During the twentieth century, their drums enjoyed popularity with musicians spanning from the Dixieland jazz era in the 1920s to classic rock in the 1960s and 1970s, but was particularly associated with big band and swing drummers of the 1940s and 1950s.

Design engineer Joe Thompson and marketing manager Ben Strauss were instrumental in Rogers' success during its golden age from the mid-1950s to the late 1960s.

This and other innovations (for example, a remarkably shallow—4/1000"—snare bed) made possible by the novel tensioning arrangement gave the drum a relatively crisp and recognizably clear sound.

Much of it was developed by Thompson, including the Swiv-o-Matic line of bass drum pedals, hi-hats, cymbal stands, and tom-tom holders.

Even Ludwig drummers like Ringo Starr of The Beatles,[5] Mitch Mitchell of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin used some Swiv-o-Matic hardware items on their kits.

Starting in 1978, Rogers began offering drums with 8-ply shells without reinforcement rings (made by Keller Products, Inc. of Manchester, NH) for its XP-8 line.

Shortly after being purchased by CBS in 1966, Rogers drums moved its production in 1969 from Ohio to a Fullerton, CA factory complex, where the American Fender Guitars were also produced.

BMMC began the brand as a low-cost, but high-quality import line of beginner drum sets that were sold exclusively through the company's own chain of music stores.

A high-quality line of kits emerged that included maple and birch shells with beavertail lugs and modern double-braced hardware.

On August 26, 2006, the Yamaha Corporation of America announced that it had acquired the intellectual property rights to the Rogers Drum Company at the BMMC bankruptcy court-ordered auction.

"Opportunities to acquire a well-respected brand that is so treasured by players do not come along every day," said Tom Sumner, Vice President and General Manager of Yamaha's Pro Audio & Combo Division.

In 2017, Rogers was revived as a manufacturer of high-end handcrafted snare drums, utilizing many of the familiar hardware designs from the 1950s and 1960s.