I fell in love in high school during the drum solo of “Tom Sawyer.”
I’ll never forget my father’s face when this boy came to pick me up. I was this egg-heady corduroy wearing little brat living in an intellectual and conservative household, so when this long-haired guitarist who looked perpetually stoned (and probably was) walked up my driveway, I thought my father was going to slam the door in his face.
To my father’s credit, he steeled his jaw, shook his hand and wished us well. I can’t imagine how hard it was for my father to let his only daughter climb into that broken-down Dodge Dart to attend a stoner house party.
I can’t remember even to this day why I agreed to go out with Kenny. He wasn’t smart, or athletic, or even good looking, but I remember thinking that he was nice. I also remember figuring, “What the hell?” Even then I liked hanging out with different and interesting kinds of people. I’ve always had a wide-ranging friend group, and on any typical high school day I could either be sitting with the tennis team or the drama club or the “popular” set or the cheerleaders or the auto class or with my poetry club fam.
The party was far from my usual group, even for me, and I distinctly remember walking in with Kenny and hearing three stoned goth girls laughing at my collared blouse and corduroy pants. They whispered to each other, “What the hell is she doing here?” People hid their marijuana because my father was Superintendent of Schools, and they thought I would turn them in.
So they turned on Kenny.
“What’d you bring a narc here, for?”
Then the music started, and all was forgotten. Kenny’s band was exceptional, and when they started with “Tom Sawyer,” I became entranced. It remains to this day one of my favorite songs. And when Kenny’s brother rocked the drum solo, I felt as if all of the air was sucked out of the room.
Kenny who?
I’ve always had a thing for drummers, what can I say? Even the drum section of the marching band could get me all hot and bothered, and I have no idea why. Maybe, like Quora says, it’s their hands? Their energy? The hope that a hot drummer can replicate that rhythmic talent in bed?
Hmm. Anyway, here’s to hot drummer stuff.
Dave Grohl. Hold up. Dave. Freaking. Grohl. Dear God in heaven. I could watch him for hours. Here’s “Under Pressure.”
Neil Peart taking center stage on “Tom Sawyer”:
Cute AF “Rush” scene in “I Love You, Man”
Big Southern Classic scene in “Drumline”:
And of course, Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons in “Whiplash”: