Author Joel Selvin On the Tragic Career of Rock Drummer Jim Gordon

In his brand new book, author Joel Selvin tells the tragic career story of Jim Gordon, one of the most famous drummers in rock history. Gordon's legacy would take a horrific turn due to schizophrenia.

Touring with the Everly Brothers right out of high school, he would go on to become an integral member of the legendary Wrecking Crew, playing on countless hit records.

That's Gordon on "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys, as well as Steely Dan's "Rikki Don't Lose That Number."

And it's Gordon who, along with bassist Carl Radle, formed the foundation of Eric Clapton's Layla album under the name Derek and the Dominos.

Joel Selvin is a San Francisco-based music critic and author known for his weekly column in the San Francisco Chronicle, which ran from 1972 to 2009. Selvin has written more than 20 books covering various aspects of pop music-including the No. 1 New York Times bestseller Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock with Sammy Hagar.

His most recent books are Sly and the Family Stone: An Oral History and Hollywood Eden: Electric Guitars, Fast Cars and the Myth of the California Paradise.

Joel's book chronicles Jim Gordon's incredible career which came to a tragic end when he murdered his own mother.

JIM MONAGHAN - As you were going through the research for this book. Joel, what surprised you most about Jim Gordon?

JOEL SELVIN - How about how common schizophrenia is? Schizophrenia exists in one in 100 in the general population.

Multiple sclerosis is one in 10,000, but one in 100, that's 1% of our country is hearing voices. And of all those diagnosed schizophrenics, only half respond to treatment at all.

So it's just a very dangerous, poisonous condition that affects a broad swath of people. And one of the important things about this book is that it is a detailed account of how mental illness can make your life a disaster.

JM - If you look back at his life history, though, growing up with an alcoholic father, he had his own battles with alcohol and drugs. And, that was what they initially diagnosed him at, not as schizophrenic, but, you know, it was due to alcohol. And I could see why that would be, Joel, based on his drug consumption alone.

JS - A massive amount of intake, everybody that was around him commented on his metabolism being able to just absorb alcohol and drugs. But frankly, I think those were the best coping mechanisms he had available to himself at that time.

The kind of psychiatric drugs that they were giving him, which he took too, were sledgehammer kind of drugs.

Today we have more surgical approach to pharmaceuticals, but, you know, Haldol was an anti-psychotic that they gave him. One of the side effects was making his ribs feel constricted. Can you imagine playing drums in a chemical straight jacket?

Well, he did.

And yeah, his mother was a longtime member of Alcoholics Anonymous as was his father, and his mother was also a medical professional, but she was convinced that Jim's problems were only drugs and alcohol.

She didn't see that he was mentally ill and the psychiatrists that he saw didn't weren't able to properly diagnose him because he was so high-functioning. He was making a lot of money was incredibly successful in a highly competitive field.

JM - In addition to being the story of Jim Gordon, this book is also kind of the story of that whole Los Angeles music scene in the 60s and 70s that he was such a huge part of.

And while I knew he had played on a bunch of different sessions, Joel, I had no idea the amount of different artists that he had played with from the Beach Boys to the Monkees to Frank Zappa to Carly Simon, just an amazing roster of artists that he played with.

JS - Jim had an incredible sense of drums as a musical instrument, and he could find a place for himself, a important musical place in many, many people's music. He was Merle Haggard's favorite drummer, and then he played on all those Gary Puckett records and those Gary Puckett records (sessions) were huge with 26-28 session players, and one drummer.

He's all over the catalog of recordings out of Los Angeles and late 60s and of course that was just an explosive time for Southern California.

That's Jim on the kit on "The Beat Goes On."

JM - I went deep down the Jim Gordon Rabbit Hole over the weekend with different YouTube clips and the thing that got me most Joel was, he reminds me a little bit of a Mark Knopfler or a BB King. It's not necessarily what he played, but what he didn't play.

Unlike some of his contemporaries, maybe Keith Moon, John Bonham, those kinds of drummers, Ginger Baker, who really made their presence felt on a record. What Jim did to me was kind of lay back and again, what he didn't play was as important as what he did play.

JS - Well, that's a always true of musicians. I mean jazz guys are well aware of like the space around the music is more important than the music in many ways.

But Jim, like I said, was this compositional drummer. And, he used his drums as a way to serve the record.

Those sessions were all dedicated to one ideal, which was to make hit records.

So collaborating with another 30 or 40 guys that floated in and out of these sessions, they sharpened their skills to a kind of surgical scientific level. And they were playing on a level that just was unmatched in the rest of the world.

JM - Listening to the way you just described it and then in reading the book, the line that comes to mind is Joni Mitchell's "stoking the star making machinery behind the popular song" because Jim was right in the thick of it.

JS - That was his job. He was there to make money. He was there to make hit records.

It was like a gunslinger kind of mentality. And, and that was the, the aesthetic, the ethic, the pride of the session player was that was their job and they were good at it.

JM - What he did on Layla, I thought was just extraordinary. And that song alone, the way he goes and changes the beat from one-two-three-four to just the traditional two and four just made the song and again, without overplaying.

JS - I was blown away by his playing on that track and that entire record, as a matter of fact. You're so perceptive to notice that because, of course, the guitars are so dynamic in that piece.

It's really hard to get down to where the drums are. The YouTube, the internet world has a bunch of isolated drum tracks of Jim playing on "Layla."

And it's truly revelatory, how brilliant, how nuanced, how incredibly subtle the drumming is on that. He braids the drum part around those guitar parts and in doing so is able to propel the whole track.

In doing so is able to propel the whole track. It's really marvelous. And, and that's Jim's trick trick that's Jim's thing.

JM - There's another great story in the book of him with a young Tom Petty and a young Mike Campbell on a session. That's a great story.

JS - The people that were in that room that day still like remember it like a car crash they were in it was just astonishing to all involved but Tom Petty's band had broken up and there was not a Heartbreakers yet.

So they ran a couple of Tom Petty solo sessions and use session musicians. They brought in Al Kooper to play piano. They brought in Emory Gordy from Emmylou Harris's band to play bass.

And then Tom and Mike played guitars.

Jim was the drummer and I've seen the union contract and everybody got scale except Jim.

Jim came in at triple scale.

But that didn't bother anybody they were all like whoa this is the guy from Layla!

They were pumped right and they cut their first track. They go into the studio they listen back and Jim says to the engineer, do you have any room left because I could double my drums.

Petty and Campbell looked at each other like they've never heard of somebody doubling their drums.

You've got to imagine that's just an incredibly impossible task because you've got to hit the same place on the drums with the same strength at the same time.

It's got to match volume, value, timing because all you do is slip once on the cymbal and it's going to smear the track.

All right, he goes out and does it in one take like a magic trick or something. And these people who I'm talked to guy just last week who was there is going like he just couldn't believe it.

He had a supernatural talent. And he was he was the drums he didn't play the drums he was the drums and the drums were his safe place.

He could play drums and his disease went away.

MORE ALL MIXED UP - Interviews and Playlists

Greetings Rockers!

I'm thinking about summer, Parking Lot Parties, and a few of our most memorable "WDHA Exclusive Performances".
The greatest thing about having an almost 50-year history as a rock station is that WDHA- The Rock Of New Jersey -has an amazing amount of exclusive artist performances from just about everywhere! In studio audio and video, concert video, on location exclusives, we have it all.

Back in the day, the "audio recording" was the most modern way to capture our performances. Bon Jovi, Bad Company, Def Leppard, we have some fantastic archives, however, when video started to emerge, we made sure to capture these exclusive moments to watch and listen to.
While so many of our WDHA performance video exclusives are SO GOOD, I chose a few that I have always remembered for different reasons.
Audience reaction, choice of song, vibe, and what the moment of the performance actually felt like.WDHA is committed to giving our listeners "experiences" as many of you know. The music beyond the music as we like to say. That should always be the mantra of local radio stations.
So please watch the 8 videos below. They are all pretty epic.
Some of you may have been present for a performance, OR perhaps you heard it on the air, OR better still, it's the first time you are experiencing it, years later and it gives you chills!

Don't forget to check out some of my other content pieces-

The TC Reconnect With Rockers Series

Do You Remember Jamming At These New Jersey Rock Cliubs

The Queens Of Noise Returns

5 AWESOME New Rock Videos To Check Out

Do you have a WDHA performance that you love? Hit me up with your feedback @TC@WDHAFM.COM and follow me on Instagram @TCRockDog

Rock On!
Terrie Carr

I decided to post the "FIRST" time Dorothy performed live for WDHA almost 8 years ago. I remember seeing her open for Halestorm AND Lita Ford, being completely knocked over and saying "I need to put this girl and her band on the air"!
Shortly after that she stopped by for a visit and I saw even stripped down what a rockstar she was!
Since then she has released two more records and is not only a friend of the station, but a friend of mine. It's hard to blow me away. Dorothy does every time I see her.....

Mark Tremonti blows me away in whatever he does. Alter Bridge, Creed and especially his solo band "Tremonti", where he not only handles guitar work, but also lead vocals. Mark and bandmate Eric Friedman stopped by to perform a rare acoustic set on my show AND knocked me over playing one of my favorite covers from one of my favorite bands! "Just What I Needed" from The Cars!

One of the greatest players EVER! Allman Brother and Govt Mule founder Warren Haynes in the studio is always moving. His effortless playing and emotional vocals make him one of my personal favorites over the years and he is such a lovely person too.

One of the MOST epic WDHA performances in station history. Rival Sons are one of the greatest and most underrated bands in rock music and when we had the opportunity to bring them into an exclusive space at "The Raven Room" in Morristown New Jersey for an intimate listener experience (win your way in!) I jumped at the chance and flipped my lid. I have loved them since I first saw them open for Black Sabbath and I heard their "Pressure & Time" record. The band BLEW US AWAY and when they busted out this Stones cover- the room of 100 winners was absolutely mesmerized.

We love Myles Kennedy! And when he stopped by on Valentine's Day to perform live with his manager and co-guitarist and solo collaborator Tim Tournier , everyone's jaws dropped. No enhancements, no special requirements. Myles, Tim, guitars and mics. Easy Peasy. And AMAZING! Myles vocals are mind boggling.  No effects ever needed. Myles, come back....we love you.

While Monster Truck may not be the most well known band, this one was one of the most memorable performances because the band was FULL electric! FULL gear in our small studio space. The power of this performance was off the charts and so was the volume.....watch the camera shake as we get the overhead shots! You could hear this one on Route 10! SO MUCH FUN!

One of the most classic R&B songs EVER! Written by Don Coway and made famous by  the iconic Queen Of Soul,  Aretha Franklin, Crobot performed "Chain Of Fools" March 1st, 2020- for our "WDHA Sunday Funday" celebration at The Raven Room in Morristown. This performance was so incredible as the band was literally performing any and every song that listeners were yelling out! "Sledgehammer" -DONE, "Outshined"- DONE, "Chain Of Fools" -DONE! The vocals on this impromptu version proves how Brandon Yeagley is one one of rock's greatest new vocalists.  And I will always remember this incredible day because two weeks later, the world shut down!

All of our WDHA Parking Lot Party Performances (which we started in 2022) have been pretty epic, but when Coheed and Cambria comes to town, you know the entries are going to be off the chain!

We had so many entries for this one, including people out of state willing to fly in for the performance. WDHA has had that experience with Coheed before, when we put them in a brewery for the fans, so we knew that their PLP performance would be awesome. Especially when they whip out this Coheed classic.