The Age Old Question: A Podcast for Music Fans · Rich Price and Clint Bierman

Who Is The Greatest Singing Drummer?

May 9, 2024·53 min·3 clips

Karen Carpenter was ranked number one rock drummer in a 1975 Playboy poll.

1. The Age-Old Question asks which singing drummer deserves the title of greatest, using Rich Price and Clint Beerman as the hosts. 2. Rich Price and Clint Beerman matter because they frame the debate with their own music-fan arguments and bring in guests like Jeff Simons and Will Evans. 3. The episode’s core question is whether the best singing drummer is the one with the strongest drumming, the strongest singing, or the best combination of both. 4. Clint starts with Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees, who was cast before he could play drums. 5. Mickey Dolenz says he took drum lessons in Hollywood, practiced daily, and was competent enough to play live after about a year. 6. The hosts name Monkees songs like “Last Train to Clarksville,” “I’m a Believer,” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday” as proof that Dolenz sang major hits from behind the kit. 7. Clint’s point is that Dolenz is a logical starting place because he began as an actor in a manufactured TV band and learned the instrument later. 8. Rich then makes the case for Levon Helm, and Rolling Stone Magazine is cited as ranking Helm number 22 among the top 100 drummers. 9. Levon Helm’s background runs from Turkey Scratch, Arkansas, and cotton-farming parents to early exposure to Bill Monroe, Elvis, Conway Twitty, Bo Diddley, and Ronnie Hawkins. 10. The story continues through The Hawks, Bob Dylan’s electric tours, and the move to Woodstock, New York, where the group became The Band and lived in a house called The Big Pink. 11. Rich names “The Weight,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” and “Up on Cripple Creek” as Levon’s key lead-vocal songs from Music from Big Pink. 12. Levon Helm explains in 1992 that he keeps “key words” on the downbeat, “answer words” on the backbeat, and uses fills only when the vocal arrangement allows it. 13. Rich says Levon’s playing shows how feel changes when a drummer also has to sing, especially when the drummer is the spotlight at the front of the stage. 14. Don Henley enters as the founding member and sole continuous member of the Eagles, with lead vocals on “Witchy Woman,” “Desperado,” and “Hotel California.” 15. The hosts add that Henley’s solo career includes “Dirty Laundry,” “The Boys of Summer,” and “The End of the Innocence,” plus a 2008 Rolling Stone ranking as the 87th greatest singer of all time. 16. Phil Collins becomes the next major contender because he moved from Genesis drummer at age 19 to lead singer after Peter Gabriel left in 1975. 17. Rich cites Collins’ run of solo and Genesis success, including more top 40 singles than anyone else in the 1980s and more than 150 million solo records worldwide. 18. Phil Collins also gets a close-up on “In the Air Tonight,” where he describes recording at London’s Townhouse and leaving the famous drum fill because it sounded right. 19. The episode sounds conversational and guest-driven, with Rich and Clint trading opinions, playing song clips, and letting Jeff Simons and Will Evans add musician-level perspective. 20. Listeners who like classic-rock arguments, drummer technique, and music history will get the most from it, while people who want a fast-ranking list may skip.

As heard by us

A lively argument that mixes drumming lore, pop history, and a very big Phil Collins pivot.

The episode takes a familiar fandom debate and gives it a sharp, entertaining angle: the rare drummer who can also lead the band. It moves from stage layout to the odd logistics of singing from behind the kit, then settles on Phil Collins as the main reference point, while the…

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Why you'd press play

You want the case for Phil Collins and the logistics of singing from the drum throne.

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