Greatest Rock Drummers

The documentary Beware of Mr Baker is fun. What an eccentric ornery fellow. He was certainly original - played rudiments much of the time whether it fitted or not. Very interesting sound. Don’t know of another drummer that so effectively used rudiments around the kit to create his unique layered sound.

Larry Mullen Jr is certainly one of the best drummers in the last 30 years.  He powered those giant early songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday and Bad, standing equal to a stadium-filling vocal and lead guitar that went in 20 directions at one time.  Plus,  no band sells that many records and that many sold out shows without a world-class drummer

shadorne..I watched that doc on Ginger a couple of years ago..Baker was a ruthless competitor. When I saw him in 1974 at the Paramount in Seattle, Buddy Miles opened the show. When Ginger ended his drum solo at the end of his show, he yells in the mike and says.."Thats how you play the drums Buddy"..Baker loved to intimidate drummers and put them on the defensive. He is a Leo, known for their very dominate controlling style and their very combative nature.


 One drummer comes to mind that also got a dialogue going with his tom's, Ron Bushy with Iron Butterfly. His In-A-Gadda-Davida solo 
burned me out since it was so overplayed on the radio more than "Stairway to Heaven".

How do you know if the drum set platform is level?

If the drummer drools evenly out of each side of his mouth!

Check out this drool worthy video of a drummin legend

https://youtu.be/DzAt3Ozkd2A

At at the end of the video, you can see Tom Petty had vintage Tannoy Red 15 monitors stacked up high among all his guitar amps and cabs!

Since we talk about styles and overplaying, I want to add that IMHO Jim Karstein is a most exceptional “play for the song” drummer. Hat tip to James Cruce also.

Just listen to JJ Cale or Clapton.