The 10 best pure Drummers....Part I ....

A very good friend and excellent musician in his own right, said he was challenged to come up with a list of the top 10 Drummers, Guitarists, Bassists, Keyboardists etc... by a fellow musician that he jams with. Apparently this was a topic of discussion between them for over four weeks. I was appalled at nine of the ten Drummers they had on the list!

I will never confess to knowing enough about any of the other instruments and the styles utilized to maximize performances from them, to ever consider being a judge of good or bad. I merely know what "I" like when it comes to them.

But then there's the Drums.

I have a little over 27 years of beating and banging experience, all to my own Drummer of course but experience none the less. I've played in several bands and even managed to make it onto a record or two. The best Drummer in the World, I'll never be. But I do know enough to recognize absolute pure talent in the position when I hear it.

So here is Bam-Bam's top 10 Drummers ever!

No list of Drummers is worth a lick, without Gene and Buddy! They quite frankly, were the beginning of anything you now know as the Drums. Yes others took what they did and created a different sound of their own. But it still remains true and always will, that Gene Krupa & Buddy Rich are the Fathers of modern Drumming as we will always know it. I will place them on any countdown list of best Drummers ever made, even if it's just the best two! But this is my top 10 list, so I say the boy's share spot #10.



At spot #9, a Drummer that gets more respect from his peers than anyone else in the World. Simply put, Danny Carey is one of the most sought after studio musicians out there. His creativity knows no boundaries and his ability to play the soft stroke or bash the thrash, can both be found in one of a Tool followers favorite songs. Listen to Danny Carey control everything needed, to enhance this song. A true talent!



Terry Bozzio deserves to be in the #8 spot for so many reasons, but there's only one that's really needed. Frank Zappa and The Black Page. Simply one of the best on beat performances of one of the most difficult to perform songs there is for a Drummer. Take note of how his audition for Frank Zappa actually went.

"After his audition for Zappa, all the drummers behind him in the line left."



#7 on my list gets some credit for his Drumming abilities, but typically for all the wrong reasons. The most frequent comment about Vinnie Paul has to be his flying feet on the twin 24" Bass drums. He is often credited for introducing that twin cylinder thump called "The Harley" into the world of Metal and Drums. I'm not too sure if that's correct or not, so I'll leave it be. But Vinnies real talent lies in what you can barely hear when he plays. Vinnie is a master at back-beats, 6/4, 8/4 and an astonishing 12/4 timing for double beats to accentuate his performance in the song. Creativity is certainly one of Vinnies most amazing attributes. If you know of him from Pantera and didn't know he was also in Hellyeah, you really need to check out his work with them.



Encyclopedia Britannica said it best when bringing up #6 on my list John Bonham, they said he was, "the perfect model for all hard rock drummers that have followed him." Never has a Drummer done so much, with so very little. Zeppelin was always about the Guitars and Voice, but true beatniks such as myself could always hear the magic that John was rocking out to any tune. He was an off-tempo genius.



Like they say, too much of a good thing... or too many cooks!

We'll be back tomorrow with my Top 5 Drummers ever.

I will leave you with one that didn't make my top 10 list though. He surely deserves an honourable mention in my books. DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME KIDS!

A-N-I-M-A-L !!!



My sincerest thanks for dropping by....