Robert Johnson: Behind The Drums

Teen Years

When Robert was a teenager his sister had began dating Smith. The loss of time spent with his sister drove Robert into his room, where he would sit for hours banging his frustrations away on the drums. His parents grew worried about him when he wouldn't even come out of his room to eat. His mother confronted him about this. Robert refused to talk to his mother about it and told her "Leave me drum! I'm happy just to drum."

Music was all Robert had when his neighbor stopped racing with him he had no friends but, he had his band with John and Aaron. Music was the most important thing in his life. He didn't care about school at all, he didn't ride his motor bike as much, he spent all of his time playing music. John and Aaron encouraged him to ditch school completely and they would all drop out to play music together. None of them dropped out until they found Jimmy. Robert could play drums to any song within minutes of hearing it.

Once girls at school found out he was in a band he became very popular amongst the girls. He dated many of the girls at school. At one point he was dating three girls at the same time. John and Aaron of course encouraged this. He did fall in love with one girl named Maureen. She broke up with him because she liked one of the boys on the football team. (British football, not American football.) This crushed Robert.

To cope with his heartbreak Robert, again, locked himself in his room with his drum kit. Robert wrote a song. It was his way of getting out his anger at Maureen. When he saw Maureen at school John, Aaron and himself played it to her. John sang it with such feeling and power. Robert was almost in tears when he was playing it. The last words of the song were "I don't want to love you, when you don't love me. I still do though." This brought Maureen to tears. She slapped Robert on the cheek and ran away crying.

Robert's parent were fighting a lot during this time. His mother refused to argue in front of Cindy and Robert but, Robert could still hear them yelling in their bedroom. "Get the hell out, Mark!" Robert heard his mother yell. "Fine! You want me out, Kitty? I'll get out!" his father would reply before stomping down the stairs. Whenever his mother would kick his father out he would go down the street to the local pub. Mark was friends with the owner of the pub and was able to sleep in the booths. Robert hated when his parents fought. He hide in his closet until they were done fighting.

Towards his mid-teens he met a girl named Alexys. He fell madly in love with her and she loved him even more. She convinced him to follow his dreams and when he got discouraged with his drumming she would help him get his confidence back. Alexys promised to watch all of his concerts on TV when he went on tour in America. She bought Society's first album and framed all of the articles in South Kensington about him and Society. When he felt like the band wasn't going anywhere he would tell her "I know that I can make it in music but, I need you to believe in me. I need you to stay with me. You give me the confidence that I can do it. I need you."