The most underrated drummer ever, according to Dave Grohl and Phil Collins
If you’re going to ask anyone for a valid opinion on who the greatest drummer of all time is, then your best bet would be to ask an actual drummer. To every other member of a rock band, the drummer is just the dunce at the back who hits things, but a real drummer would know that this isn’t remotely true.
Quite often, when we read these all-time rankings, the drummers who end up on top are all the same picks, largely because those in charge of making the selections aren’t drummers and think that having the most flair is what’s going to get you to the upper echelons of such a chart. Once again, a real drummer will know that in order to be the best at your instrument, you don’t have to have all four limbs flailing around like windmills to be considered good.
Of course, there’s no denying that the likes of Keith Moon and John Bonham are worthy recipients of being considered the greatest drummers of all time, but it can be quite tiresome seeing them both occupying the top spots ad infinitum because the judging panel haven’t taken a moment to consider the wealth of other options from throughout the history of popular music.
Two people who would be worth at least a smidgen of consideration for some of the higher spots are Phil Collins, best known for his tenure as the drummer and lead vocalist with prog rock titans Genesis before venturing onto a solo career, and Dave Grohl, who played drums on the final two Nirvana records before becoming the leader of alternative rock group Foo Fighters and contributing to various other modern rock outfits in his spare time.
While both of them are often celebrated more for their versatility and ability to write their own songs, something that not all drummers can claim they’re able to do, that doesn’t make them any less proficient at their primary instruments, and for that reason, both ought to be near the top end for how they both developed their own distinctive playing styles.
However, what the two of them can agree on is that one of their mutual favourite drummers is someone who often gets overlooked when it comes to listing the greatest of all time, and who is often used as the butt of the joke despite his technical excellence. For all the talent that was bursting out of the other three members of The Beatles, Ringo Starr isn’t taken as seriously in his role, but both Collins and Grohl agree that he’s a misunderstood genius at his craft.
“I’ve been a staunch supporter of Ringo, while a lot of people have kind of haven’t seen the fuss,” Collins once proclaimed in defence of his idol. “What Ringo did, he brought drums out from the back and made people listen to them slightly. I mean, when you say ‘oh, I love this song’, sometimes people should say ‘listen to what’s going on behind.’” While he noted a handful of his favourite drum grooves from Starr, including ‘All My Loving’ and ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, he claimed that both of these are deceptively complex rhythms, and that all this time, “He was really flashing around.”
Grohl, on the other hand, really wanted to question what it is that makes a drummer so great, and when asked to introduce Starr into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an individual, he put it to the audience to define what it means to be the best drummer in the world. “Is it someone that’s technically proficient,” he asked, “or is it someone that sits in the song with their own feel? Ringo was the king of feel.”
Many people will look beyond Starr’s drumming and focus on the efforts of the other elements within The Beatles, but when you strip away what the other three are doing and zoom in on what he was doing behind the kit, you’ll realise there was a subtle complexity to his play style that very few have been able to imitate. Should Ringo Starr be considered one of the all-time greats? Probably, but don’t ask me – I’m not a real drummer.
