Household name British drumming magazine Rhythm marked its 25th anniversary last month by organising an online poll to create a listof the 20 greatest drummers of the past 25 years. Pintsized Joey Jordison (with the bungalow-sized drum kit) from Iowa metal band Slipknot was crowned as the greatest drummer in the past 25 years, with Dream Theatre’s Mike Portnoy and Porcupine Tree’s Gavin Harrison picking up second and third place respectively.
As opinion polls usually tend to, this one also attracted its fair share of acceptance, criticism, and outrage, “metal horns” of approval and from some quarters, even a polite round of applause. Many said that for his yeoman services to metal, Joey deserved the top spot. Numerous others asked why him? Why not someone else? Where were the names of
Igor Cavalera (Sepultura, Cavalera Conspiracy), Tommy Lee (Mötley Crüe) and Danny Carey (Tool) this correspondent wondered.
Meanwhile, a plethora of others questioned the legitimacy of such opinion polls to pick out the best among a group of such diverse
characters with even more diverse styles.
A similar sort of diversity once again came to the fore, when home-grown skin-pounders were asked to pick their favourites. “It depends on the music. There are a number of very good jazz drummers, there are some excellent metal drummers, some exceptional pop drummers and so, how can you possibly compare them?” asks Shiraz Bhattacharya of Pentagram and Shkabang (not to be confused with Dabangg). Picking Vinnie Colaiuta (Frank Zappa, Sting and Joni Mitchell) as one of his
favourites, Shiraz says, “He’s one of the most versatile drummers out there. But it really doesn’t make sense to have such opinion polls.”
Agreeing with him to a certain extent is, former Pin Drop Violence and present Bhayanak Maut sticksman Jai Row Kavi, who says, “There really cannot be a best anything in music, be it drummer, guitarist or
singer. It’s a very subjective and personal matter. No two guys sound the same.” Also citing Vinnie as his personal favourite, Jai lists Gavin as his second favourite and says, “Metal guys usually end up dominating most opinion polls, but Joey is a good drummer. He’s great at what he does, even if it’s a bit one-dimensional.” Further down Rhythm’s list are the highly influential Neil Peart from Rush at number four, Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) at number five and the heavily tattooed Travis Barker (blink-182) in sixth place.
Veteran drummer Sidd Coutto, who is best known for his work with Mumbai band Zero (and more recently, as the singer/guitarist for Tough on Tobacco) lists Carter Beauford (Dave Matthews Band), Stuart Copeland (The Police) and Jeff Porcaro (Toto) as his three favourite drummers. However, his view is such opinion polls is extremely ambivalent. “Carrying out opinion polls such don’t really help anything and they aren’t detrimental to anything either. They are just opinions,” says Sidd, honing his act as a borderline fence-sitter and adds, “If you’ve never heard a certain type of music or can’t
relate to it, you won’t think x is a particularly good drummer, while y in your opinion might be excellent only because you’ve actually heard him play.”
Rounding up the top 10 in that list are Iron Maiden’s Nicko McBrain in seventh place, Vinnie comes in eighth, Phil Collins (Genesis and solo) picks up ninth spot, while Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ Chad Smith is tenth. Former Scribe drummer, Niraj Trivedi however, is one of the few with a
sunny view of such opinion polls. “I definitely feel such polls should be carried out. There’s a whole bunch of people out there who listen to music. There’s also a whole bunch of people who make music. So it’s good for them to have someone to look upto,” says Niraj, naming Travis and No Doubt’s Adrian Young as his personal favourites.
Not everyone however, had such calm reactions to this opinion poll though. Anthony Gomes, a jazz drummer, who gives drum lessons in south Mumbai exploded at the fact that anyone could be audacious enough to compare musicians.
“This sort of comparison is highly unhealthy. Art is never a competition and slowly everyone is trying to make it a contest. If these reality TV shows were not enough, now they want opinion polls,” fumes Anthony and adds, “It is also a western bias that people like Sivamani were left out of this poll. My favourite drummer is anyone and everyone who picks up a pair of sticks and wants to play. Now please go away.” Drummers eh? Can’t live with ‘em.