I was in high school when all those hits were coming out on the Linn and TR 808, and I absolutely hated them! The reason being, is I am a drummer, and in those days I was putting in hours and hours of practice, hoping to become a professional studio drummer. I felt threaten that I wouldn't be able to work as a drummer due to those damn machines.

I remember this really hot popular girl in high school that invited to her father company's Christmas party. She said she wanted me to go with her because her dad hired a live band to play and she knew I was a musician so she thought I'd enjoy it. We arrived at the party, the dance floor was packed. I looked at the band stand and there's a sax player, keyboard and guitar player playing along to a drum machine. I got so pissed, I told the girl that I could not stay. Now I'm embarrassed for being so closed minded, and especially for missing out on what could of been fun evening with the girl. This was probably around the time I read in Modern Drummer magazine, the great big band drummer, Mel Lewis saying that he wanted to blow up the Linn Drum factory up for putting so many drummers out of work!

I saw how popular those sterile drum tracks were so I decided "if I couldn't beat them, I'd join them" I went out and got a Yamaha drum machine and learned how to program it really well. I got to do lots of
studio demos. I just learned it was another tool, times were changing and some times you have to roll with it or get left behind. I realized that programmed drum tracks were just a different popular style. There will always be a demand for great live drummers. Nothing beats the real thing!