With that being said, I like how you ignored my list of drummers who are better than Buddy Rich. Dismissing the point I was making because you are unable to see the big picture is poor form.
Hold your horses, I wasn't dismissing the list you presented at all. It was actually seeing a guy like Thomas Lang on your list that prompted my line of thought to begin with.
Ultimately, I see why you'd want to ignore something as fundamental as musicality when pitching that particular example against a guy like Rich. Because it's the only way you could ever make a direct comparison between the two and still be able to maintain a straight face while you do it.
Lang is a technical monster. I have no argument there, but you're kidding yourself if you think that that one narrow element alone makes him "better" than a guy who was at the pinnacle of his craft for so long. It was as much the musical expression that put all the greats of the past (including Buddy) in the revered positions in the history of the instrument that they enjoy today. To ignore it in order to score some points in what amounts to nothing more than a schoolyard pissing contest is just a fools errand.
Look, I really have no issue with your list and my point is not to find examples to diminish it. Lang just stood out of the crowd is all and I thought he in particular, made a great case study in exactly why musicality
should be considered. I won't deny that those guys have built on what came before and taken it to heights that would have been hard to imagine by the likes of Krupa and Buddy in their heyday. I've long said that Vinnie is the most "complete" drummer in the history of the modern drumset. Of everyone that's ever picked up sticks, no one seems to have a broader understanding of musical style and the ability to express that variety, than him. But I'd never be so bold as to turn a blind eye to the very reason he enjoys that position in the first place. He's that complete purely because his very musicality allows him to tastefully apply the technicality. The latter is there to serve the former. And in Vinnie's case it most certainly does. But without musicality, a drummer doesn't deserve to be on any list to begin with. There's just no way one can dismiss it out of hand and still make a serious argument. Take that criteria away and all we're left with is glorified WFD. Hardly a compelling argument for well rounded virtuosity.
No mate, it's not a matter of ignoring your list at all. It's a matter of defending the most vital element of them all. The very reason to bother to develop technical facility to begin with. It simply should be taken into account, as it's the embodiment of what we do and why we do it. You can't just chose to ignore it for the purpose of trying to win an argument. That would be the ultimate example of being "unable to see the big picture" as you put it and IMHO for a musician to suggest we ignore something so vitally fundamental because it suits his argument to do so, would be the ultimate in poor form here.