Best of Cowbell...And the Nominees Are...

[bitflipper]

Best use of a cowbell in psychedelia:

 

[bitflipper]

Best cowbell intro?

 

[User 905133]

I vote for Mississippi Queen because there's a cowbell in the video. (If there's one in Honky Tonk Women, I didn't see it!)    🙈

[pedwal wally wally wha]

WAR - Low Rider 

 

[Starship Krupa]

6 hours ago, User 905133 said:

there's a cowbell in the video

Oh is there now....

 

[Chaps]

 

[User 905133]

11 hours ago, User 905133 said:

I vote for Mississippi Queen because there's a cowbell in the video. 

4 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

Oh is there now....

Well, I suppose I could be wrong, but to me it looks like there's a cowbell being played live as opposed to the video of Honky Tonk Women where I could see no hand-to-instrument reasonably synchronized gesture + contact with a what could remotely be called a cowbell. 

[Notes_Norton]

Elsie

 

 

Cow belle

[Pragi]

QOTSA Feat. Eddie Vedder - Little Sister (Live in Chile 2013)

 

[Bapu]

I saw all three bands live (at different times) perform those songs, that bitflipper posted in his first two posts.

I too did not see where The Stones cowbell came from on stage when I saw them, but TBH who needs to pay that much attention when seeing The Stones live, 🙂 

[Jeremy Oakes]

One of the first : Paul Jones - I’ve been a Bad, Bad Boy. Cuts in around 0:15

 

[Rain]

So many of them. But this one comes to mind because I just listened to it this weekend.

 

[Salvatore Sorice]

On 7/13/2025 at 9:55 AM, pedwal wally wally wha said:

WAR - Low Rider 

 

GREAT song, and they have many others too!

[Syphus]

 

[Xoo]

On 7/13/2025 at 9:31 PM, Starship Krupa said:

Oh is there now....

 

I'd seriously forgotten how dull New Order were.

[Starship Krupa]

13 hours ago, Xoo said:

I'd seriously forgotten how dull New Order were.

De gustibus. To me, "Perfect Kiss" is a towering anthem and I hang on every note. I've watched the video so many times I have things memorized, like where Bernard takes the cowbell solo and where you can see the Joy Division gig flier.

@User 905133, the part I'm referring to regarding cowbell starts at 6:30, after Steven's frog solo. Bernard takes a lead on it, a nice, complex rhythm striking two different parts of the bell, giving it an agogo flavor.

I was going to post LCD Soundsystem's "Daft Punk is Playing at My House" for another great cowbell solo, but I watched a live video of it and Murphy uses an agogo. I had thought he was doing like Bernard and hitting different parts of the bell.

Here's the live version.

Notes:

1. holy mother of pearl THIS is how you start a live set
2. Nancy Whang should have received a special Grammy for Best Use of Rock and Roll Hair in a Live Performance for this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCbNTGCB_vg

 

[User 905133]

1 hour ago, Starship Krupa said:

@User 905133, the part I'm referring to regarding cowbell starts at 6:30, after Steven's frog solo. Bernard takes a lead on it, a nice, complex rhythm striking two different parts of the bell, giving it an agogo flavor.

Thank you for pointing this out (See below--very bottom--which starts at 6:26, just before the video shows the drum stick.)

However, that is not what I was confused about when I gave your post the emoji. To understand better, please follow the posts in order:

On 7/13/2025 at 9:16 AM, bitflipper said:

Best use of a cowbell in psychedelia [Chambers Brothers, Time]

On 7/13/2025 at 9:25 AM, bitflipper said:

Best cowbell intro? [Rolling Stones, Honky Tonk Women v. Mountain, Mississippi Queen]

On 7/13/2025 at 9:36 AM, User 905133 said:

I vote for Mississippi Queen because there's a cowbell in the video. (If there's one in Honky Tonk Women, I didn't see it!)    🙈

So, my comment was about Mississippi Queen and Honky Tonk Women.   

After the post with War's Low Rider, you quoted me and the posted  New Order's The Perfect Kiss.

On 7/13/2025 at 4:31 PM, Starship Krupa said:

On 7/13/2025 at 9:36 AM, User 905133 said:

 there's a cowbell in the video

Oh is there now....

Given the context, it seemed to me your "Oh is there now..." was questioning my comment "there's a cowbell in the video," a reference to Mississippi Queen. Possibly you thought I was confused because there was no cowbell in the intro to the New Order video.

If you notice my reply to your "Oh is there now..." rejoinder,  I posted a picture from Mississippi Queen showing the cowbell being hit after saying "I vote for Mississippi Queen because there's a cowbell in the video. "

So, I still have no idea why you questioned me.  To my way of thinking (i.e., chronologically, in this case), you could not have been referring to the New Order video which you had not posted yet. Ergo, I am still confused as to your rejoinder.  As has been my custom, I would be happy to remove the confused emoji if you clue me in to as to what "Oh is there now..." refers if not my observation that the Mississippi Queen video shows a cowbell being played.

New Order's Perfect Kiss --should be cued up to just before the cowbell section.  

 

 

[Starship Krupa]

4 hours ago, User 905133 said:

it seemed to me your "Oh is there now..." was questioning my comment "there's a cowbell in the video," a reference to Mississippi Queen.

Jeez, 9, I thought I  was the one who overthinks things.😄❤

My thought process went something like this:

"Hmm, 9 says that 'Mississippi Queen' rules because you can see the guy smacking out a straight 1/4 note ride on it in the intro. Well 'Perfect Kiss' has the lead singer take a cowbell solo with the camera zoomed into his face and the instrument in question. How can I respond in the silliest way possible?"

I was being "snooty" about the relative difficulty of the cowbell part and Jonathan Demme's choice of shots. As in "oh is there now, well take a look at the ahhhtistry on display in this  video."

[User 905133]

14 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

Jeez, 9, I thought I  was the one who overthinks things.😄❤

My thought process went something like this:

"Hmm, 9 says that 'Mississippi Queen' rules because you can see the guy smacking out a straight 1/4 note ride on it in the intro. Well 'Perfect Kiss' has the lead singer take a cowbell solo with the camera zoomed into his face and the instrument in question. How can I respond in the silliest way possible?"

I was being "snooty" about the relative difficulty of the cowbell part and Jonathan Demme's choice of shots. As in "oh is there now, well take a look at the ahhhtistry on display in this  video."

I didn't overthink anything.  I just explained it in detail for your benefit. Your post made no sense whatsoever. That's hardly overthinking. 

For the record, in my mind's ear, I definitely heard "oh is there now" but with a ? at the end. Clearly you think very highly of the ahhhhtistry of a band I never heard of--about which someone in the forum commented, 

On 7/15/2025 at 10:04 AM, Xoo said:

I'd seriously forgotten how dull New Order were.

Thanks for clarifying that you were intentionally being silly and snooty. 

[PhonoBrainer]

A man whose drums needed no introduction