Greatest Rock Drummers

I don't think that anyone has mentioned Karen Carpenter here. :>)

He's was not rock, but Buddy Rich was the greatest drummer who ever lived. He had 4 seperate brains. One connected to each arm, and one for each leg. He played seperate rythmic patterns with each appendage at the same time. I used to stay up late as a kid when he would show up on The tonight show with Carson, He would sit in on Ed Shaunessy's drum kit and just blow everyone away with the speed, finesse, and beautiful polyrythmic paterns he would play. Turns out he wss doing a lot of amphetamines, but his drumming was magic. Made me become a drummer. One who isn't worthy to carry his sticks, but then, no one is or was, or ever will be in my opinion. Look him up on youtube.

Incorporating all of the above by reference, I concur with Jim Keltner (on my favorite rock (kinda) album, John Hiatt's "Bring the Family") and add Brady Blade (whose brother ain't too bad, either).

There were rare moments back in the late 60's and early 70's where the fusion of drums and instruments blended so well together in a handful 
of live rock/blues concert's that will go down in history as the greatest concerts ever that not even Jimi Hendrix could ascend to in a live concert format due to the explosive, atomic power these bands played on stage which were their peak performances of all time. The live concerts were "The Who" Live at Leeds. Creams live performances on their "Wheels of Fire" album at the Winterland and the Filmore auditoriums in early 1968.
The live "Yes" "Starship Trooper concert's. Joe Cocker and "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" at the Filmore East in 1970 which went nationwide as a major motion picture. Led Zeppelin first album tour concerts 1968/69. The Allman Brother's "Eat a Peach" live concert. In The 80's hats off to Rush's live 1984 concert in Montreal, and U2's "Joshuah Tree" tour concerts 1986/87.

I would agree the various studio drummers listed above are probably the greatest overall drummers recorded (Steve Gadd, Bernard Purdie, Jim Keltner, etc.). Yes some will go on tour  with certain acts (James Taylor/Steve Gadd), but I don't think they are correctly classified as "rock" drummers. I saw The Killers this weekend. The Killers’ Ronnie Vannucci, Jr. rocked his drums for 2+ hours non-stop. Terrific show--I highly recommend it. Is he the greatest rock drummer ever? I doubt it. Do we know who was or is? No. Does Vannucci play with power, speed, and creativity plus know what a rock drummer needs to do in concert to make the audience feel good about spending big money to be there? Yep.