I’m continuing with my drummer lists and keeping it short and sweet this time around. Here is my shortlist of drummers you’d recognize on any song. Their sound and feel and style are so distinct that their fingerprint on the music they play is every bit as unique and influential as a great singer’s voice. Is it a coincidence that so many of them played with iconic singers and bands?
MOST IDENTIFIABLE DRUMMERS
Carter Beauford — Dave Matthews Band — Love him or hate him (or some of each?) you know it’s Carter when you hear that hi-hat work, the complex ride patterns, those interesting linear grooves, and those supremely consistent subdivisions.
John Bonham — Led Zeppelin — No one plays a deep groove like Bonham did. All the simple beats were so deep, heavy, and dirty when he played them.
Keith Moon — The Who — Every bar should be a drum fill, right? Big, slappy, sloppy, groovy, and visceral.
Mitch Mitchell — Jimi Hendrix — The quintessential groovy psychedelic rock drummer, for me. A little hard, beautifully inconsistent and very free.
Stewart Copeland — The Police — So few notes sometimes, and such interesting and perfectly played notes all the time. And such driving groove—like a rock’n’roll Buddy Rich. Speaking of Buddy Rich…
Buddy Rich — jazz/swing — Ahhh, Buddy Rich. A real animal, and exploding with forward momentum and top-of-the-beat energy and urgency.
Neil Peart — Rush — Not just his energetic and rhythmically precise sound is memorable, but the sound of his drum kit is one of the most recognizable in all of recorded music.
ALMOST MADE THE CUT
Dave Grohl — Nirvana, Foo Fighters (studio) — The modern caveman. He brought dropped a heavy rock’n’roll anchor on the big, grungy crunch of Nirvana. A patternistic, hard-hitting, earthy pocket-drummer who can make every note a moment of its own.
Lars Ulrich — Metallica — A quintessential metal drummer. I had to at least mention him—he helped define the sound of heavy metal.
Okay, anyone you’d want to add to (or subtract from) this list?
As much of a drum enthusiast as I am, I would not ever be able to listen in the way that you do. However, my favorite drummer (besides my former students, of course) would not likely be on the list, and that is Joe Morello, especially his work with Brubeck. I loved his sensitivity and sublety, and creativity back in the day (Shortnin’ Bread, for example.) Wouldn’t fit on your list, as I said, but his playing always gets my attention.
You know, Verna, I just don’t speak jazz all that well. I’ve heard lots of great jazz drummers, and think I’d agree with what you said about Joe Morello—I’ll have to listen some more!—but I couldn’t think of any jazz drummers whose playing I’d recognize the moment I heard it, even on a song I wasn’t familiar with. That was the only real criterion for my list. I think if I heard John Bonham or Stewart Copeland on some newly discovered track with some unknown band, I’d be thinking, “Boy, that sounds a lot like John Bonham,” or, “I think that’s Stewart Copeland on the drums!”
I think there might be a good analogy with cooking. You know how certain ingredients tend to blend in, or morph to match the flavors around them? Tofu? Squash? Potatoes? Cream? Salt? My list is the drummers who are like garlic, red onions, or rosemary. Love ’em or hate ’em, they’re distinctive and are recognizable in almost any dish.