Recommendations of the Editorial team
This is what the greatest drummers sound like without their band
John Bonham (Led Zeppelin) – “Fool In The Rain”
This is what the greatest drummers sound like without their band. Right from the first song on Led Zeppelin’s first LP, John Bonham changed classic rock drums forever. Jimmy Page joked years later about how the song “Good Times Bad Times” and its bass drum parts confused fans: “Everyone was sure Bonzo was using two bass drums when in reality he only had one.” This weighty and virtuoso performance laid the foundation for Bonham’s career until his untimely death in 1980. “Fool In The Rain” appeared just a year earlier – on the album “In Through The Out Door”.
Keith Moon (The Who) – “Won’t Get Fooled Again”
Keith Moon once described himself as the “best Keith Moon-esque drummer in the world” – he loathed the repetitive and stoically learned rock drumming as much as the general everyday routine. The drummer served as the inspiration for the shaggy red creature from The Muppet Show, Animal, which is chained to a drum kit. The ferocity with which he literally smashed drums and hotel rooms made him more of a performance artist than just a rock “stick” man.
Dave Grohl (for Queens of the Stone Age) – “No One Knows”
Grohl’s sustained, powerful playing, which developed in the 1980s Washington DC punk scene, was the perfect blow to transform indie alternative band Nirvana into a multi-platinum act. He later also played drums for a good friend – Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age – and played a key role in making “Songs For The Deaf” one of the most important albums in the band’s history.
Ginger Baker (Cream) – “White Room”
Blessed with immense talent and at the same time punished with an almost evil disposition, it is Ginger Baker who combined his classical jazz training with such a powerful polyrhythmic style in the world’s first and best trio. While he was constantly at loggerheads with bandmates Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton, the London native opened up showmanship to the rock world with his “double-kick” virtuosity and extended solos.
Neil Peart (Rush) – “Tom Sawyer”
In the mid to late 1970s, at the height of his high prog aspirations, Neil Pearts revealed himself not only as an enthusiastic craftsman but also as an incredibly ambitious artist – qualities that were also noticeable in his legendary songwriting – and used esoteric elements such as glockenspiel, tonewood or timpano to give more fullness, especially to his baroque style in songs like “Xanadu” and “The Trees”. In the eighties, the band’s sound developed further and was more pop-oriented. Peart’s drumming also adapted to the changing times: he began to incorporate electronic percussion in very tasteful ways and continued to look for inspiration from mainstream pioneers like Stewart Copeland.
Stewart Copeland (The Police) – “Message In A Bottle1
While it’s probably Sting’s melodies that seem the catchiest, it’s mostly them Stewart Copelands Use of space, sophistication and aggressiveness that resulted in The Police sounding the way they do. Sure, he’s the drummer with the least interest in playing the snare (which, by the way, still seems unusually intelligent and sleek) and even those parts that are characteristic of him mostly contained hi-hat structures.
Charlie Watts (The Rolling Stones) – “Honky Tonk Women”
Keith Richards once said that when the Rolling Stones formed they couldn’t afford a drummer like Charlie Watts because he was already the drummer for Alexis Korner’s more established band Blues Incorporated. Eventually the Stones managed to win him over and he asked if he could join. “You guys are pretty good,” Watts to Richards, “but you need a really good drummer.”