Is Alex considered a great drummer by drummers

[DrGrafenberg]

I used to do a drum fill that went like this...
Hess, Hess, Hess, Himmler, Himmler, Himmler, burn the babies in the gas oven.
(i think only drummers will get that)

[Matt White]

subjective, objective, rejected, protected.
"...as it ever was...."

[dave_is_vh]

Most rock drummers are mediocre, as Al is. There is only one Neil Peart.

[Warham]

...

[Mattyboy]

You know, the thing that concerns me about this discussion is that it seems to focus on technical ability over musical ability. There is a huge difference between the two. Even the PIT guy seems focused on technical stuff. Which is the curse of drummers. Heck, isn't PIT founded by Jeff Pocaro's dad? Wasn't Jeff the master of the groove? A guy who never even did solos? If he did do them it was reluctantly. Remember the sound sheet he did for modern Drummer years and years ago? It was a groove. Not even a solo.

My experience is when I was young it was all generally about guys who played alot and fast and I had a tendency to reject those who did otherwise. Then as I grew and matured I started to see the value in the musical approach to a situation. An example of my own struggle with this would be my fixation with Neil Peart as a kid. Mid, late seventies. I remember going to see Rush with special guest from Australia AC/DC. Might have been 1978 or so. We were Peart fans, he was the king. Period. AC/DC comes out and we think this drummer is horrible and this band is bubble gum rock. They were booed off the stage.

Well, I clearly missed my first chance to really "get" what Phil Rudd was all about although I got it later. He is the perfect guy for that band, and has played some of the all time classic grooves in Rock. And they aren't busy, complicated approaches he has. And yet, perfect. Neither Chris Slade or Simon Wright came close to fitting into that band the way Phil did. Simon was close but still not there. And Phil is now deferred to by other drummers, as he should be. It's not easy to pull off Back in Black and make it right, man. And alot of people can't come close.

What about Richie Hayward of Little Feat. Peart has acknowledged the fact that his struggle is to be able to play like Richie. It's one of the reasons he spent time with Freddie Gruber (a very famous drum teacher). Now Richie can play fast, and alot if he has to, but he doesn't choose to all the time. He is one of the true Kings of the Groove. I double dare anyone to try and pull off half of what he plays. To cop his feel is tremendously hard.

Which brings me to Tommy Lee. To me he is another guy who was a pretty good drummer for most of his career and then he just came into his own. There are things that are on the Motley Crue album with John Corobi singing that are f***ing beautiful. And, frankly, if that was my playing on that album I'd truly be proud of my contribution to the instrument. That's a world class effort on there man.

You know, I'm 42. I've been playing a long time. I'm very fortunate to have played drums alot of years all over the US, parts of Europe. I don't know it all. I can't play it all. And it just seems to me the focus was on the wrong issue in this discussion.

Over and out.