07-13-2015, 08:49 AM
I have no problem with people having their favorites, but it's concerning that some folks seem to think they know who the "best" is, even though they probably haven't heard of many, many drummers that are much more skilled (speaking purely from a technical standpoint).
I guess it may be because of the music I've grown up with, but I've never really been uber impressed with guys like Travis Barker. Bonham, Peart, and the other older guys are/were very, very good especially for their time. The issue there is, it's sort of hard to compare them to the newer guys, it's almost like sports where we have the new wave of more athletic guys with modern day training and whatnot. It's pretty much unfair to compare Neil Peart to a guy like Flo Mournier of Cryptopsy. If somebody says "Neil Peart is the best prog rock drummer of the 60's/70's/80's", then I'd probably not even bat an eye at that statement. When someone says "Neil Peart is the best drummer of all time", then that's just letting nostalgia get in the way of being realistic.
If you're unfamiliar with underground metal drummers, and you love to watch/hear a good musician play, here are a few to check out...
Flo Mournier
Samus Paulicelli
Matt Greiner (not really into metalcore a lot but this guy can play)
George Kollias
Mike Portnoy
Alex Rudinger
I don't think any of them are clearly the best of all time, but that's a good short list for people unfamiliar with these genres (4 out of the 6 play in tech death bands). I'm sure there's a random jazz fusion drummer that I've never heard of that's more technical than most metal drummers, so let me hear some names to check out. I'm far from closed minded musically, so I'd love to check out some playing from lesser known guys in genres I'm unfamiliar with. Hopefully others are the same in that regard.
I guess it may be because of the music I've grown up with, but I've never really been uber impressed with guys like Travis Barker. Bonham, Peart, and the other older guys are/were very, very good especially for their time. The issue there is, it's sort of hard to compare them to the newer guys, it's almost like sports where we have the new wave of more athletic guys with modern day training and whatnot. It's pretty much unfair to compare Neil Peart to a guy like Flo Mournier of Cryptopsy. If somebody says "Neil Peart is the best prog rock drummer of the 60's/70's/80's", then I'd probably not even bat an eye at that statement. When someone says "Neil Peart is the best drummer of all time", then that's just letting nostalgia get in the way of being realistic.
If you're unfamiliar with underground metal drummers, and you love to watch/hear a good musician play, here are a few to check out...
Flo Mournier
Samus Paulicelli
Matt Greiner (not really into metalcore a lot but this guy can play)
George Kollias
Mike Portnoy
Alex Rudinger
I don't think any of them are clearly the best of all time, but that's a good short list for people unfamiliar with these genres (4 out of the 6 play in tech death bands). I'm sure there's a random jazz fusion drummer that I've never heard of that's more technical than most metal drummers, so let me hear some names to check out. I'm far from closed minded musically, so I'd love to check out some playing from lesser known guys in genres I'm unfamiliar with. Hopefully others are the same in that regard.
