Queen's Roger Taylor: "The influence of Keith Moon on my drumming"

By editorial board on August 23, 2023

On Keith Moon' birthday, Roger taylor remembers the great drummer: "I always hated drum solos during concerts'  I always thought that this was the moment when the public would go to the bar for a beer or a sandwich"

Keith Moon was Born: August 23, 1946, Central Middlesex Hospital, London, UK.

Queen's Roger Taylor Has Never Enjoyed His Drum Solos - Queen drummer Roger Taylor's exacting approach to percussion was apparent to Brian May from before the pair got into their very first jam session. (iHeart.com. Virgin Radio - YouTube)


There was more to his back catalogue than Zeppelin backbeats. He later admitted that The Who’s Keith Moon was instrumental for his musical education.
Roger Taylor was the muscle of the outfit. Seated at the back of the stage, Taylor brought raw grit to the band, ploughing through the cymbals like an assassin working through the skull of its latest victim. (Faroutmagazine)

In the latest edition of Queen's retrospective YouTube series 'Queen The Greatest,' May recalled the care Taylor took when loading his drums into their practice space, setting them up and doing something May had never seen before — he was tapping each drum head,  began to test every single element, and then turning a bolt with a key. May asked what Taylor was doing. "He said, I'm tuning the drums,' and I went, 'Oh, really? You tune drums?' because the drummers that I'd worked with up to that time just basically put the drums down and hit them."

Like Moon, Taylor refused to be pigeonholed by the tags the public had in store for him, by virtue of being a percussionist. “I think drummers suffer from a misrepresentation of the image too often,” he said. “Traditionally, drummers have been regarded as the stupid ones in rock bands. It’s a bit unfair, and because of it, being a drummer is a thankless task sometimes. There’s responsibility involved in what I do, but it’s nice to broaden one’s horizon. These days it’s funny, because I think of myself much more as a musician than a drummer.”

Taylor's drum sounds and compositional style at the kit have always been a marked part of Queen's sound onstage and in the studio. And while Taylor has never relished his nightly drum solo, his critical ear has forced him to be more creative when he's in the spotlight.

"I have always hated the moment of the drum solo in concerts" said Roger Taylor who since 1974 as witnessed in Live at Rainbow he made explosive solos, also combining a great performance with timpani from the end of the 70s, «In the 70s it was a cliché, something you had to do but I never liked it."

“And whereas it's all very nice, they're just showing off, really, aren't they? Especially when you're playing to a lot of people in big concerts, if I did a solo and I would suddenly look down and notice people going out for a hot dog, I'd never want to do it again because you knew that you were boring people.”

 


Roger Taylor challenges Nandi Bushell to a duel ... and loses. In the video, which can be seen below, the two drummers initially battle one another, trading various fills until Taylor eventually throws down his sticks and accepts defeat. “I am done!,” the Queen drummer proclaims. “I give up.”

The duo then proceed to jam together on the classic Queen track “We Are the Champions.”

Bushell’s love of the iconic band goes back to when she was eight years old -- which, if you’re doing the math, was only three years ago. The pre-teen rocker recalled performing the drums on “Bohemian Rhapsody” in a TV commercial for English department store John Lewis & Partners.

“Playing Mr. Taylor in that advert got me hooked on Queen,” the young musician explained. “Ever since then I have loved Queen and Mr. Taylor’s playing. So to actually get to play with Mr. Taylor, just, wow!”

 

A 70-year-old veteran English singer-songwriter, Taylor was recognized in Her Majesty's New Year's Honours list, where he has been made an OBE for his services to the music industry. (Source Digitaljournal.com)

 

 

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