I've always been perplexed by The Beatles. I consider them to be extremely talented musicians and brilliant songwriters, and I like their music when I hear it but.....it's never resonated with me enough to seek it out, or buy any albums. I don't know why.
I was never a big kit drummer, and really not into prog music, so Simon was off my radar most of the time. Then I converted to open-handed drumming, and suddenly I started paying attention!
I really dig this video where's he's playing mostly snares. So cool.
He also gets such great sound out...
Yeah, I take care of my gear because I like to, but also because I don't want any equipment failures in the middle of a gig. There's not caring about sound, and there's not caring about finishing the gig, and that's another thing entirely.
I recall some forum post that summed this up well. Something like "to most of the audience, the bass drum goes BOOM, the snare goes CRACK, and the cymbal goes PSSSHT, and that's all they hear." I think that's pretty accurate.
Let me clarify that I don't consider "boy band" to be an insult at all. So producers held auditions and wrote the songs. Ok, but not just anyone can get up there and perform them in boy band fashion. Actually, I would say very few people can pull that off. I know I couldn't. People may disagree...
The first kit I ever bought (after I graduated from my CB700s) was a Tama. I sold it long ago, but I've been using their hardware ever since. I really like the Roadpro line, and I got a Dyna-Sync pedal around a year ago which is also great. The only Tama drum I have now is a Simon Phillips...
The product is the the Beatles albums which the record company recorded, made and sold on the market, not to mention the promotional merchandise, the licensing deals, the Beatles brand, etc. Haven't you ever heard the saying, "the emphasis is on the second word in 'show business?'"
When a label signs a band, pays for recording sessions, releases them for sale under their brand on the open market, and produces a worldwide promotional tour. I call that manufacturing a product. What would you call it?
The Beatles were totally a boy band...at first: Young heartthrobs singing catchy songs about holding hands to screaming teen girls. Then they got a little older and started doing hallucinogens and things got more interesting.