Top 100 Most Influential Drummers Ever

I don't even have to look - such lists and "polls" only serve to spark heated discussions about who should be on the list but is not, who shouldn't be, but is, and how incorrect the ranking is to begin with.

Bermuda
 
bermuda said:
I don't even have to look - such lists and "polls" only serve to spark heated discussions about who should be on the list but is not, who shouldn't be, but is, and how incorrect the ranking is to begin with.

Bermuda
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actually, this is a good one. : )

not so much a ranking as it is a Who's Who.

very informative.
 
bermuda said:
I don't even have to look
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Initially I thought the same thing.....but the word "influential" as opposed to "best" allowed me to give them the benefit of the doubt.

This one surprised me. Rather than a feeble and contentious "ranking" it's set out in more of a timeline. I can't argue the list sets out to do what it says. There's some pretty influential drummers there....and credit has been given to many of the cats that started it all. Nice to finally see a list where a little bit of thought has gone into it. A little different to your run-of-the-mill "popularity contest". There'll be contention and people will obviously find an omission.....there always is and they always do. But all in all, this one is not what I was expecting.
 
drstrangefunk said:
not so much a ranking as it is a Who's Who.

very informative.
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Yes, the info is cool, as is the shortlist for the "best" songs featuring their drumming, but otherwise I agree with Bermuda, there's a large number of drummers missing (as always).
 
It's a good list but I find the squaring off to 100 (or 10 or 20 or 50 etc) annoying. That means you're either including a few extra players as padding or leaving out people who should be included. How about the 74 most influential drummers?

The omission of Larry Mullen Jr was a biggie, given the number of bands who were influenced by U2 and LMJ's one, two and four bar cycles.

Aaron Spears and gospel/fusion players like Tony Royster Jr have had a massive influence in the hip hop and gospel chops scenes.

And people may laugh but a few teachers here have said they've started beginners with White Stripes songs and Meg has inspired many women to play. Influence and ability aren't necessarily connected.
 
wow that is actually an excellent list

there is one or two I may have swapped for someone else ....but for the most part a damn good list
 
Anon La Ply said:
The omission of Larry Mullen Jr was a biggie, given the number of bands who were influenced by U2 and LMJ's one, two and four bar cycles.
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Funny, he was the first one I thought of that didn't get a guernsey and perhaps should have on sheer influence, too

And people may laugh but a few teachers here have said they've started beginners with White Stripes songs and Meg has inspired many women to play.
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Hey, you got Mo in there.....gotta leave some room for people that can actually play. :)

Influence and ability aren't necessarily connected.
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For sure.....there's a couple that would have been bumped otherwise. As a whole, I think the list pretty well reflects the amount of interest in their threads here though.......sans Meg of course. That's always a tell tale sign of influence.
 
We have a list. It's called the front page of DrummerWorld!

But that's not really the purpose of this thread, now is it?
 
Pocket-full-of-gold said:
Hey, you got Mo in there.....gotta leave some room for people that can actually play. :)
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I don't see why. After all, we agreed that influence and ability aren't necessarily connected :)

Fact is we all start as beginners and the really, really basic drummers can be very attractive to them because of its approachability. It helps that the music is fun and rocks hard.
 
Yeah, you can pull any famous name out of a hat and say they were influential.

I still don't think there's been a drummer who's been a musical genius -- and only only two who were geniuses in regard to being completely innovative and reinventing the instrument -- and that would be Gene Krupa and Tony Williams.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
 
Mad About Drums said:
No Simon Phillips, no Steve Jordan, no Peter Erskine.... loads of biggie missing.
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1,000 into 100 just won't go mate. Someone's gotta miss out and usually with these lists it's pretty much every drummer prior to 1962 (obviously with a few notable exceptions). At least this time I reckon they've tried to portray a somewhat acurate evoluation of the instrument from one generation to the next. It certainly paints a clearer picture of where we've all come from than yet another tired and contentious "best drummer" list.

Anon La Ply said:
I don't see why. After all, we agreed that influence and ability aren't necessarily connected :)
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I know, I know......but as I knew it'd fire you up, I couldn't help myself. :)

plangentmusic said:
Yeah, you can pull any famous name out of a hat and say they were influential.
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Could say it about many non-famous drummers too for that matter. My old man is never gonna make a "most influential" list, but if it wasn't for watching him laying it down when I was a kid, I wonder if I'd have developed the same passion......doesn't get anymore influential than that.
 
That's a great list but a few are missing:

Bernard Purdie
Davey Tough
Alan White
Any alumni of Frank Zappa's School of Music
Jerry Moratta
Ritchie Hayward

Man, I could get carpal tunnel just typing them all out. Lists like his just remind us of how many great drummers we have had in our lives.
 
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