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John Bonham vs. Neil Peart vs. Keith Moon (Battle of the Drummers)


Marmalade_Skies

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On 1/10/2017 at 5:42 PM, Badgeholder Still said:

Hard Rock wise,

there's John Bonham,

then everyone else...

including top players...

Brian Downey

Vinnie Appice

Philthy Animal Taylor

Mickey Dee

Cozy Powell

 

Some drummers who weren't spectacular but still a perfect fit for their respective bands and essential to their signature sound...

Steven Adler

Phil Rudd

Bill Ward

Ian Paice

Peter Criss

Ringo Starr

Meg White

Dave Grohl

And yes, Lars Ulrich!

Plus...

Chad Smith (he might qualify as spectacular)

 

 

You forgot Tommy Aldridge..............

 

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As always this is opinion.  The best gauge is to ask drummers themselves who they admire and most respect.  Bonham just did it all. Hit hard, generate insane rolls and fills and play with "touch".  His love of jazz is quite evident in his playing as he just naturally grooves and is particular on show on In Through the Outdoor (great isolated drums of Fool In The Rain solidified my opinion in this regard).  

It's an interesting synopsis of his broad technique considering his reputation as a power drummer.  All of this while working with a minimal kit. 

 

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I realize these kinds of questions are fun, but really, what is a drummer supposed to be doing? They are supposed to be serving the song. If Bonzo had the technical abilities of Neil Peart, it wouldn't make any sense for him to drum like Neil in Led Zeppelin. It wouldn't fit their music. Whereas Neil fits perfectly with Rush. When Geddy and Alex create demos for a Rush album, the tracks have odd time signatures all over the place, and all sorts of holes in the music that need to be filled with musical information. I don't view music as a competition. It's like if you go to youtube.com clips of "It Might Get Loud" where Jimmy is playing and The Edge is sitting there looking at him, people in the comments are all over The Edge, saying he sucks compared to Page, that he's a product of his effects, etc. But guess what? That's U2's music! That's their sound. That's how their songs are. Part of what makes U2 unique as a band is The Edge's understanding of effects and what they can do to create atmospherics in music. Music isn't a competition. It's really about creating your own sound and following your bliss.

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1 hour ago, NorthBoundSuarez said:

I realize these kinds of questions are fun, but really, what is a drummer supposed to be doing? They are supposed to be serving the song. If Bonzo had the technical abilities of Neil Peart, it wouldn't make any sense for him to drum like Neil in Led Zeppelin. It wouldn't fit their music. Whereas Neil fits perfectly with Rush. When Geddy and Alex create demos for a Rush album, the tracks have odd time signatures all over the place, and all sorts of holes in the music that need to be filled with musical information. I don't view music as a competition. It's like if you go to youtube.com clips of "It Might Get Loud" where Jimmy is playing and The Edge is sitting there looking at him, people in the comments are all over The Edge, saying he sucks compared to Page, that he's a product of his effects, etc. But guess what? That's U2's music! That's their sound. That's how their songs are. Part of what makes U2 unique as a band is The Edge's understanding of effects and what they can do to create atmospherics in music. Music isn't a competition. It's really about creating your own sound and following your bliss.

Well said, and of course you're absolutely right. On the other hand, it's just a whole lot of fun to say "my favorite musician can kick your favorite musician's ass!!!" :)

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The problem is that I am a huge fan of Rush and I am also a huge fan of Zeppelin! Of course all the members of Rush would claim Led Zep to be one of their primary influences. I know that Jimmy is Alex's largest influence on guitar.

If you have never seen this clip, it's well worth checking out. It's about the time when Geddy first met Plant, and Alex first met Jimmy. As many people know, Jimmy was actually a supporter of Rush in the early 80's. He saw them as being a group that took from Zeppelin's foundation but built their own musical style instead of copying them. This is a really cool clip;

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Being Canadian you might think i would be bias in choosing Neil Peart but John Bonham was just something else. Bonham's sense of feel , his rhythm coupled with sheer force and power is a benchmark for the modern rock drummer. Neil Peart is a technically gifted and monster drummer in his own right and deserves to be in the top three. Let's not forget that Rush were huge fans of Led Zeppelin and were heavily influenced by them.

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