Best Rock Drummers


I've seen most of them and by far the two that stand out are Neil Peart of Rush and Ceasar Z. of Golden Earring. For non-rock I would say it's a no brainer with Buddy Rich.
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Showing 4 responses by loomisjohnson

i must be the only person alive who doesn't like john bonham's drumming (no disrespect to the memory of the man himself)--he was always behind the beat and gave the songs a lumbering, rather than propulsive feel. i just saw a 2007 zep tv concert with bonham's son jason on drums and actually preferred it to the original edition (even though plant's vocal range was shot)--the songs had more swing and less bombast.
i do agree with charlie watts on ginger baker, tho--that maniac can play.
chayro, you got to the essence of my point--playing on back of the beat without slowing down the heaviness is critical. charlie watts or al jackson (who did all the booker t/stax stuff) play behind the beat, but don't hold back the whole flow; bonham doesn't have the same touch to my ears, although i'm biased towards the hyper, driving drum sound like baker, keith moon, stewart copeland.
just listened to lord sutch on mog (i vaguely remember him being sort of the wild man fischer of england in the 60s). it's remarkably terrible--i think it was intended as a parody by all but the singer, who's apparently a genuine loon. thanks for sharing...
just saw the "beware of mr. baker" documentary on netflix (ginger's quite a lovely fellow) and watched with interest his "drum battles" with the likes of elvin jones, max roach and art blakey. great a "rock" drummer as baker is/was, he's really not in the same league as the aforesaid three--they're speed, technique, etc. are astounding, while he sounds wild and unschooled in comparison. good film.