FEATURE:
The Digital Mixtape
IN THIS PHOTO: Meg White of The White Stripes performing on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in 2005/PHOTO CREDIT: Scott Gries/Getty Images
We Got the Beat: The Best Female Drummers Ever
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AFTER receiving praise, defence, and love…
IN THIS PHOTO: Karen Elson/PHOTO CREDIT: Emily Dorio for The Glossary
from the likes of Questlove, I wanted to talk about female drummers. Backing it up a bit, Questlove came out to defend Meg White after a journalist stated how The White Stripes (who she was in with Jack White) would be a better band without her. Karen Elson also showed her support for a fantastic drummer:
“This week, a tweet from political journalist Lachlan Markay surfaced in which he claimed that The White Stripes would have been a better band with “a half decent drummer”.
“Yeah, yeah I’ve heard all the ‘but it’s a carefully crafted sound mannnn!’ takes. I’m sorry Meg White was terrible and no band is better for having s***ty percussion,” Markay continued.
The reporter’s sentiment has been widely rebutted by the music industry. Elson, who was married to Meg’s ex-husband and bandmate Jack White between 2005 and 2013, tweeted: “Not only is Meg White a fantastic drummer, Jack also said the White Stripes would be nothing without her.
“To the journalist who dissed her, keep my ex husband’s ex wife name out of your f***ing mouth. (Please and Thank You).”
“By now you’ve probably seen an ill-advised (and since-deleted) tweet I sent out yesterday about the White Stripes and Meg White. It was an over-the-top take on TWS and White as a drummer, and was, let’s face it, just truly awful in every way. Petty, obnoxious, just plain wrong,” he wrote.
“... To Meg White: I am sorry. Really. And to women in the music business generally, who I think are disproportionately subject to this sort of shit, I am sorry to have fed that as well. I’m really going to try to be more thoughtful in the future, both on here and off”.
Not only was Meg White a bad-ass and fantastic drummer, she put so much personality, power and originality into her beats, enhancing The White Stripes’ music, and making it so enduring and world-class! I wanted to build off of the controversy and debate by including her in a playlist featuring some of the best female drummers there has ever been. I may have missed a few great drummers (and the songs are listed by band rather than highlighting the drummer’s name), so apologies if there are any missing! With Meg White leading the charge, below are women whose drumming…
IS in a league of its own.