Travis Barker

I believe Travis Barker is a fine drummer. I came upon his playing through teaching when students would ask me to teach them his grooves. What I learned was that Travis has a wonderful knack of incorporating elements of ethnic rhythm into his pop/rock grooves. As a teacher I found this very beneficial because it led to discussions with students as to where a rhythm came from. I have the Blink 182 book and find it very useful in my teaching. A teacher must be hip to what is happening today so I listen with interest to what Travis does.

I see no real reason why many people bag him out. Often it seems petty. Perhaps born of jealousy. It is true he is no Buddy Rich, but then who is? The fact remains that Travis Barker plays well, inspires legions of new drummers and does what he does very well. He may be the most successful drummer since Ringo at bringing people to drumming. That is something to be proud of. And it is something to be respected.

I tip my hat to Travis Barker.

Good post, +1 from me.
 
Good post, +1 from me.

yeah, no matter what you think of his drumming or who he is influencing, he is influencing. I think people have beef with him because many guys could grow up learning his stuff, and when they are in their 20's realise what help learning jazz or latin would have had. But amidst all of these people, you are sure to have you're gems, fair play to the guy
 
All you guys tries to say that he isn't that great. Of course not, there are better drummers.
But if you look closer to the famous drummers like Travis Barker, Will Champion, Joey Jordison or Lars Ulrich, they have got famous because their bands are famous. All other excellent drummers don't play in sucher famous bands so they aren't as famous.
 
why there are so many travis barker haters???

he is not my favourite drummer but he's made a big contribution to punk music. he's very hard working, never talks trash about anybody, he is not arrogant at all. he only does what he loves to do and it's very successful.

I just don't get why there so many people talking trash about him, is not his fault that some idiots say that he is the best drummer ever
 
Re: why there are so many travis barker haters???

I've never seen anyone say they HATE him, here. I don't hate him. I don't hate anyone. I don't particularly like Travis Barker's playing. If he inspires you...great! We're all individuals with individual tastes.
 
Re: why there are so many travis barker haters???

I can honestly say I have never heard him play. Why you may ask? Because I am not into Punk music. There are plenty of good drummers out there in many genres but I can't get past the music. all the metal and death metal etc etc etc. Play me a nice melody without screaming into the mic and I may listen. Now you know why.
 
Re: why there are so many travis barker haters???

Three reasons why I'm not a fan (I don't hate him either):

1: The fanboys/girls (my biggest hangup).
2: He gives more of an effort looking like he plays drums, than actually playing drums.
3: Every time I see a pic of him he's always pouting his bottom lip. Can't stand that all.

But otherwise, the cat can play. He can hold down a groove and keep time.
 
Re: why there are so many travis barker haters???

Who hates him, other than dimwitted youtube posters?

Yes indeed. Certainly can't fault the cat for being successful. And as for Youtube, there's enough hate there to blow up the world 10 times (at least) over.
 
Re: why there are so many travis barker haters???

I like the way he plays and approaches drumming quite a bit. I love his enthusiasm. Unfortunately, Blink 182 has been pretty hard for me to take as a band - that saccharine-sweet singer is more grating to me than cookie monster vocals.
 
Re: why there are so many travis barker haters???

I officially don't hate TB. I officially do not like Blink 182, and I hate to think that there's people out there that think they're punk rock. The Minutemen, Minor Threat, the Dead Milkmen, The Stooges, Television, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Devo, Cramps, The Clash, & the Ramones and all the other greats that you'd never or rarely hear on the radio. Those are bands that I think of when I think of punk rock. No one debates whether TB can play. He keeps good time, is a very effective showman but for me that's a moot point because I'd never buy a Blink album. In my mind Travis Barker is this generation's Tommy Lee.
 
Re: why there are so many travis barker haters???

I don't think all the haters "hate" him so much as they hate his blind legion of fans. Most of his fans that say he's the greatest drummer ever don't even know of other drummers besides him, they simply like him because he's TB. He's truly this generations Tommy Lee.
 
Re: why there are so many travis barker haters???

Yeah, I'd have to agree with the majority here. I don't hate him, just the ignorant following that surrounds him ( I don't even "hate" them per se). He's a creative guy for punk rock, a good showman, and he has some endurance. Can't fault him for that. I do think he is a little bit arrogant, though. I've seen a couple youtube videos that imply arrogance but I can't say for sure.

My opinion: Good drummer, but certainly not the best or one of the technical virtuosos.
 
Re: why there are so many travis barker haters???

Enrico, for quite some time I've been asking myself the same thing..

I like Blink 182 a lot, I grew up listening to their albums, and I think that Travis is a great drummer. He has a lot of energy and makes a lot of non-drummers say "whoa, look at the drummer".. I think that's cool.

Now, years later I am listening to Rush, Billy Cobham, Buddy Rich.. No doubt they're better drummers, but IMO that's not a reason to bash on TB.

Anyway.. unfortunately there's a lot of envy out there.
 
Re: why there are so many travis barker haters???

Simply put people hate Travis Barker because he's popular.

I hate Travis Barker because he's popular. That and the double handed cymbal bashing.

By "popular" I mean that so many people think that he's the god of drums because his overall mediocre skills are largely exaggerated by the way he behaves while playing. For example, you go on to almost any Buddy Rich video and you'll see them. People saying, "best drumr evr? no way, this fag would get his gay ass pwnd by Travis Barker!!!!1!!!". So you go to one of Barker's videos and see him having a seizure while playing eighths on his crashes, like it's the hardest thing in the world to do. Then you look at the comments and it's just page after page of people denouncing any religion they may have previously had and declaring Travis Barker their only lord and savior.

Point is, if he wasn't popular, than people would have no reason to hate him. When he's shoved in your face every single time you try to do anything drumming related on the web, however, that's another story.

That felt good.

EDIT: I'm not saying any of this as an attempt to suggest that I'm personally better than Mr. Barker, I'm not.
 
Re: why there are so many travis barker haters???

I don't hate Travis Barker. I just don't care about him all that much. No more than I hate Joey Jordison or Meg White.

Ironically, all of them play on at least one song on my iPod playlist, and those are decent songs, and I like them.
 
Re: why there are so many travis barker haters???

I'll add another observation...

I've been judging the local GC Drum Off this year and I'd say that at least 2 out of 3 drummers competing, emulate both his look and his style. He obviously inspires a lot of kids and is an influence. However, all 3 judges, all different age ranges and personalities, agree that this has been a drag to watch. These guys all play very much the same and it's pretty boring...at least for a drum competition. The few that have stood out and done their own thing have been the consistent winners.
 
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