My Top Ten Drummers

So I was watching a Rush DVD this morning and it got me to thinking about my favorite drummers. Alot of my friends over the years ask me for my opinion about drummers. Who I like, why, etc. So here goes. I am taking the wuss route and not actually ranking them, these are just my favorite 10 in some order.

Neil Peart - ok, with one exception I'll rank. He's my favorite. Neil is the drummer for Rush. To me he has all the things I look for. Chops, chops, and more chops. A unique style - most notably would be the ride cymbal pattern that can be found in a ton of different Rush songs. I think he has a good sense of musicality as well. Alot of drummers with insane chops tend to lose site of the fact the band is trying to create a good song. They simply take a song and then show how many awesome things they can play on top of it. I've never felt that Neil's parts are distracting or take away from what the band is trying to do. He also led a project Burning For Buddy where he gathered alot of great rock and jazz drummers to pay tribute to Buddy Rich.

Tommy Lee - Obviously this isn't about great drumming skills. After my Duran Duran/Michael Jackson phase I discovered Motley Crue. I had a neighborhood friend named Chris Nolan. There was an older girl in the neighborhood that would babysit him from time to time. Once when I was over there she pulled out the Shout At The Devil album and I was HOOKED! I've been a huge fan of Motley Crue and Tommy Lee since. To me Tommy is the essence of a cool, bad boy, rock and roll drummer.

Mike Portnoy - This one may not be a common name to everyone. He's the drummer for Dream Theater and considered year after year to be the best drummer in rock. Dream Theater is a band full of guys with amazing talent on their instruments and Portnoy stands out. If you just want to hear some amazing licks and fills this is the guy.

Dave Grohl - First made famous when he was the drummer for Nirvana, he is now the frontman/songwriter for the Foo Fighters. This is a guy that combines good technical skills with a lot of style. The thing I've always loved about Grohl is how hard he hits. I read an article in Modern Drummer where he was talking about sticks he would use that were just basically 4 times the size of a normal stick and no real shape to them. He said they were just like tree branches cut down. He plays LOUD all the time. It's great! My friend Justin used to tell me I kinda look like Dave (back when we both had long hair) - something about the big mouth/teeth I guess.

John Bonham - No drummer list can be made without mentioning the drummer from Led Zeppelin. In my opinion he was the original heavy metal drummer. What I love about Bonham is the sloppy style. Listen to some Zeppelin albums and you'll hear how loose his patterns and beats are. He seemed to always have little ghost notes and such going on with his bass and snare. I guess he wasn't a big fan of just straight bass-snare-bass-snare standard rock patterns.

Larry Mullen Jr - Yes, the drummer from U2. Yes he's really worth mentioning. When I was a young up-and-coming drummer I was all about chops. If a guy could play fast and lots of notes I figured he was the best. I'm guessing half of what Neil Peart and Mike Portnoy play Larry couldn't play. But I've learned style is also important when you're a drummer. To me Larry sounds like Larry and noone else does. In the early days of U2 he would play alot of his standard patterns using toms and interesting hi-hat patterns. Listen to Sunday Bloody Sunday. That pattern is really cool and not boring at all. It's not loaded with notes or complex parts, but it's totally unique.

Stewart Copeland - master of the hi-hats and drummer for one of my favorite bands The Police. Another guy with a really cool style but he could back it up with great chops. In the early days he would play fast and some of the early live recordings the tempo by the end of the song wasn't even close to what it started as because Stewart would play like a spazz and speed up. He was also the master of using hi-hats in fills and between patterns to add really cool unique sounds.

Jimmy Chamberlain - Jimmy was the drummer for the Smashing Pumpkins. What I loved about his playing with the Pumpkins were the really cool basic patterns. Another drummer that didn't seem to be happy playing standard rock beats.

Will Calhoun - the drummer from the band Living Colour. He doesn't get as much love as he should. He's one of my favorites for sure. What I love about his playing is the way he blends funk, hip-hop, and rock elements to create awesome drum parts.

Dave Weckl - In my opinion the best drummer in jazz today. You have to have a great understanding of music to even play jazz, and this guy doesn't just play jazz but does amazing things. He made his name as the drummer for the Chick Corea band and is now a successful solo artists. I have all but 1 of his solo discs and they are really cool if you like jazz and want to hear some amazing drumming. Every fill he does sounds like something I couldn't play.

No disrespect to Buddy Rich

Well that's the list. Who did I miss? I can think of alot of drummers I like that didn't make my list. Who's on the list that you think is ridiculous? Do you like any of the drummers on my list? Why? Discuss . . .