The Ongoing History of New Music, encore presentation: The History of Female Drummers
[It’s both spring break and Women’s History Month, so let’s revisit a couple of relevant shows. New episodes start up the last weekend of March. -AC]
Many years ago when I was just a wee lad, I remember seeing The Carpenters on TV. The Carpenters First Television Special ran in 1976 and featured something rather amazing about fifteen minutes in. Karen Carpenter busted out with a drum solo, running from kit to kit playing some pretty hot licks that wouldn’t have been out of place in some big band or even some prog-rock gig of the era.
I’d seen and heard drum solos before, but this was different. It was a girl playing the drums.
My grandmother was watching with me and harrumphed “Look at that. A woman playing the drums. Not very ladylike. Look, she’s getting all sweaty. Imagine!”
My young self was confused, too. I didn’t know girls could play the drums, so this was a revelation. And second, the Carpenters weren’t exactly rock, so I hadn’t paid much attention to them. And if I had, there was little in their music that indicated that Karen was such an accomplished drummer. I later learned that she didn’t consider herself a singer. She believed that she was a drummer who happened to sing.
And if there was one woman who could play this week, there had to be others. Were there more like Karen out there?
At the time–and again, this is the mid-70s–the answer was “not really.” But there were a few. And in the decades that followed, more and more appeared. Today, female drummers are everywhere, comprising a worldwide sisterhood some have called “Chicks with Sticks.”
But the road to acceptance wasn’t easy. There were plenty of roadblocks, plenty of skepticism, and loads and loads of sexism. Barriers needed to be broken down, attitudes changed, and abilities proven over and over again.
This is the story of women with rhythm who changed the way we look at music.
Eric Wilhite has this playlist for us.
The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on the following stations:
- 102.1 The Edge/Toronto – Sunday night at 7
- Q107/Toronto
- Live 88-5/Ottawa
- 107.5 Dave-FM/Kitchener
- FM96/London
- Power 97/Winnipeg
- Sonic 102.9/Edmonton
- The Zone/Victoria
- The Fox/Vancouver
- Surge 105/Halifax
- WAPS/WKTL The Summit/Arkon, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown
We’re still looking for more affiliates in Calgary, Kamloops, Kelowna, Regina, Saskatoon, Brandon, Windsor, Montreal, Charlottetown, Moncton, Fredericton, and St John’s, and anywhere else with a transmitter. If you’re in any of those markets and you want the show, lemme know and I’ll see what I can do.
