Linn LinnDrum

The LinnDrum (sometimes known as the Linn LM-2) was the successor to the Linn LM-1, released in 1982 by Linn Electronics. It was the second drum machine to be produced by Linn, and proved to be the most popular of the Linn drum machines.

Note that some people (incorrectly) refer to the Linn LM-1 as the "LinnDrum" - despite that being the name of its successor - which had led to confusion between the two machines. However, both drum machines are rather different in character, the LinnDrum having an improved rhythm clock and having a cleaner sound in comparison to the Linn LM-1.

Phil Collins' LinnDrum
As a replacement to the LM-1 which features in the studio recordings, the LinnDrum was used for "Mama" during the Mama tour from 1983 to 1984.

The LinnDrum was one of several drum machines Phil Collins had at his Old Croft home during the mid-1980s; it features on a few songs from the No Jacket Required album, such as "Only You Know And I Know", "Don't You Lose My Number" etc.

Phil had also used the LinnDrum on Invisible Touch with Genesis, mainly for programming drum patterns and loops. The first section of "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight", for example, has the Linn run through an AMS RMX-16 reverb.

The Linn pattern on the title track also uses the pitched down rimshot sound, influenced by work of Prince and Shiela E.

Mike Rutherford's LinnDrum
Mike Rutherford had a LinnDrum for writing purposes in the mid to late 1980s.

A LinnDrum was sold among old Genesis equipment at The Farm in 2001, which was reported to be owned by Mike Rutherford. It's currently owned by producer Andrew Kingsglow, and from photos it has a sticker saying something along the lines of "property of the group", so it wasn't necessarily Mike Rutherford's (or Mike was using that same drum machine when it was on The Farm).

Peter Gabriel's LinnDrum
While the majority of the Security album had been done with the Linn LM-1, Peter Gabriel would upgrade to the LinnDrum (a.k.a. LM-2), which was used on the Security tour in late 1982. The Linn featured on songs like "Shock The Monkey", "I Have The Touch" and "No Self Control" (the latter replaced by a revamped version of "Games Without Frontiers"). The machine is heard on those songs (except "Games") on the Plays Live album, released in 1983. Peter likely did the Linn programming for those songs (as he'd do on the So tour with the Linn 9000) and had Jerry Marotta operate the machine in concert. It's possible that Jerry Marotta's own LinnDrum was also used (which he still owns to this day).

The LinnDrum features prominently in some of his 1983-84 studio work, including on "Excellent Birds", a collaboration with Laurie Anderson, released on Anderson's Mister Heartbreak album (1984) and again on the So album in 1986 (albeit in a different version). Other examples of the LinnDrum include "Walk Through The Fire" (single version) and "Out Out" (from the Gremlins soundtrack): both were produced by Nile Rodgers, who probably recruited Jimmy Bralower as a rhythm programmer on those songs.

Also, Peter had the LinnDrum around during the early So sessions at least. He had just acquired the then-new Linn 9000 and was still getting to grips with it when it came to recording, so the LinnDrum was possibly around as a backup option. The 9000 would end up being used for most of the drum machine parts on the album, while Chris Hughes programmed a LinnDrum (probably Peter's) on "Red Rain".

On Robbie Robertson's song "Broken Arrow", Peter added a tuned-down tambourine sound from the LinnDrum.