Okay, I'm gonna give this a stab, here, and some of you may agree and some of you may tell me to go pound salt. Remember this, opinions are not facts, just a fancy name for personal preference. These are mine.
If it wasn't for Tommy Lee - as my life history goes - I wouldn't be a drummer today. As far as his drumming within the context of Motley Crue goes, he fit what the music called for and as drummers, that's our job. He is also known for becoming one with the click. A well known live show progammer named Micheal McKnight said he was a solid as solid gets. During his career, he has come up with some very interesting fill ideas and groove patterns. He played on a couple Pink songs, a couple of Janet Jackson songs and wrote 3 solo records. So, he's done a few things. You would be hard pressed to find another drummer in the past 20 years who influenced so many others to persue drumming. His live shows are cool and he is a great showman.
Yes, he has made mistakes in his life, we all have. But we don't have the mainstream media in our face everyday either. However, I do think he has let a lot of that go to his head and it's affected his playing and his attitude. But, he is human. Are his solos works of drumming magic? Nope. But I ask this...How many records have Thomas Lang and Marco Minnemann sold? I think that impressing other drummers is the stupidest thing on the planet. Learn from other drummers and respect other drummers, absolutley. But why would anyone care about impressing another drummer? Drummers do not hire drummers. Another drummer will never hire a drummer for a gig, tour or session work, unless he is a drummer turned producer or something. Our job as drummers, when you get right down to it, is to make the music feel good. That's what Tommy was all about.
I mean, his band has sold around 23.5 million copies of thier records over the years. That's a lot of damn record sales.
As I was looking through some of the posts, a lot of people were throwing names like the 2 mentioned above and many others, most being drum wizards. But, at the end of the day, it's all about the music and the groove. If you can blaze chops all day, a non-drummer or average music fan probably won't care. But, if you can make musical phrases and unstoppable grooves that makes people move involuntarily, then you're doing something. Music and it's feel are what it's all about, sometimes a bazillion chops and lighting fast speed, muck it all up. Music needs to breathe and have life and a pulse. That's our job. Tommy Lee did that job for many years with Motley Crue.