Greatest Drummer Ever

[JStarr]

Midget's right. People can debate until their blue in the face over the best singers, writers, guitarists, pianists, whatever...but the rhythm section gets no love.

So we should come to this topic to, in the words of Soul Brother No. 1 himself, "Give the drummer some," and nominate our picks for top drummers.

JStarr's Top 5:

5. Clyde Stubblefield (James Brown's Famous Flames)--Without "Funky Drummer," hip-hop as we know it would not exist.

4. Charlie Watts (Rolling Stones)--Not flashy, but never off the tempo, either. Closest thing to a human metronome.

3. Hal Blaine--'60s session man who worked with every-fucking-body...the Byrds, the Beach Boys, lots of work for Phil Spector, Simon and Garfunkel, etc.

2. Keith Moon (The Who)--The archetype of the mentally unhinged drummer who beat the shit out of his kit and himself.

1. John Bonham (Led Zeppelin)--Made it sound like the world was ending on several tracks, especially "When the Levee Breaks."

I suppose the next question should be, who's gonna start a thread and give some love to the bassists?

[thatshortguy]

We actually skewed a guitarist thread a while back to include bassists.

Needless to say, Claypool and Burton got much love.

As for the drummers, dear Hay-Zeus there's a laundry list of drummers I think are excellent. For the sake of time, we'll keep it to five, in no particular order:

1. Josh Freese (A Perfect Circle/Guns'n'Roses/Static-X/The Offspring/etc.)

2. David Lovering (The Pixies)

3. Matt McDonough (Mudvayne)

4. Tim Alexander (Primus)

5. Danny Carey (Tool)

[public enemy]

Terry Bozzio...hands down. And as if you need any further persuasion, his drum-kit would probably fill my house.

Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater would come in second place for me, just a personal favourite of mine.

Also, I'd keep an eye open on Jeremy Colson. He played a G3 gig for Steve Vai and he really rocked. Cool guy, young and tons of potential.

[ILoveNicole]

Eric Carr without a doubt

[Evil Chase K]

You guys are forgetting the best drummer of all time...

Now, the Metallica fan in me has to mention Lars Ulrich as one of the greatest...

But the absolute best drummer ever is without a doubt Neil Peart from Rush.

[gunnar hendershow]

Neal Peart and Mike Portnoy... nobody comes close to them.

[thatshortguy]

Peart is just a damn monster, no doubt about it. And the beauty is that he doesn't fall victim to Peter Criss Syndrome, where you have a large-ass kit and use maybe five pieces altogether. Peart has a mammoth set and freakin' USES all of it.

Btw, PE's not kidding. Bozzio's set is....wheeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwww.....check here for an excellent view of it.

[public enemy]

Btw, PE's not kidding.  Bozzio's set is....wheeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwww.....check here for an excellent view of it.

←

:thumbsup:

...That set is huge and it's not even his biggest.

Now, the Metallica fan in me has to mention Lars Ulrich as one of the greatest...

Lars Ulrich sucks! Why is it that everyone bows down to him like he's the greatest thing since sliced bread!? Lars isn't even the best drummer in the band for crying out loud...

[thatshortguy]

Lars Ulrich sucks! Why is it that everyone bows down to him like he's the greatest thing since sliced bread!? Lars isn't even the best drummer in the band for crying out loud...

←

I wouldn't quite go that far. Ulrich's a solid drummer in the fact that it does take a good bit of skill to thrash while not getting really out of sync. He's by no means the greatest, though. He's simply the product of a very famous band.

Colson has great style. He gets into the music without letting things slip. Very nice musician.

Btw, I feel ashamed to have not shown enough love to Sabbath's Bill Ward. While he was never huge on doing awesome fills, he's the drummer that all other hard rock drummers should be measured against. His work has always been solid, despite the various incarnations of the band.

[Evil Chase K]

If you listen to or see Metallica live you'd get a good feeling for Lars' skill. He can be a monster drummer when he wants to be and live Lars is one of the best.

[thatshortguy]

If you listen to or see Metallica live you'd get a good feeling for Lars' skill. He can be a monster drummer when he wants to be and live Lars is one of the best.

←

While I do like that Lars (and the band in general) is able to crank out a lot of the old catalogue at even faster tempos than before, that ultimately falls into what I was talking about earlier (the ability to thrash without getting out-of-sync).

No disrespect to the man at all, I just feel if he were in just about any other band aside from Metallica, he wouldn't get the same amount of love.

[Guest Wrestling_Man]

It's Alex Van Halen from Van Halen.

[Guest Angry Baboon]

John Bonham.

And I don't even like Led Zeppelin.

But as for a favorite, I'll go for David Lovering from the Pixies/Tanya Donnelly's solo shit....

[Guest Deathblow]

my favourites are Abe Cunningham (Deftones), Keith Moon (The Who) and Jon Theodore (Mars Volta)

[Jook]

Moon or Bonham

[Rage]

John Bonham is the greatest in my opinion. Some will probably laugh but I think give Joey Jordison a Slipknot a few years and he could be high up on that list. Just look at what he did at this years Download festival.

[TMM]

Keith Moon of the Who rates above them all IMO. He's just amazed me everytime I hear him play.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Dave Grouhl(sp?)

[Heel Turn]

Keith Moon of the Who rates above them all IMO. He's just amazed me everytime I hear him play.

←

Quoted for emphasis. Keith Moon is god.

[livid]

Peart is the guy who I think is.

The Godsmack fan in me would say Sully Erna as he is badass on the drums, but I know he's not the greatest so I'm not gonn say it.

And Lars sucks, sure he's good, but every drummer has to be somewhat good to be in a band that's globally known, even nationally known. He was better when he was younger, but he sucks now. He's nothing special anymore, but then again, he never really was. Like Midget said, if he was in another band, he wouldn't have as much people claiming he's great.