Iron Butterfly in the late sixties.
From left to right, Erik Brann, Ron Bushy, Lee Dorman and Doug Ingle. Bettmann / Bettmann Archive
Surely the three most popular drum solos in rock are these: John Bonham's on
Led Zeppelin's
Moby Dick
; that of Ian Paice in
The Mule,
by Deep Purple; and Ron Bushy's in
Iron Butterfly's
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
. Bushy passed away yesterday Sunday at the age of 79. “Ron Bushy, our beloved and legendary Iron Butterfly drummer, passed away peacefully, with his wife Nancy at his side, in the Santa Monica hospital. His three daughters were also with him. He was a true fighter. We will miss him, ”said a statement from the group's social media account. Bushy was born in Washington in 1941 and was the only original member of Iron Butterfly to play on all six of the band's albums, from
Heavy
(1968) to
Sun and Steel
(1975).
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Bushy has gone down in rock history for his participation in
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,
a 17-minute song that took up the entire B-side of the album of the same title released in 1968. On occasion, Manolo García has commented that Before starting his professional career (Los Burros, El Último de la Fila), he applied as a drummer.
His high point with the drumsticks was when he learned solo from Bushy at
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
.
It was another time, the late sixties, the summer of love, LSD, psychedelia ... Instrumental bombast was accepted.
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
stretched
up to 17 minutes, with the drum solo in the middle, covering almost three minutes. The song bears that curious title due to a flaw in form. Bushy told it like this: “Doug Ingle [voice and keyboardist for the group] had been drinking and composing. He was playing a melody on his keyboard. I asked him what the song was called. It was difficult to understand because I was very drunk, so I wrote it on a napkin exactly what it sounded like to me phonetically: 'In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida'. It was supposed to be
In the Garden of Eden
. "
Iron Butterfly emerged in the mid-sixties when rock began to harden with the hurricane arrival of Cream or Jimi Hendrix, and later Black Sabbath. Doug Ingle and Ron Bushy met in San Diego and decided to relocate to Los Angeles to launch the group. His harsh and psychedelic proposal fell at a time when musicians played with their naked sweaty torso and their hair blowing in the wind. Short-lived (at least his most creative time since over the years he lived through some inconsequential resurrection), he sold ten million units of his first works, five of them corresponding to
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.
The extensive song has become part of pop iconography, with references in series such as
The Simpsons
or
Futurama
.
Bushy never put down the drumsticks, trying it out with different bands or taking part in nostalgic Iron Butterfly comebacks. Bad August for the drummer men: a few days ago the legendary Charlie Watts and now Ron Bushy left.
