Best Rock Drummers

Ringo’s drumming on Rubber Soul is fantastic! So is his drum sound. For whatever reason his playing on Revolver---as well as the sound of his drums---changed dramatically on that album. But then the sound of the whole group had changed too.

Another very musical drummer rarely mentioned is Kenny Buttrey, the Nashville studio drummer heard on Dylan’s John Wesley Harding and Neil Young’s Harvest, amongst many others (Blonde On Blonde, Self Portrait, Ringo’s Beaucoup Of Blues. Ringo loves Kenny’s playing). He is also real good at getting a great sound, his 1960’s Sonors sounding fantastic on Harvest.

Currently there is Harry Stinson, playing drums and singing harmony in Marty Stuart’s band The Fabulous Superlatives. You can also hear Harry on multitudes of albums recorded in Nashville over the past few decades. He too gets a great sound out of his 1960’s Rogers drums. He is also a studio harmony singer for hire, apart from his drumming.

One of the best drummers I’ve heard live is a guy named Jim Christie. I didn’t see him when he was in Dwight Yoakam’s band, but rather with Lucinda Williams. Fantastic! A Jazz drummer out of NYC, he uses his formidable chops in a musical fashion, in service to the song. In the circle I travel in, THAT’S what makes a drummer great.

@mbennes: Oh man, you are too hip for the room ;-) , Buddy Harman is FANTASTIC, in my all-time Top 10. I’ll bet you and I are the only ones here who know his name. Buddy was the "first call" drummer in Nashville for decades, in effect that city’s Hal Blaine (another great) He can be heard on the recordings of hundreds of singers, including Tammy Wynette and George Jones. His playing on "Stand By Your Man" is SO cool. He invented playing the hi-hat part on the snare drum with a brush, with the 2/4 backbeat played "cross-stick".

Of course, it can be argued that Buddy was not a Rock drummer. Rock ’n’ Roll, yes. What’s the difference? Rock ’n’ Roll swings, Rock doesn’t. As an illustration, listen to Ringo’s playing when he joins The Band onstage for the last song in The Last Waltz concert segment, Dylan’s "I Shall Be Released". See how slow, plodding, and ponderous is his playing? Now listen to Levon Helm; nimble, light on his feet, like Fred Astaire dancing. Listen to Levon’s drumming on Clapton’s cover of Bobby Blue Bland’s "Further On Up The Road"; he swings SO hard! Like a Jazz drummer, but with a 2/4 backbeat. Rock ’n’ Roll, baby!

When I saw Keith Moon live in ’68 and ’69, he was incredibly exciting: explosive, dynamic, maniacal. By the end he was so sluggish, so tired, so boring. "Who Are You"? Terrible! Was it the booze and pills? Or age?

John Bonham played his kick drum in the "bury the beater in the head" style. In other words, not letting the bass drum beater rebound off the batter head. The effect that creates is to make each bar in the music feel separate---the music seems to come to a halt at the end of each bar, starting up again for the next. The music has no natural flow, no movement and momentum. Robert Plant would definitely not have Bonham playing on his records with Alison Krauss, nor would she let him ;-) .

"There were no great Rock drummers before Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts, and Keith Moon".

Wow, such unashamed ignorance. So no Earl Palmer (Little Richard)? D.J. Fontana (Elvis Presley)? Fred Below? Below was the house drummer at Chess Records, playing on the recordings of Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, etc. Is was he---as well as Palmer and Fontana---younger Rockers listened to to learn how to play Rock 'n' Roll. I could name a dozen more.

Bobby Whitlock (organist/singer/songwriter in Derek & The Dominos, organist/singer on George Harrison’s All Thinks Must Pass album, member of Delany & Bonnie and Friends) states unequivocally that the best Rock ’n’ Roll drummer of all-time is Jim Gordon. When I recorded with Emitt Rhodes he told me the best musician that played on any of his albums was Jim. I’ve never heard better, and I’ve seen Mitch Mitchell, Ginger Baker, Bobby Columby (Buddy Rich thought highly of his playing in BS&T), Jim Keltner (John Lennon’s first choice, as well as Ry Cooder’s. By the way, in a Modern Drummer magazine interview Jim expressed his admiration for the playing of Roger Hawkins, saying he wished he---Jim---played more like Roger. Roger is also a very favorite of mine, along with of course Levon Helm), Keith Moon (just so you’ll know: Keith played all single-stokes---like Ringo, he didn’t know the 26 rudiments), Charlie Watts, Ringo, Terry Williams (Rockpile, Man, Dire Straits), Marky Ramone (laugh if you want, but in a Modern Drummer interview Tony Williams expressed his admiration for Mark’s drumming), and hundreds of others.

For those who love John Bonham: Listen to Earl Palmer’s intro to Little Richard’s song "Keep A Knockin". Sound familiar? Pull out your copy of whichever Led Zeppelin album contains their song "Rock ’n’ Roll". They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. ;-)

As for me, Steve Gadd imo strikes the perfect balance between the display of technique and it’s use in service to the music. Some will understand that statement, others won’t. No offence intended ;-) . In the genre I am these days most interested (Americana), nobody is better than Harry Stinson (Marty Stuart’s Fabulous Superlatives). Subtle, tasteful, musical. And he sings great harmony.

dhpeck, shadorne, and roxy54, agree with all ya’ll. czarivey, if by best you mean technically, you have a point. It takes a lot more technique to play Jazz than most Rock, so Jazz players coming to Rock have a distinct advantage. Frank Zappa and Steely Dan are two musics that benefitted from having Jazz players as drummers.

But I’ve heard Jazz players who don’t quite understand what makes Rock work, and play inappropriately for the music. It’s not just what you play, but what you don’t as well, as the old saying goes. It’s also horses for courses; as Keith Moon responded when asked if he could play in The Buddy Rich Big Band (a question intended to humiliate, or at least put in his place, him): "No, and Buddy Rich couldn’t play in The Who."

One reason I don’t care for a lot of Rock drumming is that I don’t like Rock music, for the most part. But I love Rock ’n’ Roll! Just last week I saw a clip of Tom Petty talking about getting into music at ten years of age, listening to Rock ’n’ Roll. He then made a point of saying "Not Rock. Rock doesn’t swing." Exactly! A lot of Rock drummers, including Bonham, don’t either. The creator of Rock 'n' Roll drumming, in the opinion of a lot of Rock ’n’ Roll musical historians, was Earl Palmer, who swung like mad. He was a New Orleans Jazz drummer, but really knew how to play what was best for the music. Insanely great drummer!

I see that many (though not all) Audiogon members judge drummers by the same yardstick the general public does: technical "chops". There are other considerations, ya know.

In the Big Band era, one drummer was chosen by band leaders above all others for his ability to make the band swing harder than any other: Dave Tough. You have probably never heard of him, as he couldn’t solo like the other guys, and his technique was not very well developed. But the other band members loved playing with him because he made them sound better. His playing resulted in the band making better music! That's what makes one drummer "better" than another.

Here is a story repeated by the hippest drummers: The legendary guitarist Danny Gatton was doing a gig with his new drummer, the drummer’s first with Danny. After a few songs, Danny said to the drummer: "You know all that fancy stuff you’re playing? Don’t". Many of the best musicians in the world think a lot of drummers "overplay".

One of the most in demand studio drummers for decades has been Jim Keltner, of whom you may have heard (Bob Dylan, George Harrison, John Hiatt, Bill Frisell, Ry Cooder---Ry schedules his recordings around Jim’s availability, refusing to record without him). In discussing his playing, Jim said he wishes he played more like Roger Hawkins. Heard of him? He was the drummer of the Fame Studios house band, heard on all the Jerry Wexler-produced records for Atlantic Records (Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke). Roger’s playing creates the deepest "pocket" I have ever heard, creating a killer "groove". His playing is not "flashy", does not draw attention to itself. But like the playing of Dave Tough, it creates great music. It’s all about the music, right?

Jim has also professed his admiration for another drummer not mentioned here: Levon Helm of The Band, the most musical drummer I have ever heard. I have been asked "What do you mean musical?". If you have to ask!

I was with my brother-in-law in his living room, listening to an internet radio station. The song "Beyond The Sea" by Bobby Darin came on. When the short drum "break" (played by Don Lamond) ended I was giddy with delight, expressing my love of it (it’s my all-time favorite drum break, too short to be considered a solo, though it actually is). The brother-in-law said "Really"? It didn’t sound that hard". I explained to him that what made it so cool was not the difficulty in executing it, but the difficulty in coming up with it. The part just sounds so f*cking cool!

Speaking of Keith Moon, in the late 60’s and early 70’s Jazz was starting to infiltrate Rock, with drummers having "rudimentary" training making their appearance. Jazz musicians had traditionally looked down their noses at Rock players, as those players (such as Ringo Starr) often had no formal training. But with the appearance of Mitch Mitchell (Hendrix, of course), Bobby Colomby (B,S,&T), and Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge), that was changing. Still, Rock drummers were not considered the equal of Jazz players. Keith Moon was asked in an interview, in an attempt to humiliate him (or at least put him in his place), if he could play in The Buddy Rich Big Band. Most drummers would admit that, no, they certainly couldn’t. But Keith, bless his heart, instead said "No, and Buddy Rich couldn’t play in The Who". Exactly! Would a Jazz drummer have made The Beatles music any better? Or could it be that a Jazz player would have actually make it not as good?

Speaking of Jazz, didya hear what Buddy Holly said about it? "Jazz is strictly for the stay at homes". ;-)