inspired by the greatest female guitar player thread currently going on, I was wondering why there aren’t hardly any female drummers. I realize theres all girl bands such as the Donnas and more I cant think of off the top of me head with female drummers, but why such a lack of male bands with said lady tubthumpers?
so, whos got lady drummers and whos the best?
im intrigued.
One of the first female drummers in Rock N’ Roll history was Mo Tucker, who played in the Velvet Underground. Her style could be considered minimalistic, but I’ve always felt she was under-rated. I find her work to be creative and like the way her percussion complements, not competes with, the other instrumentation in that band’s songs.
Sheila E is another outstanding percussionist.
Meg White is the drummer for the White Stripes.
This doesn’t classify as rock, but Karen Carpenter was the drummer for The Carpenters.
Donna C of The Donnas
Gina Schock of The Go Go’s
Kim (?) Peterson of The Bangles (I can never remember which sister is the drummer)
The gal in Vixen - okay, weak entry, but you get the idea
Sue Hajepoulos, the percussionist on Joe Jackson’s Night & Day - I know, I mangled the spelling of her last name…
plus the aforementioned gals in the previous posts, and I am sure there are plenty others…
Caroline Corr from the Corrs. (Cor!).
When I think of female drummer I always think of Sheila E and Cindy Blackman who plays for Lenny Kravitz.
Oh, Caroline Corr is a crap drummer by the way. But who cares? 
Kate Schellenbach, formerly of the Beastie Boys and Luscious Jackson, is pretty dang good.
Ooh, Kate’s page above has a link to Drummergirl – check it out! If you go here, you’ll find an alphabetized compendium of female drummers.
hmm, perhaps i should actually think before asking something like this. i know all these but could not remember. thats the drudgery of friday afternoons at work when the bosses have left and my brain goes to sleep.
whos the best then?
i also just thought of the lass off Babes in Toyland but cant remember here name. are they actually still going?
Well, there’s Cindy Blackman who plays with Lenny Kravitz quite a bit. She’s solid, but my favorite female rock drummer would have to be Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney. (Although Mo Tucker is a very, very close second.)
hmm, perhaps i should actually think before asking something like this. i know all these but could not remember. thats the drudgery of friday afternoons at work when the bosses have left and my brain goes to sleep.
whos the best then?
i also just thought of the lass off Babes in Toyland but cant remember here name. are they actually still going?
Bah! stupid connection failures means it posts twice.
The drummer from Drain STH rawks. Martina Axen, I want to say.
Maureen Tucker was the drummer for The Velvet Underground
Sheeboom played with The Pet Shop Boys once. Does that count?
A few that spring to mind, omitting all-girl bands:
Lindy Morrison from The Go-Betweens
Ann “Honey” Lantree from The Honeycombs
Caroline Easther from The Chills
Georgia Hubley from Yo La Tengo
Heather Lewis from Beat Happening
Sara Romweber from Let’s Active and Snatches of Pink
Janet Beveridge Bean from Eleventh Dream Day
She’s probably mentioned on Drummergirl, but my favorite female drummer (a rather questionable term, but necessary for this thread) is Hilary Jones. She may have played rock on sessions, but I believe she’s more well-known as a fusion-jazz drummer.
Debbi. Vicki was the guitarist.
I’ll second Kate Schellenbach. I never really pay attention to drum work, but she makes you notice. Especially in Pelé Merengue. From what I hear, she had a major beef with the mindless frat crap attitude of the early Beasties, which apparently contributed to their eventual improvement.
I think it would be pretty loose to call her a drummer. She was a multi-instrumentalist, like the rest of the band, and played guitar and bass more than drums.