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Drum fads you're glad are dead...


Tedster

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I think the life of drum fads is considerably shorter than that of keyboards, because each keyboard tends to contain multiple voices, whereas in percussion it takes multiple items to get multiple voices. However, drum fads tend to have greater visual exposure because they are a visual medium as well as percussive; keyboards...well, you can only do so much with visual presentation on those. To my knowledge, very few audience folk have ever looked up on stage and said "ooooohhhh, this is gonna be fun...he's using a Dorkland Prophetica 2000...those have great sounds!" More like people see a huge collection of percussive shit and mentally wonder what kind of circus they're in for tonight.
I've upped my standards; now, up yours.
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drum kits from the 80's that had tons of octagon shaped pads on racks looked really stupid...they totally sucked donkey waz....

 

read the May issue of MODERN DRUMMER....even Bill Bruford totally abandoned that setup ....and has gone full circle....

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Dorkland Prophetica 2000... :D:D:D

 

HAHAHAHA...

 

I remember when music stores used to sell a lot of consignment used gear...and the room was always littered with the carcasses of obsolete keyboards. Guitar's had 'em too, the guitar synth...etc...but, I think the percussion ones, in part for the reasons you cite, are the most obvious.

"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine"
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Pawnshops have their own breed of used keyboards, and they're always a collection of boards sold to the dimmed masses. Always very thin plastic and very hastily constructed. There's a model of Korg that comes to mind and I can't think of it at the moment....kind of a metallic shale grey, LED display, big plastic with ugly bone-colored patch keys and spotty performance...

 

As for guitars...well the guitarsynth was an idea released prematurely, like a baby at 7 months. GREAT concept, execution...crappy delivery. SOMEbody thought that these guitars that looked like abandoned Star Trek (first generation) props would revolutionize music performance, genesis, and presentation, and they were smoking some really cheap, overhyped shit from Nebraska. Because of that, the guitarsynth never got the debut it deserved, and is now relegated only to the hands of specialists (mostly textural guys). Pity.

Metheny made good with 'em, so they've got THAT going for them, imho.

 

Simmons, et al, were just WRONG, if for no other reason than the multitude of cases of tennis-elbow-like ailments they caused from being as resilient as a concrete stepping stone with a condom stretched over them.

I've upped my standards; now, up yours.
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Originally posted by Tedster:

I am really interested in the whole "fad" thing, And it seems as though the percussion world has had more than its share of those, second only perhaps to the keyboard world.

Oh, come now... NOBODY can top the guitar world in the fad department... :P:P:P:P

 

Behold!!!

Bring back any memories??? http://www.aye.net/~kenlaw1/graphics/777skf.jpg

 

Hmmmmmmm??????

 

How 'bout this lil beauty??? :D

http://www.loudithfaire.com/interviews/lita/lita_jan23_85f.jpg

Super 8

 

Hear my stuff here

 

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Originally posted by captain54:

drum kits from the 80's that had tons of octagon shaped pads on racks looked really stupid...they totally sucked donkey waz....

even Bill Bruford totally abandoned that setup

Oh, I liked the old Hex-pads. I didn't like playing on them, but they had a retro micro computer chic-ness to them.

My first gig with them litterally covered my hands with huge blister. My sticks were wet from them constantly busting open. Not a pleasent experience...

 

As far as Bruford goes... Bruford is as Bruford does. The day you think he's abandoned the old Simmons SDX kit for good, will be the day he sets it back up on stage. That's the way he opperates.

 

I recall him talking about being constantly asked to join up with old displaced members of 70's supergroups. He said he hated those things and had no interest in being involved with them. Two months later he began work on the ABWH album with a subsequent tour, and then another album and tour under the name Yes!

Super 8

 

Hear my stuff here

 

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Super8, you know what that Ibanez inbredcarnivalprizethingy reminds me of? Those little neon-colored plastic discs that we used to shoot out of the Star Trek Phaser Pistols and Rifles back in the early 70's. Found those fuckers EVERYwhere, even after we'd moved halfway across the state.

Actually, that "guitar" reminds me of another drum fad...spandex shell covers. Sold in a "wide variety of colors and rockin' patterns" and "Easy to remove and wash!" WTF?!?!? Anticipating some greasy moments from a bar sluts' spontaneous stage performance while your band farts through a 'rendition' of "Girls Girls Girls"? :bor:

I've upped my standards; now, up yours.
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  • 2 weeks later...
Originally posted by djarrett:

Alright. I am getting this thread back on track!

 

Drum Fad that I am glad no longer exists ... black drum heads!

Remember when it was cool to have all black heads on top. After one gig ... they looked like hell!

 

DJ

Oh crap! After all these years I'm getting my very first set next month, and it's got all black heads on it!?! I think it looks beautiful with the color of the set...now I find out I have the drum equivelant of a mullet. :confused:

Hey you white boy there

Go play that funky music

"ok...what's it pay?"

 

first smoke, then silence

your very expensive rig

dies so gracefully

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Hey Reach -

 

"Do yo' own thang." - Undercover Brother

"I had to have something, and it wasn't there. I couldn't go down the street and buy it, so I built it."

 

Les Paul

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Thanks Jode, I'm just kidding. I couldn't care less what anyone thinks of my drums...I love 'em!

 

Not likely I'll be playing out for a while anyway.

Hey you white boy there

Go play that funky music

"ok...what's it pay?"

 

first smoke, then silence

your very expensive rig

dies so gracefully

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Originally posted by reachjkh:

Originally posted by djarrett:

[qb]Oh crap! After all these years I'm getting my very first set next month, and it's got all black heads on it!?!

now I find out I have the drum equivelant of a mullet. :confused:

Heh, heh... ;)

A black skin in the front bass drum, or for the bottom heads usually looks pretty cool. They do, however, loose their gloss pretty quick on the top head. But then again -they ALL do!

 

By the way, if you look around I think you'll find that the 'Mullet' is poised for a comeback. Watch and see if I'm not right about this! :D

Super 8

 

Hear my stuff here

 

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Originally posted by offramp:

"By the way, if you look around I think you'll find that the 'Mullet' is poised for a comeback."

 

Not in my world.

 

Lock and load...

Don't say you haven't been warned...

 

http://belowthebeltshow.com/images/mullet.jpg

http://www.drafthouse.com/images/mullet.jpg

http://www.backwardglances.com/images/Mullet%20wig.jpg

http://www.mulletwigs.net/images/products/landscaper.jpg

http://san-antonio.siggraph.org/PD_1-2/images/mullet.jpg C'mon! Put your picture in there! You know you want to!!! :D

Super 8

 

Hear my stuff here

 

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Drum fads I'm glad are over... hoo-WEEE... Let's see... anyone remember back around 2003 when drums were so compressed and squashed that there were no dynamics whatsoever in recorded music? Man those days sucked. Someone would hit a snare and SMACK it's in your face, same damned note cut & pasted into position, same damned volume every time. No ghost notes, no expression, nosubtlety, no grace in playing style. And you couldn't hear the cymbals and sometimes you'd acutally hear that harsh digital clipping distortion.. and this is on the radio fer pete's sake! I mean, what were they thinking? Did they have ears?!... Man, I could just go on and on... Sure don't miss those days.

 

;)

Just for the record.
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Super8, I can see it now...

 

Barber Hood and his band of Hairy Men, roaming the streets with scissors in sheaths and rechargeable clippers, plying mullet-wearers with beer and gaining their trust with offers of counterfeit REO tickets, removing the mullets when their victims are half-drunk.

 

Yes, yes...I can see it now...

I've upped my standards; now, up yours.
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posted 06-01-2003 02:48 AM                      

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Drum fads I'm glad are over... hoo-WEEE... Let's see... anyone remember back around 2003 when drums were so compressed and squashed that there were no dynamics whatsoever in recorded music? Man those days sucked. Someone would hit a snare and SMACK it's in your face, same damned note cut & pasted into position, same damned volume every time. No ghost notes, no expression, nosubtlety, no grace in playing style. And you couldn't hear the cymbals and sometimes you'd acutally hear that harsh digital clipping distortion.. and this is on the radio fer pete's sake! I mean, what were they thinking? Did they have ears?!... Man, I could just go on and on... Sure don't miss those days."

 

This gives me hope in my confirmed despair. Is it possible someday we'll be sitting at a listenable gig having this conversation? If so, it might be worth surviving after all.

:eek:

A WOP BOP A LU BOP, A LOP BAM BOOM!

 

"There is nothing I regret so much as my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?" -Henry David Thoreau

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I was looking for Geddy Lee's mullet photo -boldly featured on the inner sleeve of the "Grace Under Pressure" album. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it.

Geddy had a Baaaaaadddddd mullet... Course, he's a canadian so he's got an excuse. But still, I'm guessing the barber DID NOT receive a tip that day... :eek:

Super 8

 

Hear my stuff here

 

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Originally posted by Super 8:

I was looking for Geddy Lee's mullet photo -boldly featured on the inner sleeve of the "Grace Under Pressure" album. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it.

Geddy had a Baaaaaadddddd mullet... Course, he's a canadian so he's got an excuse. But still, I'm guessing the barber DID NOT receive a tip that day... :eek:

I know a guy who's completely bald on top, but lets it grow long in the back and sides. Would that be considered a "supermullet"?
"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine"
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Originally posted by Tedster:

Originally posted by Super 8:

I was looking for Geddy Lee's mullet photo -boldly featured on the inner sleeve of the "Grace Under Pressure" album. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it.

Geddy had a Baaaaaadddddd mullet... Course, he's a canadian so he's got an excuse. But still, I'm guessing the barber DID NOT receive a tip that day... :eek:

I know a guy who's completely bald on top, but lets it grow long in the back and sides. Would that be considered a "supermullet"?
Super, you say that like you never had one.

 

Tedster, that would not be called a "supermullet." That's called a "Gallagher."

"I had to have something, and it wasn't there. I couldn't go down the street and buy it, so I built it."

 

Les Paul

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Originally posted by Jode:

[QB]Super, you say that like you never had one.

 

Jode, I don't have anything personal against the so-called 'mullet'. I think it's a good thing! Lots of people have had them, and it looked great! I'm just saying that even back in 83, when it was 'IN' to wear your hair like that, I remember buying the RUSH album and seeing Geddy's picture and thinking "Oooooh! That one didn't turn out too good!".

 

Apart from that, I have no problem with it.

 

Did I have one?

 

Back then, not only did I have one, but I also had two LONG braided tails that were bleached white! It was the thing. It was cool. I wore it proudly... No regrets!

Super 8

 

Hear my stuff here

 

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Originally posted by Super 8:

 

Back then, not only did I have one, but I also had two LONG braided tails that were bleached white! It was the thing. It was cool. I wore it proudly... No regrets!

OOOOOOooohhhhh, you had RATTAILS?!? You get fifty 80s bonus points! Well played, old man. :thu:

"I had to have something, and it wasn't there. I couldn't go down the street and buy it, so I built it."

 

Les Paul

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I know a guy who's completely bald on top, but lets it grow long in the back and sides. Would that be considered a "supermullet"?

No, it's called a "Skullet."

 

Or...

 

A "Dr. Frankenfurter."

 

Wocka wocka.

 

Man, I am proud to say I never had a mullet. Very proud.

\m/

Erik

"To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."

--Sun Tzu

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Man, I am proud to say I never had a mullet. Very proud.

 

Haa! That just means you were not cool back in the day :D

Hey you white boy there

Go play that funky music

"ok...what's it pay?"

 

first smoke, then silence

your very expensive rig

dies so gracefully

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Wow, Reach. What a poignant haiku in your signature line. And you're right about back in the day. No one was cooler than me when I was pimpin' my mullet and my acid-wash jeans. Pretty fly for a white guy. But I STILL don't understand how bell bottoms and disco polyester came back. Ugh.

"I had to have something, and it wasn't there. I couldn't go down the street and buy it, so I built it."

 

Les Paul

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Originally posted by djarrett:

Well, Considering that in the late 80's and early 90's ... every drummer I know had a mullet ... I would consider that a drum fad that I am glad went by the way side!!

LOL! Funny thing, I'm thinking back and NONE of the drummers I played with in the 80's or 90's had mullets. Kewl!

 

But hey, what about Ludwig Vistalites? :D

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Lee, I never knew what to make of Vistalites. I kinda liked them, but I could never seem to get them to sound good (save for the lone orange Vistalite snare I bought back in the late '80's. That one, for some reason, KILLED).

Eventually, I developed a general distate for them and their sound...and was totally knocked down to size when Danny Gottlieb told me he'd recorded Pat Metheney's "American Garage" album--one of my absolute all-time favorites; truly a 'desert island' disc-- entirely on a set of blue Vistalites.

 

At that point, I gave up even spending any energy thinking about them.

I've upped my standards; now, up yours.
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