Modern Drummer The First Decade


In the mid-’70s, a relatively unknown drummer named Ron Spagnardi had a big idea: to create the fi rst independent


magazine for and about drummers. He had no funds to speak of, and even less experience in publishing. He did, however, have the will. Now he just had to fi nd the way.


by Rick Mattingly T


he late-1976 ad in the musicians-union newspaper announcing the debut of a new


magazine called Modern Drummer was small, but it jumped out at those of us who had dreamed of having our own publication. Guitarists and keyboard players had magazines, but there hadn’t been much for drummers over the years. At one time, the Ludwig company published The Ludwig Drummer on a fairly regular basis, but by 1976 it was turning up only once every couple of years. Back when DownBeat was published every two weeks, an annual issue was devoted to drummers, but after the magazine went monthly, that was no longer the case. The Percussive Arts Society published Percussive Notes, but it covered the entire spectrum of percussion, so there wasn’t much room for drumset. Modern Drummer looked promising. Granted, it


was going to be published just four times a year, but that was a lot more than had been available to drummers until then, and a one-year subscription was only four dollars, so it wasn’t a very big gamble. The fi rst issue arrived in January of 1977. You’re


not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but, wow—they landed Buddy Rich for the fi rst issue!


January 2016 Modern Drummer January 2016 Modern Drummer5353


“We need to put out a magazine that, as


drummers, we would want to read ourselves.” —Ron Spagnardi


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126