band scored only two Top 40 hits ("Here Comes The Night" and "Mystic Eyes"), but was responsible for a rock classic that was recently voted one of the top 100 rock recordings of all time: "Gloria." Them broke up in 1966, and Van Morrison of course embarked upon a solo career. | In 1969, it seemed to the Beatles themselves that they were more involved in meetings and litigation than in making music. One spring day George Harrison decided to play hooky from the meetings, and instead went to his friend Eric Clapton's house. While walking around the garden with one of Eric's guitars, "Here Comes The Sun" was spontaneously written. The drum overdubs are consolidated into this chart, and there are some nice meter changes that just flow. |
| "He's So Fine" by The Chiffons | "Hey Nineteen" by Steely Dan |
| The Chiffons were four friends who sang together at school, in the Bronx. Ronnie Mack was a young songwriter who needed some voices to record his songs as demos. After doing some demos, the girls forgot about Mack and went on with their lives. But Mack was busy knocking on doors. One door belonged to the Tokens ("The Lion Sleeps Tonight"), who re-recorded this song with the girls, and that's how "He's So Fine" went to #1 in 1963. | What a nice video to accompany a great song. What do you think of when you think of Steely Dan? I think of sophisticated songs played with musical precision. Hard times may have befallen the Soul Survivors, but believe it or not, we've got them charted with "Expressway To Your Heart." Why not get both charts and play them together? Make tonight a wonderful thing. |
| "Hip Hug-Her" by Booker T. & The MGs | "Hold On I'm Comin'" by Sam & Dave |
| "Hip Hug-Her" was the second hit for Booker T. & the MG's, the first being "Green Onions," their biggest and most enduring hit. This Memphis band was made up of session men who played behind many of the R&B and soul hits of the '60s (for Stax Records). Al Jackson is the drummer. When you see their 45 spinning on the turntable, you know it's marked with the Atlantic label. | In this 1966 Sam and Dave soul hit, drummer Al Jackson plays a mean backbeat, back in the days when backbeats were honest. He just whacked the heck out of the snare drum, and that's what you heard on the record. Jackson was born in Memphis, and started playing drums on stage when he was five. Guitarist Steve Cropper has said, "Al contributed a bunch to the way things turned out. " "Hold On I'm Comin'" went to #22 in 1966. |
"Honky Tonk Women" by Rolling Stones | "Hot Fun In The Summertime" by Sly & The Family Stone |
| The Stones belong to R&R history of course, and here is one of their classics. The Stones are always fun to watch, what with Mick supplying all the energy. And then look at Bill Wyman (the bassist) and drummer Charlie Watts, and they are totally impassive. It kind of makes sense. You need an anchor in any group, and the bass and drums are there to hold it together. Make friends with your bass player! Buy him lunch. | Out of all the bands that came out of San Francisco during the psychedlic '60s, one of the most musically solid (and therefore still sounding good today) was Sly & The Family Stone. "Hot Fun" was their second highest record, going to # 2 in 1969. Sly Stone is a very talented musician who squandered most of his potential in drugs. It is ironic that he was probably higher than all those other bands who sang about drugs. Everybody was up and dancing, much like the audience in this video. |
"How 'Bout Us" by Champaign | "How Deep Is Your Love" by The Bee Gees |
| Other people get together, fall in love, and stay in love through better or worse - what about us? That is basically the theme of this hit by Champaign, a sextet from Champaign, Illinois. "How 'Bout Us" went to number twelve in 1981. The group followed up two years later with "Try Again," which stalled at number 23 on the charts. Though gone from the scene, they gave us this nice groove to remember them by. | The brothers Gibb were always capable tunesmiths, with their catchy melodies almost playing themselves. Here is a song from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, in 1977. |
| "Hurts So Good" by John Cougar | |
| "Hurts So Good" was John Mellencamp's first Top Ten hit (it went to #2 for 4 weeks in 1982). Mellencamp was then known as just John Cougar, and had hit the charts three times previously, but never in the Top Ten. This recording set off a strong career which is still going strong. This recording features the drumming of Kenny Aronoff, who achieves an interesting sound by switching hands (LH on HH). See how it feels. Perhaps it will hurt so good. |
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