Animal Versus Animal

As I was saying yesterday, there's a bit of Animal in every drummer. And I've just been reminded that there was no clearer evidence of that when the late and possibly greatest Buddy Rich took on the mighty Muppet in a TV drum battle.

If you want to know who won, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erE8WTngaAY. If you want a clue, there's a story that Buddy, who was not averse to drum battles with anyone, once agreed to take on a less confident drummer who begged him to "go easy" on him.

Buddy promised he would sit back and take it steady to make the contest look more even. The other guy went first and played so well that the audience clapped their approval. Then Buddy played and wiped the floor with his opponent. Afterwards the loser said to Buddy, "But you promised... " And Buddy said, "I know. But I just couldn't let you get more applause than me."

There was a lot of Animal in Buddy.