best drummers.....

[corey]

I'm not really fond of DMB anymore, but Carter Beauford is a complete bad ass.

Herb Alexander is great.

Sasquatch is also awesome, although the D is not a power trio.

[Jacket Fanatic]

Carter Beauford
John Bonham
Patrick Hallahan
Stewart Copeland

..................not necesarily in that order.

[SiOuxTribe]

we stated not to post Bonham and Hallahan!

[Jacket Fanatic]

we stated not to post Bonham and Hallahan!

Just had to. I cant deny them from my list.

[Jacket Fanatic]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtEnHtXj-Xc

Thanks for that Tom, great video.

[TEO]

The "Ginge"

[Chills]

glen koetsche (or however you spell it) from Wilco
that man is simply incredible. seeing Wilco last week was amazing, because his abilities are so darn phenomenal.

Yeah, Glenn Kotche, he's the perfect drummer for them.

I also appreciate Danny Carrey from Tool and the primal enthusiasm of Dave Grohl.

[LaurieBlue]

Scott Rockenfield - Queensryche/Slave for the System

Frank Bloom (Various) and Jason Maner (Shadowflag) - local guys :-)

[MMJ_fanatic]

Other than those we won't mention--

Frank Beard (That lil ole band from Texas)
Bill Bruford
Neal Peart
Buddy Rich
Tony Williams
Billy Cobham

[rugbird]

Mitch Mitchell
Ed Cassidy

[ellisintransit]

I will concur on Glenn Kotche...he's one of the few rock drummers these days who seems to approach drumming as a "craft".  If you haven't seen the Wilco Book, it's a must see for drummers ( or any musician for that matter).  He keeps a notebook with blueprints for new drum and percussion instruments that he then builds and uses in Wilco and his own solo stuff.

Also John Stanier, the original drummer for Helmet....

Jon Theodore from the Mars Volta (unfortunately no longer with them)

Josh Garza from The Secret Machines.....(the new Bonham...as far as tasty heavy grooves go...in my book)

Herb the Ginseng Drummer from Primus

Jimmy Chamberlain from the Pumpkins

From my all time favorite band Hum---Bryan St. Pere

William Goldsmith from Sunny Day Real Estate

Kelli Scott from Failure

How bout Nick Mason....especially in the pre-Darkside era?

Oh my....and Terry Bozzio....especially with Zappa.  What a bad-ass.

[dragonboy]

Whatever Happened To The Great Rock Drummer?

http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/2009/01/whatever_happened_to_the_great_1.html

In 1969 we had John Bonham. Today we have Metallica's Lars Ulrich. Bad swop, says MOJO's Mat Snow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LED ZEPPELIN I! Forty years ago last week, the world was rocked by a band that might have struggled to establish themselves as something rather more than Jeff Beck Group copycats but for one oh-so-crucial difference. The drummer. Jeff Beck had Micky Waller (who died last year). But Led Zeppelin had John Bonham, and overnight rock'n'roll had a brand new beat which echoes to this day.

The arrival of Bonzo on the scene makes 1969 the year of the rock star drummer. For 1969 was the year Jagger rhetorically enquired from the stage at Madison Square Garden, "Charlie's good tonight, innee?" (and Watts had indeed made a giant leap that summer with the cowbell-and-kick-drum bump-and-grind of Honky Tonk Women, a worldwide Number 1 for the Stones). It was the year even Ringo treated us – on Abbey Road – to a solo to show he could keep up with the Keith Moons, Ginger Bakers and Mitch Mitchells — drummers whose combination of prowess and showmanship demanded they share the spotlight with the front-stage rock gods swinging the mike stands, humping the humbuckers and being busted by the Man.

These war baby rock'n'roll drummers so bulged with style, panache and personality that you didn't have to be a trained muso to know at gut-level that if you subtracted them from the band, you no longer had a band. Or at least, not one half so good. Whatever happened to drummers like that? Drummers whose names even non-drummers knew? Drummers you'd champion in Melody Maker and Playboy year-end polls? Drummers at whom you'd even shout, "Do Toad!!"?

Struggling to name a contemporary rock'n'roll drummer with the kind of clout that back in the Nixon era turned every velvet-looned fan of rock music's finer points into a gleeful, head-banging idiot, I came up with just three names: Dave Grohl and, at a pinch, Larry Mullen and Meg White.

Only three? Either there is something wrong with drummers these days, or something wrong with me. I craved guidance, and for my pains was furnished with a list of names and YouTube links featuring hot polyrhythmic action. So I got lost on-line for a while, and guess what? The best drummer alive is still funk legend Bernard Purdie (which is to say, you can watch him host a drum clinic and find yourself tapping your foot and muttering a groovy "Yeah!" to a computer screen, for crying out loud). But his aren't the kind of chops I was after.

So, factoring out post-'69-but-no-longer-cutting-edge masters (for instance, Richie Hayward, Paul Thompson, Stewart Copeland, Pete Thomas, Paul Cook, Topper Headon, Budgie, Steve Morris, John Maher, Reni or Brendan Canty) and still-breathing hired hotshots (like "Pretty" Purdie, Hal Blaine, Steve Gadd, Sly Dunbar, Steve Jordan or Phil Collins — wonderful on Eno and John Martyn records even if his band work with Genesis, like that of Bill Bruford with Yes and King Crimson, is more likely to induce a cerebral aneurysm rather than a wiggle in your hips) I give you a thumbless handful of drummers who would merit comparison with the class of '69 if they had a little more originality: Phil Rudd of AC/DC, The Roots' ?uestlove, Rammstein's Christoph Schneider and The E Street Band's Max Weinberg.

I also give you, and you're welcome to them, any number of onanistic speed-freaks, paradiddlists and swing-free flamsters for whom the human pulse, heartbeat and feet are an utter irrelevance, thus flying straight over my head.

I'm sure Danny Carey (Tool), Joey Jordison (Slipknot), Dave Lombardo (Slayer), Brian Chippendale (Lightning Bolt) and Todd Trainer (Shellac) are lovely guys, but, please God, don't move in next door. Nor, frankly, do Lars Ulrich of Metallica or the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith measure up to the Great Generation either: too pedantic, too short on swing, too, in a word, white.

For it seems to me that a drummer's apprenticeship lies at the heart of why the class-of-'69 so overshadows every generation since. The greats-of-'69 learned their trade copping R&B and jazz drummers like Baby Dodds, Gene Krupa, Dave Tough, Elvin Jones, Cozy Cole, Benny Benjamin and Jabo Starks, and honed their chops on a highly competitive live circuit where if they didn't get the customers to their feet, they wouldn't be asked back.

And if there's no denying that Metallica's Lars and the Chili Peppers' Chad have been getting their fans to their feet in far greater numbers and for far, far longer than did Cream's Ginger Baker, then there's no denying either that these cold and uncharismatic drummers rule right now because they are, quite frankly, the only game in town. We march to a different drum these days.

Rant over. Instead, a challenge: here are six mind-blowing showcase moments from my class of '69. Can today's skinsmen get within a rim-shot of any of them? Over to you.

Ringo Starr: Rain by The Beatles (single B-side, 1966)
Mitch Mitchell: I Don't Live Today by The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Are You Experienced, 1967)
Ginger Baker: Tales Of Brave Ulysses by Cream (Live Cream Volume II, recorded 1968)
Charlie Watts: Monkey Man by The Rolling Stones (Let It Bleed, 1969)
Keith Moon: Magic Bus by The Who (Live At Leeds, 1970)
John Bonham: In My Time Of Dying by Led Zeppelin (Physical Graffiti, 1975)

My comment:

"Patrick Hallahan of My Morning Jacket plays with Bonham's intensity, spirit & strength and is one of the best, if not the best drummer alive today.
Youtube their performance of One Big Holiday on Conan if you're not familiar with the band..."

[el_chode]

"Patrick Hallahan of My Morning Jacket plays with Bonham's intensity, spirit & strength and is one of the best, if not the best drummer alive today.
Youtube their performance of One Big Holiday on Conan if you're not familiar with the band..."

This is exactly what I tell my uninitated friends. First of all, out of everyone in the band, I think I'd like to share a heady brew with him the most. But more than that, no other drummer creates his percussive rolling thunder; the intensity is unmatched and he doesn't need a double bass drum pitterpattering incessantly to get heavy.

I look forward to run thru just to watch him go nuts. And as Zappa says, the most important part of the band is the percussion.

[Ruckus]

Other than those we won't mention--

Frank Beard (That lil ole band from Texas)
Bill Bruford
Neal Peart
Buddy Rich
Tony Williams
Billy Cobham

The only person to include Bill Cobham!!!

Ridiculous >:(

C'mon peeps.  Pat's strong and all with his energy and his right foot but we're talking about drumming.  Not in this conversation!

Sorry

[JacketGal]

I would like to add Steve Gorman of the Black Crowes.

If anyone has ever heard Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes' "Live at the Greek" - you know the guy's got talent.  

[el_chode]

I would like to add Steve Gorman of the Black Crowes.

If anyone has ever heard Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes' "Live at the Greek" - you know the guy's got talent.  

I saw that tour. One of the coolest concerts ever, especially for someone too young to actually see Zeppelin. I'd almost prefer to see that tour than a half-assed zep reunion. Definitely know what you mean by that statement.

[ManNamedTruth]

Patrick Carney of The Black Keys. He's the only drummer I've seen that broke a stick right in half from hitting the drums so hard (maybe it happens more than I know but I haven't ever seen that).

[dragonboy]

I would like to add Steve Gorman of the Black Crowes.

If anyone has ever heard Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes' "Live at the Greek" - you know the guy's got talent.  

I saw that tour. One of the coolest concerts ever, especially for someone too young to actually see Zeppelin. I'd almost prefer to see that tour than a half-assed zep reunion. Definitely know what you mean by that statement.

Jimmy Page & the Crowes came to Japan for that tour. Can't remember why I didn't go but I still kick myself for not getting a ticket...

[TheBigChicken]

Mick Avory....just listen to The Village Green Preservation Society :o 8-)

[MMJ_fanatic]

My comment:

"Patrick Hallahan of My Morning Jacket plays with Bonham's intensity, spirit & strength and is one of the best, if not the best drummer alive today.
Youtube their performance of One Big Holiday on Conan if you're not familiar with the band..."

PLUS!  You get to see Jim play the way he used to--BAREFOOT!  Ahh I remember.... 8-)