Teen Vinyl 1: Clem Burke on Parallel Lines by Blondie

The albums I grew up on shaped me in many important ways. My heart belonged to rock, girls and drums, not necessarily in that order.

“Teen Vinyl” presents some of the albums (and drummers) that meant a lot to me–and still do.

I first heard Clem Burke on Blondie’s “Parallel Lines.” What an impact he had on me. His drum parts were always perfect. His playing was so crisp and clean. He played with aggression, but he never overplayed. His drums sounded huge, and he put his crashes in all the right places–many times in unexpected places. I recently started listening to this album again and it still holds up.

Some highlights…

“Heart of Glass” introduced me to disco infused rock. Clem’s opening and closing of the hi-hat on this track has definitely influenced me….you can hear me using these ideas with MANCIE on the track “Only The Wanted.”

I especially love Clem’s drum part on “One Way or Another.” Clem has a little four bar break leading into the guitar solo which is truly sublime. An example of simple perfection.

Here, check out. The four bar break occurs from around 1:44 to 1:50.