r/queen • u/MillionaireWaltz- • 2d ago
Serious The studio drumming of Queen in the '80s...what happened?
Firstly, I want to say I mean this as no shade to Roger - but what happened with him, in the '80s?
I more mean in the studio, though.
Queen seemed to very frequently use drum machines or electronic drums that just lacked all the energy of Roger's playing, all the warmth and life.
How could they go from the original take of "Party" with actual drums, to the programmed mess they went with in the final cut?
Just one of many, many examples.
Did Roger go this direction or was he sidelined?
It's baffling how many '80s tracks just sound so much better live simply because of the actual acoustic drums.
What a shame, really.
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u/batgranny Hot Space 2d ago
I was just the 80s. In the same way they used gated reverb and the DX7, drum machines were a new sound palate to be played with.
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u/Breedforever74 2d ago
Sie sind tatsächlich immer mit der Zeit gegangen. Was gerade angesagt war. Aus heutiger Sicht war das für uns ein Nachteil. Im ganzen war das aber der Grund, das sie immer erfolgreich waren.
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u/MillionaireWaltz- 2d ago
Can't say I can think of their hard rock peers from the '70s who were doing this.
Seems like it was what was happening in pop. Not rock/metal.
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u/SpamJavelin00 2d ago
I remember Alex can halen and Eric care if kiss proudly using those hexagonal pads live around this time
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u/GnedTheGnome 2d ago
When I was a teen (mid '90s) I came across a book about Simmons electronic drums. In the back they had a list of their players with a picture and short blurb for each. Roger Taylor was in there, and his blurb was this short, glowing review: "I never much liked the sound of the bass drum." 😂
I think he played around with them for a little while, because they were new and interesting, and offered sounds he couldn’t get any other way, but they were quickly relegated to being an addition to, rather than a replacement for, his accoustic kit.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Ad3848 2d ago
The Game was their last album with only a live kit in the studio. After The Game the music changed a bit towards pop and not so much Rock.
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u/Due-Surprise757 1d ago
Was just listening to Brighton Rock (one of my all-time Queen favorites) and even though its know for Brian's awesome guitar work I think it has showcases some of Rogers best drumming - does anyone else feel this way?
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u/Rziggity 2d ago
What you are describing is I think a huge reason why so many fans prefer the 70s Queen sound. Roger’s “big” acoustic drums are integral to that sound. Flat sounding synths or drum pads were trendy and totally torpedoed that energy.
Just based on Taylor’s songwriting, I think it may have come from his interest in new wave. But imo new wave was great in spite of synth drums, not because of it.
His drum sound on The Magic Tour was great, so maybe, had they toured for Miracle he would have played songs like “Party” in full acoustic drum rock mode. Unlike the album versions which feel very late-80s-overproduced Don Was style. That style was popular and everyone was doing it. Even Bowie’s worst albums suffer it.
That being said I love his drums on Innuendo and The Freddie Tribute concert was phenomenal.
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u/LeonardHatred1975 2d ago
Brian (apparently) insisted on the drum machine on I Can’t Live With You. Thank god they were replaced with Roger’s real drumming for the Queen Rocks compilation 👍
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u/sam_drummer 1d ago
Roger is one of the most musical and recognisable drummers, or at least he has such a musical and recognisable sound.
So weird to actively choose to nuke that with the 80s plastic production sheen.
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u/etstek63 2d ago
Being a fan from Queen to News of the World I had the feeling that the downfall of Queen started exactly with leaving Rogers rock drumming behind and change that for machines and syndrums. The change from glamour to rock and into pop was just one step to far for me.
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u/MillionaireWaltz- 2d ago
I get that, which is why I (quite petty of me) get annoyed that it seems like 90% of Queen's most covered and celebrated era is '81-'86.
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u/ginger-belle 2d ago
not petty! their sound and songwriting started to go downhill on News of the World (Get Down, Make Love is so cringe). there are still some good songs on that album through The Game, but by the time they ditched the “no synthesizers” ethos on the latter, i was done.
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u/Ayshiza A Day At The Races 1d ago edited 1d ago
I wish I understood the appeal of drum machines when real drums can sound so rich and full. When I was a teenager in 2006 getting into Queen's music, going album by album, their 80s era felt so vastly different that I thought I hated all music from the 80s, with those damned drum machines and primitive synths! Of course now I know there are great songs from the 80s, and some Queen ones as well of course, but it was such a jarring shift.
In the 70s, they seemed to be almost proud of not using synthesizers. And then came along songs like Play the Game, which is beautiful aside from the bits of awful, shrill synth. I'm not really sure what that was supposed to add. I respect the versatility of Queen and the way they'd try new things, but for me it's really the first five albums that are the best. I can't imagine wanting to replace the sound of a real drum kit.
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u/drowse 2d ago
A lot of it came down to not wanting to spend as much time in the studio, I think. I Can't Live With You being an example of a tune they just didn't take enough time on to get a drum track, and rushed it off with the programmed track Brian built. Plus with The Cross, Rog was rather busy.
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u/TommyEgansMother 2d ago
I've thought about this a lot over the years. Roger has even mentioned he's not that thrilled now listening back to some tracks from the 80s with drum machines on them. Is it too late for him to now go back and record real drums? Or perhaps its too expensive (not like they can't afford it !)
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u/Victor_Kruger1005 13h ago edited 13h ago
By the way, it's not only drum machines and synth drums in the 80's, it's also synth bass and programming (even John said he was "replaced" by synth bass). I think it was not only a "trend", it's also the fact that the band became disjointed and "lazy" and seemed to have other priorities. In the 80's they wanted to make easier, simpler, catchy pop songs, and they were hardly in the studio creating the 4 of them together (especially between 1982 and 1986). As a redundant example, the "instruments" you can hear in Body Language were only played by Freddy messing around with synths (synth bass, synth drums), with Brian only playing an almost unhearable lifeless basic guitar cord at the end of the song. That horrible song alone is the perfect representation of what happened to Queen after The Game. For a band that in the 70's were so proud of not using synths, what they did to their own sound in the 80's was disgraceful. I get that they might have wanted to evolve and adapt with the times, and for that using some synths like they did in The Game I think was enough and ok. But replacing the actual drums and actual bass with synth drums and synth bass and programming to me was just too much.
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u/Mental-Friend-1770 13h ago
Happened with other groups as well, like Jethro Tull during Crest of a Knave. And Prince used drum machines a lot in the studio. Sort of the trend of the times.
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u/Electronic-One-8464 7h ago
Give me a break ! I agree part of Hot space had electronic drums but beside that album the Game awesome Drums the Works awesome banging drums the miracle great drums and innuendo excellent ! So get your drumming straight ! Roger Taylor was always the best at hard banging great drumming and with his song writing is to me the best all around drummer ever!
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u/Gaztop7 2d ago
I'm suspecting that this was the influence of Freddie and the contingent of greasy hangers on that seemed to be trying to steer Queen into a gay disco dance band (a la Hot space). This is also the case in a few songs on a Kind of Magic, if I recall One year of love, that on reflection should really have been made with live drums
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u/GreatKingRat666 2d ago
Presumably because they wanted to fit in with what was hip at the time.
Absolutely true that Party sounds so much better with real drums. It’s a mystery how they didn’t hear it themselves.
Queen have made some questionable choices with regards to the drum sound. The overreliance on drum computers, Jazz, the way it sounds during “Live at the Bowl” (imagine that one with the live drums from the NOTW era).