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[CommunistDaughter]

Is that the proper term? Drumming?

So, here is the deal, my little brother finally saved up enough money to get a drumset - he's been playing "percussion" in the school band since however young it is you start such things. I want to make him a Mix CD, or several mix CDs with some really good drumming. Stuff to inspire him, you know.
I don't know much about drumsets, but his looks like a pretty basic one to me.  
Anyhow, I figured since this forum is full of music lovers, you would have good suggestions?

Anything I absolutely must include in order to inspire my little brother to become the coolest drummer ever?

[Thrillho]

Well first of all, off the top of my head, some general bands who have good drumming:

The Who
Blink 182 (fuck all of the people who hate them on this forum, Travis Barker is a brilliant drummer)
Secret Machines
Joy Division/New Order (Stephen Morris may be a six-foot metronome, but he gets the job done)
Stevie Wonder in the mid seventies
Bloc Party, the songs tend to be shit but the drumming's amazing more often than not

And some specific songs that come to my mind when I think awesome drumming:
Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine
Idlewild - You Held The World In Your Arms
The Mars Volta - L'Via L'Viaquez
Interpol - Say Hello To The Angels
Bob Dylan - Honest With Me
Sigur Ros - Gong
Nick Cave - Abattoir Blues
Wilco - At Least That's What You Said

[Misereatur]

Robert Wyatt and his time with Soft Machine.
Al Foster
Porcupine Tree (both Gavin Harrison and Chris Maitland are superb drummers and their work with the band is great)
Led Zeppelin
Gene Hoglan's recordings with Death (even if your brothet is'nt a Metal fan, he'll be blown away. Shit, I'm gonna listen to Symbolic right now).

[Martin]

First of all, he should listen to Led Zeppelin. John Bonham were, and still is, the worlds greatest drummer. Amazing. Songs such as Kashmir, Rock 'n' Roll, Black Dog and of course Moby Dick are all esential. Those were at least some of the reasons I got into drums. KISS is an aweful band, but their album 'Destroyer' has some pretty nice drumming. The song God of Thunder, amongst others.

Drummers that I like are Danney Carey (Tool), Martin Lopez (Opeth), Jon Theodore (The Mars Volta), Matthew Martin Bajda (Funeral Diner), Stewart Copeland (Police, Oysterhead), Ben Koller (Converge), Bill Bruford (King Crimson, etc.), Andy Ward (Camel), Tomas Haake (Meshuggah) and Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree), and so on.

These names might say you nothing, so therefore I will make a list of songs with some these drummers:

Tool - Stinkfist or The Patient
Opeth - Windowpane or The Drapery Falls
The Mars Volta - Inertiatic ESP or Cicatriz ESP
Funeral Diner - The Wicked or We Become Buried
Converge - Concubine/Fault and Fracture
King Crimson - 21st. Century Schizoid Man
The Police - Don't stand so close to me or Walk on the moon
Meshuggah - Future Breed Machine
Porcupine Tree - Sound of Muzak or Blackest Eyes

[Aneurhythmia]

Gene Hoglan's recordings with Death (even if your brothet is'nt a Metal fan, he'll be blown away. Shit, I'm gonna listen to Symbolic right now).

More like Sean Reinert...

[TheMike]

Bernard Purdie, the best drummer ever. i could listen to him play his solos for hours.

a solo

a quick lesson

and my favorite

and Neil Peart's pretty good too

[Kai]

Neil Peart is wonderful. Shit, everyone in Rush plays their instruments amazingly.

[RUSH2112]

Neil Peart is wonderful. Shit, everyone in Rush plays their instruments amazingly.

Indeed. Rush is the best band ever. And while the other two aren't the best in their respective fields, Neil Peart is the greatest drummer alive. He's got a couple instructional videos but they're more for people who already know how to drum.

Basically if you want to hear a lot of good drummers all at once, get the Buddy Rich tribute album: Burning for Buddy. It's produced by Neil Peart, it has two tracks with Neil Peart on the drums, and it also features about a dozen of the best rock and jazz drummers of all time.

[ImRonBurgundy?]

FUGAZI.

and the Suicide Machines' Destruction by Definition album.  Derek Grant FTW.

[Storm Rider]

I think the biggest problem with Rush is how Lifeson didn't really cut loose as much during their 80s period as before, and to a lesser extend afterwards.

I'm super psyched if they really are recording again, though.

[onewheelwizzard]

Give him Ginger Baker (Masters of Reality's "Sunshine on the Sufferbus" is a favorite) and Bill Ward (just give him "Paranoid").  I've got plenty more suggestions but not for now.

[sjbrot]

Let's give some love to one of the best lady drummers out there, Janet Weiss. If hearing her stuff doesn't inspire you... then I guess it not quite your type of music.

Now that I think of it, anyone's who's worked with Fridmann are usually awesome drummers. Jason Schwartzman of Phantom Planet is a personal favorite, and Steven Drodz of the Flaming Lips knows what to do behind a drum kit.

[timehat]

Drummers that I like are Danney Carey (Tool), Martin Lopez (Opeth), Jon Theodore (The Mars Volta), Matthew Martin Bajda (Funeral Diner), Stewart Copeland (Police, Oysterhead), Ben Koller (Converge), Bill Bruford (King Crimson, etc.), Andy Ward (Camel), Tomas Haake (Meshuggah) and Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree), and so on.

King Crimson - 21st. Century Schizoid Man

Actually, Bruford did not play on that song since he came into the band a few albums later. I believe that Michael Giles was the name of their original drummer, and he is seriously a rocking kit-master indeed.

Since I didn't see them mentioned, I will champion the names Morgan Agren (Fredrik Thordendal's Special Defects, Mats/Morgan, Frank Zappa), Billy Cobham (Mahavishnu Orchestra, solo work, lots of other stuff I can't remember), Dustin Donaldson (Thought Industry, I am Spoonbender), and Chad Wackerman (Allan Holdsworth, Frank Zappa).

[Luke C]

Get some Dream Theatre.

Oh and some Virgil Donatti (sp) he is one hell of a drummer.

[McTaggart]

Seconding the Flaming Lips.

Also, Four Tet. Okay, I know the percussion is all loops and samples and things, but it's still incredible.

[Martin]

Actually, Bruford did not play on that song since he came into the band a few albums later. I believe that Michael Giles was the name of their original drummer, and he is seriously a rocking kit-master indeed.

Since I didn't see them mentioned, I will champion the names Morgan Agren (Fredrik Thordendal's Special Defects, Mats/Morgan, Frank Zappa), Billy Cobham (Mahavishnu Orchestra, solo work, lots of other stuff I can't remember), Dustin Donaldson (Thought Industry, I am Spoonbender), and Chad Wackerman (Allan Holdsworth, Frank Zappa).

Ah, yeah. Michael Giles played their first albums, I totally forgot that. Bill Bruford also played in Yes, I believe. Fragile is such a great record. <3

[AceGun]

I've been playing drums for 10 years now and I would say your brother should ignore Neil Peart unless he really likes Rush.  Peart is completely overrated, and really is not a good person to learn from.  Every drummer I know that has taken their inspiration from Neil Peart ends up with a 30 piece drumset and no idea how to actually play it (hasn't anyone seen Freaks and Geeks?).

If he wants to become a great drummer, he needs to start with jazz.  This is really important for people moving from general percussion to the drumset, in my opinion.  There are tons of great jazz drummers out there, I don't really think I need to name anyone specifically to listen to.  He should pick up a video or take lessons if he really wants to learn to play jazz.

As far as 'inspiring people' go, I'd say he needs to find the style of music he likes and listen to the drumming from a lot of different bands.  This will help him really figure out how drumming affects the band in different ways.  He needs to think about what makes certain drummers work in certain bands and vice versa.  Hopefully he'll learn just how much control drummers have over the pacing, accents, and mood of music and learn to love it.

Since you were asking for people that are inspiring here are a few bands to listen to that will make you go "whoa, I wish I could do that":
-Pretty much any prog band (Yes, King Crimson, Dream Theater)
-The Mars Volta (great latin influenced style mixed with the prog-y time sig changes)
-Coheed & Cambria (The rest of the band is trying to be Rush, but the drummer has a style of his own.  I'd say you should try to watch him live, since it's much easier to see his technique)
-Wilco/Glenn Kotche (One of my favorites.  He's very low-key, but is very aware of the ecclectic percussion the band requires)
-Dresden Dolls (You just have to see Brian Viglione live.  He truly is amazing and incredibly unique.  He basically drives the band, not low-key at all.  He is obviously not content simply providing rhythm to Amanda Palmer.
-Converge (Wild yet tight.  That's probably the best description)

Trying right off the bat to learn from these drummers is not a good idea, but it's a great thing to aspire to after a year or two behind the set.

[FeralCats]

Get him a song called Keep It Greasy by Frank Zappa off the Joe's Garage album. It's insane drumming on that song.

Actually, get any album with that particular drummer, Vinnie Coliauta, on it.
There are the ones-

Joe's Garage
Shut Up And Play Yer' Guitar
Tinsel Town Rebellion.

Incredible drumming.

[Inlander]

The Dirty Three.  Jim White is an incredible drummer.

Also, too many jazz drummers to mention: Gene Krupa (most of his available recordings are under Benny Goodman's name), Jo Jones (look under Count Basie), "Philly" Joe Jones (a different person from Jo Jones; check out the original Miles Davis Quintet - especially their recording of "Salt Peanuts"), Max Roach, Art Blakey, Elvin Jones (with John Coltrane, mostly), and on and on and on.

[Felix]

All I need to say after all that is :

Iron Butterfly - In A Gadda Da Vida

Come on. Just try to say it isn't incredible.

[RUSH2112]

I think the biggest problem with Rush is how Lifeson didn't really cut loose as much during their 80s period as before, and to a lesser extend afterwards.

I'm super psyched if they really are recording again, though.

Oh they're definitely recording again. Check out Neil's website, neilpeart.net

[Johnny C]

Nobody here a Janet Weiss fan? I dig her.

[E. Spaceman]

I thin her work with Quasi is brilliant, but this thread kinda seems to be more about drummers with egos the size of their 56 bass drum kits.

[bobthecheese]

Blink 182 (fuck all of the people who hate them on this forum, Travis Barker is a brilliant drummer)

Yeah, he is... he's the only one in the band with talent but no, seriously he's cool...

If you feel like downloading some videos, there are a couple that I could suggest that you look at:

Tony royster jr. - This kid is an insane drummer... he's like 12 years old, and does a massive solo whaich goes for ages.

Terry Bozzio - He was the drummer for Frank Zappa's band.

Other than that, I suggest you listen to some Presidents of the United States of America for good drumming on a minimalist kit.

[Gryff]

Deeeeeeerhoof.

[Zaarin]

I've always thought Stephen Morris (Joy Division/New Order) was a great drummer. Hell, he practically makes "Atrocity Exhibition". The way Martin Hannett produced it made him sound even better.

[timehat]

I thin her work with Quasi is brilliant, but this thread kinda seems to be more about drummers with egos the size of their 56 bass drum kits.

Good instrumental technique and music that exemplifies such are not necessarily bad things, even if they aren't a complete picture in themselves.

[E. Spaceman]

Eh, that was a bit of a joke. Besides, I actually own and love a fair amount of Rush albums.

[Johnny C]

Blink 182 (fuck all of the people who hate them on this forum, Travis Barker is a brilliant drummer)

I love Blink 182, but although Travis' energy is great his drumming is sometimes excessive and that makes me upset.

Jim, I didn't notice your Janet Weiss love up there. I apologize.

[Aneurhythmia]

Tony royster jr. - This kid is an insane drummer... he's like 12 years old, and does a massive solo whaich goes for ages.

He's in his 20's now and plays drums for a terrible alt-pop band.

[brew]

Elvin Jones is definitely my favorite.  A Love Supreme from Coltrane is a highlight.

For rock, I'm surprised Damon Che from Don Caballero hasn't gotten a mention.

[Thrillho]

I've always thought Stephen Morris (Joy Division/New Order) was a great drummer. Hell, he practically makes "Atrocity Exhibition". The way Martin Hannett produced it made him sound even better.

I disagree. Joy Division are one of my favourite bands, and I think that when Morris does play, he does it with an extraordinary energy and passion that I appreciate, and the way he plays does fit the music he's playing. But he is essentially a metronome, and he's been doing that same damn hi-hat/snare beat for thirty years.

[Merkava]

How about some Jeremiah Green? Modest Mouse had some of the best drumming in indie rock. I'm not sure if it's Green also, but the guy who did the percussion work for their song Night on the Sun is also brilliant.

Bear Vs Shark has some awesome drumming, too. And The Walkmen.

I also highly recommend a lot of the guys already mentioned, as well as the recommendation of jazz. Jazz is a great place to start learning about dynamics and subtlety, very helpful for being a great drummer, and not just a good drummer.

[timehat]

Absolutely. Subtlety is highly overlooked. Why people froth over Portnoy I will never understand. Sure, bombast is great, but there's better bombast and there are other things besides it. Oh well...

[Martin]

I totally forgot Isis. On Oceanic and Panopticon there are some really sweet drumparts.

[Aneurhythmia]

I totally forgot Isis. On Oceanic and Panopticon there's one kinda sweet drumpart repeated over and over again for 2 hours.

[Martin]

Stupid.

[SpacemanSpiff]

As a drummer, I second especially Porcupine Tree's The Sound of Muzak (which is tons of fun to play as well), everything by Jon Theodore basically and Fugazi.

I would also mention these:
Drive Like Jehu - for showing complex, but fitting and most of all driving playing.
Shellac - Todd Trainer is just incredibly precise.
June of 44 - Doug Scharin is awesome, especially technically. He's a major influence of Jon Theodore, and you can tell.
Q And Not U - complex and groovy drums.
Slint - showing that you don't actually have to beat the living shit out of your kit 24/7.

But: If he's a beginner, apart from Drive Like Jehu, most of this stuff probably won't appeal to him as much (the bands I listed there, not the ones I seconded), as will stuff like Don Caballero or The Flying Luttenbachers. It's technically complex but you need a certain experience just to grasp what the fuck is going on there, at least that's the impression I had. I only learnt to appreciate certain drum parts when I actually understood what was played there.

At first, I would aim for good rock with more complex elements. Stuff that you can actually learn within a decent amount of time, everything else is just discouraging, if that's even a word. Math-rock wankery can wait.
Most people will kill me here, but a pretty damn good starting point would be stuff by the Foo Fighters. Led Zeppelin is also a must.

Also, Bernard Purdie is awesome and the videos are actually interesting for a drummer because: Stick control, technique and melody. You should get those down before you try to do other, more complex things.

[Aneurhythmia]

Stupid.

Excellent riposte.

I'm serious though.  He's probably the 2nd least dynamic member of the band after Aaron Turner's vocals.  I like Isis, but the only time the drumming seems to pick up any interesting dynamics it ends up sounding like second-rate Jason Roeder.

Oh, I guess he recently started putting his snare accents in random places.  I gues that makes it better...

[Martin]

I disagree. I like his drumparts and they got me into trying alot of new things on my drumkit. His fills are cool, and although alot of his beats sounds similar, I think it has alot of pecularity to it.

[Thrillho]

Absolutely. Subtlety is highly overlooked. Why people froth over Portnoy I will never understand. Sure, bombast is great, but there's better bombast and there are other things besides it. Oh well...

Of course. It's much harder to be a good restrained drummer than a good 'hit everything' drummer. I've always appreciated the people who drum for Nick Cave, because they have to be able to do snare-clicking ballads with brushes and thundering tom-toms and all sorts of other styles, often within the space of one song.

[onewheelwizzard]

I've always thought Dave Grohl's drumming on Queens of the Stone Age's "Songs For The Deaf" was fucking ace and a half.  "Song For The Dead" is outrageous.  Definitely give your brother at least that song, if not the whole album.

Also, Alfredo Hernandez's drumming is always spot-on ... check out Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age's self-titled debut, and Yawning Man.

And let me reiterate: Ginger Baker.  His work with Masters of Reality is the stuff I'm most familiar with, and it's magnificent.  Get "Sunrise on the Sufferbus," as I recommended before, and download "The Desert Song" from the album "Give Us Barabbas."

[Kai]

Oh man, Ginger Baker is ace. His stuff with Cream and Blind Faith is wonderful.

[Jono]

+1 on Deerhoof.

Also:
The Mint Chicks - either Post No Bills, or a Quick Show of Hands.
Any Jazz greats that you can get your hands on.

[E. Spaceman]

The guy who plays the snare on the Berlin Orchestra in the performance of  Ravel's Bolero. My favourite drummig ever.

[AceGun]

Brian Chase from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Seconds deserves a mention.  He knows how to work the jazz angles like a pro, and actually understands that improving the music is more important than freaking out and trying to get more attention like most famous drummers.

[Unosuke]

Joey Jordison became like a drum god in between the first and second Slipknot albums

[Thrillho]

Joey Jordison became like a drum god in between the first and second Slipknot albums

I agree with you, though I think both of us will regret this.

[timehat]

No, I think it's pretty easy to understand. Multiple members of Slipknot are very technically skilled. Beyond that, I have no real interest in their music, but nobody can realistically say they can't play.

[Kai]

I am pretty sure I can.


Their guitarists are terrible.


I've never payed attention to Slipknot's drumming.