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Are Keith Moon and John Bonham the only drummers that really matter?


Randy Lahey

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Guest Len B'stard

No, if only because there were certain styles that those two didn't or couldn't, whichever the case may be, play. To my mind Moonie is the beginning and the end of drumming but he played in a very...singular way that would be difficult to apply to EVERY kind of music, i'm sure he could pull it off, it was just a matter of him interpreting the songs and playing accordingly but the fact is he weren't put to the test with a lot of styles that he just never played or died before they even existed so it's like...a difficult thing to judge. Moon, to me, always played in a Moon style so it'd be interesting to see what he did to something like, say, a disco song that requires precise timing and continuity and also, the drumming is key to like, it being a disco song so if he was to just disregard that he'd just like...y'know, take some disco song and just Who-ize it, it'd probably even be easier for him theoretically to play it straight but certain people you feel are sort of led by the music and i think it'd be very complicated for him. I mean, his drumming style sort of came out of his boredom with the simple style of 12 bar blues and just speeding it up and playing double and triple time and using the space it provided to add little flourishes that followed the vocal melody and then slipped back to the beat and back and forth like that all over the place...and somehow making it all work. Point being, it was an expression of himself and his...fuckin' mentalness and :lol: ...yeah, it's sort of like asking a hyper-active to sit still.

But no, nobody is the only anything that matters in terms of music, each person has their own singular style that offers something different.

Also, gimme Ginger Baker over Bonzo any day.

Edited by sugaraylen
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Guest Len B'stard

One word: Jazz

To which the two words "Ginger Baker" fit pretty damn neatly, don't you think? :D Nah, Jazz drumming is fuckin' beautiful in the right hands...

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Guest Len B'stard

Mitch was pretty much an answer to Moonie, Charlie Watts was, as great as he was, very much from the classical backbeat school of drumming, albeit a jazz musician at heart and Bill Ward, who the fucks that, Sabbath innit? Leave off
:lol:
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Tommy Lee is the best drummer ever.

GTFO immediately.

Mitch was pretty much an answer to Moonie, Charlie Watts was, as great as he was, very much from the classical backbeat school of drumming, albeit a jazz musician at heart and Bill Ward, who the fucks that, Sabbath innit? Leave off
:lol:

STFU Bill Ward owned. Essentially the love child of Bonzo and Mitch Mitchell IMO.

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Guest Len B'stard

Tommy Lee is the best drummer ever.

GTFO immediately.

Mitch was pretty much an answer to Moonie, Charlie Watts was, as great as he was, very much from the classical backbeat school of drumming, albeit a jazz musician at heart and Bill Ward, who the fucks that, Sabbath innit? Leave off
:lol:

STFU Bill Ward owned. Essentially the love child of Bonzo and Mitch Mitchell IMO.

Sabbath were basically a bunch of pisshead Brummie slags that had they not lucked out with their naff unimaginative band would've ended up their days working in a fuckin' shoe factory :lol:

(ignore me, i'm being willfully ignorant and provincially minded based on my awareness of the geography of where Sabbath came from :lol:)

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Hell no, for their time they were legends and rightfully so but hardly "the only drummers that matter", even though their influence was massive. Theres still some great innovative drummers today like Gavin Harrison, Danny Carey, Thomas Pridgen, Ben Koller, Chris Pennie, and Jojo Mayer to name a few. I definitely think those guys matter, some of the shit they pull off is mindblowing!

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Tommy Lee is the best drummer ever.

Good fit for Crue, but very overrated drummer. His drum solo on the latest tour where he just plays a backbeat along to some techno is laughable as far as technique goes. I remember people walking out of the concert talking about how amazing the drum solo was. It was great for the show, as is his spinning drum riser (fun to watch), but he's hardly a standout drummer by any means.

It's hard for me to say anybody is truly the best, but Neil Peart comes pretty close. His total appreciation for all kinds of different styles, techniques, and approaches when constructing his solos and drum parts is outstanding. I don't even play drums and yet I find his DVDs fascinating because he looks at drumming as an art and aims to "compose" parts based on his vast array of influences. This appreciation for drumming added to the fact that he has mastered so many techniques is what makes me consider him the best.

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you'll find that there's a lot of awesome drummers that matter. Vinnie Coaliuta, Portnoy, Bissonette, Peart, Nicko McBrain... and that's just rock. Then there's guys like Tony Williams, in other genres... I think classicrawker's list has a good bunch of them.

Edited by moreblack
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