10 Greatest Drummers In Hard Rock

Most people tend to think of the drummer's position as a bit of a thankless job. Whereas the guitarist might have to focus on the complex riffs and the singer on reaching the upper level of their vocal range, the drummer normally is just the guy known to keep time rather than do anything flashy. However, it wasn't until Led Zeppelin came along that the world got a taste of the real muscle that comes from behind the kit.

On the surface, there's a lot about John Bonham's playing that is so essential to rock and roll that they're easy to miss. For as neanderthalic as he may have seemed at the outset, Bonham was always a complex musical thinker, playing with the beat and getting more of a rise out of Jimmy Page than many may have thought. Instead of just gelling with the singer or bass player, you could always feel Bonham's drums and Page's guitar interacting with each other, as Bonham answered Page's guitar riffs on tracks like the Immigrant Song or on the syncopated rhythms of Kashmir.

Then again, Bonham could still kick ass when left to his own devices, with tracks like Moby Dick showing his way to truly punish his kit, both with sticks and just using his hands to batter it senseless. Even though many different drummers have come after him, you haven't really listened to hard rock drums until you've heard Bonham play at least once.