Any Better Drummer than Bonzo?

Guess what I was listening to on the way to work?


Baby, baby, I don’t wanna leave you,
I ain’t jokin’ woman, I got to ramble.
Oh, yeah, baby, baby, I won’t be there,
Really got to ramble.
I can hear it callin’ me the way it used to do,
I can hear it callin’ me back home.

Robert Plant sound likes a cat caught in a fan belt (that really happened to my cat Tisha when I was a kid, so I know what that sounds like), but Bonzo was a great drummer. It's too bad he got stuck in a band with Page and Plant. Here's to JPJ too. :toast:

Yeah, too bad that he had to suffer in one of the world's most popular bands, tour the world, make millions of dollars, and make a living at something he loved to do.

We should all be so un-lucky.

His drumming could have been better off used in a good band is all I am saying.

But none better at what he did.

:)

He was, if not the greatest, in the top three of all time.

but again, not as Primal, more frenzied.

And a damn ugly woman, to boot.

He could keep the beat and play his fills like he was playing lead at the same time.

And, I've go to say, when both were in their prime, I didn't know anyone (and I was in rock journalism at the time) who thought Bonham was in Moon's class. Hell, most people thought Charlie Watts was better.

Moonie was the best - there is no comparison.

and we have one of his drumsticks!!

I mean what other drummer in history can say "When you hear this riff, you'll recognize it?"

I also thought Santana's drummer at Woodstock was exceptional, especially since he was only 17 at that performance.

In a godda da vida, but even though it was supposed to be extemporizing, it came off too slick for me, like it was something Ron Bushy had been practicing for a long time and was looking for a place to throw it in...

I'm not even that big a Rush fan, but what he did with them was phenomenal. But Bonzo definitely is up there.

Peart is so technically proficient it's unbelievable.

I've never been all THAT impressed with any of the beats in Rush's songs, to be perfectly honest.

Bonzo could keep a steady beat, which is great. But I was never impressed with his flair and/or fills (or lack thereof). Peart manages to be flashy but still steady.

Both drummers were great at what they did. Totally different styles, but they were both perfect for the bands they were (are) in. I find it very hard to pick a favorite.

I saw him and Patrick Moraz in a club setting. Completely amazing.

I wouldn't have qualified that statement by adding "rock drummer" if I hadn't had the honor, privilege, and pleasure of seeing Buddy Rich in concert.

Buddy totally blew my mind. But have you heard Bruford's latest? It's a total jazz album and he kicks ass on it.

and liked them, he was Smooth...

I'll have to keep an eye out for it. Thanks.

What sort of Jazz?

I've seen them both live. Also, saw Tony Williams. Those were the best three drummers i ever saw. All very different, but all incredibly good.
The Professor

No argument. Just a matter of taste, i guess.
The Professor

These guys are just gods of the drums.

The Professor

Really didn't pay much attention to them...though I do have a few CD's.

But, to really get the flavor of how good he is, try to get a copy of the Synchronicity Live concert (in Atlanta). Also, see if you can get a copy of "The Rhythmatist". It's he and his percussion team playing some extremely interesting music.
The Professor

There is a great story about the Police. Stewart Copeland got the flu right before a show, and Copeland's drum tech filled in on drums. They put a hat on him so people would have a hard time noticing. Stewart Copeland said the guy played everything perfectly...he later said, "He even knew all of my 'little tricks'".

Danny Carey of TOOL.

Then again, Tool is the best band, musically speaking, since Zeppelin, if they're not better.

I also add in Jean-Paul Gaster of Clutch.

They play steady, repetitious riffs and beats, none of which strike me as technically proficient or daring. I've heard every song they've done and have all their albums. Their drummer plays like a metronome, which is fine and all. But he doesn't play with anything remotely resembling emotion. I much prefer a Perfect Circle since I like the sound of Maynard's voice, but much prefer the supporting players in that band to Tool.

It's really not even an opinion thing. They are one of the best bands to EVER come along.

What they do that is amazing is that they'll use a junxtaposition of different, layered rhythms. What they do, essentially, is organize chaos into a beautiful, coherent piece of music. It's very "classically written", if you will, the same way that orchestral music is written.

And if you really think the drummer plays like a metronome, listen to Aenima or Sober one more time.

I'm not even just a casual music fan. I'm a rabid music fan of all styles and listen from a musicians perspective as much as a fan's perspective. I don't even dislike Tool. I just don't think they are that great a band. They may be all competent musicians on their instruments, their songs just do nothing for me. I can think of any number of bands that do the layered, controlled chaos thing, much better.

Tool fans are an oddly defensive breed. For some reason it's just not enough for them to like the band, they have to evangelically convince others as to their greatness. It's strange, but hey....to each their own.

It's like saying your local art student is better than Picasso because you like him. Maybe in your opinion he's better, but that doesn't make the statement true.

Opinions are irrelevant when assessing talent, and that's why Tool fans are so defensive. Most of us, even people that aren't necessarily fans of their style, understand that they do something that literally only about 3 or 4 rock bands in history have ever been able to do.

Enjoy! :)

He's also a very technically proficient drummer. Very clean sound, a lot like Neil Peart.

but with Bonham, it was such a Primal Thing, got me right in the gut everytime....

Like in that movie with William Hurt where he would regress to the Primitive man,(what was the name of that movie?) He would go into a deprivation chamber and become the primitive and run around howling?

Both of them were fantastic percussionists. Most drummers in rock & roll at that time were basically timekeepers. These guys were true musicians.

I also think it was very respectful of Led Zeppelin to not go on as a group without him. While Page& Plant toured together and they did a few gigs with Jones and Jason Bonham, it was never a Zeppelin reunion. Most bands would not show that kind of restraint.

Of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, was always a favorite of mine.

I'm a big fan of Futureman (aka Roy Wooten) of Bela Fleck & the Flecktones. Ditto for Stewart Copeland. The funkiest drummer I've ever seen was a guy who tours sometimes wtih Victor Wooten...name...dammit...what's the name?? JD Blair, that's it. The time I saw him was on Wooten's first solo tour at the Cambridge MA House of Blues. He used a bass drum, a snare, and a high hat. That was it. During a solo he wandered into the audience playing people's beer glasses. Awesome stuff. SO funky it hurt.

Neil Peart...saw him in concert...amazing!

Carl Palmer...Food for Your Soul on Works Vol. I WOW!

I forgot about Palmer, didn't make me scream though...

Shit, she even plays with one hand and bare feet!

as for Rock, though, Bonzo wears the crown

Although, I would rate Stewart Copeland as the best rock drummer.

better word, sophisticated. Bonham, on the other hand, could bash out the best driving rock beats. It's rare for a drum beat to be called a classic but everybody knows what the beat to When the Levee Breaks sounds like.

The most economical and most dependable beat in rock music history. Nothing can compare to that whipsnap snare.

the guy whose record cover is in your .sig? When he had the use of his legs, he was quite a fine drummer.

Of the people already mentioned, I like Moon a lot, I like Peart a lot (I think of him as Moon sober), I like Copeland a lot, and I definitely like Bruford, although I don't think he swings enough to do jazz properly. (Saw him with the new Earthworks-- unimpressed.) Oh, and of course Liebezeit.

Of the people not yet mentioned: there's a monster drummer in France name of Christian Vander, runs a group called Magma. He's an absolute juggernaut. Phil Collins was a great drummer before he became the lead singer. (Check out his '70s side project Brand X.) The original drummer from King Crimson, Michael Giles, was amazing. And don't sell short Ritchie Hayward of Little Feat.

Bonzo was authoritative because he could play swing time BRUTALLY LOUD. It was a dirty job, but somebody had to do it. But it wasn't the greatest drumming in the history of the universe.

Robert Wyatt had such a great, exuberant style of drumming.

Bonzo was about hitting the drums hard. Baker was about hitting them often.

there are other musical styles of course, but Bonham still owns rock.

For Rock, Bonham, Moon, and Baker were great too. But so was Buddy Rich for Jazz.

Yes, King Crimson. Bonham was perhaps the best drummer to sample, and there's certainly something to be said for the quality of sound that came from his XL sticks, but the guy held back Led Zeppelin because he couldn't move off from the 4/4 12/8 stuff of the early Zeppelin sound. It really starts to show in the later albums.

Sure, he made a mark, and is in or near the top tier, but if you look at the music that Bruford, or Mitch Mitchell, or Moon, or Palmer could back up, that's where he falls short of the top.

My personal favorite is Ed Cassidy of Spirit. He could do everything. And he's still going at it (and was I believe involved with some of the anti-Iraq War activities of his fellow WWII vets) at age 81.

Are the most technically excellent drummers I've ever heard. Love Love LOVE that Blind Faith Album, and I'm sorry the egos wouldn't allow those three to stay together for a few more releases. Moonie was amazing because you couldn't believe he could hold a rhythm with all those antics, let alone play the way he did with a lead bass player.

But I too love Bonham, just listen to how the rhythm changes in Black Dog and ends up on the opposite beat. Just great.

*****Name Drop Alert*******

When I lived in London in 1976, my friends and I got into the premiere and after party of "The Song Remains the Same". I was 21 and it was the high point of my young life. Robert Plant made certain he stood right under the track lighting to refract off his cherubic golden curls, and I thought my straight boyfriend was gonna ditch me and go propostition him, he was just so fucking beautiful. Jimmy Page didn't even bother with us peons and stayed in the back room where only the elite were admitted. John Paul Jones was just a nice man who loved music and his family and could have given a shit about all the hype and worship.

But Bonham was exactly like what you think. A working-class bloke with salt-of-earth sensibilities who was in over his head with all the excesses (that insight is by hindsight, at 21 I was too thrilled to be philosophical). But really great to all my friends and me, clinking beer glasses and being himself.

He died only a couple years after that, and I really feel privileged to have had that rapport.

Gotta go along with Peart.

If you're talking jazz drummers, the trio of Louie Bellson, Buddy Rich and Elvin Jones reigns supreme. Elvin especially.

Another damn fine, yet unappreciated drummer, is Peter Criss. Yeah, the KISS guy. Everyone thinks KISS is a joke because of all the makeup and the fantasy imagery, but musically they're great.

Now for your new favourite drummers: Chris Dangerous of The Hives (http://www.hives.nu) and Josh Freese of...well, basically every band in the world, but currently playing with The Vandals and A Perfect Circle. Go to http://www.aperfectcircle.com and fine, then play, "Counting Bodies."