mr roger taylor of queen

[drowse49]

howdy folks.

i've just been listening to a bit of queen. my favourite band, and mr taylor is the whole reason i play drums.

so, please excuse me if this post seems biased :)

why is it that he's always given the - "yeah, he's alright!" answer, with a shrug of the shoulders.

he's probably the most underrated drummer there is!

granted, he may not be as technical as, say, neil peart, but his playing is great! his wrist action alone is something to behold.(if anyone has his '94 solo album "happiness?" listen to the end of the track "freedom train"!)

like i say, a little biased, but i really do think he's underrated.

[Kona]

I think he's a great drummer = really fits the band.
I like most of their stuff.

Quite often drummers in a great band arn't the most technical drummers but they fit the band = get on with the other bandmates (sometimes have some pretty good fights but always make up in the end), do some very creative drumming, play "for the song" etc. That's what I think makes a great drummer. The best example of this (and I'm a little biased here) is Charlie Watts. He even admits it himself. I love the guy. Look at his drumming on Paint It Black & Satisfaction - simple but very effective. A more technical drummer might have worked out something completely different.....and maybe with less results - who knows. My point being:
Roger does a fine Job with the band Queen, no question.

[MastroSnare]

Roger is super underrated. His name just nearly never comes up.

Part of it is because often when you really lay down a good drum track you don't notice the drums. You only notice them when there's some flash or a goof.

The same thing for Hal Blaine, nobody talks much about him because his drum tracks were so good they didn't draw much attention. Kind of like a great paint job on a car, there's nothing to catch your attention as being wrong so the average person's impression is often "what?".

Roger has the added bonus of being a great vocalist and song writer.

[MichaelSJ]

If someone can explain to me just why he's underrated and any different from any other run of the mill 80s drummer then I'm listening.

[mcjnic]

Always loved the guy. Saw him back in the 70s and he blew me away. He's been a huge influence on me. The only bad thing associated with him was when I ordered a back issue of Modern Drummer because my issues had gone missing. I distinctly remembering how excited I was at the prospect of rereading an issue with Roger Taylor. Turned out to be the drummer for Duran Duran. That sucked.

[drowse49]

yay!! it's great to see so many of you backing him!

he is the main influence on my drumming.(it was the drum fill on fat bottomed girls that did it for me!)

i sadly never got to see them with freddie, but i went to see rog on his '94 solo tour, and i went last year to see the queen paul rodgers thang.

talking of modern drummer magazine, mjcnic, i have a copy from the 80's with a big roger taylor interview in. its being lovingly kept in the attic.

i have nearly 2 year old twins you know!! i don't want it ending up like confetti!! LoLoLoLo

[al9000]

He plays what needs to be played and that fits my definition of a great drummer.

I play "Tie Your Mother Down" with my band and that's no walk in the park.

[vintagemore2000]

I've always thought roger is very underrated also! But Queen as a whole at first didn't do many Interviews! so not a lot was at first known about them or roger! and as previously mentioned, he's also a core member of the group, song writer, and management with queen!

[backbeatkeeper]

If someone can explain to me just why he's underrated and any different from any other run of the mill 80s drummer then I'm listening.

I think he was better than most of the 80's guys strictly for his vocals. He was the high harmony on most of their songs, co-wrote a lot of their songs, played guitar and bass on his own solo stuff and sang lead vocals on a few Queen songs, including "I'm in love with my Car"

That's why I think he's underrated. Hate to say it, but most of us drummers don't have as much talent as he does, at least I know I don't

[john rutsey]

as a kid queen were my "favorite" band. roger taylor is a great drummer and was a big part of their rich decadent sounds. i feel that for a drummer to rise above the rest and go beyond just tasteful and talented they need to play something that defines them as there own. mr taylor i believe did this. his signature if you will was when he would play a something that most would have a closed hi hat he would play it open with a quick mute just after the beat making kind of a delayed sounding wash. it is something that very few if any drummers do. my 2 cents.

[alot2008]

my band cranks out bohemian rhapsody inspired by queen and pink, pretty challenging, good onya rog.

[AZBill]

I don't know about his being underrated; where would one get that information? Anyway, like all the ingredients of the queen recipe, he was key - way more than the bass-player-guy. Who knows his name? What a great band and Fred is sadly-missed, on this end. What other band had the vocals, creativity, and sound of Queen (oh, shut up, Yes fans. Yes was different).

[MastroSnare]

I don't think people that know him underrate him, I just don't think he's mentioned a lot.

To me he's kind of like Hal Blaine. Hal played so correctly for the tune that you didn't notice the drums, you just liked the tune. Same for Roger.

Plus Freddie was so strong that it was easy to not focus on the drums. Freddie has got to be the best rock vocalist of all time if you ask me.

[AZBill]

[QUOTE=MastroSnare;86213] Hal played so correctly for the tune that you didn't notice the drums, you just liked the tune. Same for Roger.QUOTE]

I have to politely disagree. His drum sound, alone, was as distinctive as Brian May's guitar sound (maybe, just to my ears). The power of his stuff on "Prophet's Song" and "Get Down Make Love", to name just two, are walls of sound drums - probably didn't hurt that he had his hand in production. And, yes, one of the greatest bands ever. Captivating to anyone with a pulse, I believe.

[Batterhead]

I don't know about his being underrated; where would one get that information? Anyway, like all the ingredients of the queen recipe, he was key - way more than the bass-player-guy. Who knows his name? What a great band and Fred is sadly-missed, on this end. What other band had the vocals, creativity, and sound of Queen (oh, shut up, Yes fans. Yes was different).

Now that you mention it, there WAS a band that (I thought) was very similar to Queen. They came out about the same time as Queen did. They were called Skyhooks. They only put out one album as far as I know "Ego is Not a Dirty Word".
Queen probably had better PR, and recieved more radio airplay. Skyhooks seemed to just fade.

[AZBill]

^^^

Intersting. I've not heard of them. Gonna have to do a search. Thanks.

[SlappyDrum]

LOVE Roger Taylor's sound. His drum sound was so out there. It was HIS.

[Lingontega]

If someone can explain to me just why he's underrated and any different from any other run of the mill 80s drummer then I'm listening.

Listen to "It's late" from "News of the world"! Try to pull off that roll at the end...

Roger Taylor is first and foremost a groove drummer, but if you listen "between the lines" he's got chops to spare.
His Hi-hat is impeccable.
He has an immediately identifiable sound.
IMHO...I think it is a common misconception that just because you are not flashy and busy you are average. I would rather listen to Charlie Watts for ten minutes than "insert your flashy, super fast superman drummer" for a week.
In the case of Queen's music what other drummer would have improved it?