Greatest Rock Drummers

jond’s nomination of Jim Keltner (of which I heartily approve and second) begs the question: what constitutes a "Rock" drummer? Before Keltner starting playing in The Playboys (Gary Lewis’ backing band) in the mid-60’s, he was, in his own words, a Jazz snob. He is Jazz guitarist Bill Frisell’s first call drummer (as well as Ry Cooder’s, and many other guitarists and songwriters), and does mostly studio work. Is he a "Rock" drummer? Does he even play what you consider Rock music?

The same can be asked about Steve Gadd, who has been working with Eric Clapton for years. I guess you could call Clapton’s music Rock, but Gadd was trained in rudiments and played in the Army/Navy Band during the Vietman War era (a good way to not have to go shoot or be shot at!). I just watched a documentary on Clapton’s 2014 World Tour, and Gadd played very few fills (the opposite of Neil Peart, who never passes up that opportunity), focusing on establishing the structure of each song, and creating the feel and groove of the band. Gadd is a fantastic drummer (one of the handful of best in the world, imo) who can, and does, play one of the best drum solos I’ve ever heard and seen. Very advanced technical ability, but he doesn’t feel the need to constantly prove it by over-playing, a rarity.

Seeing a Led Zeppelin tribute band live last night reminded me of just how guilty John Bonham was of over-playing (completely unnecessary fills which in no way advanced the song, and in fact just duplicated what someone else was playing), and how his style of playing was adopted by the vast majority of Rock drummers that followed him. Over-playing is by far the number one complaint about drummers by other musicians. Good ones, that is ;-) .

Ya beat me to it, lowrider57! About Ringo being a musical drummer, that is. There’s a saying in the Christian faith, that you can’t serve two masters. A drummer can approach a song and choose to play it in one of two ways: either in a way to make the song sound better than if he wasn’t playing (and/or make the singer and/or other musicians sound "better"), or in a way to make himself sound as good as possible. While both criteria can and have been satisfied in rare examples (by the best of the best---Levon Helm, Roger Hawkins, Jim’s Gordon and Keltner, Al Jackson Jr., Steve Gadd amongst that elite group), it is usually one or the other---one precluding the other.

I’m not here to denigrate the drumming of John Bonham; it is what it is. He was indeed very instrumental in creating the Led Zeppelin style of music, and remains hugely influential, much more so than drummers whose playing I personally prefer. Lowrider, you are very correct in saying that Bonham didn’t play "with" the bassist, as is the norm in a band with a true rhythm section. It’s hard to call two-thirds of a 3-piece band a rhythm "section"!

The over-playing in his style that I was speaking of can be demonstrated by playing any number of LZ songs, and, as you noted, involves his interaction with Page’s guitar parts. What Bonham does is play an overly-long (imo) run around his toms, duplicating, on his "untuned" (drums are tensioned, not tuned to notes, generally speaking) instrument (specifically his tom toms) what Page is already playing. Playing those notes all around his toms serves no musical purpose (there’s that term again), and creates a one-dimensional style of music, with no depth, no layers. True, Bonham doesn’t play that way all the time in every song, but it IS his basic approach. Recall the guitar, drum, and bass parts in "Good Times, Bad Times", for example; all three are accenting the same rhythm. SO one dimensional! If each would play "off" each other, rather than in unison, it would make for more interesting music, imo.

What the best drummers (and other musicians) do is play parts that compliment the playing of the other musicians, rather than doubling what is already being played. John Paul Jones often does the same thing as Bonham, playing the same notes on bass as is Page on guitar, but of course an octave lower. That is the basis of "Riff Rock" style music. It is, for those desiring depth in music, very boring.

Compare the drum and bass playing on the first Led Zeppelin album to that on the first Band album. A world of difference! The Band’s bassist Rick Danko creates almost "songs within songs"---using counterpoint, inversions, octaves, syncopation, and other techniques to enrich the music. Drummer Levon Helm does the same, leaving "holes" where the others are already playing a note, putting one in where no one else is. Listen to all the "passing of the musical baton" going on in "This Wheel’s On Fire" on Music From Big Pink. Insanely great! Every time the song comes around again to the "stop" in the middle of the chorus, the guitar, drums, and bass play their "pick-up" note in a different order from the last time. Depth, baby! Playing in this manner enriches the musicality of the song, is far more interesting, and just sounds cooler. It is also far harder to do, and requires musical taste (an understanding of what not to play), which, I’m sorry to say, John Bonham lacked. Just my opinion, of course.