Best drums only intros to pop songs Eva!

[Nice Relaxing Poo]

When the Levee Breaks.

An obvious one but just one of the most monstrous grooving beats ever laid down. One of the drum beats by which all others are measured.

[M-CORP]

Tell you what, I've just remembered 'I'm Not Sorry' by Morrissey...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQLXNd-ysHQ

Liked the drums - and the whole of the song - when I first heard it. But I then heard it later when I heard Blue Jam for the first time, and found other songs with the same drums which predate 'I'm Not Sorry'. So clearly it's a sample. Not sure where it originally came from - my hunch is that it's one of those  drum loops that you can get for DAWs as sample packs or something like that - but does anyone happen to know...?

[purlieu]

Idlewild's Roseability starts with nice drums, punchy but really roomy sounding as well. Just a nice boom and open: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94dxkyd1iwk
Talk Talk's New Grass starts with its only constant sound, Lee Harris's lovely jazzy drumming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkcBQCFp4NE

[NoSleep]

.

[daf]

XTC - Making Plans For Nigel

Andy Partridge : Terry and I were really enthused about Devo's "Satisfaction" drum rhythm, where they take a normal drum pattern but put the parts on different drums than they'd usually be played on, if you see what I mean. Terry and I loved the thinking that they played the "right" rhythm on the "wrong" drums, so we said, "Do you fancy trying something like that for this?" And Colin said, "Yeah, give it a go."

So I said to Terry, "Let's get it into a better tempo, and what you'd normally do on the hi-hat, try it somewhere else." It sounded great on the tom-toms, the 8ths on the floor tom, almost like a red-indian-type thing. And then we just juggled around where the snare and hi-hat and bass drum went. It was that upside-down thinking thing -- right rhythm, and right hands, but "wrong" drums.

As soon as we got that going, I think Terry's comment was, "Fuck off for a minute, let me learn this, and I'll come and fucking get you when I've got it." So, we'd go and sit in another room, or go out and get a sandwich or something, and he'd sit in there and program himself 'til he could do it. And then it was a case of  "Roight, you fuckers, I've fucking got it!" And that was it! He could play anything, no matter how unusual, as long as he kind of programmed himself.

CRACKERJACK!!

[SweetPomPoms]

https://youtu.be/1iB5Rw5dcOE

Suede's Moving - proper first album energy and a chunky Bernard riff to follow.

The Queen Is Dead deserves a mention too.

[Spiteface]

Take the piss all you want, but Oasis' Bring It On Down gets my pick:

https://youtu.be/GQbT1CqlLvo

And it HAS to be Tony McCarroll playing. I've seen them do this track with a better drummer (Zak Starkey), and it never sounded right. It needs to be that ultra-basic punky drumming that Oasis lacked after they sacked him. Same goes for any recent live version by the Oasis tribute act known as "Liam Gallagher"

Speaking of ultra-basic drumming, Bobby Gillespie's intro to "Just Like Honey" is a perfect start to Psychocandy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EgB__YratE

Again, never sounded right with a "better" drummer, as awesome as the Psychocandy anniversary gigs were.

Jimmy Chamberlin got a some great drumming intros on Smashing Pumpkins songs, too:

The drum roll that opens Cherub Rock:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-KE9lvU810

United States:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FspnTZTa-5I

Fucking BEAST. Studio version is all one take, as well. There's a reason Billy Corgan keeps bringing him back into the band.

[kalowski]

I'd actually forgotten that the greatest song of all time starts with a cool drum beat:
https://youtu.be/PsP3rHs3oUI

Parliament - Come In Out of the Rain

[Mr Farenheit]

Thin Lizzy- Johnny the Fox meets Jimmy the Weed

So good it was sampled as the drumbeat for Breathe by The Prodigy

[NoSleep]

Johnny The Fox was on Ultimate Breaks and Beats Volume 12; the same volume that included Funky Drummer, Ashley's Roachclip and Walk This Way, so hardly surprising to find it used by Prodigy.

[Better Midlands]

Classic Mantronik production based around the refrain too.

Tricky Tee - Johnny The Fox

[Glebe]

I guess it's stretching to call it a 'pop song', but:

Pixies - Bone Machine.

[Catalogue Trousers]

REM - It's The End Of The World As We Know It

[Pauline Walnuts]

Adam and the Ants Kick