Interesting, with 18 votes in, Keith Moon hasn't garnered one single vote. Ringo was my personal choice as I always admired his tasteful playing... never trying to outplay the guitars or overplay on top of the vocals, as Moon obviously loved doing. I can't imagine any Beatle tune with someone else's drumming. What would Moon's drumming have sounded like on "Something"

or "Ticket to Ride"? What would Bonham have done with "The Long and Winding Road"? Then again, no Who song would have sounded like the Who with Ringo as their drummer.

I am a drummer soley because of Ringo. But as I grew older and really studied the behind-the-scenes of pop music of the 50's through the 70's, I found my style most reflected Hal Blaine and Earl Palmer. Obviously it's because they were the guys I played along with for countless hours with my headphones and trusty stereo....I didn't know who they were at the time, but now I understand just who were my true mentors. To this day (I am in my 50s now), I never grow tired of playing those beautiful straight back beats and simple fills.

Ringo the greatest drummer? Probably not, but hey, HE'S RINGO. What more can be said? He's simply the greatest......

Bowing

I love the sound of that ride also,and he's still playing it.

As far as influence, I think they all did that in equal measure for me.

But so many others have influenced me also.Buddy,Gene,Louis,Morello,Danny Seraphine,Bobby Culomby,Mitchell,Powell,Danelli,Barbata,Schrieve,Haynes,Paice,Appice,Papa Jo, Elvin,Tony,De Jhonette,Lenny White,Cobham,Gadd,Richie Haywood...I think you see my point.

All of these guys and more, have influenced how I play and my approch to constructing original drum. parts.To me,there is no one greatest drummer in the world.I don't believe that that discussion could possibly exist outside of a highschool cafateria debate on greatness popularity an of course ...speed.Or who won the WFD competition this year.

I have nothing against the WFD,but it has about as much to do with drum set drumming and actually playing the instrument as DNA research.

Even out of those mentioned,I just couldn't pick just one,so I guess....I have to disqualify myself from voting.

Steve B

Hal Blaine

Earl Palmer

Sandy Nelson

Roger Taylor

Guy Patterson

Dennis Wilson

Mel Taylor

Chad Pelletier

Ronnie Tutt

Eric Singer

Cozy Powell

Coffee Break2 Can you name the drummers who were most influential to the four of them?

all 4 for me thats the songs we played i think you forgot mitch mitchel

Bonham mentioned Buddy, Baker loved Roach and was inspired by him, Ringo also mentioned Buddy and I think Moon was influenced by the apes at the zoo!!!

Really hard to figure his influences out, especially when you consider that surf music was his favorite! According to several accounts I've read he was at a total loss when playing outside the Who. While acknowledging Moon's contributions to creating the Who's sound, you get the feeling from Townsend that he was relieved to be able to play with "normal" drummers.

band3

Keith Moon played relatively 'traditional' on the very early Who records. He played single kick and used a hi-hat. I would imagine he had the same influences as other young British drummers of the day — American Jazz and RnB.

Out of these four, I voted for Keith Moon. I like the others too, but Keith Moon was a drummer like no other. Especially of that time period. Most drummers were standard 4/4 drummers or what I like to call them, "wedding band" drummers. Not that they were bad, but I felt they were truly just time keepers. I hardly play rock or metal music anymore, because I'm so addicted to Big Band music. But, my favorite rock drummers (not in any order) are Neil Peart (Rush), Keith Moon (The Who), Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden), Les Binks (early Judas Priest). These guys were/are all very busy drummers, very creative and that's why I liked them.