Rhythm Magazine And Why Should I Believe Them?

[Norwood]

So, I'm sure most of you know that Rhythm Magazine held a poll, asking voters to identify the "Greatest Drummer Of The Last 25 Years".

Obviously names like Bozzio, Gadd, Portnoy, Peart, Copeland and Collins appeared on the list.

Then I see names like Travis Barker.  Chad Smith, Joey Freese and of course, the winner Joey Jordinson.

Of course people are going to disagree with any poll, they're far too subjective.

But the very fact that people like Baker, Weckl, Colaiuta, Bonham, Tony Williams and uhm...Buddy Friggin Rich aren't on this list give it absolutely no credibility.

How can ANY list of drummers not have at least one of the above names yet have Travis Barker?  Seriously, that's an absolute outrage.

Are we simply seeing the younger generation at work here?

What has Travis Barker innovated?  What has he done to the drumming world other than make a Youtube video of him doing simple marching band techniques?  I mean, if you've seen the video and you're a drummer you know what I'm talking about.  The kids all think it's the most amazing thing they've ever seen.  But if you've ever been in marching band in high school or even simply taken drum lessons...the things he's doing in that video are nothing more than simple chop techniques.  A few flam-a-diddles, some tram-a-diddles etc etc.  But "WOW THAT'S SO FAST!!11 HE IS THE BEST DRUJMMERS IN THE WORLKD".

But the winner.

Yes, I know I shouldn't judge a book by it's cover.  But all I see when I look at that band is a mixture of Kiss, Spinal Tap, Insane Clown Posse and professional wrestling.

Beyond all the histrionics they employ to get them noticed (it worked, apparently)...how is this a band of innovators?  What has "Joey Jordinson" done that makes him stand out?

I call foul on this entire poll...and all it does is embolden these 14 year olds that think Slipknot's the first band to come around that plays fast.

What a traveshamockery!

[skydivingninja]

And you don't want to complain about John Myung getting voted "best bassist ever" based on the same Internet polls?  Lists like this are never supposed to be fact, and on Internet lists, the band with the biggest online presence usually wins.  In the drummer case, I guess more slipknot fans heard about it than DT fans.  In the bassist case, more DT fans heard about it than Rush or Slipknot fans.  Its all just a bunch of kids voting for their favorites.  Just don't worry about it and feel superior that you know better than they do.  Thats what I do all the time.  NO DRUMMER ALIVE BETTER THAN NEIL PEART.  NO BASSIST ALIVE BETTER THAN GEDDY LEE.

[GuineaPig]

Clearly you missed the "held a poll" part of your own post.

[Norwood]

Clearly you missed the "held a poll" part of your own post.

How so?

Was it when I said, "Of course people are going to disagree with any poll, they're far too subjective"?

[Norwood]

And you don't want to complain about John Myung getting voted "best bassist ever" based on the same Internet polls?  Lists like this are never supposed to be fact, and on Internet lists, the band with the biggest online presence usually wins.  In the drummer case, I guess more slipknot fans heard about it than DT fans.  In the bassist case, more DT fans heard about it than Rush or Slipknot fans.  Its all just a bunch of kids voting for their favorites.  Just don't worry about it and feel superior that you know better than they do.  Thats what I do all the time.  NO DRUMMER ALIVE BETTER THAN NEIL PEART.  NO BASSIST ALIVE BETTER THAN GEDDY LEE.

I didn't make a post about the bassist poll because I don't know much about bass playing.  If I posted about Myung winning it, would that have made everything I said "right"?

It's not that I think MP is the "best drummer alive".  I don't think anyone is.  I can tell you my "favorite" but there's way too many drummers out there - session drummers, studio etc - for me (all of whom I can't hold a candle to) to say "* is the best drummer alive".

What I took offense to is that no one even mentions the names I mentioned.

Travis Barker, but no Dave Weckl.

I understand it's "over the last 25 years" but Weckl has done work in the last 25 years and his catalog is much more innovative and imaginative, imo, than Travis Barker's.

By the way, who said anything about a feeling of superiority?

[GuineaPig]

Clearly you missed the "held a poll" part of your own post.

How so?

Was it when I said, "Of course people are going to disagree with any poll, they're far too subjective"?

And then you proceeded to vent about how a bunch of people just voted for their favourite.  Polls are almost always a reflection of what's popular rather than what one could be relatively objective about being "good".

I mean, just look at the results for DTF's Favourite Movie 

[Norwood]

Clearly you missed the "held a poll" part of your own post.

How so?

Was it when I said, "Of course people are going to disagree with any poll, they're far too subjective"?

And then you proceeded to vent about how a bunch of people just voted for their favourite.  Polls are almost always a reflection of what's popular rather than what one could be relatively objective about being "good".

I mean, just look at the results for DTF's Favourite Movie 

Hmm, so I shouldn't give my opinion about something that is based around people giving their opinions.

Interesting.










Noted....but interesting, none-the-less.

[PlaysLikeMyung]

NO DRUMMER ALIVE BETTER THAN NEIL PEART.  NO BASSIST ALIVE BETTER THAN GEDDY LEE.

True statement is true

[skydivingninja]

I don't know much about drumming, but I can still discern who the good and bad drummers are.  I don't know why Travis Barker gets so much attention either.  But like we have all said, this is an Internet poll.  Sometimes you have to just disagree with a lot of people and just listen to what you want and make it as important to you as you want it to be.

The "feeling superior" thing was a joke directed at you, me, and the majority of the snobbish music community that anyone discussing music on the Internet is a part of.

NO DRUMMER ALIVE BETTER THAN NEIL PEART.  NO BASSIST ALIVE BETTER THAN GEDDY LEE.

True statement is true

o/

[PlaysLikeMyung]

*\o

[Bombardana]

Beyond all the histrionics they employ to get them noticed (it worked, apparently)...how is this a band of innovators?  What has "Joey Jordinson" done that makes him stand out?

Dude, don't you know? Joey Jordison is noted for playing two bass drums SIMULTANEOUSLY!

[eric42434224]

You werent seriously asking why drummers like Rich and Bohnam were left off a list of the "Greatest Drummer of the Last 25 Years" were you?
You do know that Rich died 23 yrs ago, and Bohnam dies 30 yrs ago, right?

[skydivingninja]

Huh.  Forgot about that "past 25 years" disclaimer.  There's a good reason.

[Gadough]

Travis Barker is a great drummer. The fact that you mention in your post that you don't like him makes your post lose all credibility.

See what I did there?

[skydivingninja]

Gadough, you may have some fail musical opinions, but that post just erased most of my dislike for you.  My feelings have now evolved into neutrality.  Congratulations.  I know my approval of your actions is important to you.

Also, i c wat u did thar.

[setrataeso]

Also, why are you reading Rhythm Magazine? Modern Drummer is superior...

And, I've mentioned this before on a another thread where Barker's name came up, but I'll reiterate:

I feel as though Travis Barker is forever stuck between people who adore him and think he's the greatest and people who hate think him and think he is worse than Hitler.
I, personally think he's a fine drummer. He's an accomplished player capable of playing fast pop-punk beats (hear come the prog-snob groans) and remaining very musical. However, in no way do I consider him "one of the best", but when it comes to his genre, he's a pretty damn good player.
Now, fans of blink 182 and Travis's other projects seem to always believe "HE IS THE GREATEST BECAUSE HE PLAYS FAST SNARE ROLLS!!!!" Obviously, that doesn't make someone great. I can't take these people seriously when it comes to musical taste, simply because their views on music are very linear and they are stuck in the "popular music comfort zone".
Now, guys like the OP think exactly the opposite. They see absolutely no talent in Barker's playing because they group him with a radio-friendly genre and think "Well, his songs get played on the radio, so he can't be good", or something along those lines. These are also people whom I can't take seriously (and lets be honest, there are several people on this forum who are like this) because they dont come out of their "unpopular music comfort zone" and are so fucking pretentious that they dont want to give top 40 songs a try.

I'm not sure why Travis Barker always seems to be in the centre of all of these debates. My theory is that fans of Barker and haters of Barker are sort of like two sides to a democratic government. The fans of Barker represent the side that is in power, and the Barker-haters represent the opposition. So, the opposition tends to feel smarter when they pick on the Barker lovers, simply because that's the cool stuck-up thing to do. They need someone to hate, so they hate on the popular guy. And in terms of pop music idols, Travis Barker is at the top of that pile, so anti-Barker snobs take shots at him.

Again, I'm in the tiny percentage who neither thinks hes amazing nor thinks he's the worst. He's a fine musician who deserves to be mentioned when it comes to "top drummers" but I would never put him above a good chunk of drummers (including some that the OP mentioned).

[Gadough]

Gadough, you may have some fail musical opinions, but that post just erased most of my dislike for you.  My feelings have now evolved into neutrality.  Congratulations.  I know my approval of your actions is important to you.

Also, i c wat u did thar.

It is. This post made me smile. <3

[LTE]

There are so many drummers that come to mind that are better than Travis Barker. He isn't bad, but I think just because his fast playing became popularized in a commercially accepted and popularized band, he rose to the throne as "best drummer", similarly to Van Halen, Angus Young, etc etc etc.