march to (the beat of) a different tune (or drum or drummer) consciously adopt a different approach or attitude to the majority of people; be unconventional. informal

☞ The version with drummer comes ultimately from Henry David Thoreau's Walden (1854): 'If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer'.

2008UroskinPut em all on an island 'Islands are places apart, islanders are people apart,' he says. 'They march to the beat of very different drums.'