Neil Peart

That's interesting because I wouldn't put Bonham or Peart in that type of class. Maybe Buddy since he was ridiculously skilled and admired.


Well how does one measure originality? I know one thing, I can tell Neil Peart's drumming instantly. Add to the technical skills and maybe he does fit that category. John Bonham as well. I'd have to think about other drummers. You can tell Keith Moon's drumming easily as well. But I do not view him as technically strong as the others mentioned.
 
Shemp..i agree with you....all drummers are unique and all are good ..i dont see any drummer that bores me in any studio recorded Rock Music..unless it is some sampling or robotic .... ....Moonie would never in his life would be able to play along an AC/DC track or a Rush Track so precisely..or even called to sit in for Steely Dan.
 
I agree... He perfectly fits in Rush...he is the professor, the best talented drummer in my honest opinion.

but he never fits for any Who songs....his playing of the Who cover songs does sound more defined and clearer and not "sloppier" and more lively like Moonies works..

Neil has mentioned many times in interviews Moon is one of his biggest influences, and but he once joined a band that played Who covers and he found he hated playing like Moon.

Which I get. I love listening to Peart, but I don't much care for playing like Peart. And I love Moon, but trying to play his style is exhausting.
 
Well how does one measure originality? I know one thing, I can tell Neil Peart's drumming instantly. Add to the technical skills and maybe he does fit that category. John Bonham as well. I'd have to think about other drummers. You can tell Keith Moon's drumming easily as well. But I do not view him as technically strong as the others mentioned.

I think of many other drummers as "top 3 all-around" before Neil, but I really do like some of Rush's music.
 
I think of many other drummers as "top 3 all-around" before Neil, but I really do like some of Rush's music.

It's certainly subjective to a degree from a drummer's perspective as they evaluate a drummer and try to see who is the "best"...there is no best, but when you look at popularity, longevity and originality though; Neil is very likely in the top 3 if not top 1.

There is no "better" drummer at that level...they are all pros and fantastic drummers...I don't care if Neil "can't play" jazz or buddy can't play funk and all that horse puckey and ridiculous nonsensical drivel (Can Tom Brady play RB or Wideout?)....

Peart was/is wildly original, talented and has an enormous vocabulary of drum parts and library of work...undeniable.

The masses he has influenced are at least equal to Buddy and Bonzo if not more...although I recognize there is no Neil Bash or Burning for Peart :)
 
Agreed that Peart is an amazing and hugely influential rock drummer, and a phenomenal drummer for Rush. I'm a huge Rush fan and have seen them in concert many times.

Popularity, originality, and longevity, if they are your metrics, then Peart has a place, but I think there are others who at least rival him even on those metrics, outside of Buddy Rich and Bonzo (Billy Cobham, Phil Collins, and Dave Grohl are a few that immediately come to mind).

Not sure if you were being serious, but Buddy definitely can lay it down and funk it up if needed. But Peart can't play jazz, or even really swing for that matter, which is painfully obvious on those Buddy Rich memorial concerts. The greats can excel across genres.
 
Agreed that Peart is an amazing and hugely influential rock drummer, and a phenomenal drummer for Rush. I'm a huge Rush fan and have seen them in concert many times.

Popularity, originality, and longevity, if they are your metrics, then Peart has a place, but I think there are others who at least rival him even on those metrics, outside of Buddy Rich and Bonzo (Billy Cobham, Phil Collins, and Dave Grohl are a few that immediately come to mind).

Not sure if you were being serious, but Buddy definitely can lay it down and funk it up if needed. But Peart can't play jazz, or even really swing for that matter, which is painfully obvious on those Buddy Rich memorial concerts. The greats can excel across genres.

I would say Cobham is a drummers drummer....he has no where near the mass popularity of Peart....or albums sold or face recognition, etc. Grohl is also very popular and a very solid drummer....but not in the same dimension as Peart in terms of drumming vocabulary.

There are folks....on here even...that have questioned buddy in the Rock and funk domains....I sure do not question buddy on anything; I still don't see anyone with his snare chops and clarity of notes and rolls or sequences.

Again though, I don't need buddy to play like Neil or vice versa for them to be great....to be honest....I've watched all the burning for buddy stuff and as great as all of the drummers are, I don't hear any of them playing things like Time Check with same groove and mojo as buddy. To my ears it is not there with any of the guys playing those tunes....in comparison to buddy that is.

I don't care if Neil cannot swing and I think that has been overstated to death....he doesn't need to....he really created his own language.....very precise, killer tones, a library of fills and sequences that is mind boggling.....and he has countless disciples that are the best of the best in the younger generations....the influence is unquestionable.
 
what about guys like Ringo, Travis Barker, and Gene Krupa; plenty of popularity, longevity, and originality on display.
 
I've read that Neil Peart has incorporated Max Roach's "The Drum Also Waltzes" into his drum solos during Rush concerts (he apparently first heard the Roach solo via a Bill Bruford performance of it).

I was just giving Roach's "Drums Unlimited" a re-listen, and Peart's famous ride cymbal intro to "YYZ" bears quite a resemblance to Roach's hi-hat intro "Drums Unlimited."
 
John Bonham would often borrow "The Drum Also Waltzes" to start his solo live

... and I would absolutely hate to hear Neil quote Max..... cringe worthy I'm sure
 
...there is no best, but when you look at popularity, longevity and originality though; Neil is very likely in the top 3 if not top 1.
Sure Buddy, Neil and Bonzo are three of the biggest names to non-drummers. I can see that argument. Let's look from a drummers perspective, though. That's where the argument would end for me.
 
On the plus side, when Neil incorporates The Drum Also Waltzes into his solo, he doesn't really try to make it jazz, he just uses the 3/4 ostinato to solo over.

On the negative side, I read or heard in an interview that when Neil told Max Roach he borrowed from that piece, Max wasn't too happy about it, lol.

I'm a Peart fan, by the way. I just don't think EVERYTHING he does is golden. I don't fault him for trying to stretch, though, even if the result isn't quite what we'd want to hear.
 
Of course, on the flip side of that....I wonder what it would look like with Max Roach playing Natural Science, or La Villa.

I'm not trying to be a smart-ass, just saying, is it realistic to expect these monster drummers to be able to ape each other's style?

Only respect for Max...and Neil
 
John Bonham would often borrow "The Drum Also Waltzes" to start his solo live

... and I would absolutely hate to hear Neil quote Max..... cringe worthy I'm sure

As I Rush fan, I actually agree.

I would prefer if Rush would just play another song rather than yet another 10+ minute drum solo.

Particularly given when Neil does the whole solo over an ostanato thing, it's really just, yeah know, I've seen that before. I mean Terry Bozzio was shredding on that concept over 20 years ago. It's been done! It's not exciting.

Please, Neil, you're awesome at what you do, so stick what makes you awesome, and stop trying to do something that you are just not.

You have some 20 or albums of music to choose from; play an obscure song, a b-side, maybe a lesser played instrumental, or something, and skip the same ole' boring drum solo ideas I've heard 101 times before.
 
Neil's paid his dues, achieved at a high level in his field, and has pleased and inspired many drummers and Rush fans. He's earned to right to do what he likes. There will always be Rush fans who continue to think he has a solar posterior, even if he's pinching Max Roach patterns.

I never begrudged John Wetton playing in Asia either - he had played so much quality prog without great financial reward while others less deserving played the game and made their bundle. Can't blame John for wanting a piece.

For Neil it goes the other way. He already has the fame and fortune. So now he's looking to try different things. Makes sense to me.
 
Excellent! Logic and pragmatism. I fully agree....

Neil's paid his dues, achieved at a high level in his field, and has pleased and inspired many drummers and Rush fans. He's earned to right to do what he likes. There will always be Rush fans who continue to think he has a solar posterior, even if he's pinching Max Roach patterns.

I never begrudged John Wetton playing in Asia either - he had played so much quality prog without great financial reward while others less deserving played the game and made their bundle. Can't blame John for wanting a piece.

For Neil it goes the other way. He already has the fame and fortune. So now he's looking to try different things. Makes sense to me.
 
You have some 20 or albums of music to choose from; play an obscure song, a b-side, maybe a lesser played instrumental, or something, and skip the same ole' boring drum solo ideas I've heard 101 times before.

I'm a huge Bonham fan, but to be fair, Moby Dick didn't vary much over 10 years of Zep either. Excessive solos are not my thing at all. My guess is some drummers know the crowd expects *that* solo. They play it for the crowd. Perhaps Peart holds to that motive.
 
Interestingly, on the last tour Neil ditched the longer solo and did three shorter pieces. I much preferred that format, myself. I haven't really been a fan of drum solos more than a few bars long since I was in junior high school, lol.
 
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