Even though he's won ARIA awards before and had a number of minor hits with his previous album Like Drawing Blood, it was still a surprise to see him not only go to number one last week on the ARIA charts with his new album, Making Mirrors, but to also take out top spot on the singles chart with Someone That I Used To Know. No Aussie group has managed the chart-topping double since Silverchair in 2007.

Sadly Gotye hasn't released five albums yet, so he's not quite Musicology-worthy. But we found another way to pay tribute to him: with an ode to singing drummers.

Gotye

NEWCOMERS to the work of Wally "Gotye" De Backer might not be familiar with his skills as a drummer. While he's a multi-instrumentalist (with a wonderfully flexible and soulful voice), De Backer first came to prominence on the Melbourne music scene as the tub-thumper for The Basics. A hard-working trio, the group began with a sound that mirrored the rock 'n' roll of the '50s and '60s but has developed into a broader sonic template that incorporates elements of pop, reggae and country. De Backer shares vocal duties with guitarist Kris Schroeder and despite the band gigging their butts off for many years it wasn't until De Backer had success as Gotye that the industry (and Triple J) started to take notice of The Basics. In his Gotye live shows, De Backer splits his time between singing at the kit and singing front-of-stage using samplers, with a voice that often sounds spookily like a young Sting.

He doesn't sound like Sting here, but this is his cool performance of Learnalilgivinanlovin at the 2007 ARIA Awards:

Dave Grohl

THE obvious entry for this list, although the Nirvana stickman and Foo Fighters frontman rarely mixes his drumming and his singing these days. When Grohl joined Nirvana, not only was he the first decent permanent drummer (sorry Chad Channing), but he also added harmonies, something that helped him get the job. His voice added extra layers to everything from Polly to Aneurysm and on the Heart-Shaped Box b-side Marigold, Nirvana fans got to hear him take the lead vocals for once. After Kurt Cobain's death, Grohl played every instrument and sang every song on the debut Foo Fighters album. He also drummed on the majority of The Colour & The Shape, but since Taylor Hawkins joined the band it's rare for Grohl to jump behind the kit for the Foos. Exceptions are when Hawkins grabs the mic to do Cold Day In The Sun (making him a worthy addition to the singing drummers club), or when the pair of them have drum-offs on the rarely played b-side The Colour & The Shape or Stacked Actors.

Here's Dave on the skins (and singing harmonies) as Taylor takes the mic on Cold Day In The Sun - that's two singing drummers for the price of one:

Phil Collins

WHEN Peter Gabriel departed prog-rock group Genesis, the band apparently auditioned 400 singers to find a replacement before turning to drummer Phil Collins and saying "why don't you have a go?". Collins, who joined the band just five years earlier in 1970, had been coaching the possible replacements and was somewhat reluctant to take on the job himself, despite having sung lead on two previous Genesis songs. The first post-Gabriel album was A Trick Of The Tail and in order to perform it live, a second drummer was brought in for the songs that were too hard for Collins to drum and sing at the same time. The back-up drummers included such acclaimed prog and jazz stickmen as Bill Bruford (Yes, King Crimson) and Chester Thompson (Weather Report, Frank Zappa). When he began his solo career in the '80s, Collins proved to be handy multi-instrumentalist, performing many of the instruments on his debut Face Value and everything on Both Sides.

Here's his best solo song - In The Air Tonight. The moment when the drums kick in (around 3:25) is just gold.

Kram

BEFORE Gotye, Australia's foremost singing drummer was Mark Maher, better known to the world as Kram. As one third of Spiderbait, Kram manned the skins while sharing vocal duties with bassist Janet English, and was responsible for singing some of their biggest hits, including breakthrough Buy Me A Pony (the first Aussie song to top Triple J's Hottest 100) and their cover of Black Betty (their first and only number one song). After 20 years with Spiderbait, Kram finally released his own album - the well reviewed Mix Tape - and toured with two guitarists. As for Spiderbait, the band hasn't played a gig since October last year and none are on the cards. Meanwhile, Kram has filmed a pilot for a TV show featuring himself, Tex Perkins and Tim Rogers, but sadly no network has picked it up yet.

Here's the film clip for Black Betty (from the movie Without A Paddle apparently... did not know that):

Don Henley

IT seems like everyone in Eagles played guitar and sang. Henley could do both, but he was also the drummer as well as being the lead singer and one of the key songwriters in the group along with Glen Frey. Henley sang and co-wrote many of Eagles' biggest hits, including Desperado, One Of These Nights, Hotel California, Life In The Fast Lane, Take It To The Limit, and Best Of My Love. Like all the other names on this list, Henley was able to step away from the band and out from behind the kit and enjoy further success - of all the Eagles, he had the most successful solo career, scoring number ones in the US with The Boys Of Summer, Dirty Laundry, The End Of The Innocence and All She Wants To Do Is Dance. It turns out Henley has a sense of humour too. American musician Mojo Nixon has a song called Don Henley Must Die and, according to an interview with AVClub.com, Henley joined Nixon onstage at a gig in Austin to sing it with him.

This video is cool for so many reasons - the hair, the harmonies, the festival, the rainbow, the little kid with the guitar... oh, and the song's pretty good: