Playing “Moby Dick” For 90 Minutes Is Like Running On A Soccer Pitch

Drummers. They are the driving force of a band. If the drummer is off with the bass, he’s screwed. If the drummer misses a beat, then he’s screwed. If the drummer loses a stick, then he needs to channel his inner Rick Allen (Def Leppard drummer with one arm) and deal with it. In so many words, drummers are the primary energy-conductors of a rock band. And one Blondie-loving doctor has taken it upon himself to prove that taking up drumming for 90 minutes is similar to kicking a ball on the soccer pitch, which means Jon Bonham could have been the most-energized drunk midfielder of all time.

He said: “Footballers can normally expect to play 40 to 50 games a year - but in one 12 month period, Clem played 90-minute sets at 100 concerts.
“Footballer find playing a Champions League game once every two weeks a drain, but these guys are doing it every day when they are on tour.
“It is clear that their fitness levels need to be outstanding - through monitoring Clem’s performance in controlled conditions, we have been able to map the extraordinary stamina required by professional drummers.”
The project was conducted jointly by the University of Gloucestershire and the University of Chichester.

He goes on to report that drummers who played for 90 minutes reached heart-rates of up to 190bpm and burned 400-600 calories. That’s probably what we burn blogging for a week. /Flexing
So, whose endurance would thrive on a pitch? Well let’s check it out.
Jon Bonham’s “Moby Dick” Training Session.

Led Zeppelin’s drumming masterpiece “Moby Dick” is a gazillion minutes of music that turned Jon Bonham into a household name and legend. Well, that probably happened before, but this is the song that hypnotized us when we were teenagers. A drum solo like this means Bonham could probably at last Frank Lampard on the pitch any day. We bet his skill isn’t off either.
Elvin Jones Drum Solo In “Zacharias”

Elvin Jones is known for his time in John Coltrane’s famed quartet. Since Jazz tunes can last days, you know his stamina would have placed him on par with any of the top soccer players of today.
And, of course, Mr. Tito Puente.

We feel his tenacity would rival that of Diego Maradona’s. And since his energy is infinite, Tito Puente could have been trading jabs with Pele concerning that undying of perennial questions: who is the greatest soccer player that ever lived? Hey, coordination with hands doesn’t mean his talents stretched to his legs, but you never know.
Rock drummers are top athletes [BBC]
Image [RockRollPhoto]