10 best rock drummers?

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johnnyfever said:
As a rock drummer for over 30 years, it is virtually impossible to narrow it down to the 10 best. I have about 50 personal favorite rock drummers who are all kick-ass. No one here has mentioned Chester Thompson, Paul De Long, Jim Gordon, Rick Marotta, Carmine Appice, Steve Upton, Keith Carlock, Phil Collins, Danny Seraphine, Hal Blaine, Nick Mason, Simon Kirke, Alan White, Mike Portnoy, and the list goes on and on and on........
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Finally someone mentioned Mike Portnoy - Dream Theatre. Infact that whole band are pretty outstanding, except maybe the singer, lol.
 
Keith Moon
Mitch Mitchell
Terry Bozzio
Paul DeLong
Toss Panos
Gary McCracken
Nick D'Virgillio
Ian Paice
Prarie Prince
Bill Bruford
Bill Ward
Cozy Powell
Ringo


sl
 
How is it no one ever posts Animal as one of their favorite drummers!

I admire anyone who can play with a hand up his ass! :D
 
PhilGood said:
How is it no one ever posts Animal as one of their favorite drummers!

I admire anyone who can play with a hand up his ass! :D
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Animal was the Ashlee Simpson of puppet rock drumming. His parts were actually pre-recorded by Zoot. Something about too much PCP.


sl
 
snow lizard said:
Animal was the Ashlee Simpson of puppet rock drumming. His parts were actually pre-recorded by Zoot. Something about too much PCP.


sl
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Then how did they manage the drum battle with Buddy Rich? Huh?? Explain that!! Who had their hand up Buddy's ass? And would you pay to see one up Ashley Simpson's? :D
 
I have absolutely no idea who had their hand up Buddy's ass, but he played his own parts for the drum battle. He played his own drums, his own cymbals, the stands and hardware, the stage... the world was his practice pad.

If you watch Animal closely through the sequence, you'll see he looks just like Keith Moon from The Who's performance of My Generation on The Smothers Brothers show - sitting there waving his sticks at the snare and left cymbal while the prerecorded track is loaded with toms. Animal's performance at the drum battle was similar, except no prerecorded track. They had another drummer behind a curtain, the former girlfriend of the bass player who was now going out with the assistant AE, who was actually the nephew of the producer. Look at the camera angles closely - from where Buddy's kit was set up, he could see behind the curtain.

And no, I wouldn't pay to see Ashley.


sl
 
Ha ha,
We are talking about "Rock And Roll" Music right?
As phenomenal as Terry Bozzio, Dave Weckl, Buddy Rich, and Billy Cobbham are, they don't play rock music in the slightest!!!! A good rock drummer is all about one thing and that is the MUSIC, not playing solos and complex polyrhythms. Don't get me wrong I love all those fusion and jazz guys, but can you imagine Bozzio with the Beatles or Weckl with ACDC. Rock drumming is all about the emotion and the feeling in the grove.

My top are:

Charlie Watts - I mean, come on this man is the epitome of a rock drummer, I know he really is into jazz, but when he plays with the Stones it is so tasteful

Ringo - plays what needs to be heard and nothing else, lets the music breathe, lets the genius of John, Paul and George seep through

John Henry Bonham - Okay, he does solos, but his grove is like the rhythm of the earth and the solos are so tasteful and heavy. One of the first players to really slam, and could bring incredible dynamics to the songs

Mitch Mitchell - Another jazz player playing rock, I love this guy. His drumming fit so well with Jimi's guitar

Moon - The epitome of the rock lifestyle. I true rocker, wild as hell just like his drumming

Jim Keltner - He has done a ridiculous amount of records, I love all the Neil Young stuff he did

Stewart Copeland – My personal favorite, so much finesse and so melodic

Dave Grohl - A modern Ringo, Bonham mix. Minimalist like Ringo, crushing like Bonham

Abe Laboriel Jr. - Awesome, what can I say

That’s only 9, I got to get back to work……………
Check out John Theodore from the Mars Volta. He is ridiculously good, not really a rock guy though. More Prog stuff I did his attitude and style towards the drums.
 
The chick from Jose and the Pussycats!! She was hot! (maybe just drawn that way) I loved how they always drew the drumset with the cymbals coming straight out of the floor tom and snare!

THERE'S your best damn drummer!!

How about Jughead? Didn't he play for the Archies?:rolleyes:




Sorry, I just can't take "best drummer" threads seriously!
 
SeanBonham said:
Ha ha,
We are talking about "Rock And Roll" Music right?
As phenomenal as Terry Bozzio, Dave Weckl, Buddy Rich, and Billy Cobbham are, they don't play rock music in the slightest!!!! A good rock drummer is all about one thing and that is the MUSIC, not playing solos and complex polyrhythms. Don't get me wrong I love all those fusion and jazz guys, but can you imagine Bozzio with the Beatles or Weckl with ACDC. Rock drumming is all about the emotion and the feeling in the grove.
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I have to at least defend Bozzio here.

True, the other drummers you mentioned are more from a jazz background, but this is not to say that they can't play rock music. Cobham is mostly known for fusion, but it's pretty rockin' fusion if you ask me. Check out Spectrum.

Terry Ted Bozzio on the other hand definitely played rock music with Frank Zappa, Missing Persons, Steve Vai and Jeff Beck amongst others. Just because he's a freak of nature doesn't mean it's not rock music, even though rock doesn't define his entire background.

Just because a drummer is capable of playing insane polyrhythms when it's called for (and face it, a lot of rock music has polyrhythms) doesn't mean that the same drummer can't nail down a groove in 4 in a straightforward way when it's called for. It's the mark of a good musician, and I think all the guys you mentioned have been there, even though 3 out of 4 of them are known more for jazz or fusion than rock.


sl
 
snow lizard said:
I have to at least defend Bozzio here.

True, the other drummers you mentioned are more from a jazz background, but this is not to say that they can't play rock music. Cobham is mostly known for fusion, but it's pretty rockin' fusion if you ask me. Check out Spectrum.

Terry Ted Bozzio on the other hand definitely played rock music with Frank Zappa, Missing Persons, Steve Vai and Jeff Beck amongst others. Just because he's a freak of nature doesn't mean it's not rock music, even though rock doesn't define his entire background.

Just because a drummer is capable of playing insane polyrhythms when it's called for (and face it, a lot of rock music has polyrhythms) doesn't mean that the same drummer can't nail down a groove in 4 in a straightforward way when it's called for. It's the mark of a good musician, and I think all the guys you mentioned have been there, even though 3 out of 4 of them are known more for jazz or fusion than rock.


sl
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Missing Persons - "What are words for?". Perfect example of Terry laying down a solid groove.
 
And I liked Bozzio's work with Missing Persons.

I, myself, couldn't play drums if my life depended on it.

So I guess my opinion doesn't really matter here.

I just wanted to belong.

</self-loathing>
 
I do own a copy of Spectrum and could not agree with you more that it is pretty rocking. I just wanted to make a point that some of my favorite rock drummers don't have a 30 piece kit, stupid hair cuts, and studied at Julliard. Bozzio play in Louisville a few years back with the Louisville orchestra and the ballet. It was great performance, I just identify with those drummers who just sit back and put it in the pocket. By far the best drummer I have ever witnessed with my own eyes is Marco Minnemann. I had the chance to see his clinic twice in person and was absolutely blown away. He is crazy good and his independence is insane.
Also Stanton More's stuff has really caught my ear. He is all about the groove.....
 
SeanBonham said:
I do own a copy of Spectrum and could not agree with you more that it is pretty rocking. I just wanted to make a point that some of my favorite rock drummers don't have a 30 piece kit, stupid hair cuts, and studied at Julliard. Bozzio play in Louisville a few years back with the Louisville orchestra and the ballet. It was great performance, I just identify with those drummers who just sit back and put it in the pocket. By far the best drummer I have ever witnessed with my own eyes is Marco Minnemann. I had the chance to see his clinic twice in person and was absolutely blown away. He is crazy good and his independence is insane.
Also Stanton More's stuff has really caught my ear. He is all about the groove.....
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That's different then.

I agree that the minimalist approach is more effective sometimes than overplaying out of context. It's a good point, but there's always guys that break the rules. It's interesting that we both mentioned Ringo and Moon as a couple of the best drummers, but they have little in common in how they've approached playing. Ringo is a good definition of what being in the pocket is all about but Moon's all over the map. Two vastly different approaches, but they're both effective.

That's always the thing about top ten rock drummer threads. If you come up with a definition of "rock drummer", someone's bound to step in and break it for you.

As for Marco Minnemann, I've never heard him play but he recently did a few gigs with Mike Keneally in Europe. According to Mike's bass player, he stepped in and absolutely nailed a lot of Mike's older material. Keneally's music is usually pretty quirky and challenging, and he has a habit of selecting freakishly talented drummers. (Toss Panos, Nick D'Virgillio, Joe Travers, etc...) So I have no doubt that Marco is amazing.

D'Virgillio is another interesting player. If you listen to what he plays with Keneally, it's all this busy, challenging eccentric rock/fusion stuff that only a handfull of people can pull off convincingly. He's damn good at it too. Then you listen to him playing with Tears For Fears and he sounds more like Ringo, but if that's the role that best fits the music...



sl
 
Best Rock Drummer

I TELL YOU THE BEST ROCK DRUMMER IN ALL THE WORLD IS........................

ANIMAL FROM THE MUPPETS :p
 
Oh, yeah...

BillyFurnett said:
Kind of a weird post here...


I'm glad Strange Leaf brought up Bill Ward along with Bonham and Mitchel.
In the rock sense (and including Ringo) it made me decide to wonder out loud (here) at how insane it must have been for these guys.., I mean, imagine Mitch Mitchel playing with a guy that suddenly decided he'd do something with a guitar in a way no one else on earth before him had done!
Ringo had to hang out and work with guys that could seemingly spin gold at will.
Ward and company were perhaps refelcting the darkest of society and forging it into something as heavy as the very sins of man himself!
I'm not sure where Bonham fits in to what I'm feeling about the other guys, but it must have been pretty far out to be part of a band that could nearly (Or fully) conjure up, invoke or simply present music like it was an undiscovered element such as a new fire or a new water!

Each of these guys played and were a part of music many times larger than it seems their individual talent could possibly allow.
To understand that and to really dig it is IMO such a wonderful & welcoming invitation to discover some of the why and how that the Blues, Jazz and Classical greats (of several instruments, continents and centuries) all used in a universal timeless way to push the very same "Wow!" button in us lucky mortals.


:)
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Kick ass, my man.
 
put terry bozzio on the list
after all he is the devil in Zappas "titties and Beer" son.

he did an amazing job o singing that song on "Baby Snakes"
 
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