Best Drummers in History

When I got to Dave Grohl in a list of best drummers in history, I closed the link, turned off my PC, and shot myself.

Since you asked for the "best", rather than favourite, it is no longer a subjective matter. Dave Grohl is so far from being in the list of best drummers in history I cannot even type another word on this topic.

Although to be honest, I've had another look, and I don't agree with a single one on your list. It really looks more like your list of favourite drummers, which is fine. But best in history? Not even close, I'm afraid.
 
For instance, I can't take a list seriously without at least ONE jazz great. For example:

Tony Williams
Elvin Jones
Max Roach
Jack DeJohnette
Buddy Rich
Art Blakey

to name but a few. These guys defined an era and paved the way for whole new dimensions into drumming, aside from being technically sublime.

Next, you'd need a least one modern great. For example:

Dave Weckl
Vinnie Colaiuta
Jim Chapin

Then, you'd need a top level clinician. For example:

Thomas Lang
Jojo Mayer
Steve Gadd
Rodney Holmes

Then, you'd need genre defining, boundary pushing, and up and coming greats. For example:

John Riley
Mark Guiliana
Mike Johnston
Keith Carlock
Dennis Chambers
Aaron Spears
David Garibaldi
Rick Latham
George Kollias

Just one of the drummers I've named in this post wipes the floor with your entire list in terms of pure skill. Not to say your list are bad drummers, or you shouldn't like them, but you asked for the best in history. These guys CANNOT be ignored on that list.
 
1. Benny Greb – The Ron Spielman Trio, Stoppok, Benny Greb Brass Band
2. Dave Weckl – Dave Weckl Band
3. Carter Beauford – Dave Matthews Band
4. Dominic Howard – Muse
5. Tony Royster Jr. – Jay-Z
6. Neil Peart – Rush
7. Aaron Spears – Usher, American Idol
8. Mike Portnoy – Dream Theater, Avenged Sevenfold
9. Dave Grohl – Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Them Crooked Vultures, Queens of the Stone Age

A list I made a while ago. Isn't complete, just named some of my biggest inspirations.
+ Buddy Rich, John Bonham etc.
I'll redo it later... :)

Mighty:
As for some of them, they aren't the best. Just MY biggest inspirations. Wich, in my opinion, I'd read as "best". A list with best would be too, too, too, too hard! :)
 
...What? no Joey Jordison or Travis Barker? how can it be a list of the best drummers in history without those two?? They should be tied for first cuz thats how good they are.

all sarcasm aside though, I pretty much agree with all of what Mighty_joker said. revise your list please.

-Jonathan

....Stephan Perkins?? really?
 
Well I have to agree here that nobody on that list qualifies anywhere near the top ten, but all are very good drummers for what they do! “best” is sometimes so subjective, that we have to go purely on skill and fans, or number of people who love that drummer. Buddy Rich was surely one, Gene Krupa was a highly skilled drummer, heck Tommy Igoe is technically better than anyone on that list. :D In fact, he’s really, really good.

I really love 80s glam rock, but that doesn’t qualify it for the best music - I know it isn’t. like was mentioned, the “best” music is likely going to be in the jazz genre somewhere, because of it’s pure technical difficulty and instant recognizability.

I like everyone on your list though. I’m not such a foo fighters fan but I know Grohl can drum the heck out of drums. :p
 
The drum set is barely 100 years old! Most popular instruments are 200, 300, 400, 500 years old and more. Some drumming traditions go back thousands of years. This list to me just shows a strong bias toward self-absorbed American pop culture.

I think the very best drummers haven't even been born yet.
 
Top Drummers in History...and the list goes on! By the way, we are stand-by on the new breed of drummers to come!
.....Who will be the next Joe Morello? Gene Kruppa? John Bonham? Ian Paice? and so on.

Alex Acuña
Daniel Adair
Chris Adler
Morgan Agren
Airto
Rashied Ali
Don Alias
Carl Allen
Barry Altschul
Robby Ameen
Animal
Charly Antolini
Carmine Appice
Vinny Appice
Kenny Aronoff
Billy Ashbaugh
Ginger Baker
Joey Baron
Julio Barreto
Marcus Baylor
Carter Beauford
Louie Bellson
Frank Bellucci
Brian Bennett
Joe Bergamini
Ignacio Berroa
Gregg Bissonette
Jason Bittner
Roger Biwandu
Dave Black
Cindy Blackman
John Blackwell
Brian Blade
Art Blakey
Jason Bonham
John Bonham
Gergo Borlai
Terry Bozzio
Dirk Brand
Bill Bruford
Ronald Bruner Jr.
Roy Burns
William Calhoun
Clayton Cameron
Gorden Campbell
Teddy Campbell
Tommy Campbell
Danny Carey
Keith Carlock
Terri Lyne Carrington
André Ceccarelli
Gary Chaffee
Dennis Chambers
Ndugu Chancler
Dave DiCenso
Jon Christensen
Kenny Clare
Greg Clark
Mike Clark
Kenny Clarke
Bill Cobham
Vinnie Colaiuta
Cozy Cole
Chris Coleman
Cora Coleman-Dunham
Grant Collins
Phil Collins
Luis Conte
Randy Cooke
Ray Cooper
Adam Cruz
Nick D'Virgilio
Paulinho Da Costa
Chris "Daddy" Dave
Troy Davis
Alan Dawson
Barrett Deems
Jimmy DeGrasso
Adam Deitch
Jack DeJohnette
Kenwood Dennard
Dave DiCenso
Marko Djordjevic
Virgil Donati
Hamid Drake
Martin Drew
Drumbassadors
Billy Drummond
Sheila E.
Paul Elliott
Peter Erskine
Dom Famularo
Pierre Favre
Vera Figueiredo
Larry Finn
Eric Fischer
Hardy Fischoetter
Al Foster
Kiko Freitas
Steve Gadd
Camille Gainer
Richie Gajate-Garcia
David Garibaldi
Mel Gaynor
Evelyn Glennie
Mario Gonzi
Jimmy DeGrasso
Benny Greb
Mark Guiliana
Terreon Gully
Trilok Gurtu
Ralf Gustke
Wolfgang Haffner
Omar Hakim
Chico Hamilton
Jeff Hamilton
Lionel Hampton
Jake Hanna
Eric Harland
Buddy Harman
Gavin Harrison
Mickey Hart
Billy Hart
Steve Hass
Fritz Hauser
Roger Hawkins
Taylor Hawkins
Louis Hayes
Roy Haynes
Richie Hayward
Albert Tootie Heath
Hernan Hecht
Levon Helm
Gerry Hemingway
Joey Heredia
Horacio Hernandez
Raymond Herrera
Claus Hessler
Gerald Heyward
Giovanni Hidalgo
Billy Higgins
Jeff Hirshfield
Jon Hiseman
Ari Hoenig
Gene Hoglan
Rodney Holmes
Steve Houghton
Daniel Humair
Jeremy Hummel
Ralph Humphrey
Gary Husband
Zakir Hussein
Greg Hutchinson
Susie Ibarra
Tommy Igoe
Tris Imboden
Al Jackson
Duffy Jackson
Bobby Jarzombek
Akira Jimbo
Jack DeJohnette
Mylious Johnson
Elvin Jones
Harold Jones
Hilary Jones
Papa Jo Jones
Philly Joe Jones
Randy Jones
Steve Jordan
Joey Jordison
Eric Kalb
Manu Katché
Frank Katz
Senri Kawaguchi
Connie Kay
Jim Keltner
Will Kennedy
Billy Kilson
George Kollias
Glenn Kotche
Joey Kramer
Gene Krupa
Joe La Barbera
Abe Laboriel, jr.
Gene Lake
Don Lamond
Thomas Lang
Dave Langguth
Shannon Larkin
Pete LaRoca Sims
Karl Latham
Rick Latham
Trevor Lawrence Jr.
Ricky Lawson
Chris Layton
Tommy Lee
Paul Leim
Stan Levey
Mel Lewis
Victor Lewis
Pete Lockett
Dave Lombardo
Larrie Londin
Hakim Ludin
Ray Luzier
Pete Magadini
Mike Mangini
Shelly Manne
Brian "Brain" Mantia
Sherrie Maricle
Jerry Marotta
Rick Marotta
John Marshall
Billy Martin
Harvey Mason
Nick Mason
Dave Mattacks
Phil Maturano
JoJo Mayer
Nicko McBrain
Joe McCarthy
George "Spanky" McCurdy
Jason McGerr
Ray McKinley
Marvin McQuitty
Gustavo Meli
Fran Merante
Buddy Miles
Butch Miles
Russ Miller
Marco Minnemann
Mitch Mitchell
Joseph Ziggy Modeliste
Jonathan Moffett
Mark Mondesir
Drori Mondlak
Keith Moon
Stanton Moore
Airto Moreira
Joe Morello
Rod Morgenstein
Joe Morris
Nate Morton
Paul Motian
Alphonse Mouzon
Jonathan Mover
Moritz Mueller
Idris Muhammad
Larry Mullen Jr.
Narada
Lewis Nash
Sandy Nelson
Andy Newmark
Jost Nickel
Gary Novak
Adam Nussbaum
Volkan Oektem
Babatunde Olatunji
Jamie Oldaker
Nigel Olsson
Ian Paice
Carl Palmer
Earl Palmer
Francis Panama
Chris Parker
Leon Parker
Jose Pasillas
Vinnie Paul
Jim Payne
Sonny Payne
Neil Peart
Shawn Pelton
Clarence Penn
Chris Pennie
Karl Perazzo
Robert Perkins
Stephen Perkins
Ben Perowsky
Doane Perry
Charli Persip
Ralph Peterson
Pat Petrillo
Simon Phillips
Kim Plainfield
Felix Pollard
Joe Porcaro
Jeff Porcaro
Mike Portnoy
Cozy Powell
Bobby Previte
Thomas Pridgen
Aquiles Priester
Dafnis Prieto
Tito Puente
Bernard Purdie
Alvin Queen
Jeff Queen
Johnny Rabb
Raul Rekow
Walfredo Reyes
Walfredo Reyes, Jr.
Buddy Rich
Dannie Richmond
Sean Rickman
Alex Riel
Ben Riley
Herlin Riley
Jim Riley
John Riley
Ringo
Chip Ritter
Max Roach
John "J.R." Robinson
Pete LaRoca Sims
Derek Roddy
Mickey Roker
Bobby Rondinelli
Morgan Rose
Joel Rosenblatt
Tony Royster Jr.
Phil Rudd
Daniel Sadownick
Bobby Sanabria
Antonio Sanchez
Poncho Sanchez
Mongo Santamaria
Peter Schmidlin
Mark Schulman
Jon Bermuda Schwartz
Denny Seiwell
Danny Seraphine
Paco Séry
Chad Sexton
Gil Sharone
Ed Shaughnessy
Michael Shrieve
Terry Silverlight
Chuck Silverman
Pete LaRoca Sims
Eric Singer
Zutty Singleton
Andrew Small
Chad Smith
Marvin "Smitty" Smith
Nate Smith
Steve Smith
Travis Smith
Ed Soph
Matt Sorum
Aaron Spears
David Stanoch
Zak Starkey
John "Jabo" Starks
Ringo Starr
Bill Stewart
Nisan Stewart
Clyde Stubblefield
Fredy Studer
Todd Sucherman
Grady Tate
Art Taylor
Mel Taylor
Roger Taylor
John Tempesta
Mike Terrana
Aaron Thier
Ed Thigpen
Ahmir Thompson
Chester Thompson
Kim Thompson
Top Secret Drum Corps
Pat Torpey
Tico Torres
Dave Tough
Nat Townsley
Ron Tutt
Lars Ulrich
Christian Vander
Alex Van Halen
Ronnie Vannucci
Nana Vasconcelos
Carlos Vega
Glen Velez
Ronnie Verrell
Johnny Vidacovich
Nick D'Virgilio
Chad Wackerman
Nasheet Waits
Narada Michael Walden
Bill Ward
Billy Ward
Kenny Washington
Derico Watson
Charlie Watts
Jeff "Tain" Watts
Chick Webb
Dave Weckl
Max Weinberg
Klaus Weiss
Paul Wertico
George Wettling
Alan White
Lenny White
Meg White
Steve White
Pete Wilhoit
Brad Wilk
Tony Williams
Matt Wilson
Shadow Wilson
Sam Woodyard
Pete York
Adrian Young
Mark Zonder
Zoro
...........................................................................and us!
 
DrumEatDrum said:
Then it's NOT the list of best drummers in HISTORY, it's just the list of drummers YOU like.

The title of your thread is completely separate from the subject matter of your thread.
Click to expand...

Which is pretty much what any "best" list is. That particular author's favorite....

We seem to do this a lot on here. "Best this" and "best that" everything; from drummers to gear to technique. I don't think there is such a thing as "best" anything. It's all just about our preferences.

Decide what's best for you and get drumming.
 
DrumEatDrum said:
Then it's NOT the list of best drummers in HISTORY, it's just the list of drummers YOU like.

The title of your thread is completely separate from the subject matter of your thread.
Click to expand...

In a nutshell!!

Got a good giggle out of a "Best In History" list that left out so many names though.

OP, it's most definitely a "favourites" list and that's cool. But thanks for making me smile.....I needed that. :)
 
I like some on the list ,especially Bonham,and Copeland but could not put those guys up there with the best of all time.I think you need to listen to music besides Rock in all its various forms,and start with some jazz.

Somobody said A.J.Pero?Sorry but he's not even the best drummer on Staten Island.

Steve B
 
These lists usually show me how uneducated many drummers are. This one is no different.

Very embarrassing!
 
Personally speaking, I've always thought of it as, B.R. and A.R.
B.R. - Before Rich
A.R. - After Rich

He's not my personal favorite, but I'll always watch or listen to his stuff. And when it comes to drumming history, he's one of the top three in my eyes.

I did happen to notice, that the original poster's post count is pretty low, so I'm assuming he's a younger fellow. We were all naive in our youth, or at least when we first started.
 
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