Tommy Lee is known worldwide for his exploits drumming in Motley Crue, but in his youth, he sought out rhythm in a different way that at least for a while he was able to keep hidden from some of his school classmates. As he shared during a guest appearance on The Zach Sang Show, he took both tap and ballet dance classes at an early age.

How Did Tommy Lee Gravitate Toward Dancing in His Youth?

“My sister was taking ballet lessons and I went with my mom and her one day just to check it out. And in the next room over, there were tap dancers. Immediately, I was like, ‘Whoa. This is cool. They’re basically playing beats with their feet,'” shared the future drum legend. “I was like, ‘What?! I think I might have some fun with this. This is cool.’ And I eventually started taking tap dancing.”

“Then, I realized, cause the ballet classes looked cool and all the girls were super cute and I was like, ‘Why don’t I try it?’ And at that time, I’d heard like some professional athletes had done it, some running backs had taken ballet for agility and timing and all that stuff and I was like, ‘Why not?,'” added Lee.

READ MORE: What Tommy Lee Thought of His Experience as a ‘Male Escort’

According to the drummer, he took both tap and ballet classes for a couple of years growing up and while he thoroughly enjoyed it, he also was fearful of what some of his friends might think.

“I never told anybody in school cause I’m gonna get fucking railed by my boys,” shared Lee. “And it happened. I kept it super low key and then it came out one day in the town paper. There was a dance recital performance and it was a picture of me in fucking white tights and a girl in one of these finished poses for the show that was coming up. And that day I went to school and I got such shit.”

But he quickly turned the tables on his jock friends by revealing that dancing with the girls was a way to get closer to them.

But when asked if the years dancing helped in his picking up drumming, he responded, “One hundred percent. It’s all counting, rhythm, delivery, syncopation. It’s all drum stuff, but with your feet. When your whole body is doing it, it’s the same as your body moving sticks.”

Tommy Lee Guests on The Zach Sang Show

What Else Tommy Lee Has Said About Drumming

In a Music Radar chat conducted at the 2014 Drum Expo, Lee offered some insight into his drumming.

“I had a couple of different influences growing up and each was for different reasons. I was always impressed by some of the progressive styles of guys like Neil Peart,” shared Lee. “John Bonham was probably the most influential in terms of playing style and timing”

“Then I had really simple guys who were some of my favorites as far as really solid playing goes. Phil Rudd from AC/DC was someone I really liked a lot… Not because I was dazzled by his playing ability – he was just a rock, y’know? Of course, John Bonham was probably the most influential in terms of playing style and timing. So probably those three guys and maybe in the double bass drumming area Tommy Aldridge was someone I really liked because he was pretty flashy and did a lot of cool stuff. Like the way he caught his sticks and did the twirls.”

As far as his own approach, he added, “Maybe it’s part boredom, part thrill seeking, part,‘fuck, someone’s got to do something new!’ Sometimes you operate out of the fear of being the same as somebody else. Sometimes you operate out of the fear of being the same as somebody else.”

“I always say be yourself; everyone else is taken. That’s a favorite phrase of mine that I constantly remind myself with saying, ‘Well, that’s really cool and so and so might like this and so and so would probably kind of like this, but I wanna do it like this.’ And not just for the sake of doing that but just to keep things moving and having everybody thinking about and creating new ideas.”

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