Arthur Crabtree wrote:Drummer Hal Blaine has died. I first noticed him as the drummer with Simon and Garfunkel, but mostly rate his work with Phil Spector (as part of The Wrecking Crew). In spite of performing on many jukeboxes worth of hits, it seems he spent his his later life working as a security guard.
I think session musicians often get a bit of a bad deal, because they way people interpret the creative process often separates "skill" instruments like piano/guitars away from the rhythm section; essentially, you can get a guitarist write down 4 chords that have been used millions of times before in songs who will get all the credit, but if a bass player shreds off a riff, or the drummer creates an original groove, its just considered part of the backing.
How someone like George Martin isnt listed as writing Yesterday by the Beatles, for instance!! He scored the whole bloody string arrangement from scratch, which is what elevates the song. There are hundreds of examples...... Eddie Van Halen didnt even get a credit nor any money for his part of "Beat it" by Michael Jackson.... how can it be claimed the song is written by Jackson alone, when he never created large parts of it?
I hate U2 and Bono, but I have to respect the fact that he is one of the few artists that acknowledges the minor contributions his band mates make.... I believe all their songs are listed as band collabs, even though its mostly Bono that does them, with minor work from the edge. I imagine he denies himself quite fankly 100s of millions of quid to share each song 25% split.
Ok, if you are someone like Johnny Marr who was famous for literally creating the whole backing tracks and sending them to Steve, thats fine; the musicians are creating, but paid just to play exactly what you have wrote.......
But does anyone do that with Blaine? I have a feeling most bands look for the drummer just to play what he comes up with. Not much money in that I guess.