Is Alex considered a great drummer by drummers

[cscmtp]

I hate to give Alex any credit, because he is clearly a bitter dick, but yes, he's a good drummer. Great, NO. Neil Peart, Jon Bonham, Stewart Copeland, those are GREAT drummers. Tommy Lee, Alex, Nick Menza, good drummers. But i do think Alex's solos have ALWAYS been crappy. Was never once impressed with his routine. Starting slow, with one hand, speeding up real fast, eventually rolling with two. Big freakin deal.

[Robonez]

Here Alex gets a mention by a few professional drummers:

Frankie Banali:
”.. Alex is a great drummer and a very nice guy..”

http://www.frankiebanali.com/faq8.html

Dale Salive (Uncle Sid):
“..For me as a drummer, some of my biggest influences are Keith Moon, John Bonham, Neil Peart, Alex Van Halen, Mitch Mitchell, Bill Ward, Tommy Aldridge and Buddy Rich..”

http://www.getreadytorock.com/rising_stars/uncle_sid.htm

Scott Travis (Judas Priest):
Influences: “..Ringo, obviously, because he played in the Beatles. People like Ian Paice from Deep Purple, John Bonham, of course, Alex Van Halen, Tommy Aldridge, Neil Peart, all the standard rock icons that everyone always mentions..”

http://www.drums.com/interviews/scott.html

Nigel Glockler (Saxon):
“..there are som superb players out there...Chester Thompson, Alex Van Halen and Bill Bruford..”

http://dmme.net/interviews/glockler.html

Ian Haugland (Europe):
-Rate the following drumers on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being a total joke, and 10 being a God like drummer.
Tico Torres = 8 Great solid, hard hitting, (goalkeeper) kind a drummer.
Tommy Lee =8 for his drumming , -10 for his personality!
Lars Ulrich= 6 not my kind of favorite drummer, but he seem to be a very important part of the metallica songs and their sound, so I vould give him a 10! as a bandmember.
Mike Portnoy= 4 Yeah I know that his a fucking technical expert! Who cares… Where´s the groove??
Rikki Rocket= 1 stiff as a corpse!
Alex Van Halen= 10 Awsome hard rock drummer with the right attitude both musicaly and personally.

http://www.gdesigners.com/europe/iani.htm

[djhbk]

Alex is a....

C....U....N.....T.......



but he is an okay drummer

[Thetruthbaby]

T Lee

I'm surprised any drummer who knows what they're doing would rate T Lee along with Alex. I've seen the Crue 4 times over the years, last time in 98'. I've never been that impressed at all with Lee. In the 80's you had to be able to play double bass and have a certain amount of chops to get by. Lee always just had average chops. Solo's were always just some very simple double bass and quadruplet rolls. Nothing difficult at all. He used showmanship more than ability to impress audiences that didn't know any better. Alex is not in Scott Travis or Mikkey Dee's league when it comes to technique, but I have had to do a double take a few times over the years when listening to Alex on VH's recorded work to figure out what he was doing. I've never had to do that with anything Lee has ever done. Very simple straight ahead heavy rock drumming. There were a multitude of heavy rock players who were head and shoulders above T Lee in the 80's including Greg Bissonette. I'm not saying T Lee has no talent, that would be unfair. But he's average if you're a serious player. And Alex is a better player. Even a simple technique like "displacement" is something that I'll bet Lee would have trouble with. Alex is actually strong with this and uses it often. Lee is just not that talented. Or if he is he hides it extremely well.

[Terry]

Re: T Lee

Originally posted by Thetruthbaby
I'm surprised any drummer who knows what they're doing would rate T Lee along with Alex. I've seen the Crue 4 times over the years, last time in 98'. I've never been that impressed at all with Lee. In the 80's you had to be able to play double bass and have a certain amount of chops to get by. Lee always just had average chops. Solo's were always just some very simple double bass and quadruplet rolls. Nothing difficult at all. He used showmanship more than ability to impress audiences that didn't know any better. Alex is not in Scott Travis or Mikkey Dee's league when it comes to technique, but I have had to do a double take a few times over the years when listening to Alex on VH's recorded work to figure out what he was doing. I've never had to do that with anything Lee has ever done. Very simple straight ahead heavy rock drumming. There were a multitude of heavy rock players who were head and shoulders above T Lee in the 80's including Greg Bissonette. I'm not saying T Lee has no talent, that would be unfair. But he's average if you're a serious player. And Alex is a better player. Even a simple technique like "displacement" is something that I'll bet Lee would have trouble with. Alex is actually strong with this and uses it often. Lee is just not that talented. Or if he is he hides it extremely well.

Agreed.

Lee's more notable more his celebrity factor than his drumming. Sure, he can twirl his sticks while he plays, but just a case of style over substance. Kept the beat, hit the skins hard, but aren't these just things you'd expect from any rock drummer?

Nothing exceptional.

[GAR]

Alex is DEFINATELY among the greatest drummers AND comedians IMO. I mean: look at the choice of staffing in Gary Cherone and his lack of styling.. the guy can't even sing Mean Street without lisping it the fuck up!

Why choose a dude who can't even fucking talk American English right?

[DavidLeeNatra]

alex. who is a cunt first...is a good drummer who will be mostly remembered for his snare sound and four bass drums...and for being a cunt...

[pete]

When I tell my drummer to do AVH. He loosens the hi-hat!!! LOL

psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-psh-

[DavidLeeNatra]

Originally posted by pete
When I tell my drummer to do AVH. He loosens the hi-hat!!! LOL

psh-psh-

:D

elvis is not amused...

[ROTHandRoll]

AVH is a legend.....................(in his own fucked mind)

[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.