News John Bonham once claimed Karen Carpenter “couldn’t last 10 minutes with Led Zeppelin”
“I picked up a pair of sticks,” Karen Carpenter once proclaimed, “And it was the most natural-feeling thing I’ve ever done”. That’s a point that certainly came across in her seamless drumming. She made the mindboggling feat of rattling through rhythmic fills and singing melodic toplines simultaneously look as easy and consummate as whistling in the shower. As Anton Newcombe of Brian Jonestown Massacre fame told us some time ago, she is in the “top tier of musicianship”.
This was ratified further by Blondie’s esteemed sticksmith Clem Burke, who also told us: “Karen was a fantastic drummer only overshadowed by her fantastic voice and femininity.” Highlighting her abundant and soulful talent that many others have championed in the past. As Burke asserts, she had flair in abundance as well as an array of chops.
However, John Bonham of Led Zeppelin clearly took issue with the young singing sticksmith ranking above him in Playboy’s 1975 ‘Best Drummer’ poll. The thunderous man – often referred to as the best rock ‘n’ roll drummer ever – was irritated by his second-place ranking and raged: “I’d like to have it publicised that I came in after Karen Carpenter in the Playboy drummer poll! She couldn’t last 10 minutes with a Zeppelin number.”
Vanity Fair journalist Lisa Robinson was in the dressing that night to witness his bruised ego’s response to the poll and recalled the drummer roaring in a drunken stupor, clad in his Clockwork Orange jumpsuit that he had recently been sick on. He began taking his frustration out on various items of wholly innocent furniture, braying the inanimate objects. He seemingly saw this poll as some sort of slight on his whole existence.
Later in the night, as the drink had rendered him weary, he turned towards a more existential tact when criticising the podium positions. “I was a carpenter for a few years [the trade, not a member of the family folk-pop duo],” he moaned. “I’d get up at seven in the morning, then change my clothes in the van to go to gigs at night. How do you think I feel, not being taken seriously, coming in after Karen Carpenter in the Playboy poll. … Karen Carpenter … what a load of shit.”
This might be a misogyny-laced diatribe that illuminates a lame egoist focus on arbitrary polls – arguably the antithesis of rock ‘n’ roll – but it also was sadly a viewpoint that he was far from alone in during the era. Not only was Carpenter’s drumming underappreciated because of her sex but also because of the less thrashy approach she had behind the kit, as though decibels were a key measure of skill. This is happily being readdressed.
Bonham, indeed, might have bruised his tom-toms a bit more in his brutal and undeniably brilliant performances, but folk-pop requires more measure than that, so it would actually be detrimental to the music if Carpenter tried the same muscular tact. Besides, there are even those who questioned whether Bonham was a little too bold, with Keith Richards commenting: “John Bonham thundering down the highway in an uncontrolled 18-wheeler. He had cornered the market there.”
Adding: “I always felt there was something a little hollow about it.”
While that might be harsh on Bonham in turn, the point remains that for different songs there are different drummers. As Newcombe told us in his glowing testimony: “It’s easy to dismiss the sweet as pie wholesome ways of the saccharine, mellow music that the 1970s mainstream brother-sister group The Carpenters offered. However, we are blessed through streaming services like YouTube to be able to review absolutely incredible documentation of many artists. One clip that comes to mind, is a very young Karen Carpenter absolutely killing it on her version of ‘Dancing in the Street’ while singing (see below).”
Continuing, he added: “It is very doubtful that the drummer of your favourite band could ever pull this off. It really shows off her skill and places her in the top tier of musicianship. It cements her legendary status in a way that the simple, quiet, but fitting drumming on their soft rock mega-hits do not. Mad respect.”
He’s not alone in offering that retrospective respect, either. In plenty of discussions I’ve had, session drummers and coaches have heaped praise upon her dexterity and effortless groove. Hell, even Buddy Rich, perhaps the greatest to ever pick up sticks, also lauded her, citing Carpenter among his favourites. So, her premiere position is far from the ludicrous feat Bonham made it out to be.
Aside from the fact that she largely kept it simple for the sake of the song and the health struggles that hamstrung her output, perhaps another reason she was undervalued as a musician came down to her earnest humility in an era where ego ruled the roost. Her response to Bonham’s rage typified this. When she came out on top, she commented, “[I am] humbled and embarrassed.”
Adding: “I heard John Bonham is quite upset. I hope he is not mad at me, as I had nothing to do with the poll.”
