Banging the sticks more demanding than kicking a ball

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"As long as there’s, you know, sex and drugs, I can do without the rock and roll." So said Mick Shrimpton, legendary drummer with the seminal British rock group Spinal Tap.

It turns out that rock drummers on tour are much fitter than those overpaid poncy nancy-boys called professional footballers.

Says the Beeb:

Tests on Clem Burke, the veteran Blondie drummer, revealed that 90 minutes of drumming could raise his heart rate to 190 beats a minute.

Despite rock’s reputation for unhealthy living, Dr Marcus Smith, from Chichester University, said drummers needed "extraordinary stamina".

He found that during a performance, his [Burke] heart averaged between 140 and 150 beats a minute, peaking at 190, levels comparable to other top athletes.

However, Dr Smith said that while top footballers were expected to perform once or twice a week, drummers on tour would be doing it every night at a different venue.

There’s a joke in there somewhere…

And let us not forget that Spinal Tap did for rock music what “The Sound of Music” did for hills.

Or as someone once asked, “What’s the difference between a trampoline and a piano accordion?”

You have to take your boots off to jump on a trampoline.