Great musicians who should have been famous except....


I'm throwing this out there as an example. My 16 yr old aspiring drummer son asked me if I had anything in the vinyl collection tonight... apparently the U Tube video tutorials finally got boring. He is really good and practices non stop but it was refreshing when he asked about ideas for sound. In a moment of 30 years past clarity I put on the B side of Van Halen 1984… Is Alex Van Halen the most under rated rock drummer of all time? And is there a better lead in to ANY rock vinyl side than that???
telemarcer
Gadd is also on some of the Steely Dan albums. Brian Blade is real good, he works with Buddy Miller too. Porcaro was fantastic, famous for the part he came up with for Boz Scaggs' "Lido Shuffle". Too bad he had to sully his good reputation by being in Toto ;-) . One of my long-time favorites is Harry Stinson, currently drummer in Marty Stuart's fantastic band The Fabulous Superlatives (and the Nashville studios).
Take a look at the intro to "Cissy Strut," by the Meters.  Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste is the drummer and is strong, powerful and musical as hell. 

A fine example of the drummer "playing the song," on drums.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FBnQvd_xzs
- Bob
Check out Gene Krupa in the movie Ball of Fire.  He plays a solo on a matchbox with two matchsticks.  It was after the director called cut-but the camera man had kept filming.  Unbelievable dynamics on an impromptu solo during a  movie break.  Rest of the movie is blah.  So many talented drummers to choose from.