Comments on: A list of the "10 Craziest Drummers Ever," complete with illos

By: abstract_reg

abstract_reg — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 01:16:00 +0000

So… who would you add? (Pointing out how bad a list is with out suggesting an amendment isn’t really making a point at all.)

By: zerode

zerode — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 00:22:00 +0000

Anyone who has even been in or worked with bands knows that drummer and craziness are kinda… Well, what I’m trying to say is… In any band, you want to find the loose screw? Chances are, it’s on the drum kit.

By: Paul Cooke

Paul Cooke — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 11:27:00 +0000

Ginger Baker… once took a bottle thrown from the audience at Glastonbury full on in the face and never missed a beat… I know, I witnessed it… the bottle broke his nose as well, although it’s pretty difficult to tell as his nose was already well battered.

By: B E Pratt

B E Pratt — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 09:08:00 +0000

That’s just crazy cool drumming. As opposed to crazy drummer.

By: bingobangoboy

bingobangoboy — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 08:31:00 +0000

Why make a “10 craziest drummers” list if you can only think of five crazy drummers?

By: L_Mariachi

L_Mariachi — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 07:05:00 +0000

It’s not a list of decent drummers, it’s a list of crazy drummers.

By: L_Mariachi

L_Mariachi — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 07:04:00 +0000

John Stanier (of Helmet, later Tomahawk and Battles) is an excellent drummer but he doesn’t act crazy at all. Neil Peart and Buddy Rich are conspicuously absent from this list though.

By: Richard Assar

Richard Assar — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 05:39:00 +0000

Robert Wyatt’s drumming for Soft Machine was, to me, out of this world. Was going to post this and then saw your comment. Glad someone else stated this also.

By: geech

geech — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 04:18:00 +0000

Wow, kind of astounded that nowhere in that list or in the comments here or the article is Mick Fleetwood mentioned. I had always heard he was the inspiration for Animal anyway.

By: Ben Burger

Ben Burger — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 03:39:00 +0000

What about this guy?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKsWl1fDzbw

By: William Joseph Dunn

William Joseph Dunn — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 01:16:00 +0000

Why isn’t Buddy Rich on that list?:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8-uoTD4fMQ

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 23:44:00 +0000

They party to death so that you don’t have to. Think of it like a crop sacrifice.

By: 10xor01

10xor01 — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 21:34:00 +0000

Shouldn’t it just be the last ten drummers in Spinal Tap?

By: Incipient Madness

Incipient Madness — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 21:06:00 +0000

Totally crazy on stage. Rock solid IRL. Even managed to self-treat a years long suicidal episode after two consecutive personal tragedies. Returned after four years to help write Vapor Trails. Returned to touring when he was terrified to do so and learned to love it again.

Pretty much the opposite of a crazy drummer.

By: EH

EH — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 21:02:00 +0000

Crazier than Robert Fripp, that one.

By: EH

EH — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 21:01:00 +0000

That’s because he’s the Rod Steiger of rock drummers.

By: EH

EH — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Choking on someone else’s vomit, on the other hand…

By: C W

C W — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:58:00 +0000

It doesn’t take “craziness” to asphyxiate, you know.

By: Johnny La Rue

Johnny La Rue — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:50:00 +0000

What, no Neil Peart?

By: Tod Westlake

Tod Westlake — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:49:00 +0000

Never listened to Danzig, Helmet, or Slayer. Did Krupa have a rep as being crazy? I’ve never heard that, but you’re probably right. Topper wasn’t nuts, just strung out, from what I’ve read. While we’re talking obscure, how about Ted from the DKs? Or Johnny “Vatos” Hernandez from Oingo Boingo? Keith and Ginger, on the other hand, are/were certifiable. They eclipse the rest, imo. It’s a pretty weak list.

By: bruceburbank

bruceburbank — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:49:00 +0000

Babyland, Gilman St. 1998

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRWqVgwxCgg

By: franko

franko — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:32:00 +0000

by the time you get to the 90s, it’s pretty much all been done.

By: Matthew Urso

Matthew Urso — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:22:00 +0000

i guess no band after the 80′s had a decent drummer? how bout Danny Carey?

By: bruceburbank

bruceburbank — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:21:00 +0000

Gene Krupa? Dave Lombardo? The guy from Danzig (at least in Danzig’s early solo years, don’t know if he’s still in the band)? The guy from Helmet (of the Meantime era)? Or about a thousand other crazier drummers if this author knew anything about music or had done any research whatsoever.

By: wingo shackleford

wingo shackleford — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:16:00 +0000

They forgot Carmine Appice of Vanilla Fudge.

By: UncaScrooge

UncaScrooge — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:12:00 +0000

I feel like Robert Wyatt deserves an honorable mention here, even though he survived the crazy.

By: Tod Westlake

Tod Westlake — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:05:00 +0000

After Ginger Baker and Keith Moon, who else is there, really?

By: Jeremy Sweeney

Jeremy Sweeney — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 19:56:00 +0000

I know it’s foolish of me to expect Esquire to know anything about music, but this just reads like the usual isolationist Rolling Stone nostalgia-worship. All safe, predictable choices.

By: 5onthe5

5onthe5 — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 19:38:00 +0000

If someone wastes their talent and ability by choking on their own vomit after a liquor and junk food binge… It makes me not want to celebrate or iconicize their “craziness”.