Daughters of Watts: Women Who Drum

It's pretty sad when of the most iconic female drummers is a fictional character, but looking at Rolling Stone's Weekend List of the Best Drummers, it doesn't shock me that there's not one woman mentioned.

(Geez, a couple commenters even listed Animal. He's a freaking muppet!)

I came up with a baker's dozen with the help of my iPod (and a bit of googling) this morning: Janet Weiss (Sleater-Kinney), Mo Tucker (Velvet Underground), Meg White, Shelia E., Cindy Blackman (Lenny Kravitz), Honey Lantree (The Honeycombs), Stefanie Eulinberg (Kid Rock), Palmolive (The Slits, The Raincoats), Molly Neuman (Bratmobile, The Frumpies, Peechees), Tobi Vail (The Go-Team), Gina Shock (The Go Gos), Debbi Peterson (The Bangles), and Lori Barbero (Babes In Toyland).

I didn't think that was hard, considering I'm not a drummer myself.

When I was doing research for this post, another link hipped me to Tom Tom, a magazine about female drummers:

"Tom Tom’s purpose is to raise awareness about girl and women percussionists from all over the world and to inspire females of all ages to drum. Tom Tom’s goal is to strengthen and build the community of otherwise fragmented female musicians and to create a network of musicians around the world. Tom Tom serves a unique purpose by catering exclusively to female drummers and providing them with important information and resources."

Fragmented is kind of an understatement. Of all the wasted hours I've spent on various fanboards, the subject of women drumming is rarely brought up. Women are allowed to front a band, play guitar and bass, but you never hear of great female drummers. Meg White may have raised the bar, but asked to name who should be in the canon, it's all Dave Grohls and John Bonhams. This most lucid quote comes courtesy of Smoosh's Chloe (all of eleven-years old at the time) from The Believer Magazine , June/July 2005:

"I know a lot of people who are like: 'Oh my gosh! She's a girl drummer!' They think it's cool if you're a girl drummer. But what's the big deal? I know a lot of girl drummers. We're just drummers."

Well said. Women drummers deserve to be heard. At least as much as Animal and Bam Bam Rubble.