Greatest Rock Drummers

Neil Peart.

Being a drummer, I see the merit in all of the talent mentioned, except Ringo maybe ;^), but Neil Peart amazes me. If you look at the recorded (or live) body of work he has produced, it doesn’t hinge on an overly specific and narrow stylistic preference or particular skill. Across all of his work and over more than 4 decades, he has consistently been THE greatest rock drummer in my mind.

Our family of 5 have gone to many, many Rush concerts, and nobody inspires "air drumming" like Neil.

That being said, I’d also like to drop an honorable mention for Terry Bozzio. Love the drums in US Drag.

Rock drummers: I’ve always liked Michael Shrieve of the band Santana. He could play rock, jazz, blues, anything. Heck but I thought if you were a true musician you can play anything. At least that’s what Grover Washington Jr. said.

Here’s a link for Michael Shrieve on youtube. The album is Santana - Cravanserai. Please see link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InlDs3C5Twk

And as far my favorite drummer and I think he was the best that ever sat in a trap set is Chick Webb. In 1937 Chick Webb’s band had a battle of the swing bands with Benny Goodman’s band. The drummer for Benny Goodman’s band was Gene Krupa. Chick Webb on the drums, ’cut’ Gene Krupa up so bad that Gene Krupa had to stop and give Chick Webb his props. Please see link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbamDNDoJu0

Sorry about getting here late. I come from the Gary Chester philosophy about drumming, which is to play musically foremost and then if you’re given a drum solo... Lately I’ve been listening to Dallas Taylor on the first CS&N recording and it sounds very supportive in a musical sense. I’ve always admired drummers who are also musicians i.e. Paul Motion and why he preferred not to solo. I did catch the Buddy Rich Big Band in the very early 1980’s (also the Mel Lewis) and it was fantastic however when I saw Paul Motion with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow, it was something that was very different from what I was previously familiar with. So if I were to make a list, I’d have to consider the complete band and other musical aspects as a whole, which would then, I believe, present a different set of problems altogether.

Sorry to join the discussion late, and glad to see Richie Hayward, my all time favorite, receive some mention, along with Steve Gadd, and Jeff Porcaro.  Surprised to see zero mention of Rod Morgenstein (Dregs, etc.). Since there's also been discussion of Jazz players, I will also offer Joe Morello (Dave Brubeck, the Take Five solo), Alex Acuna (Weather Report, etc.), also Peter Erskine (also Wearher Report and many others).

I saw Buddy Rich a few times in the 70’s, Joe Morello, Peter Erskine.
As I stated earlier, these lists of Rock drummers invariably turn into a list of Jazz drummers. But the reason could be that many of those who make these lists are interested in musicians who have progressed in their craft, which ultimately is learning to play jazz.
When I started playing drums, I only wanted to play rock. After awhile, my instructor led me to jazz and I’m glad he did.

There are Rock drummers who are the best for the genre or a band’s style of music; e.g., Ringo. Then there are drummers who are highly skilled who move beyond a single genre. There’s no doubt that Carl Palmer, Neal Peart, Phil Collins, Bill Bruford, Mitch Mitchell have the chops to play jazz, but are in the Rock category. And then there’s Steve Gadd and Jim Keltner who decidedly play it all.

The following link was on another thread and is for the Neil Peart fans. This girl is amazing; she makes forget that I don’t like Rush...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C00BpiE52mM