It has never bothered me before. I'm indifferent to it, since it is a generic timing tool as opposed to being really a part of the song. With how a few people are, I'm almost surprised that no one threaten to not go to PP anymore if that happened again!
But to a certain extent, I do feel that some bands do take the standard approach, or their usual approach to things too often and don't try to get creative with elements of the music that are used as timing or transitional tools or to maintain a sound. For the intro hi-hat beat, aside from cutting it out on the PA, what about changing up the hi-hat beat? I'm a bass player and it wouldn't throw me off if a:tss-tss-taa tss taa tss (taa=closing or holding the hi-hat for the eliminating the sustained ring). In fact a drummer that I've played with a lot, has done far more complex than that for a timing intro and I'm definitely no great bass player. By doing this or something else (I'm no drummer, I'm sure that there are plenty of better ideas out there), you make that tool a creative part of the song.
Also, too many drummers use the snare for timing. It doesn't annoy me, but it is something that I've noticed a lot. Danny Carey from Tool, broke away from always doing this, by using it to accent.
Another thing was the over use of hitting the snare's rim in a very simple 1, 2 or 4 beats per measure pattern for a slow, mellow song. There seemed to be a lot of that in 80's music. I actually was annoyed with that for a while.
Think of it, all those pieces, to even a simple, let alone complex drum kit, and so many drummers did that same thing. And if that is not enough, switch to a brush. Play some congas or tablas. There's plenty of solutions.
But enough with picking on the drummers. Edge from U2 used delay way too fucking much!
At some point in the 80's, a lot (certainly not all or most by any means) of bass player simplified down to mostly root, root-fifth, or root-fifth-octave bass lines. They did this after decades of great bassists playing melodic, grooving bass lines. Music should evolve, not devolve.
I could go on and on with other things that are uncreative or annoying about guitarists, bass players, etc...but people should take the attitude, if it isn't broke don't fix it, with something that should be creative. I'm also not for over playing either. Musicians should do what's best for the song. Although, I will admit to loving some self-indulgent guitar, bass and drum gods' work as well as progressive and complex/technical bands! But, in some cases, the point of a song isn't always to convey to a message or craft a great song, but to showcase 1 or more musicians talent/technical ability. I know that people have been very successful and have been well respected by playing conventionally, but thank God that some people take chances and experiment!
