Best Drum Intros

Ten songs where the drummer got to go first, and nobody has let them forget it.

Entries
10
Category
Music
Updated
  1. A surfboard snapped in half on a beach beside a marching band snare drum.

    10. Wipe Out

    The Surfaris · 1963

    It opens with a cracking sound and a cackle, then Ron Wilson's tom-tom solo, based on a cadence from his high school marching band, takes over. It went to No. 2. Every school band drummer since has tried to sneak it in during warm-ups.

  2. A drum kit on a stage with a brick wall knocked through in the middle, turntables on the other side.

    09. Walk This Way

    Aerosmith · 1975

    Joey Kramer's beat opens it before Joe Perry's riff. The band took the title from a gag in Young Frankenstein, and Run-DMC brought the song back in 1986, kicking off rap-rock with the drums intact. Kramer's part survived two genres.

  3. A drum kit in a sunny Los Angeles studio with a Grammy-style gramophone trophy on a shelf.

    08. Rosanna

    Toto · 1982

    Jeff Porcaro's half-time shuffle, which he said mixed Bernard Purdie's shuffle with Bonham's Fool in the Rain, opens the song and is still studied by drummers. It won Record of the Year. Drummers argue about the ghost notes; everyone else hums the horns.

  4. A row of tom-toms on the stage of a grand concert hall with a clarinet resting on a chair.

    07. Sing, Sing, Sing

    Benny Goodman · 1937

    Gene Krupa's tom-toms open Louis Prima's tune and keep pounding for most of its length, which was unheard of for a swing band. Its Carnegie Hall performance in 1938 is the night jazz got invited indoors. Krupa basically invented the drum solo as a crowd-pleaser.

  5. A drum kit in a country house living room with a stack of vintage 1950s records beside it.

    06. Rock and Roll

    Led Zeppelin · 1971

    John Bonham borrowed the opening fill from the intro of Little Richard's Keep A-Knockin', and the band built a song around it in a jam session. Same album as the levee. Bonham gets two spots on this list because he earned two spots on this list.

  6. A drum kit in a Berlin studio by a window facing a wall, an old television on a crate.

    05. Lust for Life

    Iggy Pop · 1977

    Hunt Sales based the beat on the Armed Forces Network call signal, which he, Iggy and David Bowie kept hearing in Berlin. It only became a UK hit after Trainspotting opened with it in 1996, nearly 20 years later. Iggy blamed the wait on radio. Fair.

  7. A drum kit with two bass drums in an empty classroom, a chalkboard and desks behind it.

    04. Hot for Teacher

    Van Halen · 1984

    Alex Van Halen opens with a double bass drum barrage that sounds like an engine warming up, and Eddie joins in with tapping on top. The rest of the song is about school. The intro alone is the reason every teenage drummer in 1984 bought a second kick pedal.

  8. A drum kit on a raised wooden platform in a recording studio, a lit-up sidewalk tile in front.

    03. Billie Jean

    Michael Jackson · 1983

    Quincy Jones wanted a drum sound with personality, so Bruce Swedien built Ndugu Chancler's kit its own platform with special covers, and you know the song from its first few beats. Swedien mixed it 91 times and they used the second one. Overthinking pays off sometimes.

  9. A snare drum in a small 1960s recording studio, one drumstick on the floor beside it.

    02. Be My Baby

    The Ronettes · 1963

    Hal Blaine was supposed to hit the snare on two and four, dropped a stick, and kept going, and the boom, ba-boom, crack became one of the most copied beats in pop. Brian Wilson called it the greatest pop record ever made. A dropped stick, now a genre.

  10. A drum kit at the bottom of a stone staircase in an old English country house, two microphones dangling from the top.

    01. When the Levee Breaks

    Led Zeppelin · 1971

    John Bonham's kit was set up in the hallway of Headley Grange, a former poorhouse, with two microphones hung above the stairs and the sound crushed by compression. It became one of the most sampled pieces of music ever, Beyoncé and Dr. Dre included. A staircase with credits.

Honorable mentions

  • A drum kit in a dark room at night with a full moon in the window and a single cymbal glinting.

    In the Air Tonight

    Phil Collins · 1981

    Not an intro: the famous gated-reverb drum fill arrives more than three minutes in. It still earns a spot because nobody has ever waited more patiently for a drum fill. Collins and Hugh Padgham found the sound on a Peter Gabriel session. Mike Tyson approved.

Dishonorable mentions

  • Wooden floorboards in a studio with two scuffed boots and no drum kit anywhere.

    We Will Rock You

    Queen · 1977

    The most famous drum intro in sports arenas has no drums. It is the band stomping and clapping, layered in the studio to sound like a crowd. Roger Taylor, the drummer, is in there somewhere, using his feet like everyone else.

Every list.
On tap.

No newsletter. Point your AI at our public MCP server, or follow the RSS feed. New lists show up in both.

Get the MCP RSS