This famous drum introduction, performed by drummer Bun E. Carlos, is from the Cheap Trick tune "I Want You To Want Me", recorded live in April 1978 at the Nippon Budokan arena located in Tokyo, Japan. Although the tune (a much slower version) was originally released in 1977 on Cheap Trick's In Color album, this live version of "I Want You To Want Me" was a smash hit and the band's biggest-selling single to date.
The drum intro is fairly straight-forward, although it has perplexed drummers for many years, largely due to the pick-up notes which can throw the mind off as to where beat one is.
All of the sixteenth-notes should be swung. Although almost inaudible, the HiHat foot is playing on all the upbeats or ANDs of the beat. In the fourth bar (last measure of the intro), notice the two off-beat sixteenth-notes in parenthesis. The reason I chose to make this notation, even though it's not played, is the fact that Bun E. often played this measure in a variety of ways. To hear/see one such variation, watch this video version from 1979. On the Budokan DVD, which was recorded on a different night than the Cheap Trick at Budokan album, you'll notice that in the fourth bar, Bun E. plays the notes notated in parenthesis as well as adding an additional accent on the sixteenth-note after beat two.
