10 Highly Underrated Rock Music Drummers

In 1985, a group of students at the Berklee College of Music in Boston started playing together under the name Dream Theater. Their names were John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy.

Portnoy was studying at Berklee on a scholarship, which should give you an indication of how good he was from a young age. The son of a radio DJ, the drummer gained an appreciation for music from a young age, and was able to teach himself how to play his instrument before attending college.

Since Dream Theater came along and revolutionised progressive rock, Portnoy has been one of the prime examples of a drummer's drummer. He's been given 30 different awards from Modern Drummer magazine, who also inducted him into their Hall of Fame.

Unfortunately, due to his band's relative obscurity, Portnoy's technical prowess and expert songwriting abilities have gone underappreciated by the general public. Anyone who has ever heard a Dream Theater song will know just how talented Portnoy is, but until prog metal becomes a more popular genre, he is doomed to fly under the radar.

You never know, it could happen.