The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

The one who would throw a television out of a hotel window.
The one who would be the first to throw their head into drugs.
The one who would blow all their cash on fast cars and stupid houses.

And is it a stereotype?

Yep …

OK, so there were some high profile drummers who lived this life – Keith Moon of The Who, John Bonham of Led Zeppelin and Steven Adler of Guns n’ Roses to name but three – but the reality is this idea of ‘drummer crazy’ likely got burned in people’s consciousness thanks to Animal from the Muppets, the stories of the numerous drummers in the brilliant rockumentary, Spinal Tap and the fact drummers smack the shit out of things for hours on end as their form of musical expression.

But there is one drummer who seems to have a brilliant middle ground between crazy and cool and that’s Queen drummer Roger Taylor.

Not to be mistaken with the drummer of Duran Duran drummer who has the same name … Roger was always the most ‘rock star’ of the band.

Not just because he played the drums – though he did play drum solo’s in the early 80’s featuring timpani drums and a bloody enormous gong – but because he has a long history of buying and crashing exceedingly fast cars and big houses – not to mention having a vast number of relationships with a cavalcade of beautiful and intelligent women.

Hell, he even once wrote a song called, I’m in love with my car.

But while that might represent the wild side of rock n’ roll, the cool side is he’s a batchelor of science, a devoted father of 5 [of which one, Rory, was my doctor in England] a well regarded music producer and composer, passionately committed to preserving the legacy of Freddie, creator of a range of Taylored By London merchandise and still touring the globe playing sold out stadiums as the drummer of Queen.

He turns 72 today.

SEVENTY BLOODY TWO.

And while my loyalty will always be more towards Brian than Rog … the fact he is the drummer of my favourite band, has the same name as my wonderful Dad and is still cooler as a 72 year old than many ‘stars’ who are a 1/3rd of his age, he gets my best wishes and thanks.

Happy birthday Mr Taylor.

To celebrate, here are 3 videos that show the best of him.