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Okay, they really did themselves in by mentioning examples because all I can think about now are some of my favorites they didn't mention. One of my favorite breakdowns of not only drums but also the writing and recording process is Donald Fagen, Walter Becker, and Bernard Purdie talking about the drums on "Home At Last" off the Aja album[0]. Not going to debate if Aja is actually a rock album in the classic School of Rock sense but, my god, what a great track and drum part.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ldtieSEyQM



In some interview I read, Donald Fagen or one of his session leaders mentioned that he liked working with LA drummers better because they almost all had trailers to carry their larger sets and were pros about coming on time and setting up quickly, whereas their NYC counterparts tended to have major issues getting their gear out of storage and transporting it to the studio in a timely manner.

As for faves not mentioned: Alex Van Halen, Britt Walford of Slint and the Breeders, Bill Stevenson of Black Flag, Earl Hudson from Bad Brains, and Dave Lombardo and Paul Bostaph from Slayer.


Steely Dan has had a lot of great drums on their records! Guitars and bass too. Their song FM is just brilliant...


Steely Dan spent over $100K in the 1970s to have a more accurate atomic clock invented to improve their own drum sequencer's timing. The "drum machine" itself may have been invented for them. They wanted to be able to fiddle with each drum hit individually to avoid multiple takes.




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