Is Alex considered a great drummer by drummers

[saint]

Originally posted by Firebrand
...if you doubt for one second how incredibly sharp he is listen to Light Up the Sky Again. Unreal.

I did 1,2,3,4 1,2,3,4 1,2,3,4 there is nothing to it he slaps the high-hat silly as usually


The rhythms he and Ed come up with freak me out...some of the best stuff is on Fair Warning.

[Antman]

Al is considered by many to be a great big prick. Drummers, guitarists, plumbers, OBGYNs, etc. all share this sentiment.

[bueno bob]

Well, coming from a few folks I know, the general consensus is that Alex is a good, solid drummer but nothing to really write home about. His major strength is his knowledge of basics and concepts, but that relegates him to the playing field of "Text Book Drumming".

Or so my buddies say

[ELVIS]

I don't know if you people know what you're listening to...

Alex is an incredible drummer and in integral part of the =VH= sound...

Pete, you lost me with those comments...

[bueno bob]

Originally posted by ELVIS
I don't know if you people know what you're listening to...

Alex is an incredible drummer and in integral part of the =VH= sound...

Pete, you lost me with those comments...

Well, I hope I didn't get mistaken. Alex is a solid drummer, but in talking with a buddy of mine who's done gigging with several larger bands (some of which have recorded) over the state of Van Halen in general, his opinion was that Alex was a good, solid drummer, and those were his best strengths...but he wasn't any sort of fulcrum point or ultimate drummer that will be remembered years down the road as being a leader in the industry.

The topic was "How do Professional Drummers view Alex", and since my buddy is really the only professional drummer I know, I just thought I'd share his opinion.

On a personal note, I think Alex is a damn good percussionist and very smart musically. As a human being, I don't think he's anything special, but that wasn't the question

[badhorsie]

I dont believe anyone here is denying Alex's influence or ability to play in the songs he has performed on. I think we can all agree without Alex the songs would be pretty different without him.

He's definitely great at what he does but he isnt in the same league as some of the "virtuoso" or 'legendary" players.

[bueno bob]

True. I'd rank Tommy Aldridge, Cozy Powell, Carl Palmer, Neil Peart, Dennis Wilson, Keith Moon, Carmine Appice, so on and so forth in the "legendary" catagory...when Alex hangs up his sticks for the last time, at that point, I'll probably reconsider my stance, along with a lot of other people.

[Mattyboy]

Tommy Aldridge, great drummer. But kind of sticks to what he knows best, ya know? Doesn't go out of that box. And looks like he's about to fall off his stool at any minute. He a fairly small guy man. Great on alot of albums. Check out the Ted Nugent live album recently released.

Cozy, now that guy was another great player, for what he did. I'm a huge Cozy fan. But he kinda had his one big lick, a double bass quad deal he did. Which was great, but he seemed somewhat limited in that regard. Bear in mind he's one of the reason I play drums. Ever see his 1812 Overture solo? Just F***ing great and overwhelming. Remember the flames, if you saw it? Rainbow Live is a classic album.

Carl Palmer. Great for what he's done. A far more technical drummer

Neil Peart. I used to have a poster of him over my bed that I would pray to during the 2112 period. Ground breaking, great drummer. Classic stuff.

Dennis Wilson. No, really? My guess is it was all Hal Blaine, a studio drummer at the time, not Dennis.

Keith Moon. Expanded the art of drumming with his hit the shit out of everything approach. Made drums more of a major player in music, I think.

Carmine. F***ing great. Met him at the first Zildjian Day in LA in 1980, not that he would remember. A tremendous drummer who has been limited by his musical associations at times. But about as good as it gets.

Alex. Was a good drummer. Decent. Became a great drummer with just great drum sounds. Remember he used to have a great kick and snare sound, but crappy toms (single headed, no resonance) but moved to a great, big, broad drum sound and great playing. He is world class. A dick, apparently, but a great drummer who will be remembered as a defining drummer in the genre, I think.

[famac]

For me, the drummer is an essential part of a rock group. His sound and feel determine whether a group rocks or whether they just grind through the beat. For example, John Bonham was essential to the Zeppelin sound - his drums have as much of a voice as any of the other members of the group.

Alex Van Halen deserves one credit: he has a very unique snare tone. I don't know whether Ted Templemen created this tone, or whether Alex did. I guess listening to the Gene Simmons demos would answer this question.

But beyond his snare tone, Alex is nothing special. Watch him stuggle through his drums rolls during 5150 on Live Withou A Net. It's embarassing. Alex also lays on the crash a little much for my tatse, but this may a technique he aquired in Van Halen's early days to flesh out the sound of a three piece group.

In any case, he's been keeping a pretty regular beat on Sam's ass for the last few months.

[Thetruthbaby]

ALEX...........

I would say Alex is considered to be a very good drummer but "great" might depend on who you ask and how big of a VH fan they are. He's certainly not looked at (in a historical sense) like Tommy Aldridge, Carmine Appice, Keith Moon, Bonham or Ginger Baker. And technically speaking he's nowhere near as talented as guys like Bozzio or Donati. I think Alex has done some fine work on record though. I wouldn't say he's a drumming legend or anything. His status as a musician is more from the fact the he's a member of a legendary group.

[DrGrafenberg]

Ok for all your drummer needs check out...

http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Alex_Van_Halen.html

Lots of video clips etc
btw Ian Paice, John Bonham & Keith Moon are/were the best ROCK drummers in the world.
& Neil Peart is the best technician of the skins ever, period!
although I am not too shabby at thumping the tubs either :D

If you want to see something mind blowing tho!
check out Tony Royster Jnr. There is a clip of a solo floating around (kazaa) when he was just 12...Amazing!

[BigDaddyD]

Originally posted by Wayne L.
Alex is a great rock drummer in his own right who is highly underrated for some reason even though he kicks ass more so than any drummers after the VH explosion like Tico Torres, Tommy Lee & Rikki Rocket.

Are you on crack? Tommy Lee is a phenomenal drummer. Rikki Rocket is not even a decent drummer. Alex couldn't hold Tommy's jock...no pun intended.

[Thetruthbaby]

T LEE

Witn all due respect Tommy Lee is not a better player than Alex. Tommy Lee is as much a showman as anything else. He can play but he's not a big influence on most rock drummers. When I was at PIT I can truly say I never met 1 drummer who considered T Lee to be a big influence. And he totally ripped Tommy Aldridge off with most of his showmanship. I guess I should give him some credit for admitting he was a huge Aldridge fan (back when he made the cover for Modern Drummer on Theatre Of Pain) but to say he's better than Alex is stretching it big time. I've seen TLee multiple times and heard all of the Crue's albums and nothing he's ever done impressed me that much. It's all simple drum work. HFTeacher alone stands above anything TLee ever did (and I'm not talking about the over-dubbed intro either).

[Terry]

As far as technical ability in the context of the rock arena, AVH is above competent. Was able to shine at times, but I never heard anyone back in the day say Alex was an amazing drummer, or heard drummers I knew speak of Alex in the same terms as I heard guitar players talk about Eddie. AVH got more recognition for the size of his drum kit than anything he did on it.

Is he capable of doing more than what can be heard on record or on live boots? Who knows?

Wouldn't put him in my top ten, or even 20, of all time-favorite drummers. Same goes for MA and bassists, although classic VH easily makes my top 5. Interesting juxtaposition. Guess Ed and Dave carried more than their fair share of the load in terms of making classic VH timeless (too bad the royalties aren't reflective of that).

[BigDaddyD]

Originally posted by Thetruthbaby
Witn all due respect Tommy Lee is not a better player than Alex. Tommy Lee is as much a showman as anything else. He can play but he's not a big influence on most rock drummers. When I was at PIT I can truly say I never met 1 drummer who considered T Lee to be a big influence. And he totally ripped Tommy Aldridge off with most of his showmanship. I guess I should give him some credit for admitting he was a huge Aldridge fan (back when he made the cover for Modern Drummer on Theatre Of Pain) but to say he's better than Alex is stretching it big time. I've seen TLee multiple times and heard all of the Crue's albums and nothing he's ever done impressed me that much. It's all simple drum work. HFTeacher alone stands above anything TLee ever did (and I'm not talking about the over-dubbed intro either).

I respectfully disagree. I think AVH is a good drummer....just not a great one. I would have to agree that Tommy is also a good drummer, not a great one. What he does have over AVH is his showmanship. Other than light his gong on fire and looking like Corky from Life Goes On, Alex has no showmanship.

My biggest problem is with the comparison to Rikki Rockett who is below average at best.