Greatest Drummer Of All Time

[luke]

That picture they ran of Neil Peart looking up from his massive drum set was great.

I dig Lombardo at 11.

The list has been thorough, if not so accurate.

[Galactus]

Bill Berry and Larry Mullen JR are good drummers but neither of them deserves to be in the top thirty...especially above Clyde Stubblefield (the drummer so funky James Brown had to write a song about it) Levon Helm (who is just fucking amazing without being showy) or Bill Bruford or quite frankly almost anyone in the ten slots behind them.

[Galactus]

I'm hoping the drummer from Arctic Monkeys gets the top spot.

[Fuzznuts]

Mitch Mitchell that high is just ridiculous.

[Galactus]

Mitchell was always kind of second rate ginger baker but with less rhythm.

[skvorisdeadsorta]

Mitch Mitchell was a pretty awesome drummer.....I know most people like to bag on him, but I always thought he was pretty interesting to listen to. Way more interesting than the Hendrix wank fest in my opinion.

I'm totally burned out on Jimi Hendrix and his music drives me nuts to tell you the truth.

[RocDoc]

mitchell was 2nd rate to nobody.

i watched a vh1 40th anniv tribute to monterrey pop that i recorded a few months ago (due to having to take several days off due to a busted and repaired left wrist) that showed off both mitchell and keith moon to extremely wonderful effect...i mean yeah, we've all seen the footage, it's monterrey...

but to see it framed differently with aging/aged hippies like lou adler and clive davis (sammy hagar even!)reminiscing of what it felt like to be there...the wonder and the newness of it all....it gave me another chance to take many of those players in....otis was off the charts too!

this review from stylus is great, towards mitchell and towards jimi...

<sub>18. Mitch Mitchell

The hunched, elfin, Mo-Tucker-in-drag appearance lovingly embraced by Mitch Mitchell never jived with the man’s slobber-jawed, whirlwind style behind the kit. A polyrhythmic fetishist and apparent admirer of classic Coltrane quartet drummer, Elvin Jones, Mitchell reveled in Hendrix’ indifference to his implied role as traditional time-keeper. While his guitarted frontman simultaneously erected and razed sonic structures, Mitchell was urged to play in their rubble, filling in great gaping voids where six-string monoliths once stood. When he wasn’t left to his own devices, he was summoning up great, tidal grooves for Hendrix and bassist Noel Redding to surf upon. “Manic Depression,” with its ride/snare/tom-tom combination, is the supercharged jazzbo’s 3/3 time, resurrected and quickly killed off, drowned in Hendrix’ magma wake. Mitchell’s best was arguably his least busy; the hi-hat/snare staccato that stabs through “If Six Was Nine” are offset by minute—but roof-rattling—fills that steady in auto-pilot propulsion.

The Best Of…
“Manic Depression”
“If Six Was Nine”
“Crosstown Traffic”
[Stewart Voegtlin]</sub>

you do not hear many cover bands doing manic depression, one of my favorite songs.....cause the drummer's gotta be fucking amazing to carry it off.
guitarists can play it but most won't even try if their drummer's going to make them sound stupid...

[Paul]

rocdoc said:

mitchell was 2nd rate to nobody.

I agree 100%

I could give a rodents rump what anyone says, Mitch was/is a fantastic drummer, and plays a HUGE role in why I love Hendrix's music so much.

As noted before, the best line up is Hendrix/Cox/Mitchell

And Hendrix, wanker?? No, no, no. Anything but. His music is so chill in many ways, it has a nice mellow groove to it, with lots of cool drum fills by Mitchell. It's not pretentious like say Led Zeppelin, it's more honest feeling IMO. I guess it's no longer cool to like Hendrix either - seems like every band I like it's so uncool to listen to nowadays. Whatever though, I don't give a fuck. I like what I like and no one will change my opinion.

Bottom line is Hendrix is awesome - don't hate just b/c you're sick of him, or it's uncool. Hendrix = genius.

[maarts]

Bruford only 23rd. Eleven spots below Chris Frantz who is good but not that good and he even tops Ginger Baker..
I've seen enough. They're just pulling them out of their arse.

Lars Ulrich probably's gonna walk away with this.

[Thorngrub]

um... no

[Galactus]

Manic Depression really isn't that hard to play...I mean it's not a beginner tune by any means but it's nothing a decent drummer couldn't pull off with a little practice. Certainly I'm not claiming Mitchell was a bad drummer but he's just one of the those guys that people think was amazing because he was busy. Busy doesn't equal great, Mitchell was sloppy...as a matter of fact not one member of the Experience had much of a sense of time. They were all over the place live. Which is fine I used to love the Experience and even today if I listen to Hendrix it'll be the BBC sessions. Mitchell Mitchell = not crap, occasionally great. Top fifty maybe, not top thirty though.

[Paul]

I disagree, but I like your post. Some of that sloppiness is precisely what I like about Jimi/Mitch. That's also part of the reason I like Billy Cox on bass - he held the fort down with a nice groove while Mitch and Jimi went off. I think Mitch being so busy is what complimented Jimi so well. Just my 2 cents.

[Galactus]

I agree but how does that make him a great drummer in general? I love Dan Peters for the same reasons but I'm not going to try to convince you he's better then Bill Bruford.

[upinkzeppelin2]

Bill Ward certainly deserved to get rated so high, imo. But Larry Mullen Jr. ahead of Neil Peart??? What a joke and I'm probably the biggest U2 fanatic on these boards. This list is retarded for the most part. I will say though that Jimmy Chamberlin is about where I would put him on the list.

[Paul]

ded said:

I agree but how does that make him a great drummer in general? I love Dan Peters for the same reasons but I'm not going to try to convince you he's better then Bill Bruford.

I don't really know how to answer that question. His constant wave of motion is pretty impressive to my ears. Perhaps I'm thinking of Mitch solely based on his work w/ Jimi. Like the two of them together had the chemistry that made them so special. Every time I drum, I try to imagine playing like Mitchell, and its a tough chore. I admit he's no tech/power machine like Neil Pert(sp?), Matt Cameron, Stu Copeland, or John Bonham. But he certainly has a unique flavor about him that I find interesting (kinda like him for the same reasons I like Jack Irons). Mitch may not be top ten, or even 20, but I think he is among rock music's top drummers.