This is the latest in the series on influential drummers, and today's entry may seem a little odd. But, Bob Crane was a drummer, and I think he had an influence on a lot of impressionable Baby Boomer boys that lingers to day, so he makes the roster.
Bob Crane would be 81 today.
Let me just remind you who Bob Crane was, and show you that he was a drummer:
See, there's your proof. Bob Crane, who played the cool, suave, Colonel Hogan, is sitting behind a Midnight Blue Pearl Gretsch "Name Band" outfit.
O.K. I realize that isn't really "proof"; it's one thing to sit behind a set of drums and it's another to play them, but Bob did have some chops, as you can see when he plays a little "Cherokee" on a Black Diamond Pearl Ludwig "Club Date" outfit in this Hogan's Heroes episode:
You can see that he's really playing. If he weren't you'd probably note a disconnect between what you see him play, and what you hear. Also, unless the "real" drummer were in the same room, the drum sound would not match the ambient acoustics of that studio.
For the drum geeks, it's always frustrating to see time-period inappropriate drums in a movie or TV show. Both the Ludwig and Gretsch kits were contemporary 60s models, and didn't look like drums from WWII or before. At least Ludwig and Gretsch are German names, even if the drums aren't German.
He was featured playing drums on a number of other TV shows around the same time:
OK, so although no one would have fired Louie Bellson in order to get Bob Crane in the band, the guy had some chops, especially when he's playing a swing beat. For example, if you listen closely to "These Boots are Made for Walkin" you can hear that he's forcing it when he's playing the rock beat, and he's much more comfortable at about 1:30, when the beat begins to swing. That's his music; he started as a radio DJ in the 1940s, and he moved on to talk based "morning drive" radio in the 50s (Bob was an innovator in the style at KNX in Los Angeles), so rock 'n' roll probably didn't "sing" to him.
It's pretty obvious to me (now) that all of these shows were kind of hokey, and Bob Crane was really trying to show that he was "with it." You can judge how well he succeeded for yourself.
But those of you who can, take yourself back to 1966. Even if it isn't the pinnacle of television entertainment to watch a middle-aged ex-disc jockey play drums, it gets better when he does it while the screen is plastered with eye candy. At least he's right there with all those women. And, pre-adolescent and teenage boys were pretty much the major Hogan's Heroes demographic, and watched the show religiously. Bob Crane came off pretty cool then.
That's what I'm talking about as to Bob Crane's influence. He did make drumming kind of cool. Believe me, it's always tougher for the drummer because the guitarists and alto saxophonists get all the girls. Bob made you feel as if there was some hope.
The other influence is the whole Hogan's Heroes thing. It seems to me that the show tended to make war seem funny to a whole generation of boys. Such perceptions may have been rudely shattered for a lot of them who got a dose of reality in Vietnam, but many who didn't go somehow got into power and became the leaders who got us into a "funny little war" in Iraq.
Maybe it's just inevitable that teenage boys will have those aggressive tendencies, and it's presumptuous to attribute those manifestations to any particular influence. In any case, I think I felt the influence, and so, Happy Birthday Bob Crane.
Here's my cooking tip of the day. Shred your lettuce with a pair of scissors. It's easy to make a good looking salad that way.