Songs that inspired me

I have been listening to a fair amount of new music recently - from artists I didn't know previously through to albums I didn't know from artists I do know, ending up with music I already knew (or suspected?) I didn't like. Seems odd, you might think. My reasoning is there is something that people like, even from artists who, to my knowledge, have never created anything interesting.

This got me thinking. Thinking about music that inspired me as a youngster, because this stays with you. Unless it's Joe Dolce, which was immediately forgotten, hopefully.

I'm going to pick three songs that have influenced my playing as a young drummer, and which continue to inspire me as a grumpy old bloke.

As the meme goes, obvious song is obvious.

This is where it started for me, 45 years ago. There really isn't much explanation required!

No list is complete without this:

This got me thinking about sound, and style, and swagger. It also got me thinking about our primal response to big drums being hit hard. As I got older I thought more about the song as a whole rather than just the admittedly monumental drum track.

This is perhaps a little more subtle:

When you know who it is, its inclusion can be no surprise.

There will be time later, for Iron Maiden, and Tower Of Power, and Level 42, for Frank Zappa and Genesis.

Ready when you are