Greatest Rock Drummers


Given the subject line many names come to mind such as  Ginger Baker, Keith Moon, Phil Collins and Carl Palmer but, is Neil Peart the greatest rock drummer of all time?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSToKcbWz1k
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All great comments. As always, taste is personal. For instance, I love Bonham's snare sound (a 6.5" deep metal Ludwig shell), but hate Chad's (that high-pitched wood piccolo sound).

What constitutes over-playing is a matter of opinion. The tale I have told before bears repeating. Master guitarist Danny Gatton, after a few songs into the first gig with his new drummer, had the following exchange with him:

Danny: "You know that fancy stuff you're playing?"

drummer: "Yeah."

Danny: "Don't."

Bonham's playing absolutely works in Led Zeppelin, the same way Keith Moon's does in The Who. Neither could have played on the Aretha Franklin recordings Jerry Wexler produced in Muscle Shoals, which feature the great Roger Hawkins on drums. And Roger's playing would not be appropriate in Zeppelin or The Who. It worked awfully well in late Traffic, though. Horses for courses.

One more thing: Taste, economy, and lack of over-playing need not restrict a drummer to playing nothing more than keeping time, playing only the 2/4 backbeat and four-on-the-floor bass drum patterns. Do yourself a favor and listen to Levon Helm's playing on the first Band album, and his and Band pianist Richard Manuel's (he's a very creative, really inventive and interesting drummer) playing on the second. And for really wild, off-the-wall playing, Earl Palmer on the many early Rock 'n' Roll recordings he played on---Little Richard, for instance. He swung like mad, and had chops to die for. NOBODY played like Earl!

John Bonham's part in "Rock and Roll" is a direct cop of Earl Palmer's in Little Richard's "Keep-A-Knockin'". A comparison of the two will display why Bonham sounds so flat-footed, so leaden, to me. Earl's part absolutely bristles with kinetic energy and forward momentum. Bonham's sounds slow, almost like he's running to keep up with the music. It sounds labored and contrived, in contrast to Earl's spontaneous, creative playing. A world of difference. Perhaps it's the difference between Rock 'n' Roll (Earl, of course) and Rock (Bonham).
Wow, Hiromi is like Eddie Van Halen style but on the piano! What incredible talent. I would tend to classify this outside of Rock Drumming genre as is that insane demo from the genius Dave Weckl.




Tony Williams
Ginger Baker
Elvin Jones
Charlie Watts
Clive Bunker
Thelonius Monk (if he'd chosen to play drums)