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Drummer Stewart Copeland is best known for his time with The Police but he is, unquestionably, considered to be one of the greatest drummers of all time. In fact, Rolling Stone named him as the 10th best drummer of all-time in their 2016 rankings. Copeland has also been in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for 22 years.
Suffice it to say, he crushes the Drumeo challenge where he listens to a song he’s never heard before and listens to a version of the track without drums. He then plays that song on the drums in the style he believes it would sound. In this case, the song is ‘Rollin’ by Limp Bizkit.
Often times with these Drumeo challenges I’m skeptical as to how the drummer had never heard these extremely popular songs they play on the drums. But for some reason, I find it perfectly plausible that Stewart Copeland had never heard ‘Rollin’ by Limp Bizkit until now because this genre seems so far removed from the music of The Police and from a 72-year-old rocker who has also done the score for films like Wall Street and TV shows like The Equalizer.
Stewart Copeland starts listening to the Limp Bizkit track around 2:30 and immediately starts playing along. This is a different style than that of drummers we’ve seen in the past on the Drumeo challenge and it presents a fresh approach. Check it out:
My dude was throwing in interpretive drums before the vocals ever kicked in. That was incredible. And I’m not sure if I just haven’t heard Limp Bizkit in 20 years or what, but this was also a great reminder of how hard some of their songs go.
After his attempt he asks “who was that by the way?” and upon finding out it was Limp Bizkit he remarks “oh really, I like those guys in concept.” My dude, listen to their music. Also, how do you look like you are 58 years old when you are 72?
Around the 5:50 mark in the video he discusses his ‘instinctual’ and ‘improvisational’ approach to drumming. Asked what the process of coming up with drum parts is like he says “I don’t, I just make the s— up” and if that isn’t the most refreshing part of this whole video I don’t know what is. True genius at work.
For those who want more, here is Will Farrell’s long lost twin brother (Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer) Chad Smith crushing a song he’s never heard before:
These dudes are truly incredible. That’s all I can really say about that.