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Anonymous
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Tangled Tango said:Guys you are comparing apples to oranges. It is ridiculous to compare a rock drummer, any rock drummer to the the top jazz drummers. It´s also a bit ridiculous to to say any one drummer as "the greatest ever". They all had great ideas and rhythms to contribute to the music they were playing.
Mitch Mitchel was heavily influenced by Elvin Jones and it shows but Hendrix was not composing pop and Mitch was a perfect fit.
Ringo was a great rock drummer. Certainly one of the greats. He had an amazing groove and applied some very unconvential ideas within the song context of the music the Beatles composed. He was not a technician, but who cares about that in R&R, unless you´re talking about prog-rock and drummers like Peart, Collins ect. Technical ability does not alone make one great. Back in the 50s and 60s a lot of the American rock drummers were jazz players playing simple rock beats, Motown´s a good example.
Many of the most respected drummers in the world are groove masters. Stewart Copeland was respected by jazz drummers, though he wasn´t a pyro technics type player. He had a unique and very musical approach and a great groove.
I´ve seen the Beatles, I have many concert videos of them touring and Ringo was rock solid every night for evey song. I saw one of his All Star concerts with his son playing drums, but when Ringo joined him and took over the beat changed dramatically and became the Beatle beat, the Mercy beat that his technically superior son just didn´t have.
You may of guessed that I am a drummer. Mostly jazz for the past 15 years, but I´ve played rock, funk, punk, punk funk......you name it. I´ve been a pro for many years, too many to admit to and I truly dislike the labeling of artists of any kind "the best", "the greatest". In art they just don´t apply.
Sorry for the rant. Think I´ll go put on some music.
Um, its Merseybeat, not Mercy beat. And again, this is subjective, so let me state it in less universal terms. I don't think Ringo can be mentioned in a list of even the 50 greatest drummers. I do not play professionally, but have played the drums since middle school. I am not nearly the expert that you are, but I know more than most people I would think, and my opinion is that from my subjective standpoint, he isn't all that innovative.