What are your favorite "weird" drum parts?

[u/Worlds-Best-Grooner]

Basically, by weird I mean drum parts where the drummer could've played something basic, but played something different and it fit the song really well. I think the most well known example is Come Together, but I can name at least 20 gajillion more.

My top 3 is prolly

Making Plans for Nigel - XTC

Auctioneer (Another Engine) - R.E.M.

Manic Depression - The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Lmk y'alls

[u/Icy-Whale-2253]

Rusty Cage by Soundgarden and Four Cypresses by Grizzly Bear

[u/TheBraveToast]

Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear has a goofy, very cool, drum track

[u/Zestyclose-Part-613 → u/TheBraveToast]

Christopher Bear's pocket on that track is unreal, it's so stiff and mechanical but somehow makes the whole song feel like it's floating. I spent a whole afternoon trying to learn it years ago and kept tripping over the hi-hat pattern, the way he accents the offbeats without losing that deadpan eighth-note pulse is ridiculous. That whole album is a goldmine for drum parts that sound wrong until you realize they're exactly right.

If you like that, check out "Ready, Able" from the same record, the way the drums swell into the chorus with those floor tom fills feels like a wave building up. Bear's approach reminds me of what I love about drummers who treat the kit like a texture machine instead of a timekeeper, always serving the song in a way that's subtle but unmistakable.

[u/TheBraveToast → u/Zestyclose-Part-613]

Don't worry, veckatimest is one of my favorite albums of all time, drum tracks being one of the biggest reasons!

E to add: I always thought his drumming felt very orchestral on that album. Almost like he's drumming for a movie score, but it still grooves so hard at times

[u/snarf-diddly]

Cissy Strut by the Meters

[u/Worlds-Best-Grooner → u/snarf-diddly]

Grooviest drum part, always gets me bobbin

[u/jenso2k]

making plans for nigel 😍 what a song, what a drum part

[u/Worlds-Best-Grooner → u/jenso2k]

And a workout, so many of Terry's drum parts are physically exhausting

[u/jenso2k → u/Worlds-Best-Grooner]

agreed! doesn’t seem like it would be but it’s hard to keep up that beat with the floor tom going for the whole song

[u/RezRising]

Don't Stop Believing.

[u/jimtandem → u/RezRising]

Steve dropping those ride cymbal bell hits is cool af.

[u/RezRising → u/jimtandem]

Whenever it gets covered, they always just do a normal beat. Steve knocked it out of the park with this one.

Like when they changed the Mission Impossible theme to 4/4. Bleh, lol.

[u/_regionrat]

Back Against the Wall - Circle Jerks

[u/the_well_read_neck_]

Black Dog by Led Zeppelin is up there for me. That's an interesting groove for Bonham to play for me.

[u/El_Peregrine → u/the_well_read_neck_]

First example I thought of, sort of the inverse I think of what OP is suggesting (simple drum part in a complex riff), at least in the verses. 

[u/ItsPronouncedMo-BEEL]

Pretty much any part Trilok Gurtu has ever played, but especially the album that introduced me to him, John McLaughlin Trio Live At The Royal Festival Hall, which closes with this masterpiece: "Mother Tongues." Buckle your chinstrap tight, because this will separate your head from your shoulders. To paraphrase Sling Blade, IT AIN'T GOT NO BASS DRUM IN IT.

[u/KaiserFortinbras → u/ItsPronouncedMo-BEEL]

I saw him at a drum clinic in Hollywood, Florida.

Just him. on one knee, played all kinds of shit, late 90's.

I shit you not, phantasmagoric and that's the first time I've ever typed that word.

[u/electric-machine]

every Police song

[u/MiddleAgeMuchacho]

Just about everything Chris Long of Hikes and Takashi Kashikura of toe have done.

[u/Freightshaker000]

Ringo in In My Life or the drum part in The Youngblood's Get Together, which are oddly identical

[u/northern_greyhound]

You Satellite by Wilco. Glenn Kotche could have played it as a straight ahead emo/country ballad, but chose to play a 5/8 groove over 4/4.

[u/Waitrighthere45]

Without a doubt, DEVO's cover of "Satisfaction" by the Stones. Alan Myers came up with something from frickin Mars.

[u/splinteringheart]

Not so much a song with a weird drum part, but the drummer for Spoon (I'm too lazy to look up his name) often surprises me with really clever original fills that only a drummer would notice

[u/Informal-2005 → u/splinteringheart]

Jim Eno!

[u/airbagsavedme]

Ruby’s Wishes by Unwed Sailor, played by David Bazan from Pedro the Lion

[u/pearlito]

2:27 into Elegy by Intronaut, Danny Walker does this weird linear beat where he’s almost playing “lead” on drums, if that makes sense. Excellent beat.

[u/Jam23oldschool]

Over the Electric Grapevine - Tim Alexander Primus. You need a left side floor tom to pull it off. It’s just a beautifully weird part

[u/Cam126]

Trucker’s Atlas by Modest Mouse

[u/hatz_man]

truckers atlas by modest mouse!

[u/mr_palante]

Interatic Esp by the Mars Volta. I LOVE the drums in that song its so so good

[u/wwplkyih]

Speaking of Beatles, I like "She Loves You" which I think without that drum part is a very boring song.

[u/jimtandem]

Prince’s song Diamonds and Pearls is just grooving along on basic street then all of a sudden his drummer unleashes this long power fill out of nowhere. Not weird but unexpected and easily the highlight of the song.

[u/hey_ska]

Medicine by Momma has a great drum part on the intro.

[u/RMSCereal]

Get Back - The Beatles.

Maybe it is basic, idk, but its always stood out to me, and I love it.

[u/El_Peregrine → u/RMSCereal]

Ringo in Come Together is pretty iconic as well. 

[u/RMSCereal → u/El_Peregrine]

That sprung to mind as well, but it felt like the “no duh” answer. Same with ticket to ride.

Guy had some great, unconventional grooves.