You may agree that a social history of the drum kit is the only history of the drum kit worth knowing after reading this book. If you can duck the tedious drummer jokes at the start of each chapter, a rich and tangible tapestry lies here of interwoven events and influences; an unfolding story of personalities and characters, technologies, creative innovations, accidents, inspired appropriations and world-changing events that have all shaped the evolution of the drum kit. Itself a collection of percussive items from different geographies, cultures, histories and technologies, we might say that as a single entity, the drum kit and its history can be traced very closely with the history of Popular Music.

Chapter one deals with tectonic influences: the American Civil War, Slave Trade and the tragic African diaspora. Drums are not so much physically planted in America so much as a new interpretation of them and a new purposing gets underway, a new usage of, and need for, drumming. The chapter ends already with an early incarnation of a drum kit – at this point called ‘trap kit’ – itself a collection of sound-making devices for use in theatres, cinemas and vaudeville acts. The much-maligned drummer even at this stage takes up a key role at the centre of live performance: not the backward savage but a forward-thinking and physically dexterous entrepreneur working the world of a new dark art of entertainment developing in the 20th century (p. 50).

Brennan considers drumming and ‘noise’ in Chapter two, and the preconceptions and prejudices that go alongside ‘noise’ often being used to keep drums and drumming and drummers in check. So easily portrayed as dangerous and wild (primitive, savage), drumming is initially seen as a disruptive influence on an otherwise civilised and pure musical society. No controversial issues to see there obviously! However, ‘noise’ of course is a concept that changes over the years and is often more a description of ‘the new’ that cycles through generations (Attali Reference Attali1985). We see how ragtime was initially responded to in the same ways that death metal might be nowadays – as some kind of extreme noise terror that was brazenly destroying society (p. 57). It really doesn't seem that way now, and perhaps one person's ‘noise’ is simply another person's new music.

The myth that Chapter three sets out to debunk is one that drummers are less than their musical contemporaries. Instead, when it comes to being able to read music, arrange music and comprehend the philosophical and the academic, drummers are often thebest of them. However, it also brings to light evidence of the role of drummers in shaping the physical forms of drums, cymbals and hardware, directly with manufacturers. In so many instances, it boils down to people, with all their flaws, their flair, their characters that define the physical items – and indeed in some cases digital items – that all together broadly create the influential ‘drumscape’ that Brennan will later refer to (p. 316).

Each chapter begins with a drummer joke, and an attempt to balance this with some alternative perspective or quote: another myth to be debunked. I can see what Brennan is trying to do here but I have to admit I do grimace and wince as each chapter begins afresh. The book is fascinating and deeply rewarding, and doesn't need this device in my opinion, as it only serves to inscribe the very ignorance that the book could so perfectly erase. Rather like serving poison before the antidote, I find it all unnecessary, and can't we just move on?

By Chapter four drummers begin to emerge from the assumption and further preconception that they are just time keepers in musical ensembles and therefore something unworthy, and instead are contributors, innovators and co-creators of a new musical culture – jazz – that itself involves new rhythms, new improvisational structures in music and dance. A pleasing section set around nightlife at the Savoy Club in the 1930s explains, with testimonies from dancers themselves, how drummer Chick Webb responded to their moves and the music with his own creativity, and vice versa, fuelling the fires of physical expression and dance innovation (p. 137). Drumming influencing dance and dance culture – who would have thought? However, it is important to note this. The world in the 1930s seems to be waking up to the appearance via jazz, of ‘rhythm’ as a concept with a commonality and a positive outcome – one of feeling good.

Chapter five deals with working drummers, the role and presence of the sense of labour over artistry and creativity in what they do, rightly pointing out the questionable practice of unpaid royalties for many drummers who have been sampled – directly copied – into thousands of tracks, many that have gone on to become successful hits, with the drummer receiving nothing in terms of payment. However, also issues of mental health and gender are exemplified in the changing role Karen Carpenter experienced from drummer to singer in The Carpenters. Pushed unwillingly to the front by record company ideals to suit the tastes and modes of the time, Karen struggled greatly with being torn out of her place of power and connection with the music, behind the drum kit. Far from this being an evolution, Karen suffered and declined psychologically in the barren spotlight, in a world that couldn't think of girl drummers and expected its lead singers to be up front, charming and willing (p. 239).

By the final Chapter six, we do get a sense of some incredible journey that we have been taken on. We have seen drums and drumming ‘appear’ in popular culture in the 1900s, impinge on classical repertoire, moving from near invisibility and for the most part derision at the turn of the century to being a fundamental ingredient for almost all popular music. To choose not to have drums is a very big statement in itself in the world today. A small section on rock star drummers I find highly relevant (p. 222), as are key offerings from producers’ insights into the pithy truths of the music world, many of which allude to the importance of drums in pop music (p. 276).

Abundant with key images, relevant sources and noteworthy evocations of eras and key moments in history, this book is a key resource for any drummer wanting to learn the rich and fascinating heritage of the instrument he or she plays. Writers looking to contextualise their research with the evolution of a musical instrument in society will also find this book of great relevance.