Travis Barker: Underrated or Overrated? What do you think of him?

My son sold me his iPod about 4 years ago loaded with about 300 songs. A few by the band Blink 182. He tells me about a Blink 182 concert where the drummer is strapped to his seat, which is attached to a riser that rises off the stage and rotates 360 degrees. Later, I get my Guitar Center Catalog, and this guy with tatoos on neck and arms is standing in front of a OCDP kit. I say, OK, this is the guy who almost got killed in a plane crash, affair with Paris Hilton, does have some licks and skill. I do a little research and I find out:
-Broken, difficult childhood, mother dies before he starts high school, gets tatooed so he can only be a drummer, and not work a normal job. I'm not a Blink 182 fan, but I do like to connect with my kids and learn about thier interests. My son's mother died too before he started High School.

Overrated...? Perhaps. But in order to be considered "overrated" in society, you've broken through barriers and people know your name. To me, he is a musician, drummer and entrepreneur who doesn't have to do the 9-5 day job, and earns money while he sleeps. Looks like he's doing what he loves...
Cool gig.
 
Disclaimer: I'm not a fan of anything he's involved with...
...but what does it matter if someone is overrated? Thinking of someone as overrated usually comes from a place of insecurity. It only creates a place for people to debate and argue over something they have no influence over. It's the same with Phil Rudd or Ringo... No matter what a bunch of nerdy drumming fanatics decide, they're still laughing all the way to the bank.

Whether he's overrated or underrated, he has a successful career, of which most of us will never reach or surpass.
 
I'm contemplating if I actually care enough to write a post that I think he's hugely overrated.





Huh. Guess I do.
He's a marketing machine that has some drumming skills and can entertain.
I do not (and will never) understand why he is 'the bar' to which all other drummers are compared to for a certain generation.
Youtube foolishness?
 
Any drummer who inspires others to pick up a pair of sticks is ok in my book, and Travis has inspired thousands and thousands. As a drummer, he's pretty decent at his chosen style, and I can't remember him ever claiming to be a great technician or virtuoso. He just plays what he plays, and it seems to resonate with a lot of young drummers.

On a non-related note, does anyone else get the impression that lindsayannemusic starts these threads just to generate traffic to her YouTube channel? 21 post, 15 of which are new threads, and most of them contain the same link? I'm happy to check out forum members' playing, but how about keeping the link spamming under control?
 
I respect what he does, although I do not care at all about it. If he stopped drumming, I would not even notice. Peace and goodwill.
 
I think Travis Barker is inspiring a lot of kids, so that's good enough for me. I think where his problem lies is that he is seen as a bit of a one-trick-pony compared to a lot of other popular drummers. If he were to branch out a bit convincingly away from Blink182 he'd probably garner a bit more respect among critics.
 
give credit where credits due, hes a good drummer, and hes making a good living from it.

its just people on youtube who have no idea what theyre talking about blow him out of the water far too much.. one of the classics is travis barker vs tre cool lol
 
On a non-related note, does anyone else get the impression that lindsayannemusic starts these threads just to generate traffic to her YouTube channel? 21 post, 15 of which are new threads, and most of them contain the same link? I'm happy to check out forum members' playing, but how about keeping the link spamming under control?

Nah...she seems like an excited young drummer, and there's nothing wrong with that. She hasn't asked for my credit card info to buy her miracle lug cleaning grease or anything sketchy like that, so I'm not too worried.
Besides, so far she's been asking some pretty good thread questions. If they were dumb, then people would be getting on her about 'em. I haven't seen her spam anywhere, but maybe I'm missing something.
 
On a non-related note, does anyone else get the impression that lindsayannemusic starts these threads just to generate traffic to her YouTube channel? 21 post, 15 of which are new threads, and most of them contain the same link? I'm happy to check out forum members' playing, but how about keeping the link spamming under control?

....................
 
...but maybe I'm missing something.

No, you're not missing anything, she's just a very busy person :)

I agree, Lindsay's putting interesting threads out there, to say the very least, they generate a lot of discussions and involments from the members, so it's all good :)
 
So it's meant to be funny? It seems like in every single drum related youtube clip, the main focus of the commentary is Barker. It makes more sense if people say it just be hilarious, similar to screaming Freebird at a concert. But, even if people mention him initially to be funny, it always seems like there is a genuine discussion of people arguing over his ability after that. Often the top rated comments!

I find it funny because people get drawn into the argument even though it's a complete troll. Then comments fill up with pointless arguments, which is the fate of every single youtube video, except the whole travis barker thing makes that pointless arguing into a satirical joke. At least that's why I laugh when I see it in a completely unrelated video. As far as I'm concerned, the youtube comments section is the worst arena of internet discussion imaginable and is only fit for ridicule.
 
Like Joey Ramone, Travis has more happening as a drummer than most people realise. Saw a clip of him working a pad - he can do a lot more than punk - that's just his shtick.

Have to agree that the constant references to him on YouTube are galling. YouTube is a treasure trove and should be treated as such IMO

But, then again, the whole blogosphere is galling - too many people on the planet, bickering away like frickin' monkeys to achieve or preserve "status" (which I see as applying balm balm to damaged egos which will be extinguished sometime in the next few decades anyway).

Time is short. Enjoy.
 
Nah...she seems like an excited young drummer, and there's nothing wrong with that. She hasn't asked for my credit card info to buy her miracle lug cleaning grease or anything sketchy like that, so I'm not too worried.
Besides, so far she's been asking some pretty good thread questions. If they were dumb, then people would be getting on her about 'em. I haven't seen her spam anywhere, but maybe I'm missing something.

Yeah, I think I was pretty tired and grumpy yesterday.

Still don't see how the YouTube links are all that relevant to the discussions she starts, but I guess they're not all that different from people (like me) having links in their signature.

's all good :)
 
I don't think he's bad, but... he's not better than most other drummers who can play (even some who doesn't make a living out of it).

Posting on YouTube that he's better than some of the greats - Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, Bonham, Gadd, Weckl, you name it - is just stupidity.
 
Posting on YouTube that he's better than some of the greats - Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, Bonham, Gadd, Weckl, you name it - is just stupidity.

Yes, but put yourself in a 15 year-old's shoes with only a couple years of experience. What are the chances that kid will have consciously sought out any of those drummers you mentioned?
That's 3 dead guys and two studio drummers, in some peoples' eyes, as inexperienced as those eyes may be. There's a pretty strong chance that none of those mentioned were the initial inspiration for a kid to pick up the drums today. If those kids play drums because of Travis Barker and they think he's great because of who he is and what he does, how is that any different than Ringo, Neil Peart, Tommy Lee, Lars Ulrich, Meg White or Dave Grohl and the influence they had? All of these drummers polarized opinion to a degree, and each had a huge level of influence on a particular group of influential kids.

Sorry to be harsh about the 3 dead guys thing, but I'm just trying to make a point. If those kids come around and embrace even one of the guys you mentioned, then we all win. But if they don't come around, they don't come around.
 
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Posting on YouTube that he's better than some of the greats - Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, Bonham, Gadd, Weckl, you name it - is just stupidity.

Don't you remember being a teenager? Your heroes were the best in the world, and everyone who thought differently were obviously idiots (even if you hadn't really heard of the artists in question). That's just how the brain works at that age.

Let them have their heroes. If they stick with drumming, they will branch out and discover other players soon enough.
 
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