'60s Drum Solos That Blew Audiences Away

When talking about the many iconic drum solos in the decades-long history of rock music, the 1960s are typically a great place to start, given how quickly rock was evolving, especially in the decade's second half. After all, that was when the likes of Cream's Ginger Baker and Led Zeppelin's John Bonham first broke out as major rock stars. But that's not to say these early purveyors of hard rock were the only ones who created masterful drum solos that blew audiences' minds. That's why we're going to look at five drum solos from 1960s songs that left fans' mouths gaping back in the day, while continuing to do so as modern audiences discover or revisit their music.

In a conventional band setup, the drummer is the quarterback, catcher, and/or point guard of the entire unit. It is typically their job to maintain a steady tempo and lead the way for the rest of the band to do their thing onstage or in the studio. But every once in a while, drummers have a chance to show off with some intricate rolls and fills, with little or no accompaniment to allow them to shine. When executed perfectly, these solos can stand out in the hearts and minds of fans as all-time moments from their favorite drummers. 

There's one key reason why the Surfaris' instrumental track "Wipe Out" is one of those 1963 rock hits that sound even cooler in present times: the drums. From the very first second of the song, Ron Wilson's quick and powerful drum rolls push the song forward, with the repetitive but irresistibly catchy main guitar lick taking over after the intro. But it's during the breaks in between these lead guitar parts where Wilson earned his place in rock history. Listen carefully and notice how each of these brief drum solos (at least in comparison to the others in this list) sound so steady until the final roll, which gets progressively more complex with each repetition. That requires superb control and fluidity, and Wilson had a surplus of each of these key drummer attributes.

It's fair to say that Wilson's drum solos on "Wipe Out" played a vital role in the song's rather unique chart success — it peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1963 and reentered the charts three years later, reaching No. 16 in October 1966. And even if it's been several decades since those two Billboard Top 20 appearances, fans are still wowed by Wilson's percussive talents, with one Reddit user mentioning "Wipe Out" in a thread dedicated to songs with great drum solos: "I remember drumming with my fingers on the desk in 3rd or 4th grade to Wipeout," they said. "The teacher didn't appreciate my talent!"

Cream released only four albums during their two-plus years together, making them one of the best examples of bands that broke up as they were making it big. As such, one can speculate that their drummer, Ginger Baker, would have likely come up with many more mind-blowing solos for Cream, had frequent infighting not led to their premature breakup. Even then, he was able to leave jaws dropping with an extended drum solo in the instrumental track "Toad," fully utilizing the entire kit without sounding the least bit awkward. And while the three-minute-plus version on Cream's 1966 debut album "Fresh Cream" is impressive enough, Baker leveled things up even further in the live version on 1968's "Wheels of Fire" — we're talking a good, uninterrupted 13 minutes out of the song's 16-minute runtime.

Although not as beloved as many of Cream's non-instrumental tracks, "Toad" has more than its fair share of fans among average listeners and critics alike. In his review of "Wheels of Fire" for the August 10, 1968, issue of Melody Maker, Chris Welch wrote that the album's live version of "Toad" has the "best solo Ginger has ever recorded." He lavished further praise on the extended solo, describing how Baker "launches into a one-man riot that contains climax after climax, and [puts] one in fear for his heart and lungs." It's also maintained a presence in pop culture in the years since, having been used in various films, including Martin Scorsese's 1995 mob epic, "Casino." 

Surely, one would expect a 17-minute song that is widely considered an early example of heavy metal to include at least one drum solo. Fortunately, that is the case with Iron Butterfly's 1968 track "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," and the main drum solo on this one, courtesy of Ron Bushy, stands out from our previous two entries because of how it isn't all about speed, power, and/or volume.

The first solo actually starts out comparatively quietly at around the 6:23 mark, using soft-loud dynamics throughout its nearly three-minute duration. It then ends just as softly as it started, but just when you think Bushy is done showing off on the skins, he launches into another, consistently loud solo slightly past the 13-minute mark. This one isn't as long, and he's largely accompanied by singer-keyboardist Doug Ingle and lead guitarist Erik Brann's psychedelic noodling, but it's just as impressive several decades after the song's release.

While Bushy isn't a household name like most of the other drummers in this list, his solos on "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" apparently helped inspire Beatles drummer Ringo Starr's own iconic late-'60s solo on "The End" – which we'll be getting to in a bit. It's also a mainstay of "best drum solos" threads on Reddit, and it's been mentioned on other forums as a song that inspired drummers to take up their craft. And let's not forget its use on "The Simpsons" during a scene where Bart (Nancy Cartwright) swaps the official church hymn with one called "'In the Garden of Eden,' by I. Ron Butterfly." It kind of makes you wonder how the poor church organist tried to replicate Bushy's drum solos on that "rock and/or roll" classic.

Anyone with little to no knowledge of Led Zeppelin would be forgiven for skipping to the next track on 1969's "Led Zeppelin II" after hearing the first minute of "Moby Dick" — it starts out as a standard blues-rock instrumental with nothing special to set it apart from the rest of the album. But true fans know that John Bonham's nearly three-minute-long drum solo is what makes the song one of the standouts from Led Zeppelin's second album, despite the deliberate absence of Robert Plant's powerful lead vocals. That solo, along with its various live versions, is among the highlights of a career that ended way too early after Bonham's tragic death in 1980.

This is another solo that starts out soft and understated, but it doesn't take long for Bonham to show why he would go on to become one of rock music's greatest drummers ever. The first minute and change sees Bonham using his bare hands to bang on the toms and the congas, before he seamlessly goes back to using his drumsticks for the rest of the solo. This impressed Rolling Stone critic John Mendelsohn, who gave "Led Zeppelin II" a less-than-stellar review, but acknowledged that Bonham had the potential to "shut down [Ginger] Baker even without sticks." 

What might be most impressive, though, is how Bonham doesn't noticeably fall out of the pocket during the "Moby Dick" solo. Staying within a song's tempo while performing simpler drum solos is hard enough on its own, but doing so while playing a solo as long and complex as the one on "Moby Dick"? That's the mark of a true drumming legend.

Even with solos like the one on the aptly named last full track on The Beatles' 1969 album "Abbey Road," Ringo Starr is still considered underrated by many a music fan. But he had a great feel for what to do and what not to do as his band's timekeeper, and what he needed to do on a song like "The End" was to show that he's capable of pulling off pretty nifty solos.

As noted earlier, Starr borrowed a bit from Ron Bushy's tribal-influenced drum solo on Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," and while his was much, much shorter, Starr's solo on "The End" was long enough to properly showcase a steady, pounding kick drum punctuated by some creative rolls on the toms and the snare. The solo wraps up just short of 15 seconds, with a simple ending that effortlessly transitions into the extended instrumental break. It may be among the shortest solos on this list, but that's just how many Beatles fans like it — simply put, it's a perfect fit for the song's structure. Plus, the song gets lots of love on Reddit outside of Beatles conversations, with posts on various threads listing "The End" as a tune with a great drum solo. 

"The End" may not be the last song all four Beatles recorded together (even if it can feel that way), but it allowed everyone in the band to flex their skills to the fullest in their final months as a group, with Ringo arguably the biggest star of the show thanks to that short but sweet drum solo.