OK fellow drummers tear the list apart. I know there will be some disagreeing on this. Check out my recently uploaded top 10 influential drummers video
I don't know if anyone else mentioned it, and I forgot also, but Buddy is at least 60 years old in that video. I saw him at the Blue Note in Dec '86, 3 months before he died at the age of 69. That video dates from around '78 to '81 which means Buddy is between 61 and 64 years old... and he was a smoker - both cigarettes & weed! By the time he died, he'd been playing professionally for 65 years!!! The cat was phenomenal.
Great list, and I much appreciate your clarification that this list is about your personal favorites, and not some kind of Universal Grading System. Many of these are my favorites, too - Buddy & Louie especially. I'm also partial to Jack DeJohnette, Zakir Hussein, Art Blakey, & Billy Cobham (even though Cobham sometimes favors technique over artistry). Let the beat go on!
@klinkerkk After posting I gave some seroius though of making a top ten most influential list. Since most viewers are drummers I'm going to invite comments about who influenced you to pick up a pair of sticks, should be interesting.
Nice list and some new knowledge. I'm not a drummer, so some of those names were unfamiliar. Now, I have to look 'em up! No contention with #1. I remember seeing Rich on Carson years ago and that image has stuck with me ever since. Nice job.
Very good list & hope to see Ian Paice on your rock list as he is probably my favorite drummer, his style has influenced me as i am a drummer myself, cheers.
A good list, actually! My only argument is leaving out Ginger Baker. He made music with his drumming and had a truly unique voice. Melodically and rhythmically. And as for the new generation, I gotta crown Virgil Donati the best drummer on the planet. So gifted.
this video is pretty good im not gonna lie i like all the drummers in this list i mean maybe in a different order but yeah definately the best list ive seen yet
@KDAMChristy Mangini is the freakin man. Looking back I feel I should have put Bonham on the list.. He did make it on my most resent video, top 10 influential drummers.
I don't recognize the solo being played in the 1st part of this video as the background while showing stills of all the other drummers before going into the Budd Rich solo. Anybody know who that was?
No tearing it apart, great list. Hard to limit it to only 10! I love the guys you have on there. I would add 2, JC Heard and Kenny Clark. Dizzy called those 2 and Max Roach the "3 drummers who defined modern Jazz." Anyway, thank you for the list, real cool,
@KirkSandall Papa Jo is one of my personal favorites. I probably went with Louie #2 based on longevity. It is impossible to really present a top ten list, so many greats left out. I can easlily see Joe in the top ten and many others that have been mentioned by other comments on who should be in the top 10. The main reason I made this video was over frustration seeing other top ten list with guys like Alex Van Halen, Travis Barker, and (I'm gonna get a lot of heat over this) Neil Peart.
I agree with the general consensus - there are several names I would change, but this is the best thought-out list of great drummers I've seen on RU-vid yet. Well done. Even if there are a few commenters who obviously also think Kurt Cobain was a "great guitarist".
@MARKMANIATT That's a good question. There's a lot of greats I left out Colaiuta, Palmer, Blakey, Elvin Jones, I could make a top 10 list of guys who should have been on the top 10 greatest list. I probably let favortism lead my picks. If I had made a top 11 Joe probably would have been my next choice.
@damanwithdaskillz It is impossible to make a true top ten list, so many different styles, genres, and so many greats left out the deserve to be top ten. I probably should have titled it my top ten favorites drummers. Thanx for the comments.
Fan-Fucking-Tastic...TY for this...also Please note that drums playing during the list were exceptional . esp. love the cymbal melody going on there. Man o man nice to remember the pure drum sound of Buddy. I got one on RU-vid search "early morning inspired" Not that it'd a 'drum song' SO Much as very nice X changes with my subtle flow through that. ...search RU-vid for "early morning inspired" ..... "I B E W drummer"
Thanx for all the comments so far, it's been interesting to see all the different points of view. There seems to be an overwelming opinion that Neil Peart was left off the top ten, along with Bonzo and many other greats, Morello, Blakley, Colaiuta, many more. Personal favoritism led to to some of my choices. Check out my top ten influential drummers video, I would be curious to see some of your opinions.
@klinkerkk I agree there is no denying how great Moon was. If I was to make a top ten most influential drummers, which I have considered , Moon would definitely be top ten.
@grassy00 Watch Ringo keeping perfect and swift eighth note time with his right hand in the Help video- Ringo wasn't the flashiest drummer, but was perhaps one of the steadiest in keeping a beat.
I hear ya. All art is a progression. In other words, what comes later is informed and influenced by what came before. For example, I remember in the '70s, people used to comment how great Bonzo was because he played drums without sticks (in Moby Dick, from the movie The Song Remains the Same). Joe Morello was doing that at least a decade before. That's why I take my hat off to those old guys, even tho modern drummers have far surpassed the accomplishments of nearly all those old guys.
I thought maybe Tony Williams would make this list. Also, Carl Palmer could be one of the most entertaining drummers. Steve Gadd is one of my favorites from this list, ahead of Buddy.
While I agree with the inclusion of the top 5 I do wonder wwere Joe Morello is. Okay I'm a) a Jazz fan b) not a drummer but as a dancer I do know something about beat and rhythm. I wonder how people would get on with selecting their top ten percussionists (as opposed to drummers)? James Blades anyone? I met him several times and was thrilled by his ability and knowledge. Once saw him behind a battery (in a school hall ) he would have knocked even the likes of Bellson into a cocked hat.....
Also, as a jazz list, which this seems to be, this is pretty damn acceptable. The exclusion of Weckl and Williams brings some questions but better than most
I really think Iain Paice from Deep Purple should be in any top 10 list in my honest opinion. An amazing drummer with a lot of skill. Really underrated in my opinion.
Just one question, does Terry Bozio set up his own set, Im mean come the fuck on thats huge and if he doesnt use them all I'd be pissed that I set them up!!!!
@grassy00 Ringo is simply one of the most important drummer to rock music. I recently created a top 10 most influential drummer of rock video and I proudly placed Mr Starkey at number one.
Thank you for putting up an actual best drummers video. Even though it's impossible to say which drummer is the best, all these people are in the very top of modern drumming, not some travis barker sh it or something like that. I can't belive people are actually thinking drummers in their favourite bands are the best in the world.. Very nice video :)
The only way you could really make sense of why someone is better than someone else is to define how much natural talent they have, which is tricky, and which is not the same as practicing 8 hours a day for 15 years. Tony Williams was a true genius of the drums, but he certainly couldn't be bothered to practice twirling his sticks the way Lang does,or Rich does here. He was concerned with the music, not the show, as that was how things were when he joined Miles' band, at the ripe old age of 17!
It is nice to see the old jazz stars on your list. My fav is Louie Bellson. You did pick the greatest Mr. Buddy Rich. Proof that "perfect practice makes perfect". His one handed rolls are faster than most of our two handers. INSANE SPEED AND ACCURACY
I recently made my own list of the top ten greatest drummers I've ever listened to, and coincidentally, Buddy Rich was my number one favorite as well! Here's my list: 1. Buddy Rich 2. Neil Peart 3. John Bonham 4. Ginger Baker 5. Aynsley Dunbar 6. Kenny Aronoff 7. Ron Bushy 8. Carmine Appice 9. Josh Freese 10. Eric Carr There you have it! ~Dutch
@grassy00, true. If you believe it or not, I play stuff from Cobham and Chambers but get troubles with the one or other Beatles piece. :oO Ringo was better than someone may suggest.
I am and still a big Ian Paice fan but this list is fantastic and ending with the greatest drummer ever. That solo at the end has more in it in 2 minutes than most drummers can do in an album. BR never laboured the point, you got a few seconds of something interesting before he was off onto something else.
Saw Joe Jones in NYC in the early 80's. He used to tour with my teacher Mickey Sheen. He was a rude old drunk, but he could still play. Had a Kaposi's sarcoma on his neck. Didn't know much about AIDS then. Sheen didn't like Buddy Rich much. He liked musical drummers over speed.
good list, cause these are more traditional jazz drummers, very fast, very rhythmic, not rock and roll or metal. I see a lot of people complaining that major rock drummers aren't there, and you know what, different styles call for different lists. Rock drummers are very different from jazz or metal drummers, so to compare them to each other wouldn't do any of them justice. good list for that style of play.
I saw buddy at Ronnie Scott's in the 80s, he was like you on this video, I have never seen drummers hands move that fast, and I have seen the likes of Neil peart and co, this guy was a freak( I mean this in an endearing manner). He was the greatest, good call
For once a list I can almost fully agree on. The only difference in my list would probably be placing Gene Krupa ahead of Max Roach. As for others commenting on leaving out Neil Peart and John Bonham, I also agree. They were good rock drummers, but they absolutely weren't the best drummers. Almost anyone on this list would leave them in the dust, especially Buddy Rich.
Gotta include either of the pioneers Chick Webb or Baby Dodds, just for pushing the drums out front--leading to guys like Krupa, Bellson and Rich. And Webb had spina bifida. He looked like a hunchback dwarf, yet blew the socks off of any contemporary! AND, he was a great bandleader. His band beat Benny Goodman's in a battle of the bands--and that was at Goodman's peak in popularity. Definitely needs Webb, imo. But good list nevertheless!
