{"id":374096,"date":"2025-12-28T13:09:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T13:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/374096\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T13:09:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T13:09:08","slug":"if-we-had-stuck-together-we-could-have-been-as-big-as-led-zeppelin-or-at-the-very-least-deep-purple-we-had-the-stuff-the-heavy-rock-innovators-whose-hard-hitting-drumme-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/374096\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIf we had stuck together we could have been as big as Led Zeppelin \u2013 or at the very least, Deep Purple. We had the stuff!\u201d: The heavy rock innovators whose hard-hitting drummer was a star before John Bonham"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEST OF 2025:<\/a> Join us for our traditional look back at the news and features that topped MusicRadar’s charts in 2025.<\/p>\n

In the late \u201960s, American rockers Vanilla Fudge were labelled as psych-rock, but their impact stretches way further than that. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The New York-based band, which featured Tim Bogert on bass and vocals, Mark Stein on keys and vocals, Vince Martell on guitar, and Carmine Appice on drums, had impacted everything from prog rock to heavy metal.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Their signature hit was a cover of a Motown classic, The Supremes\u2019 You Keep Me Hangin\u2019 On.<\/p>\n

Vanilla Fudge “Keep Me Hangin’ On” on The Ed Sullivan Show – YouTube
\n\"Vanilla<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

But as Appice tells MusicRadar, that\u2019s not all Vanilla Fudge had to offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll over the internet, they talk about the influence of Vanilla Fudge,\u201d Appice says. \u201cIf Vanilla Fudge had stuck together, we could have been as big as Led Zeppelin<\/a>, or at the very least, Deep Purple. We didn\u2019t, but we had the stuff!\u201d<\/p>\n

Certainly, Vanilla Fudge were in the vanguard of heavy rock in the late \u201960s. Their self-titled debut album, featuring You Keep Me Hangin\u2019 On, was released in 1967 \u2013 along with other landmark albums such as Cream\u2019s Disraeli Gears, self-titled albums by The Doors and The Velvet Underground & Nico, The Jimi Hendrix<\/a> Experience\u2019s Are You Experienced? and Axis: Bold As Love, Pink Floyd\u2019s The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn and most famous of all, The Beatles<\/a>\u2019 Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band.<\/p>\n

Want all the hottest music and gear news, reviews, deals, features and more, direct to your inbox? Sign up here. <\/p>\n

Appice is keen to point out that Vanilla Fudge had an album out before either Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple.<\/p>\n

He continues: \u201cWe influenced Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, I mean\u2026 the list goes on and on. The sound of that organ with a heavy rhythm section, along with our tremendous arrangements, dynamics, and harmonies, I mean, that\u2019s what it was all about.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll our arrangements, the way we put stuff together, all the voices and great playing \u2013 all of that influenced progressive rock. We were different to anybody else. Even today, nobody can really play Vanilla Fudge right except for the actual band.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Appice describes the chemistry between the band members as volatile.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was always friction between Tim and Mark,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was always a little bit out there, and we\u2019d come up with all these crazy things, but it all worked for the creation of what we had, I guess.<\/p>\n

\u201cTim was a crazy bass player who influenced a lot of people. From a technical aspect, I studied drums, so we had that, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says of his approach: \u201cI wasn\u2019t hard-hitting at first. I was forced to do that because there were hardly any PAs back then, and I needed to be heard.<\/p>\n

\u201cTim Bogert always had two [Fender] Dual Showman amps, Mark had two Leslies powered by 300-watt amplifiers, and I had nothing. I was forced to hit the drums hard to get a sound out!\u201d<\/p>\n

This is why he chose large Ludwig drums and heavy cymbals.<\/p>\n

He explains: \u201cI went to a pawn shop, got a 26-inch Ludwig bass drum, and said, \u2018Wow, maybe if I get this bigger bass drum, it will be heard.\u2019 And I just put my red sparkle design over it to match the rest of my kit, and that was the kit that I played [with Vanilla Fudge] on The Ed Sullivan Show.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody had that at the time, but I did. It created a fad. Next thing I knew, it was all oversize bass drums. And when John Bonham got his drums, that became the Led Zeppelin drum set, and was very famous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between 1967 and 1970, the band\u2019s best years, Vanilla Fudge made five albums, four of which reached the US Top 20.<\/p>\n

Carmine Appice remains hugely proud of their legacy, and especially of that explosive version of You Keep Me Hangin\u2019 On.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was emotional and dynamic,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause of that, it\u2019ll never die. It\u2019s been in movies and even shows like The Sopranos. It\u2019s even been in commercials for airlines, for Coke\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a song that Appice still performs today in a live show featuring the hits from his years with Rod Stewart in the \u201970s and \u201980s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m doing a show celebrating the legacy of Rod Stewart,\u201d he says, \u201cand we do You Keep Me Hangin\u2019 On, which we did on the first Rod Stewart album I did, Foot Loose & Fancy Free. It\u2019s always the highlight of the show.<\/p>\n

“Even with all the Rod hits in there, it\u2019s still the highlight.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEST OF 2025: Join us for our traditional look back at the news and features that topped MusicRadar’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216],"class_list":{"0":"post-374096","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}