Break out your Jheri curl, Michael Jackson gloves and boombox as you get down to the sound of this musician who pays homage to 80's production. Behind The Drums takes a deep dive into the rhythms which built a generation. I'm proud to be raised on this type of music and now present the source of these magical drum sounds and grooves.

Based on the "Behind The Drums" sources, here is a list of the drum machines mentioned, the producers or programmers who used them, and the specific songs they were used on. I'm also including some of my favorite mixes to highlight drum sounds introduced in the 80's courtesy of Sparkle Motion:

Click on each header below to be redirected through my Awin affiliate link to each drum machine listed for sale on Reverb.

• Linndrum & Emu Drumulator: Used by Tears For Fears on the song "Shout".
• Linndrum: Used by producer Keith Forsey on the Billy Idol song "Eyes Without A Face".
• Linndrum: Programmed by Paul Waaktaar and produced by Alan Tarney for the A-ha song "Take On Me".
• Linndrum: Programmed by Chris Hughes for the Tears For Fears song "Everybody Wants To Rule The World".
• Linndrum: Programmed by Neil Giraldo for the Pat Benatar song "Love Is A Battlefield".
• Linndrum: Programmed for producer Giorgio Moroder on the Berlin song "Take My Breath Away".
• Linndrum: Programmed by Michael Sembello for his song "Maniac".
• Linndrum: Used by producer Mutt Lange (or sampled via a Fairlight CMI) for The Cars' song "Drive".
• Linndrum & Sequential TOM: Used by producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis for the Janet Jackson song "What Have You Done For Me Lately".
• Linn 9000: Programmed by Sammy Merendino for the Cameo song "Word Up".
• Linn 9000: Used by the production team Stock Aitken Waterman for the Dead Or Alive song "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)".
• Linn 9000 (speculated): Used by producer Elliot Wolff for the Paula Abdul song "Straight Up".
• Linn LM-1: Mentioned as a machine known to be used by Tears For Fears.

• Oberheim DMX: Programmed by Fred Zar for producer John "Jellybean" Benitez on the Madonna song "Holiday".
• Oberheim DMX: Programmed by Stephen Bray for the Madonna song "Into The Groove".
• Oberheim DMX: Programmed by Stephen Morris and Bernard Sumner for the New Order song "Blue Monday".
• Oberheim DMX: Used by producers Tom Petty and Dave Stewart on the song "Don't Come Around Here No More".
• Oberheim DMX: Programmed by Larry Smith for the RUN DMC song "Sucker MC's".
• Oberheim DMX: Used by producer Jimmy Iovine (programmed by either Prince or Dave Bluefield) for the Stevie Nicks song "Stand Back".
• Oberheim DMX (for cabasa): Used by Phil Collins on the song "Take Me Home".

• Roland TR-707: Programmed by Andrew Ferris for the INXS song "Need You Tonight".
• Roland TR-909: Programmed by Phil Collins for his song "Take Me Home".
• Roland TR-909: Programmed by Gota Yashiki for producers Jazzy B and Nellee Hooper on the Soul II Soul song "Back To Life".
• Roland TR-909: Programmed by Schoolly D for the song "PSK," which was later sampled by Stephen Hague for the Siouxsie & The Banshees song "Kiss Them For Me".
• Roland TR-727: Used for additional percussion on the Shep Pettibone remix of Madonna's "Into The Groove".

Other Machines & Samplers

• Simmons SDS7: Used for white noise by Sammy Merendino on Cameo's "Word Up".
• Simmons (Toms): Used by Stephen Morris and Bernard Sumner on New Order's "Blue Monday".
• Fairlight CMI: Used by Tears For Fears for the kick drum on "Everybody Wants To Rule The World".
• Akai MPC 2000XL: Used by the video host, Nick, for the recreation of the drums for Soul II Soul's "Back To Life".