Greatest Rock Drummers

bdp24, I've got a fever and the only cure is more cow bell! (teehee) I believe that those in a soundtrack situation could benefit from what Broadway musical pit drummers are doing. Pit drummers need to stay four or more measures ahead of the orchestra, conductor and what's taking place on stage. They get too little credit.

Ringo was the first rock drummer who turned the skins into a musical instrument. No one else would have come up with the concept of placing towels on the drums to get a soft muffled sound on Come Together. Listen to the perfect fills in Day In The Life. Listen to the very spare drumming on Penny Lane. Paul was a very good (but not the best) bassist, John was an average, if that, musician. George a reasonably good but not great guitarist. But they were among the best stylists on their respective instruments in rock history.
When I listen to music, I don’t want to listen to anyone’s technical chops. I want all musicians to serve the song---the musical destination of the imagination and the heart. When that requires technical skill--less than 20 percent of the time-- only then do I want to "hear" technical skill .
Note--Jim Keltner, Levon Helm and the like understood that.
Although I was a Who fan--Keith was often too predictable and created drum space for himself in songs whether the song called for excessive drumming or not. On the other hand, he was a very impactful and spectacular drummer on others (e.g. Baba O’Riley).
Ringo was simply virtually always tasteful and tuneful and often quite innovative.

Currently listening to Stewart Copeland's drumming on Outlandos D'Amour, so, yeah, Stewart Copeland. 

You could talk about the fact that he is a scientist of rhythm, or his absolute discipline and precision, but there is a uniqueness to his drumming that is hard to describe without missing the mark wide. Its drive, an absolutely coupled connection between each strike of the snare, the rests played around unbelievable syncopated fills. 

Bias filter, I actually don't like the Police very much as a band, but I listen to them  as some great artists who accompanied Stewart Copeland on drums. 

Ringo was
the best drummer for The Beatles, Keith Moon the best for The Who (though Zak Starkey, Ringo’s kid, is doing a fantastic job in The Who now. I saw Keith with The Who live twice, and he was a possessed madman. I mean that literally).

Seeing Zak for with The Who a few years ago, I just blurted out to my son, 'he's better than Moon'. And he is.
I've seen both incarnations of the band and Keith, of course, was part of the band's legendary synergy (how much of that rested on Entwhistle?), but go back to any bootleg of a pedestrian Who show post '68 and if you're listening critically, Keith could be rather hit or miss. Good shows, bad shows, time & place, Zak is consistently good and in charge. He's a super talented, largely unsung, drummer.

How about Terry Bozio? Listen to both Frank Zappa and the son's album, "Zappa Plays Zappa". Between Steve Vai, Terry and other FZ alumni, the drums really carry a lot of the songs. One example of Terry's prowess is the written for Jack Bruce to play song, Apostrophe, as well as that album and it's predecessor, "Overnight Sensation".