Yes.  In his pajamas before he had coffee.

I've always been a Neil Peart fan, and his passing is a great loss to rock.

I have several other favorites as well.  One being Terry Bozzio.  I always liked his antics playing with Frank Zappa.  FZ wrote the incredibly difficult to play "The Black Page" specifically for Bozzio.  Terry is a fantastic composer in his own right too, and I own several of his solo works.

His stuff with Missing Persons is pretty much just straight forward new wave / rock, but his jazz stuff is incredible.

Here is a great video of Terry playing one of his outrageously large kits with a favorite bass player of mine:

First time I saw Jimmy Johnson, he was in James Taylor's band, then Flim & The BBs. Next stop was Allan Holdsworth, but I haven't seen much of him recently. Great player.

This last video I really enjoyed. The guy is not doing anything super fast but it just has a lot of natural feeling coming from his soul to his arms and sticks, whereas Neil Peart's looks like rigid, fast accurate drum drills put together in a big routine

Is this a joke?

Like Paul said neil could that that half awake.
In addition to that there is a huge difference in playing freestyle with no other instruments involved and playing while following the song, or in the lead of the song as neil often was and being able to do things within the song never missing a beat.

The guy was a phenomenon that gave inspiration to millions of others.

Another top drummer but with a completely different style I admire is carter beauford from DMB.
Peart was technical, carter is too but more wide open. He's one of those guys that makes things look easy when its not.

The beatles are / were definitely overrated. Anyone in the age range when they came around is going to disagree but c'mon, yellow submarine, lol. That wouldnt even get airplay on todays radio, along with almost any other of their songs.
They hit things at the right time is all.

I saw this post and figured I would respond. I am a drummer. I think he was great, but I did not like Rush's music. When you want to know if someone is really great, find out what their peers think. Some people think Frank Sinatra was not great, but try asking around with the musicians he played with, rock stars, anyone in the music business that does what he does. Then you will know.

You are correct about Neil. Back then he was rigid and played with matched grip for like 30 years. He wanted to improve his playing and worked with Freddie Gruber to help with movement, switching to traditional grip and improving his timing. Playing style then changed after that. Think this was like in the late 90's. The video I posted was earlier.

Found this interesting article about his reinvention of his playing style.
[Link: 2112.net]

There are many drummers who will defend Ringo Starr's drumming. While not technically great, he has a particular style from playing a right-hand kit while being left handed. I would look up some articles from various drum player periodicals to "prove" this, but I don't care enough about what anyone else believes in this post-truth world.

Alan Holdsworth - another amazingly talented musician who never got enough credit.  It was a shame losing him a couple years back.  Love his stuff.

Yup!  'Flim' Johnson. We have an industry tie-in with Flim & the BBs:  One of my oldest industry friends is Jeff Kussard.  He was working for Harman when he / they rolled out JBL Synthesis way back when.  He's also had stints with Russound and Capitol Sales, and he's been dabbling with recording techniques for years.

Open up your CD copy of Flim & the BBs album 'Tunnel.'  The liner notes and commentary were written by none other than Jeff Kussard.

Right, because airplay is the deciding factor on what's great? And who listens to the radio anymore?

You might want to check out this article from Billboard about streaming Beatles music and popularity among all age groups:

[Link: billboard.com]

Hint: Yellow Submarine is number six in the top ten of 17 year-olds and younger, and number ten with ages 18 to 24.

Yeah, well, that same demographic also loves auto tuning and boy bands. So, take their choices however you want.


People that aren’t impressed by the legends forget to at least consider their work in the era that it was created. If the Beatles came out right now, it would be about as impressive as a barbershop quartet. But in their time, they were revolutionary. Just like Elvis (who they admired) before them, and Ozzy (who is a huge Beatles fan) after them, or the Ramones that some credit for creating punk.

Yep ^

As for the topic at hand, I’d say in most circles (music fans and professional drummers)...it is just you.


No thread such as this would be complete without some ad hominem attacks. Canada would like you to leave the country immediately. Are you mad that the drummer from Nickleback, and the band as a whole, isn’t well respected; and as such will never garner such sentiment as when Neil passed?


I know and have discussed with professional drummers which of their peers they respect the most: Neil Peart, Danny Carey and Portnoy are always, always on the short list. And I tend to agree having seen all 3 of them play live many times.

Well, the Sex Pistols would not agree with that.

And Iggy wouldn't agree with the Sex Pistols.

And we will never agree on anything.

Yes

I stand by my statements and as for asking peers what they think, sounds like Fins, Tweeterguy and myself stand united.