Top 20 most influential rock drummers, ranked
By Martin Popoff
Just a few notes on process; I’ve focused on the word influence here, not particularly chops or distinct character or fame or commercial success or discography, but yeah, what I’ve learned about pure influence or inspiration from interviewing probably a couple hundred drummers over the years. As well, given the Goldmine eco-system, I’ve focussed on what is essentially all flavors of classic rock. The funny thing is, I’d say that the 20 drummers from any discipline most influential upon rock drummers all were rock drummers. If this was a list of 30 or 40 or 50, I can see as many jazzers and fusion guys getting in, but at 20, I’d say this list is pretty solid. So to reiterate, this tally leans towards the answers I got most often, when asked about influence, with a lean toward inspiration. As for honorable mentions, I went with Kenny Aronoff, Tommy Aldridge, Camine Appice, Brian Downey, Gavin Harrison, Dave Lombardo, Nicko McBrain, Carl Palmer, Simon Phillips and Lars Ulrich.
—Martin Popoff
20. Alex Van Halen
Drummers love Alex for lots of reasons, whether it’s the biggest, most beautifully painted kits in the biz, or his confounding double bass work on “Hot for Teacher” or the novel sharp sound of his tom-toms and bass drum, something I consider as much a part of Van Halen’s “brown sound” as was Eddie and his tone. Bottom line, he’s a pushed-forward sort of star or personality in a massive band that is essentially a Who-like power trio — and yes, Alex can be something of a Keith Moon.
19. Phil Rudd
The patented AC/DC beat, as heard on “Highway to Hell,” is bass drum on one and three, snare on two and four and eighth notes on the high-hat. It’s the purest, most magical entry point or light bulb moment for a pre-teen aspiring drummer and yes, Phil inspired armies of kids the world over to become drummers by playing it perfectly but with groove and then being recorded doing so with utmost clarity. Sneer if you like, and mutter that he’s got the easiest job in rock, but I’ll tell you from experience, his name regularly comes up.
18. Jeff Porcaro
The polar opposite of the Phil Rudd phenomenon, Jeff Porcaro — dead in 1992 at the age of 38 — was a studio legend but also known for his work in Toto. It’s the “Rosanna” shuffle (descended from the Purdie shuffle) for that band, among other tasteful, graceful parts, that was his signature lick. But yeah, he’s almost a bridge to all the jazz and fusion folks I’ve unfortunately excised from this exercise.
17. Terry Bozzio
The greatest drum solo I ever saw was Bozzio during the UK reunion, but those prog icons would represent this technical wizard’s tertiary claim to fame. You’d be surprised how often drummers mention new wavers Missing Persons because of Terry as well, but first and foremost would be Bozzio’s work with Frank Zappa. I’ll take this opportunity to mention Vinnie Colaiuta and Chad Wackerman as well.
16. Charlie Watts
We’re more in the realm of inspiration than influence with this one, because nobody ever dared to drum like Charlie Watts; almost as if some secret society of music police decided that his vocabulary would be reserved for the sacred texts of The Rolling Stones. But yes, his name regularly comes up, for his uniqueness and more specifically, his ability to play behind the beat. Also, a wee point to make, we’ve talked about the AC/DC beat. You can take that and add bass drum on two and four and you’ve got Charlie’s signature go-to, otherwise known as four-on-the-floor.
15. Bill Ward
Bill is known as a huge inspiration, given his percussive stewardship of the immense Black Sabbath. But he’s also an influence, given his massive heavy metal groove, often in the realm of shuffle, his wall-of-sound cymbal work, his ability to swing and most notably, his quite unique tendency to clump around Tony’s massive riffs, accenting the chord changes, if you like.
14. Bill Bruford
With Bill, we’re in the realm of both inspiration and influence, although it’s a scholarly form of influence. In other words, Bruford, with his heroic work for Yes and King Crimson, as well as solo triumphs like One of a Kind, inspired blossoming prog drummers with respect to how creative and delightfully recorded a drummer can be. With regard to influence, he’s a professorial type who influenced drummers to work hard and be all they could be, which I say because few drummers really wound up sounding like Bruford, so we’re missing that kind of influence here.
13. Mike Portnoy
Mike Portnoy is a second and third generation super-drummer, playing with a ton of projects, as well as writing music and lyrics. But he’s best known for his work with Dream Theater, where he established himself pretty much as the consensus Neil Peart 2.0. His influence is as an ardent, enthusiastic student of both the drums and of music in general (hence his versatility), and his inspiration gravitates toward drummer as leader, like a Chris Adler after him and a Don Brewer before.
12. Dave Grohl
Dave Grohl’s immense success first as part of Nirvana and then with Foo Fighters established him as something of a fourth generation Phil Rudd-type situation, embodying the joyous nature of slamming down a beat, Grohl being more of a powerhouse and cymbal-smasher, drawing energy from his partial past as a punker. He’s also happy to deputize and guest and generally be an ambassador for the drums and the people of the paradiddle like that.
11. Stewart Copeland
Stewart Copeland was hard to place on this list because it’s a mix of moderate inspiration and moderate influence with that cat. Concerning inspiration, Copeland delighted drummers with the idea that you could actually find new things to do with a standard, small kit, un-augmented by bells and whistles (other than the bells of his rides and crashes). In fact it was a refreshingly miniature sound, in alignment with the rest of The Police eco-system. Influence-wise, his wayward, independent high-hat and ride cymbal stylings were incorporated by both Phil Collins and Richie Hayward drumming for Robert Plant, but most notably Neil Peart in the mid-‘80s. But Copeland’s sound is so specific, almost obscure, that direct influence was short-lived.
10. Mitch Mitchell
Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell (deceased in 2008 at the age of 62) was like a more limber, skilled and athletic version of Ginger Baker, although he’s less heralded because of the god-like blinding light cast by of the banjo-player in his band. You can also hear Mitchell in John Bonham, especially live, where you can see it as well. But yes, I’ve been pleased to hear his name come up regularly in chats with drummers. Come to think of it, part of the guy’s relative lack of fame is that pretty nondescript and easily forgotten name of his.
9. Danny Carey
I’d stick Tool’s Danny Carey on a trajectory that begins with Chad Smith and then advances to Jimmy Chamberlin, followed maybe by Taylor Hawkins. So these are guys from the alternative rock world known to have chops and be ambassadors in good standing about drums and drumming. Carey is in the most progressive rock band of all of them by a long shot and in fact is basically a modern world prog rock titan (like Gavin Harrison or Tomas Haake), an inspiration for a much younger coterie of percussive hopefuls. It’s just like the guys from the ‘70s tutoring from afar all our favorite drummers of the ‘80s.
8. Cozy Powell
Cozy Powell — deceased from a high-speed car crash in 1998 at the age of 50 — is pretty much the heavy metal version of Carl Palmer; ergo, there he goes pounding for Emerson, Lake & Powell. He’s known for the big splashy beat — basic, hard-hitting, sturdy but somehow dramatic. I figure his finest full song is Rainbow’s “Lost in Hollywood,” but it’s the intro to that band’s “Stargazer” that will live on as Powell’s most magic moment. But yes, the resumé is long, including Black Sabbath and Michael Schenker Group, as well as two songs on Robert Plant’s first solo album.
7. Ian Paice
Honestly, I hear many drummers profess their admiration for Ian Paice but few have adopted his philosophy of finesse and light touch, which is an approach similar to that of Thin Lizzy’s Brian Downey, who I’ve stuck in the honorable mentions. Still, Purple and Paicey are a huge part of the building blocks of many a’ big ‘80s rock star — Lars Ulrich speaks glowingly about both — and he continues to inspire percussionists just by his sheer workload now at 75 years of age, both in terms of number of gigs and how much he hits things at every one of those Purple performances.
6. Ginger Baker
So now we get to the birthday boy that inspired this article. One might actually consider Ginger Baker the first classic rock drum star, given his prominence as one of the egomaniacs trying to make himself heard first in Cream. Inside that band, basically the prototype power trio, Baker was known for his jazz chops, his whacking of the toms, but also being a pioneer at double bass. After Cream, he went on to more obscure, proggier projects, but also explored African drumming. Still, what puts him far up this list is that Cream, along with The Jimi Hendrix Experience, kicked the excitement level up a notch in the late ‘60s beyond what were getting from the Stones, Beatles, Kinks and Yardbirds. And Ginger was more than keeping up with Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce, no slouches in terms of outsized personality and sound on the scene. Ergo, “Mr. Baker” was of significant interest to those who became bigshot drummers in the ‘70s.
5. Keith Moon
Moon the Loon is always brought up by drummers of the ‘70s and ‘80s as an influence, and one supposes that’s partly because of how much fun he was having both onstage and off. Plus it was the level of expression and color and attunement to what Pete was playing that you got out of the guy. In fact, that was part of the fun on the part of the witness, noticing how he played lead drums or a sort of second rhythm guitar to Townshend’s lead and rhythm guitar, with his relationship to Entwistle being an afterthought. In any event, Keith inspired aspiring percussionists because he was a drumming star, playing a star’s drum kit that was both big and, weirdly, a bit silly.
4. Peter Criss
No apologies putting the Catman this high. He’s the first drummer I drummed on ice cream pails to with homemade sticks and I picked Pearl for my first big, new set of drums — a nine-piece — because of him. And then 30 years later, drummer after drummer talked to me about the magic of seeing Peter on that riser, dressed in black, with maybe the best makeup and hair out of all the guys. Plus, hey, it was simple, so you’ve got that entry point thing going, not as basic as Phil Rudd but not far off. And of course, the drums sound massive on Kiss – Alive!.
3. Ringo Starr
This is basically the Kiss story, times 10, and without the makeup. Again, The Beatles are hands-down the biggest influence and inspiration on everybody, still — but logically always weakening, declining over time — almost 70 years since the birth of rock and roll and 60 since The Beatles got going good. Sometimes I think there were more little boys that wanted to be Ringo more than any of the other guys, because he made drums look like the best job in the world. Plus, I know we can once more sneer at the simplicity at the drum position, but there was enough going on with Ringo for a mid-‘60s band that it was actually pretty darned interesting.
2. Neil Peart
You know what? I feel like the top five on this list are absolutely the right picks and in the right order. After that, all hell breaks loose, although I tried hard to get it right. The Professor belongs here because the drum world’s embrace of Peart is mostly about the giddy excitement novices experienced hearing Peart’s snappy, snazzy, hi-fidelity drumming. So there’s the scholarly element missing from the Kiss and Beatles picks, but given the persona and the tornado tour de force he was, along with his golden era being the mid-70s, there’s a lot of that magic nostalgic element as well. But the best reason to put him so high: he’s absolutely mentioned as a critical influence by almost every drummer I’ve ever talked to that wasn’t actually one of Neil’s contemporaries or older. As for what he actually does and is, yes, Peart is very regularly cited as the greatest drummer of al time.
1. John Bonham
Good ol’ John Bonham takes our top slot because he’s basically got large doses of all of the magic power points attributable to every last drummer in our top 10. There’s huge, formative years nostalgic value for any drummer sort of 60 and younger (to a point), there’s groove, technicality, originality, a big sound against a graceful sound borne of a light touch when needed, and there are even great production values, although not consistently. And again, across all the times I’ve talked to drummers — granted, skewed to an older demographic and getting more pronounced in that direction all the time — Bonzo’s name comes up and is whispered in hushed tones, as eyes go glassy and thoughts wander off. To be sure, the myth is steeped partly through his untimely death at the age of 32, but whatever the specifics of his life story are, probably for at least the next 30-odd years, John Bonham will remain the world’s most influential rock drummer — and we can pretty much drop any qualifiers.
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