Favorite Drummers (and you can't say Bonham, Moon or Peart)

[evenslow]

Since there is a heavy consensus that either Bonham or Moon or Peart is the greatest rock drummer ever, forget those fools. Who are your personal favorites that don't get talked about quite as much?

I'll start:

JACK FUCKING IRONS: my fav PJ drummer by a mile. Hearing "Who You Are" on the radio for the first time gave me whiplash (drumming pun intended). Immediately and single-handedly changed PJ's sound. Best snare-work in the biz.

PETE THOMAS: for some reason this guy never really gets talked about enough. See: "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" and weep.



TOPPER HEADON: Clash secret weapon - could play different styles exceptionally well which allowed them to explore. "I Fought the Law" ftw.

STEVE GORMAN: this guy wasn't even a fucking drummer just a few short years before joining the Robinson bros. Learned by doing it on the fly and got good enough to back Jimmy Page on Led Zep songs. "Thorn in My Pride" is his live tour de force.

DENNIS DAVIS: played on Bowie's best run from '75-80. Holding it down on "Station to Station" alone is enough.

STEVIE WONDER: dude's first paid gig was as a drummer. AT AGE 8. Fucking insane how talented this dude is. Oh, also, there is this: HE'S FUCKING BLIND!!



LEVON HELM: the coolest motherfucker to ever sit behind a kit. He made everything dance.

MATT TONG: saw Bloc Party years ago at the Congress Theater and this guy absolutely blew me away. He was the only thing I could watch for the whole show.

MATT BARRICK: put on your welding masks...



Alright I'm done for now. I love drummers.

Who you like?

[Jorge]

MATT TONG: saw Bloc Party years ago at the Congress Theater and this guy absolutely blew me away. He was the only thing I could watch for the whole show.

See, maybe he's improved since then, but I saw Bloc Party at a festival in 2008 and his drumming struck me as very limp and tentative. Of course, they played immediately after the Mars Volta who were playing with Thomas Pridgen at the time, and no drummer can sound good following that.

[Kevin Davis]

Pete Thomas
Tony Williams
Elvin Jones
Jack Irons
John Convertino
Kenny Buttrey

[evenslow]

MATT TONG: saw Bloc Party years ago at the Congress Theater and this guy absolutely blew me away. He was the only thing I could watch for the whole show.

See, maybe he's improved since then, but I saw Bloc Party at a festival in 2008 and his drumming struck me as very limp and tentative. Of course, they played immediately after the Mars Volta who were playing with Thomas Pridgen at the time, and no drummer can sound good following that.

Wow "limp" and "tentative" would be the last two adjectives I would think of for the Tongster (my nickname for him). In fact, if you look those two words up in a thesaurus, "Matt Tong" is listed as an antonym for both.

[tragabigzanda]

Top 10 maybe?
Hello Morning
Close Captioned
The Kill
Place/Position
Do You Like Me?
Latest Disgrace
Recap Modotti
Nightshop
Break
Life & Limb

I'd maybe bump Life & Limb for Epic Problem

[LoathedVermin72]

Stewart Copeland

[VinylGuy]

Max Roach (jazz drummer extraordinaire)
Bernard Purdie (legendary soul/R&B/funk drummer, probably most famous for his work with James Brown)
Glenn Kotche (Wilco)
Lee Renaldo (Sonic Youth)
Todd Trainer (Shellac)
Mac McNeilly (Jesus Lizard)
Brendan Canty (Fugazi)
Jack Irons
Matt Cameron (Soundgarden, not Pearl Jam)

Lee? Steve.

[tragabigzanda]

[VinylGuy]

Stephen Perkins
Matt C
Jackie I
Steve Shelley
Brendan Canty

[surfndestroy]

Stewart Copeland

He's so under appreciated.

Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree and King Crimson) - Plays odd time signatures with more feel than any drummer I'm aware of
Carl Palmer - Bombastic but the music called for it
Travis Barker - Revolutionized punk drumming. Insanely fast and fluent.
Carlton Barrett (Bob Marley & The Wailers)
Kenny Aranoff (John Mellencamp) - The snare sound of the '80s
Charles Watts - No one does simple drumming as effectively
George Daniels (The 1975)
Jimmy Chamberlain - Smashing Pumpkins are not the same without him
Phil Collins (until 1978 only) - Loved him in Genesis, what happened?

[bada]

I don't typically notice drummers but these guys stood out to me.

Stewart Copeland
Matt Helders
Dave Grohl

[LoathedVermin72]

Billy Rymer
Mario Duplantier

[evenslow]

Phil Collins (until 1978 only) - Loved him in Genesis, what happened?

yep - also did some exemplary session work with Eno in the 70's.

[BurtReynolds]

Terry Bozzio

[wease]

Steve Ferrone. He's absolutely the grooviest drummer ever.
Steve Gorman
Bernard "Pretty" Purdie
Buddy Rich
Matt Cameron
Dave Abbruzzese
Artimus Pyle

[Birds in Hell]

Drummers pretty much make or break a band for me and I often, though not always, find it quite hard to enjoy a band if they change drummers - the whole sound of the band changes.

Bill Bruford (King Crimson):



Boris Williams (the Cure):



With respect to ex-Pearl Jam drummers, of course Irons is wonderful, but I'm an equally big fan of Matt Chamberlain:



Bill Ward (Black Sabbath):



Dave Lovering (Pixies):

[evenslow]

Nice call on Boris, spenno.

[Birds in Hell]

Nice call on Boris, spenno.

I am nothing if not a gigantic fanboy of Boris Williams:

[chewm]

Janet Weiss

[washing machine]

Two times in as may days Trag referenced Shellac in a post. Maybe I should give them a listen...