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Questlove likes to joke that when he first fell in love with The Rolling Stones, it was with all the “bad” albums. Instead of long celebrated classics like Consequences, Sticky fingers, Where Exile on Main St., his favorite records were It’s only rock’n’roll, Black and blue, Emotional rescue, and Sheltered, among others.
“How ironic that I speak to Rolling stone right now, ”he said, reflecting on the impact that late Stones drummer Charlie Watts, who passed away this week, had on him. “Be nine years old, read your father’s books Rolling stone magazine and read the humorous panning of Emotional rescue, it was instantly like, ‘Oh, I got to hear this record now.’ Even more unsettling is the way I thought, ‘Wait a minute, I really like this record.’ I remember seeing the headline “What Kind of Rescue Is This?” And instantly this pan made me buy it.
Even on those less touted LPs he could hear how important Watts was to the sound of the band. When Questlove finally dove into the group’s most popular releases, he gained an even deeper understanding of what made the drummer special. By his own estimate, Watts ‘influence was as important to his development as a drummer as the breakbeats he loved during the Roots’ early years. Here he reflects on how Watts’ understated simplicity has helped him define his own approach to drums.
Charlie Watts really knew what was in demand in Rolling Stones songs. I’m not even talking about the great hits of Captain Obvious, I’m talking about things that aren’t celebrated enough, like his groove on “Almost Hear You Sigh” on Steel wheels or their interpretation of “Harlem Shuffle” on Dirty work. I know a lot has been debated about “What’s the perfect parenthesis between the Stones’ work: where did it start and where does it end?” But in my opinion, he’s always been a solid baseline hitter. He was the anti-beater. He wasn’t performative to let you know how hard he was working. He gave you the basics.
What I really felt, about Charlie and my drums, was the fact that my reputation is as stoic as Charlie’s reputation – like, the serious face he’s always had. I came into the world at a time when the temptation to show off was at its height, and it’s a daunting task to check your ego at the door when you’re a drummer, not asking for attention or doing whatever. it is to distract from the team mentality. And I will say that those first five to six years in the Roots, to keep that discipline going, especially in a genre that wanted complete flash and trickery, my motivation in the back of my mind has always been that Watts has become a legend not because of who he was associated with, but because he provided the foundation for it.
A solid foundation, to me, is more important than the size of your drums or how fast you play or how hard you play. And only real drummers know the value of Charlie Watts and the fact that he was the greatest metronome in the world. His serious, stoic drumming was kind of my model with the Roots. Because Charlie was doing less, it made him more.
It’s weird that all of the Stones’ incorrect recordings were what drew me to them. And then when I was in my thirties – like around 1998, ’99, especially when all those reissues were coming out – then all of a sudden I saw the magic in “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” or whatever. stuff on Exile on Main Street. Even his work on something like “I just wanna see his face” where the drums aren’t really defined or the blues thing, “Shake Your Hips”. I studied it a lot.
[Producer] Don Was told me a really great story that I still refuse to believe to this day. He said he would play [the Roots’] “The Seed” for the Rolling Stones, sort of taunting them, like “This is who you all have to look like.” I believe he was working on A bigger blow at the time. And I was like, “Wait, you what?” And he’s like, “Yeah.” He told me how many times he had played it for them.
In my mind when I recorded this song on our Phrenology record, there was a certain raw sound that I wanted for that “The Seed” drum sound. And in my mind to get raw I felt like I had to pretend I was younger myself and undo the things I had learned in the last 10 years of drumming. I kind of put myself in a kind of Sticky fingers-ère Watts or even its battery on Exile, just some kind of very loose drums. I certainly remember spending a lot of time with Exile on Main St. try to channel that feeling or rawness before following “The Seed”. There was a certain texture that I wanted to achieve with this song.
Often times when hip-hoppers or rappers are trying to get close to rock music, the first thing that comes to their mind is always the “Smoke on the Water” or “Iron Man” or “Smells Like Teen Spirit” riff. “. Like, all that’s gonna make Beavis and Butt-Head want to have a blast is the rock they can think of. And for me, I wanted to bring something closer to Exile on Main Street.
Perhaps Charlie’s biggest hallmark was the fact that he never hits the hi-hat when he hits the snare, which is very unusual, as the drummers are programmed to hit everything at once. I’ve never seen a drummer hit them individually like he does. His charleston hand never played when the snare hand was playing, and the same with the way he applies his rolls and kicks and so on. Like, again, a rare moment where he just rolled his ass is the end of “Start Me Up”, which is kind of like, “Ooh, he lets go this evening. But I realize that it is more mastery than it is not advanced enough.
The average hobbyist or newbie will probably think, “The less I do, the more it will reveal that I’m not as good as the next person.” And that’s absolutely not the case with Charlie Watts. Its drums level, especially the fact that it was so unorthodox, I definitely could hear a difference in my drums, once I stopped relying a lot on the hi-hat. As with “Brown Sugar”, this is a prime example where his focus on the kick and snare and not so much on the hi-hat makes him bigger, the same with the ground four – or in this case, the eight on the ground – for “Satisfaction”. Just the fact that it does less and it looks heavier.
I pretty much had real time with everyone in the Stones except Charlie, but I got to see two Stones shows. I saw the “theater show” in 2002, which was small considering that I also saw one of these Voodoo lounge [stadium] shows, which, like, “That’s way too much to reckon with.” For me, my appetite was absolutely satisfied with what I saw. I walked away wondering, “Wow, I wonder if I’ll be that powerful in my seventies, continuing to play the drums.” “
The Stones have been around for decades, and these guys have been committed to each other, I’m sure, longer than the longest relationship either of these gentlemen has had in their domestic life. It screams volume about the importance of legacy and how well it has worked, because I know people who have spent time with each other and the wheels have fallen and you are running out of ideas and you don’t know how far you can go. go. I really admire the tenacity of the Stones and their willingness to go even deeper and dig deeper.
Outside of the Stones, Charlie was an accomplished jazz drummer, and I think the creativity is transferable. Charlie knew what was needed when he returned to the Rolling Stones. That’s, for me, what made him even better and even more of a genius. Believe me, his “less is more” technique is probably one of the coolest games you’ll hear.
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