Kick It: A Social History of the Drum Kit

Product Description
The drum kit has provided the pulse of popular music from before the dawn of jazz up to the present day pop charts.
Kick It, a provocative social history of the instrument, looks closely at key innovators in the development of the drum kit: inventors and manufacturers like the Ludwig and
Zildjian dynasties, jazz icons like Gene Krupa and Max Roach, rock stars from Ringo Starr to Keith Moon, and popular artists who haven’t always got their dues as drummers, such as Karen Carpenter and J Dilla. Tackling the history of race relations, global migration, and the changing tension between
high and low culture, author Matt Brennan makes the case for the drum kit’s role as one of the most transformative musical inventions of the modern era.
Kick It shows how the drum kit and drummers helped change modern music–and society as a whole–from the bottom up.

Review
“The most comprehensive book on the topic. Compulsory reading for the inquisitive drummer.” — Bill Bruford

“An incisive argument for the drum kit’s recognition as a revolutionary musical invention.” —
Financial Times, Best Music Books of 2020

“A wonderful book. The act of striking something is innate in all of us, whether drumming our fingers on a table or negotiating a full blown drum kit.
Kick It is a fascinating read which has ignited many more layers of appreciation and knowledge towards my understanding of the emergence of the drum
kit and its players.” — Dame Evelyn Glennie

“Brennan pulls off something remarkable: he makes a deeply investigated and well-sourced history of musicians and drum manufacturers a page-turner. Don’t be afraid of the Oxford University Press imprint – the book is short on jargon and blather. Like the geniuses who manage to make limb independence
look easy,
Kick It consolidates the myriad threads that contributed to the creation of the modern drumkit and makes it swing.” —
Modern Drummer

“If you’re really interested in drumming this is the one book that you need… It really is an amazing work, focusing in detail, not on the wider range of percussion since the dawn of time, but on the actual role of the drum kit and the players – both professional and amateur – who have brought the
instrument from a shadowy platform at the back of the stage to front centre. Not only is it a scholarly work intensively researched, but in the great tradition of the characters in the book, it retains that sense of humour that, in my experience, makes drummers the very best company!” — Nick Mason,
drummer for Pink Floyd

“Essential reading for every drummer, and every other musician who fancies himself one … well-researched, entertainingly written, and greatly enjoyable.” —
JazzTimes

“An absolutely brilliant book.
Kick It is not only a welcome addition to the existing references on our instrument but is so incredibly well researched, thought out and balanced – it brings an entirely new and fresh perspective to the story of the drum kit. It will undoubtedly be an indispensable
asset for anyone interested in this fascinating story, and for any curious drummer who wants to know where our instrument and our kind are headed – by knowing where we’ve been.” — Glenn Kotche, drummer for Wilco

“The author’s affection for the drums, the people who play them and who produce them, infuses an abundance of ideas and makes a virtual avalanche of details easier to process … Brennan captures the essence of significant styles of jazz, pop and rock without playing favorites or bogging down the
narrative … [and his] desire to leave no stone unturned makes for an exhilarating journey.” —
All About Jazz

“An inspiring reminder of how the drums (and drummers) have helped shape creative culture over the last hundred or so years.” — Mark Guiliana, bandleader and drummer (David Bowie, Brad Mehldau)

“A delight … Brennan illuminates the undeniable: to talk about the history of contemporary music is to talk about the history of the drum ki