Last Updated on December 12, 2025 by Black Sunshine Media
We’ve covered three of the Big Four positions in rock music—vocals, guitar, and bass—so it’s time to list the top rock drummers of all time (according to me). But before we get to the list, you deserve some backstory, and, of course, I’m increasingly fond of an early bird spoiler. My number one pick is not going to surprise anybody. And it shouldn’t.
A Controversial Take On Rock Drums
Drums are the easiest musical instrument to learn and to play, especially in the rock music universe. Hands down. It’s not even close. You don’t even need a drum set to learn how to play the drums. Source: Me. I taught myself to play on borrowed Tupperware containers and a pair of wooden spoons for sticks—at age 5. Rhythm is like perfect pitch, i.e., you either got it or you don’t.
In my opinion, there are two types of people in the world: people with no formal training who can pick up a pair of sticks and keep a beat, and people who will waste time and money on lessons and never be a drummer. Great guitar players are made. Drummers are born.
The First Rule of Rock Drumming
Anybody with normal hand-eye coordination and rudimentary counting skills can teach themselves to play the drums. Drums are incredibly easy, followed by bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, and vocals—all four of which I also taught myself to do. Almost anybody can do it. But, here’s the key question: Can they?
A good drummer can move you like an amazing singer. And, like every other instrument in rock music, the drummer doesn’t necessarily have to be “good.” They need to make you wanna move. It’s the first rule of rock drumming. Rock n’ roll is 100 percent about the rhythm; otherwise, it’s not rock n’ roll.
Likewise, a bad or mediocre drummer is the worst thing for a rock band. You can get away with murder on the other instruments, but if the drummer can’t stay in time, you’re fuckin’ doomed.
Why My Opinion Matters
Starting in first grade of elementary school, call it age 7, my older sister and I were both forced to learn a musical instrument, and, ostensibly, join the school band. Gower Middle School in Burr Ridge, IL, had an enthusiastic young band director named Bill Chambers who really sold the program. My parents adored this guy. We were given the choice of learning a symphonic and/or jazz instrument. My sister chose the flute. I chose the drums, mainly because I already knew how to play.
All beginning drummers got a Ludwig snare drum and a pair of sticks. Once I learned the rudiments of reading music, Chambers told my parents that I was ready for a full drum kit. They bought a used Pearl kit from a family down the street. For the next seven years, I played drums and percussion in Gower Elementary’s concert, jazz, and marching bands, rising to first-chair drummer in 6th grade.
Meanwhile, I joined a series of local bands that played in various garages and living rooms throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s. Tired of lugging my kit around town to every gig, I “retired” from drums in my freshman year of high school and picked up guitar. However, I never stopped playing drums. Let’s put a pin on that and circle back somewhere around Paul Cook.
The Origin Story of an Angry Drummer
In blunt honesty, I’m a decent drummer, and with practice, I can be a good drummer. I have never been a great drummer. My key characteristics are simple and loud. I hit ’em pretty hard. Being called “an angry drummer” is the greatest compliment I’ve received in nearly 50 years of making music.
Unfortunately, my family’s photo archive was lost and/or trashed, and, aside from high school yearbook photos, there are very few pictures of me from roughly my birth until I was 20–21 and started a rock band. Have a look at this picture. It’s my origin story. I don’t look very happy, do I?
Without further ado, let’s get into the list of top rock drummers, shall we? Like other posts in the “According to Me” series, I’ll give one reason or example why each drummer means something to me, i.e., what makes them one of the top rock drummers of all time.
Top Rock Drummers of All Time (According to Me)
Most Influential
John Bonham (Led Zeppelin)
When it comes to rock music, John Bonham was and always will be the best rock drummer of all time. He’s the Michael Jordan of rock drummers. You can (and we will) argue in favor of other drummers on this list, but nobody will ever top “When the Levee Breaks”, except John Bonham, who almost—but not quite—eclipsed himself on “Kashmir”.
John Bonham was my first hero, and I wanted to play drums because of John Bonham. I quickly learned that I’d never be able to play drums like John Bonham. However, I taught myself to keep a 4/4 beat by playing along to Led Zeppelin records. Great drummers came before and after, but there’s John Bonham, and then there’s everybody else.
The Top 10 John Bonham Drum Performances (According to Me)
- “When the Levee Breaks”
- “Achilles’ Last Stand”
- “The Wanton Song”
- “The Ocean”
- “The Song Remains the Same”
- “Good Times, Bad Times”
- “Moby Dick”
- “Ramble On”
- “Kashmir”
- “Fool in the Rain”
Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick)
His playing on “Ain’t That a Shame” from Cheap Trick at Budokan (1978) is a big part of how Cheap Trick changed my life, which I discuss at length in Discovery of the Week: Cheap Trick at Budokan | The Complete Concert.
Phil Rudd (AC/DC)
The great thing about AC/DC was that they put out an identical album every year, so I played along with Phil Rudd for six straight years.
- T.N.T. (1975)
- High Voltage (1976)
- Let There Be Rock (1977)
- Powerage (1978)
- Highway to Hell (1979)
- Black in Black (1980)
Alex Van Halen (Van Halen)
A severely underrated drummer, overshadowed by the greatest rock guitarist of all time. AVH was the only drummer who could play with Eddie Van Halen. The brothers were a package deal. AVH wasn’t a virtuoso, but he knew how to play with one, which doesn’t sound easy. Alex’s memoir, Brothers (2024), is highly recommended.
2024
★★★★★
Alex Van Halen’s love letter to his younger brother, Edward. From the brothers’ childhood to international fame and success, Alex shares tales of musical politics, infighting, and plenty of miscreant behavior, but it's mostly about brotherhood. Bonus points for leaving Sammy out of the story!
I must have spent six months trying to get the timing right on the cowbell intro to “Dance the Night Away”.
Neil Peart (Rush)
Being able to play “The Spirit of Radio” passably was a massive badge of credibility in 8th grade. And I spent many hours trying to keep up with side one of 2112 (1976).
Roger Taylor (Queen)
His drums sounded soooo good, and his fills were so tasteful. I loved his simplicity. Queen never made a bad record, but I’m partial to A Night at the Opera (1975) and News of the World (1977).
Paul Cook (Sex Pistols)
I’ll tell you the real reason I stopped playing drums. In fact, I didn’t stop playing drums; I stopped playing drums in the school’s music program. And Never Mind the Bollocks (1977) was a huge part of that decision.
My sister was three years older, so I got to watch and learn from her mistakes, which she excelled at making. She chose to join our high school’s music program and continued to play the flute. Huge mistake. It was just one more place for her to get in trouble.
The high school band director was a guy named Bob Haddick (or something like that), and I disliked him on sight. My sister had a series of run-ins with Haddick, and it got so bad that even my parents hated him, which was almost impossible. The adults rarely turned on each other publicly, but I remember hearing my mom talk mad shit about Haddick.
The high school music program was a year-round affair. To be “in the band” meant you played in marching and concert band and, if you were good enough, you auditioned for jazz band. The band program was all-consuming. Most kids chose between band and athletics because it was difficult to do both. You couldn’t play tuba in the marching band and middle linebacker for the varsity football team.
Anyway, as an incoming freshman, I was recruited by Haddick to join the percussion section. My parents said, “It’s up to you.” I took a long gaze at the social landscape, thought about the time and commitment, and thought, “Nah, man. I’d rather play football and party on weekends.”
Not coincidentally, I got turned on to punk rock around the same time. My friends and I were listening to the Sex Pistols, The Clash, and the Surf Punks, among others. Playing in the high school band wasn’t cool, I mean, most of the kids who played in the band were kind of nerdy, and I’m sorry for that characterization or judgment, but it’s my truth. I looked at the percussion section—the dudes in the group—and honestly asked myself, “Do I really want to hang out with these jokers for the next four years?”
Ted aka Bruce Slesinger (Dead Kennedys)
Ted only appeared on their debut album, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (1980), but that’s the main record that mattered to me. This guy was super-human.
Peter Criss (Kiss)
I’m loath to admit it, but Kiss was a crucial part of my pre-teen formative years, and, in all honesty, 12-year-old Christian Adams was a way better drummer than Peter Criss. But I cut some chops on the first six Kiss albums, especially the songs “Calling Dr. Love” and “Christine Sixteen”.
Bill Ward (Black Sabbath)
If you couldn’t play along with the first six Black Sabbath records, you didn’t have any business playing drums because it doesn’t get any more basic and primal. Ward is the quintessential great drummer who, compared to Neil Peart, wasn’t very good.
Danny Seraphine (Chicago)
The drum performance on “Make Me Smile” is still one of the most transcendent, inspiring moments in my musical life. The way Danny Seraphine drops into the groove on the chorus…man!
Dave Barbarossa (Adam and the Ants, Bow Wow Wow)
Dirk Wears White Sox (1979) is one of the five best post-punk albums ever recorded.
Steve Gadd (Steely Dan, Paul Simon)
I have a drum set here in my office. It’s a Roland TD-07, and I haven’t touched it since March 2024. But still, it’s there, and anytime I feel like playing, I can plug it in and start bashing away.
One of my favorite warm-up exercises is the drum beat to “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”.
Grant Hart (Hüsker Dü)
I don’t think people appreciate how tough it is to sing and play drums at the same time. It’s like the Olympic alpine skiing of music. You need elite levels of coordination, and honestly, I was never able to pull it off consistently.
Budgie (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
The drum performance of “Monitor”.
Lee Kerslake (Ozzy Osbourne, Uriah Heep)
Did you know that Kerslake is playing a straight disco beat on “Crazy Train”? Check it out!
Stewart Copeland (The Police)
The drum performance of “Omegaman”.
Phil Collins (Genesis)
The drum performance of “Turn It On Again”.
Mitch Mitchell (The Jimi Hendrix Experience)
The drum performance of “Manic Depression”
Bill Bruford (Yes, King Crimson)
The drum performance of “Red”. [He also had a couple of great solo albums.]
Great Players
Keith Moon (The Who)
Shocking, I know, not to have Keith Moon listed among the top 20. He was inspiring on so many levels, but I never aspired to play like Keith Moon. I wanted to play with the same unbridled enthusiasm for hitting things in relative time to the music. It was weird because I often played along to Who records, especially The Kids Are Alright (1979), but sometimes, I grew frustrated with Moon’s lack of consistency. People love him for the same reason.
Stan Lynch (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)
The drum performance of “Even the Losers”.
Ringo Starr (The Beatles)
Another shocking snub! I never played along to Beatles records until I started teaching myself guitar. So, Ringo didn’t have a huge influence on my development until much later in life.
You may have heard a quote misattributed to John Lennon that goes something like, “Ringo isn’t the best drummer in the world. He isn’t even the best drummer in the Beatles.” Lennon never said that. The joke first appeared in a 1981 BBC radio comedy program, written by Geoffrey Perkins.
Ringo’s performance of “Tomorrow Never Knows” is iconic.
Ed Cassidy (Spirit)
I had the 45 of “I Got a Line On You” and played along with it for many years.
Woody Woodmansey (David Bowie)
The drum performance of “Panic in Detroit”.
George Hurley (Minutemen, Firehose)
In my opinion, one of the hardest things to do as a rock drummer is to play the slow jams. It’s so much easier to play fast. The problem is time. Too much time is the enemy of a drummer. The mark of a great drummer is his ability to groove during the slow jams, and here’s a textbook example from Hurley with Firehose, “Losers, Boozers, & Heroes”.
John Densmore (The Doors)
The drum performance of “Break on Through”.
Jon Theodore (The Mars Volta)
The drum performance on “Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt” remains inspirational yet unquestionably out of reach to me.
Bob Burns (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Despite the fuckin’ extraneous conga parts played by renowned percussionist, Bobbye Hall, the drum performance of “Gimme Three Steps” is one of the most solid rock n’ roll grooves ever captured on tape—with cowbell!
Richie Heyward (Little Feat)
The drum performance on “Fat Man in the Bathtub”.
Jerry Marotta (Hall & Oates, Peter Gabriel)
The drum performance on “Games Without Frontiers”.
Matt Cameron (Soundgarden)
The drum performance of “Burden in My Hand”.
Prairie Prince (XTC, The Tubes)
The drum performance on “Earn Enough for Us” by XTC (Skylarking, 1985, produced by Todd Rundgren)
Stephen Drozd (The Flaming Lips)
The drum performance of “Turn It On”.
Jeff Porcaro (Toto, Steely Dan, et al.)
I don’t have a big issue with Toto. I’m completely neutral about their music. But Jeff Porcaro played on Boz Scaggs’ 1976 hit single “Lido Shuffle”, and that made a massive impression on me.
Victor DeLorenzo (Violent Femmes)
The drum performance of “Add It Up”.
Bernard Purdie (Steely Dan)
He’s all over The Royal Scam (1974), my favorite Steely Dan album.
Mickey Waller (Rod Stewart, Jeff Beck Group)
The drum performance on “Every Picture Tells a Story”.
Greg Saunier (Deerhoof)
The drum performance on “My Purple Past”.
Kenney Jones (Small Faces, Faces, The Who)
The drum performance on “Song of a Baker”.
Dale Crover (Melvins)
The drum performance of “Kicking Machine”.
Aynsley Dunbar (Frank Zappa)
The drum performance of “Peaches en Regalia” from The Mothers, Fillmore East—June 1971.
Jim Gordon (studio legend)
The drum performance of “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” by Steely Dan.
Chester Thompson (Frank Zappa, Genesis)
The drum performance of “Inca Roads” by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention.
Brian Downey (Thin Lizzy)
The drum performance on “Jailbreak”
Anton Fig (Paul Shaffer & the World’s Most Dangerous Band)
A member of the band from 1986 to 2015.
Phillip “Fish” Fisher (Fishbone)
The drum performance of “Sunless Saturday”.
Mac McNeilly (Jesus Lizard)
The drum performance on “Mouth Breather”.
Philip Selway (Radiohead)
The drum performance on “Just”.
Gilson Lavis (Squeeze)
The drum performance on “Another Nail in My Heart”.
Really Good Drummers
Mike Joyce (The Smiths)
The drum performance on “Bigmouth Strikes Again”
Martin Chambers (The Pretenders)
The drum performance on “Message of Love”
Tommy Ramone (Ramones)
The drum performance on “I Wanna Be Sedated”.
Earl Hudson (Bad Brains)
The drum performance on “I Against I”.
Larry Mullen Jr. (U2)
The intro to “Sunday Bloody Sunday”.
Danny Carey (Tool)
The drum performance on “The Pot”.
Brad Wilk (Rage Against the Machine)
The drum performance on “Killing in the Name Of”.
Bev Bevan (Electric Light Orchestra)
The drum performance on “Turn to Stone”.
Kenny Arnoff (John Cougar)
That snare drum sound. THWACK! So good.
Stephen Perkins (Jane’s Addiction)
Perkins would be ranked higher, but I always thought he was a bit too funky for my tastes. But his performance on “Three Days” crushes it.
Greg Bissonette (David Lee Roth)
The drum performance on “Yankee Rose”.
Rick Allen (Def Leppard)
The drum performance on “Let It Go”.
Jimmy Carl Black (The Mothers of Invention)
The drum performance on “King Kong”.
Brendan Canty (Fugazi)
The drum performance on “Waiting Room”.
Murph (Dinosaur Jr.)
The drum performance on “Thumb”,
Steve Gorman (The Black Crowes)
The drum performance on “Gone”.
Laurence Tolhurst (The Cure)
The drum performance on “A Forest”.
Jon Farris (INXS)
The drum performance on “I Send a Message”.
David Robinson (The Cars)
The drum performance on “Since You’re Gone”
Clem Burke (Blondie)
The drum performance on “Heart of Glass”.
Drumbo (Captain Beefheart)
The drum performance on “Abba Zabba”.
Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth)
The drum performance on “Kool Thing”.
David Lovering (Pixies)
The drum performance on “Bone Machine”.
Joey Waronker (Beck)
The drum performance on “Tropicalia”.
Topper Headon (The Clash)
The drum performance on “Know Your Rights”.
Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello and the Attractions)
The drum performance on “(I Don’t Wanna Go to) Chelsea”.
Charlie Watts (The Rolling Stones)
The drum performance on “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking?”.
Dennis Elliot (Foreigner)
The drum performance on “Hot Blooded”.
Joey Kramer (Aerosmith)
The drum performance on“Sweet Emotion”.
Hal Blaine (The Beach Boys)
The drum performance on “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”.
Ginger Baker (Cream)
Most people would have Baker in the top 10, but eh… “Tales of Brave Ulysses” and “White Room” were great tracks to play along with, but “Toad” was his shining moment, kinda.
Moe Tucker (Velvet Underground)
The drum performance on “What Goes On.”
Bill Berry (R.E.M.)
The drum performance on “Finest Worksong”.
Jai “Jaemoe” Johanson (Allman Brothers)
The drum performance on “Whipping Post”.
