The Best Drummer Of All Time

[brandondrury]

Whoever played drums on the Eddie Money hit "Take Me Home To Night" is the best drummer of all time.

Forget the Tool guy. Forget the Slayer guy.

Brandon

[lumpy]

That may be Jeff Porcaro. He was the hottest session drummer in those days. He could literally save songs from the budget bin of eternity with his grooves, ie Rosanna by Toto. He also did some fine work with Steely Dan. I will have to look into it.

If you wanna hear some good drumming, listen to the new Cheap Trick "Rockford". Once again Bun E. Carlos lays down the most solid killer grooves.

Notice I used the word "grooves" twice. Without finding the right groove, a drummer ain't shit. It all sounds real easy to the untrained ear. Trying to play along with Slipknot and that shit can be challenging, especially for a fat lazy drummer like me. Trying to play along with James Brown is fucking impossible! All my favorite drummers could've played for James Brown.

Lump

[Matt]

My favorite was Gene Parsons. He played with the Byrds from 1969-73. He was a jazzy syncopated/push-pull animal. I have a bunch of live bootlegs from concerts that make me as giddy as a little school girl when I hear the 'conversation' between he and the guitarist on the 'jam-ey' tunes.

I just like how he kind of found a 'pocket' in the band/songs and did his thing there.

-Matt

[brandondrury]

These are the type of drum threads I like. When the focus is on drumming that actually improves a song. Drumming that can actually push a SONG over the top. It has nothing to do with how many round things you can hit per second.

While I do appreciate metal drumming from time to time, I think that it gets way more attention than it deserves and the kind of drummers who play for Elton John or James Brown don't get near enough credit.

Brandon

[lumpy]

Brandon,
The drummer on Eddie Money's "Take Me Home Tonight" was Mike Baird. He's kinda one of those lost in space drummers that had a hot streak and simply disappeared. Poor chap is probably playing Mustang Sally at a VFW hall somewhere. Baird also replaced the great Steve Smith in Journey on their "Raised On Radio" album, which is how I remember him.

I just thought we should identify The Best Drummer Of All Time!

Lump

[brandondrury]

Thanks a ton, Lump. I checked for about 10 minute, but even with all my web skills, I didn't have much luck.

Now all the Tool freaks are going to be really pissed when I tell that Mike Baird was the best drummer of all time!! ;D

Brandon

[randy]

Umm......Danny Carey? (randy runs with his head tucked between his ass waiting to get pummeled by Brandon) haha, yeah that's Tool's drummer. Did you guys know he went to school at Mizzou? Anyhow..

Na seriously, best drummer of all time? Wow. That would be impossible for me to answer, as I haven't seen them all. The best drummer I've ever seen, whether it be live or tv or whatever, would be....hell I don't know....Dennis Chambers maybe? Jeez, that's like asking who the best playmate of all time is. Ok, we all know it was Anna Nicole but...........lol

[brandondrury]

Na seriously, best drummer of all time?

k
Be careful, because being the best drummer has absolutely nothing to do with this thread (even though that's the exact title). Really, it's about drummers who make the best drumming choices for the song.

I don't want this thread to be about some Jazz guy who hits a bunch a shit that doesn't make a damn bit of sense to me.

I'm talking about drummers that make you want to go out and not only buy records, but actually listen to them as well.

To take this thread a different direction, I'd say that the Guns N Roses drummer (whoever played on Appetite For Destruction) inspired me WAY more than the 500 top jazz wackers. (Nothing against jazz at all, it's just that jazz drummers are often appreciated for the wrong reasons, in my opinion).

Brandon

[DogpitStudios]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

(Nothing against jazz at all, it's just that jazz drummers are often appreciated for the wrong reasons, in my opinion)

What are these wrong reasons that they are appreciated for?

Jazz to me, is generally a group of people with this engraved swing feel (or even not swing for that matter) in their head, complimenting each other (thats where you get comping from). Jazz drummers are no different in my opinion, they listen to what is going on, generally spontaneously, and they let their trained ear pick out rhythmic melodies to create and follow complimenting the improvised melodies that any other playing may produce. To me that seems like the ultimate level of musicianship, especially as a percussionist.

Ben

[brandondrury]

Jazz, in itself, is perfectly fine. It typically doesn't inspire me as much as other genres of music, though.

What happens is that most forums are dominated by rock music guys, for whatever reason. So you'll have 20 rock drummers on a forum, for example. These rock drummers do just what most guitar players do. They get more and more serious about their instrument. They evolve from someone who just wants to make music into a "musician". This can be a good thing, but it's often a fork in the road. Some people make music that inspires emotion. Some people go a different route. They try to impress their brain. Music become mathematical. Music becomes a contest.

So when I say that "jazz drummers are often appreciated for the wrong reasons", I'm saying that these rock drummers who have lost touch with inspiring emotion and are caught up a little too much in technicaliities will state that X drummer is a real inspiration to them even though they NEVER actually listen to that drummer's music from an emotional standpoint. They are listening to it for the "polyrythms" or some of other complexity. While I've certainly heard many times that X drummer is the best drummer in the world, seldom do I see the people making these claims driving down the road with the song cranked on their car stereo.

While there is nothing necessarily wrong with liking a piece of music soley due to the fact that it is complex, I personally feel that this is the wrong reason to appreciate a drummer. A great jazz drummer should be appreciated for the way that he can add emotion to a song. Not because he can do some off beat, double timed, rimmed shotted, niner.

Brandon