Hey, it's Alan, and I just wanted to let you know that you can now listen to the ongoing

history of new music early and ad-free on Amazon music, included with Prime.

Okay, I'm going to warn you that we are going to talk about drummers on this show.

I just want you to know right from the start, just in case you want to roll your eyes and go,

really? Do we have to? It's kind of like an

episode of Family Guy where the focus of the episode is Meg. Well, yeah, we have to. There have

been countless stories about great guitarists and great singers and keyboardists, but drummers,

not so much, unless your name is Dave Grohl, and we will get to him, don't worry.

So this was going to be a profile of my favorite drummers in Alt Rock.

But then I got to thinking, how much do we know about what drummers play?

How many histories of the electric guitar have been written? Monographs, coffee table books,

books on collectible guitars. Now think about all the books written about keyboards. There's about

three linear feet of bookshelf in my office that's taken up just by books on the history of

synthesizers. But what about the drums that today's drummers

play? Don't tell me that you go to a tool show and don't stare at what Danny Carey is playing,

or marvel at what Chad Smith does with those roundy things behind Flea and Anthony at a chili

peppers gig. No, I think it's time that we not only talked about drummers, but also about drums.

Now, think about this.

How did the modern drum kit come into being?

There's a pretty standard sort of setup, but how did that come about?

Why do we play drums the way we do?

And who should we thank for making drums into what they are today?

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