Most Under-rated Drummers

Re: Underrated drummers...

Totally agree with this one. I never saw the Minutemen live but saw fIREHOSE many times and Hurley just killed it every time. Big influence on me as far as the funk/punk thing goes...
Also Jerry Gaskill from King's X. Very influential, but not many people know about him...

I'll second that one. Kings X is a great band and Jerry's drumming a big reason why. Now I need to go and dig out some of my Kings X music and play along.
 
Albert Bouchard-Blue Oyster Cult (Listen to their 1st 3 albums)
Mick Tucker-Sweet (Maybe the most under rated rock drummer ever)
Chad Gracey-Live
Phil Ehart-Kansas

And I know there are tons more. This is my second post on Drummerworld...Cool Site!
 
Billy Cobham never seems to get the credit he deserves.

He was/is a monster and massive inspiration
 
Billy Cobham never seems to get the credit he deserves.

He was/is a monster and massive inspiration

Really? As far as I know Billy gets lots of credit, even among rock drummers. The way he burst onto the scene one couldn't help but notice him and be in awe.
Two drummers I know for sure NEVER get any respect are the late Munetaka Higuchi of Loudness and Stefan Kaufmann of the German metal band Accept.
 
I didn't read every page to see if he was mentioned but Jean-Paul Gaster of Clutch is underrated. He can lay down a groove like its nobody's business.

You are sooo right man I recently went to see Clutch. Gaster is just solid and realy different. He has a styal u cant describ unless u see him play. Deffinatly needs more credit.
 
Matt Johnson

Matt Johnson (Jeff Buckley). Listen to Grace carefully. He's doing so much just under the radar to make the songs feel that good. Watch him live at chicago. He's one of the best ever
 
I wouldn't say he is the most under-rated drummer but, definitely under-rated. Matt Johnson who was the drummer with late Jeff Buckley. His playing on the album GRACE is soooo tasteful, He locks in to some great grooves but also has some great chops. If any of you have never listened to Jeff Buckley, I highly suggest picking up the album GRACE. As far a alternative rock goes it is a work of art. Jeff Buckley was probably one of the best male singer/song writers to exist in his time if not of all time. If you are into alternative rock, this album will be a influence on you as musician and a drummer.

Jamie
Yes! Should have searched this post. Couldn't agree more.
 
Billy Cobham never seems to get the credit he deserves.

He was/is a monster and massive inspiration

I am another that agrees with this. I just listened to "Dream" from MOs' The Lost Trident Sessions, after not hearing it in years, and got a whole new appreciation of BC.

Actually, a "re-newed" appreciation. Billy has certainly attained "Drum-God" status with me, but I don't hear/see enough praise given him that he most definitely has earned, IMO

"Birds of Fire" is another Mahavishnu Orchestra album masterpiece.

Not sure Billy Cobham is the MOST under-rated drummer, but certainly doesn't seem to be on a lot of peoples' top ten list. And as a matter of fact, he wasn't on mine before, but I'm adding him on there now.

;-)
 
you know, as great as Cobham is I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to come across top ten lists that have drummers like Dave Grohl, Steven Adler, Travis Barker, Peter Criss, etc, but no Cobham.

Zactly what I mean, Badd!


A lot of "newbies" are hooked on guys you mentioned, but that's really not a bad thing. But to not go back a few years, even before they were born, and research the greats of the past, and the history of the drum, they may not get to learn about some of the innovators that came before. And Billy Cobham, was/is certainly one of them.

Just throw on ANY MO track from the early seventies, kick back and prepare to be just blown away by BCs' creative genius. He was hugely instrumental in revolutionizing the drums in the 1970's.
 
Ah, this is a good opportunity to introduce you to one of my favourite drummers of the moment, who I know you will never ever have heard of.

He plays for a band called Alternative Carpark.

The recordings on their myspace do not do them any justice at all. They are one of the best live bands I have seen, if not the best. They need to be heard by more people!
 
I was recently listening to two of Billy Cobham's mid-70s solo albums, Stratus and Crosswinds.

I fist came across them as a kid learning in the early 80s.

Even by today's standards, the playing is phenomonal.

Great grooves and massively exciting round-house fills.

One of the stracks on Crosswinds, maybe the title track, has a great 15/16 groove, which I still jam to to this today.

As I said, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves...
 
I was recently listening to two of Billy Cobham's mid-70s solo albums, Stratus and Crosswinds.

I first came across them as a kid learning in the early 80s.

Even by today's standards, the playing is phenomonal.

Great grooves and massively exciting round-house fills.

One of the tracks on Crosswinds, maybe the title track, has a great 15/16 groove, which I still jam to to this today.

As I said, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves...

Absolutely, super.

Great examples! ;-)
 
I was around when Cobham burst onto the scene and it was like "who the f**k is that?!?"
I had never heard such explosive playing at that point and he turned drummer's heads around. I guess I can understand how the younger drummers may not be all that hip to Cobham's great skills. I'm baffled by it but I can understand.

hey supermac- also check out his Spectrum album if you haven't already. It's still a classic. Listen to the late guitarist Tommy Bolin and Jan Hammer trade licks. Pretty fierce stuff!
 
Hi Badstuff,

Yeah, when I wrote Stratus, I meant Spectrum!

Stratus is a track on Spectrum - and a fine one at that...
 
I have searched for Tony Thompson (R.I.P.) & I am unable to find him ANYWHERE here so I included his name in this thread!
Ditto that. He seemed a strange omission from the main Drummerworld page. I sent an email a couple years ago requesting to add him, but it never happened. Here's his wikipedia entry.

Nickkk said:
Brian Downey (Thin Lizzy)
True that. Whenever I play along to Thin Lizzy songs, I think, "Damn, this guy's good." He lays down some great shuffles.
 
He's still on the scene with Battles, but his work with Helmet was definitely underrated. Great player.


Thanks. I'll have to check out the Battles. Stanier is immediately who I thought of when I saw this thread.
 
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