# Best Rock And Roll Percussionist **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 4, 2001, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414 "2001-11-04T06:35:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414/1 "2001-11-04T06:35:42Z")
It would have to be Ruth Underwood, who toured with Frank Zappa in 1973-74 and then again during Christmas 1976. She could play anything Zappa could write. ---
**Author:** ![King\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7bcc69/32.png) [@King\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414/2 "2001-11-04T15:33:31Z")
Mickey Hart & Bill Kreutzmann. People always referred to Mickey as a drummer/percussionist and Billy as a drummer. I don’t know if this was really fair. They both used to pound on all kinds of things during their drum solos with the Grateful Dead. ---
**Author:** ![Lateralus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@Lateralus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lateralus)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414/3 "2001-11-04T16:53:28Z")
**Danny Carey** from **Tool**. Uses more drums, cymbals, and other stuff than any other drummer I’ve ever seen in my life. When I saw them live a few weeks ago I swear they formed a 270 degree arc around him. Crazy. If you want to listen for yourself, check out the songs _Ticks and Leeches_ or _Lateralis_ by **Tool**. Friggin’ amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414/4 "2001-11-04T17:16:07Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Lateralus_ > > When I saw them live a few weeks ago I swear they formed a 270 degree arc around him. You mean like [this](http://web.meganet.net/pez51/)? Actually the “circle of drums” picture isn’t there but every time I’ve seen Peart, he plays as they circle around him as if on some enourmous lazy susan platform. Implessive. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414/5 "2001-11-04T17:17:13Z")
Not to mention _impressive_. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414/6 "2001-11-04T21:39:20Z")
I’d put Bill Bruford up there too, but I’ll also go with Mickey Hart. When I think pure percussionist (non-drummer), the name Rebop comes up. He is on some Stones records and some Traffic records as well. Then there’s Vinx, who toured with Sting and then made some albums of his own. ---
**Author:** ![brido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@brido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brido)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414/7 "2001-11-04T21:51:26Z")
reni from the stone roses. whatever happened to that guy? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414/8 "2001-11-04T21:59:55Z")
Michael Giles on Macdonald and Giles, who seemed to be using all sorts of odd objects for the percussion. Early Santana had a nice group of percussionists: José Chepitó Areas, Coke Escovedo, and Mike Carabello ---
**Author:** ![Lateralus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@Lateralus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lateralus)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414/9 "2001-11-04T22:28:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Attrayant \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > _Originally posted by Lateralus_ > > > > When I saw them live a few weeks ago I swear they formed a 270 degree arc around him. > > You mean like [this](http://web.meganet.net/pez51/)? > > Actually the “circle of drums” picture isn’t there but every time I’ve seen Peart, he plays as they circle around him as if on some enourmous lazy susan platform. Implessive. \*\* Yeah, a lot like that, actually. Most drummers don’t have half that many. Their two setups are probably a lot a like, **Tool** admitting a lot of their sound came from **Rush** with the phrase “Rush / pi = Tool”. Whatever that means. ---
**Author:** ![sim0n](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@sim0n](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sim0n)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414/10 "2001-11-14T05:54:45Z")
even though I’m not really a Phish fan (phan?) I do have to admit that Jon Fishman is one of the most sublime drummers I have ever heard. Very, Very precice, can do all sorts of weird timings and psuedo-techno rhythmics. and his interaction with the music is truely unique. I don’t know about “best” but up there. ---
**Author:** ![sim0n](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@sim0n](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sim0n)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414/11 "2001-11-14T06:03:10Z")
But I’ll have to agree about Zappa- his drummers had to be exceedingly good to play most of Frank’s stuff- WAY out there! and of course Mickey Hart, but I think that most of what he did with the Dead - “Drums” included - had more to do I believe with improvisation, and band (or just Billy)interaction than technical expertice/precision (not that he lacked in those, though) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414/12 "2001-11-14T13:30:45Z")
Barriemore Barlow of Jethro Tull fame. ---
**Author:** ![Skip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@Skip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skip)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414/13 "2001-11-14T17:05:12Z")
The drummer for the **Police** (you remember, Sting’s old behind before he decided to suck) was considered a drum genius. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414/14 "2001-11-14T17:30:52Z")
Jai Johanny Johanson, a/k/a Jaimo, an original member of the Allman Brothers Band, is one of the best! ---
**Author:** ![Hugh\_Jass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4da419/32.png) [@Hugh\_Jass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hugh_Jass)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414/15 "2001-11-14T17:44:50Z")
This might be a bit of an unusual choice, but I’ve been a big fan of Mick Fleetwood’s for a long time. He’s very subtle, doesn’t dominate the song at all, but I always find myself airdrumming to Fleetwood Mac. I recommend Mickey Hart’s Planet Drum album for any percussion fans out there. Great stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414/16 "2001-11-14T18:09:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skip \* > \*\*The drummer for the **Police** (you remember, Sting’s old behind before he decided to suck) was considered a drum genius. \*\* That would be Stewart Copeland, who shares my birthday. And I agree…although I’d throw Neil Peart in there with him, actually. [sub]was going to mention Buddy Rich until I saw the freakin’ THREAD TITLE…sigh[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![craiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@craiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/craiger)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414/17 "2001-11-14T19:17:02Z")
The late Linda McCartney was the greatest tambourine player of her generation. Her innate ability to punctuate every beat of “Listen To What The Man Said” was simply perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414/18 "2001-11-15T03:07:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hamadryad \* > was going to mention Buddy Rich until I saw the freakin’ THREAD TITLE…sigh Not sure who he is, but if he is a percussionist, he is a worthy mention. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414/19 "2001-11-15T05:46:22Z")
Mr Baboon is a drummer. his favorites are: Stewart Copeland and Tim Alexander (formally of Primus) slight hijack: Copeland is hooking up with Les Claypool in a band called Oysterhead. ---
**Author:** ![Phlip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Phlip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlip)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414/20 "2001-11-15T06:18:00Z")
Igor Cavalera from Sepultura. I love tribal percussion in metal. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-and-roll-percussionist/91414.md?page=2)