Two underappreciated rock ’n’ roll drummers are celebrating birthdays on Dec. 1.
One is the powerhouse Sandy Nelson, who was a session player on classic-rock cuts like Alley-Oop and To Know Him is to Love Him before scoring several instrumental hits of his own in the late ’50s and early ’60s. Although he lost his right foot and part of his leg to a 1963 car crash, he’s still rocking at 72. Check out his big beat on the 1961 chart-topper Let There be Drums:
The second birthday boy is Doors drummer John Densmore, who turns 66. His Latin grooves and jazz influences, coupled with Robbie Krieger’s flamenco guitar lines and Ray Manzarek’s baroque keyboard work, elevated the California band’s sound beyond the usual drug-trip noodling. Like most drummers, he spent his career literally taking a backseat to his bandmates — especially Lizard King Jim Morrison. But here’s a weird, humourous clip of Densmore taking centre stage with an excerpt from his spoken-word show Riders on the Storm, taped on the Dennis Miller Show back in 1992: