Best drummer ever

Your thoughts? I'm going with Neil Peart.

John Bonham and Bill Ward are tied for me... and then there is Keith Moon and Ginger Baker...

John bonham was an animal. Just as raw as could be!

Vinnie Paul

Gene Krupa.

Any American Revolutionary War battle drummer.

John bonham is definitely up there!

I’m not all that knowledgeable about music, but from what I understand, Bonham was on another level when it came to the technical stuff, if that makes sense.

Moon seemed like a very entertaining guy. All I know is that both groups were top notch, but I don’t think it gets any better than Led Zeppelin.

Also, Travis Barker is an animal on the drums. I couldn’t begin to tell you who the best is, but that guy puts everything he has into his work.

David Grohl doesn't suck.

Im not much on music, 7 out of the first 8 I never heard of. Of course, Im not sure I could name a single drummer of any level. Maybe Ringo, wasnt he a drummer?

I've played unprofessionally for about 30 years and claim nothing other than to be a huge fan of rock drumming. Its been my belief that some of the top drummers include Peart, Baker, Bonham, Louie Bellson, and Buddy Rich. I was fortunate to see Peart 9 times in person and attended a clinic by Bellson when I was in my teens. For technicality, skill and body of work, my vote would go to Peart. He was phenomenal and a true lifelong student of his craft. His body of work is unmatched for spanning different genres of music. Bellson was an unbelievably talented jazz drummer and extremely influential. Bonham was great, but he died young and never developed a lengthy body of work. Not taking anything away from his talent, he just didn't put together a long history at the task. Baker would probably be my number 2. Skilled, technical and had the ability to move within all genres of music for a lifetime. YMMV

1 Peart
2 Baker
3 Rich
4 Bellson
5 Bonham

Peart for all around drummer, Prairie Prince is a damn underrated, "in the pocket" drummer..

Agreed. Bonham and Buddy Rich have to be right up there too.

Far from that easy. Which category of music?

Travis Barker

Very solid.

Yep. I agree with this. Although, he didn’t really play the drums, he beat the living F out of them.

can't say who's best..
But Steve Moore this fun ta watch ..

Bonham for me.

“Tommy Lee.”

- Chickenman, probably.

Brian Downey from Thin Lizzy may not be the greatest, but his playing flows like water.

Peart, Bonham, Ward, Rudd, Phil Taylor, Moon and Mitchell all jump out to me as a rock fan.

Such questions are often better answered by looking at who can achieve the most with the least. Much easier to look great when you're surrounded by a lot of equipment. Give a guy just a few pieces and see what he can do with them.

Peart and keith moon

Art Blakey.

Terrible

Danny Carey

Yep ! the unanswerable question...

If most everyone here is thinking best "rock/pop" style drummer, I'd guessing a lot of you "might" not know who Terry Bozzio of the 1980s new-wave band "The Missing Persons" is.

I'd say he's the best.

...!

Not much to add but this dude in the video is tops for me.

Mike Shrieve. Santana. Woodstock.

There’s many ways to measure “best”. There’s most influential, most technical, etc…

Modern prog drummers are phenomenal. Gavin Harrison, Marco Minneman, Matt Gartska, Danny Carrey, Mike Mangini.

Then there’s jazz, Larnell Lewis, Greyson Nekrutman.

All of these guys blow away the people that influenced their playing, but other than a relatively small group of listeners don’t influence on the same scale as their predecessors. The current listener base doesn’t allow for their popularity on a large scale.

I also think a lot of people get mesmerized by the bass/kick drum and put to much emphasis on it to gauge the overall ability of a drummer.

Johnny Rabb of Collective Soul has invented drumming devices and also held speed drumming world records, he's a very solid drummer.

I'm going to throw in a shout out to Rick Allen as the best one armed drummer in the industry.

Absolutely!...and Thomas Lang near the top as well.

Can't believe no Skinner lovers here.

Carmine Appice…..not the best ever….but up there.

Vinnie Appice as well (solid) vs Carmine who was the older brother and a trend setter. Thinking of Vinnie on Heaven and Hell as well as Mob Rules + his work with Dio.

So many incredible jazz drummers out there. Not my genre so trust the groups input.

Vinnie Paul, Travis Barker, and Jordi Jordison were all awesome drummers.

Cool, what a coincidence. I also played unprofessionally for 30 years in all sorts of bands and genres. My roots are country but I'm also a huge fan of rock drumming. Classic rock/hard rock/punk rock/alternative rock, even a little death metal. Haven't played in about 3 yrs though.

To the OP, IMO the all around best drummer is hands down Neil Peart.

Solid

These guys dont suk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_axmGi6WJCg

I haven't played in a long time either. I loved it and enjoyed it. Mostly punk and hard rock. I grew up in the late 70's and early 80's. Life got in the way but I still appreciate listening to a great set of chops. Every one of the drummers listed in this thread are great to listen to and extremely talented.