Best Rock Drummers

"When I saw Keith Moon live in ’68 and ’69, he was incredibly exciting: explosive, dynamic, maniacal. By the end he was so sluggish, so tired, so boring. "Who Are You"? Terrible! Was it the booze and pills? Or age?"

So true bdp24. Someone here attached a studio video the other day of Who are You and thought that his playing on that song was brilliant. I thought that it was terrible and boring. He was great in the beginning, or maybe I should say different and very good, but drumming is very physical as well as mental, and he was depleted in both of those arenas, and it really showed as time went on. Live at Leeds was really good, but by the time Who’s Next was recorded, he was already a shadow of his former self. Same thing happened to Phil Collins long before he reached the sorry state he’s in now. Listen to how predictable he is on the Invisible Touch disc.

Dallas Taylor is underrated. I saw him with CSN and he was very impressive. That being said, the best depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you need a studio drummer and want a platinum or gold record, Gary Chester is a very good choice. Hal Blaine is of course another. For a very musical drummer with great chops, Jim Gordon though it pains me to mention him. For a live show, I would say Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann. Also, I saw the Buddy Rich Big Band and as fun as Buddy Rich is to watch, an evening of drum solos can be a bit tiresome.

No one mentioned Pierre Moerlein!

There probably should of been another category for jazz/rock & roll.  IMO the Grammys are long overdue for change.  They actually need a separate category just for Rock.  I hated the Pop/Rock category because you'd get an artist like Whitney Houston (nothing against her) beating out every Rock band.  Country has their own category.

Just reading through this list, and some truly amazing talents have been mentioned. More than a few!  It gives one pause, as someone who has been a player (and will be returning to the passion soon, as retirement is affording me). But I do need to mention a few more:

Louie Bellson (introduced using double bass drums)

Gavin Harrison (truly astonishing talent)

Steve Gadd (one of the most acclaimed studio drummers, nay musicians ever)

Just out of curiosity, how many posters to this thread are, or have been, drummers?

Listen well and enjoy it all.