Best drummers

[Smoke117]

Some of my favorites that haven't already been named are Jim Gordon, Levon Helm, and Jack Irons.

[Milbuck]

Some of my favorites....

Jojo Mayer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTBccpkBClg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr8KYnEW-7Y

Thomas Lang: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g0MGRaF1oM

Thomas Pridgen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cYlWfv3Hg0

Gavin Harrison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuSCrkLzQt8

Jacob Armen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-zeEKKXrCc

[Heavincent]

Gavin Harrison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuSCrkLzQt8

I gotta listen to more Porcupine Tree.

[JohnFreeman]

Ringo?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTnxmn2jWjo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8LZGQ4MkvQ

[Heavincent]

Mike Portnoy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgANe8mtRgM

[warriorfan]

Ginger Baker hands down. Clapton even said he shits on Moon and Bonham.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U88i4Nqhp9g

there is a pretty cool documentary about him I forget what it's called though

[Bless Mathews]

Even though d styles overall better q brrt is goat drummer


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ILnvq1UZedQ

[Derka]

The thing Clapton always heralded about Ginger over Bonham and Moon was that Ginger was a complete musician; had terrific senses of tuning, melody, song structure, composition, etc...in addition to keeping goddamn near perfect time and being capable of playing AND composing in just about every style of music where any sort of rhythm was required.

Moon and Bonzo were outstanding drummers; Ginger was sooooo much more than a drummer, though.

[Derka]

there is a pretty cool documentary about him I forget what it's called though

Beware of Mr. Baker. Its a good watch. Ginger is probably one of the most cantankerous old c*nts I've ever seen be subject of a documentary.

[Hotbullets]

This one has to be my favourite (for metalcore/djent fans):

Nic Pettersen from Northlan

[Knoe Itawl]

Jimmy Chamberlain, formerly of Smashing Pumpkins.

[DukeDelonte13]

buddy rich is probably GOAT.

[BurningHammer]

Honorable mention: Limp Bizkit's John Otto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tWvneQTgRU

He has a jazz drumming background.

[J Shuttlesworth]

As a jazz musician, I have a different taste for drummers than most of the ones posted in this thread. One of my favorites is Ari Hoenig. He really knows how to manipulate the beat, especially when playing in odd time. At the same time, he's also very melodic and tasteful. This is one of his excerpts in 5/4:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyKSL-9kpOg
One of his tunes (he's also a great writer): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5lauLy1rVY

Also, this guy, Nate Wood... and yes, he is playing bass at the same time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I-Bzx0SXdQ

[Milbuck]

It's hard to pick out drummers in a "best" discussion because it's constantly evolving and too many times it just gets into sentimental opinions... I think Portnoy was listed in this thread somewhere..Portnoy in his day was a beast and a super influential drummer and inspired a ton of drummers and still does to this day... But you talk about technical ability and pure creativity, there are kids out there who blow him out of the water, some of his stuff is extremely outdated. Like Billy Rymer from DEP who doesn't have a fraction of the recognition of status of Portnoy absolutely brutalized Portnoy in a "h2h" of sorts, straight up embarrassed him, just threw out some of the smoothest, technically complex but at the same time explosive material while Portnoy did the same shit he's been doing for decades. Rymer was throwing out polyrhythms and playing with time signatures while still maintaining his groove, while Portnoy just overused the same quads he's been doing for years. It was a clinic, and yet it was the kid schooling one of the most respected drummers of decades.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtsB2mKWaPw


Also, Shuttlesworth's post reminded me of another guy...totally different genre, but Chris Pennie is one of my favorites when it comes to playing with time signatures, complex rhythms, etc...

Just him messing around... https://youtu.be/TG-LJVVQpDI?t=1m36s

And some of his stuff with early DEP is just insane as far as math drumming goes, his coordination with both hands and feet and ability to layer multiple rhythms is incredible. Not the biggest fan of DEP as a band but pretty much all their drummers from Pennie to Rymer are like a different species of drummer, their minds just work differently. It's a shame Pennie has kinda dropped off since leaving DEP.