Zach Hill is probably the most unique I have heard, and his style is raw enough for my nomination.
Other than that, I’ve been digging Danny Carey a lot recently.
Mike Portnoy…hands down. Danny Carey is a close second,imo.
Other favorites:
Bobby Jarzombek(Riot,Iced Earth,Sebastian Bach)
Jimmy Chamberlain(Smashing Pumpkins…yep)
Blake Richardson(Between The Buried And Me)
Josh Freese(A Perfect Circle,NIN)
Dominic Howard(Muse)
Brann Dailor(Mastadon)
Don’t know who is best, or how you quantify that, but some of my favortites that haven’t been mentioned. (limited to the living)
Cozy Powell
Simon Phillips
Tony Williams
Bill Bruford
Lenny White
Ginger Baker
Jeff Pocaro
Steve Gadd
Jim Gordan
Alan White
Carl Palmer
Oh, and Aynsley Dunbar played with just about everyone else in the seventies. Jeff Beck, Bowie, Zappa etc…
Another great was Lars Ulrich.
Carter Buford from DMB will lay out tinks and taps in a fill that makes me wonder how a person could even think to do something like that. He’s really great.
Danny Carey
I don’t think anyone has mentioned Travis Barker yet, so I will. Listen to Blink 182’s live album (can’t remember the title) and check how fast that dude is even for a punk drummer.
His mixes on that Souljaboy song and Flo-Ridas “Low” (can’t link youtube here at work) were cool to watch too. Hard to tell for sure but I think he was using two sticks per hand for recording a thicker sound.
Shit…noticed this was for living drummers.
I’ll throw in a second for Travis Barker. His drumming is extremely fast.
I’ve heard Lars mentioned a few times…I saw him in concert twice and the thing about him is that he’s great in the studio but in a live show, he seems to get off time quite a bit. Anyone else notice this? He’s still great though.
wait … Lars died?
I saw Travis Barker and Dj AM in Columbia, SC the day before they decided to crash their plane. I’ll say this, they put on a great show. DJ AM would play random songs from different genres sans drum track and Travis would fill in the drums almost (if not) perfectly.
I remember when Master of Puppets came on, Travis didn’t miss a fucking beat. It was pretty damn cool.
[quote]polo77j wrote:
wait … Lars died?[/quote]
Um. No…Did anyone say that?
[quote]AngryVader wrote:
jasmincar wrote:
I like Aynsley Dunbar
(I guess nobody know who he is anyway)
Didn’t he play on a Whitesnake album?[/quote]
Yup, 1987. The drums are monumental on that album.
Tommy Aldridge who suceeded him is also a great drummer
[quote]Testy1 wrote:
Don’t know who is best, or how you quantify that, but some of my favortites that haven’t been mentioned. (limited to the living)
Jeff Pocaro
[/quote]
Porcaro died a while back. Remember, he inhaled too much insecticide while gardening and had a heart attack.
Don’t mean to nit pick, but when I saw his name that triggered a memory back from when I used to subscribe to Modern Drummer.
[quote]lostinthought wrote:
polo77j wrote:
wait … Lars died?
Um. No…Did anyone say that? [/quote]
No but someone said “Another great WAS Lars…” which implies he is either dead or no longer a great. Personally I really wouldn’t put him up there with the best. His drumming is definitely solid, but not overly creative. Plus the guy just annoys me.
Joey Jordison of Slipknot
and I second Niel Peart, Dave Weckl, and Buddy Rich.
[quote]Lateralus4418 wrote:
lostinthought wrote:
polo77j wrote:
wait … Lars died?
Um. No…Did anyone say that?
No but someone said “Another great WAS Lars…” which implies he is either dead or no longer a great. Personally I really wouldn’t put him up there with the best. His drumming is definitely solid, but not overly creative. Plus the guy just annoys me. [/quote]
Oh hell yeah I agree that little turd is annoying as hell. He seriously has the little man complex going on. He’s had great success but his drumming leaves alot to be desired.
Neil Peart
Mike Portnoy
Danny Carey
Can’t choose between those three.
I’d probably go with Neil Peart, but I am most partial to Rush in general.
ttyl
When I went to see Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughn many moons ago(Cobo Hall) it was to see two guitar gods play. After the show all we could talk about was the drummer for Jeff Beck and how you couldn’t take your eyes off him…Terry Bozzio.
Best drummer alive who knows, I’m sure there are alot of session players who kick ass but will never be household names. One thing I do know for sure…they all play better than I do:D
Come on now. Rush is fantastic an’ all, but Dream Theater > Rush with regards to instrumental talent.
[quote]Ronsauce wrote:
PimpBot5000 wrote:He probably belongs to the most instrumentally talented rock band in history and even in that company he still manages to outshine his band mates.
Come on now. Rush is fantastic an’ all, but Dream Theater > Rush with regards to instrumental talent.[/quote]
Yeah but there has to be a reason I’ve got a slew of Rush on my Ipod and absolutely zero Dreamtheater.
Know what I mean dude? Rush is much more listenable I guess is what I’m trying to say.
[quote]Ronsauce wrote:
Come on now. Rush is fantastic an’ all, but Dream Theater > Rush with regards to instrumental talent.[/quote]
Lets dissect this…(for fun, after all the term “best” in regards to art is very subjective)
Geddy Lee is a far better bassist than John Myung. You would be very hard-pressed to find many bassists who would disagree with this. When Les friggin’ Claypool lists you as one of the best bassists to ever live it sets a pretty high standard, I think.
John Petrucci is better than Lifeson…much better. I’ll concede to this.
Without Peart, Portnoy would not exist. Hell, without Rush, Dream Theatre probably wouldn’t exist. They were “inspired” by Rush to such a degree that for all intents and purposes they started as a cover band. Peart simply blows Portnoy out of the water…the professor and the imitator. Neil studied (and studies) guys like Keith Moon and Buddy Rich, learns some of their theories and techniques and incorporated their influence into his own, completely unique style. Mike Portnoy studied Neil Peart. He can pull off a pretty nifty drum solo, but it reeks of Peart. He reminds me of some musically gifted Asian kid who studies Mozart diligently and is able to replicate his most difficult work on a piano. People often comment “that kid is the next Mozart”. Doesn’t work that way though. Innovation counts for a lot in music, and all art.
Just my opinion.