Great Forgotten Drummers In Rock Music

There is a Jim McCarty who played guitar for Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, later in Cactus, amongst others. Then there is Jim McCarty who played drums for the Yardbirds. As far as female drummers go, here is Debra Pearce, the young lady who nearly got the drumming gig in the Partridge Family

 

The late great Bruce Gary is my all-time favorite drummer. He's certainly never gotten the praise he deserved and deserves.

 

maybe a better example

 

The late great Jerry Nolan.

 

Ken Pustelnik - Groundhogs

 

Chuck Biscuits (real name: Charles Montgomery) "the Keith Moon of punk," 15 years old here I believe.

 

One completely forgotten one:
Matt Etheridge.


(Left in the photo)

 

Saw Thin Lizzy in 1977 and was literally blown away by Downey. He is indeed a fantastic drummer, highly underated.

 

Malcolm Travis from Sugar

 

Billy Mundi,just watch a couple of minutes of this video,he knows when to hit and how,pure class.

 

I dunno about forgotten, but Big Paul Ferguson of Killing Joke is probably one of the most under rated drummers who's still playing strong the past 35+ years.

 

YES.
That band was never quite the same after he left. (Although still very good.)

2nding:
Dino Danelli/Rascals – just astonishing chops, and a master showman. Many a time I have gone down the ol’ YouTube rabbit hole of old Rascals live clips and TV appearances. Always enjoyable, and he was a huge part of their sound.
Jerry Edmonton/Steppenwolf
Johnny Barbata/Turtles et al
Billy Ficca/Television – love his cymbal and toms work. Deserves a mention for his playing during the crescendo on Marquee Moon alone.
Dave Ruffy/Ruts – tremendous feel and taste, and his work on Savage Circle is staggering.
Al Jackson – Booker T. Outside of our neck of the woods, not a household name. The groovemaster. You could argue that maybe a few people were as good as he was at what he did, but not that anybody was better.

Adding:
Sara Romweber/Let’s Active, Dex Romweber Duo – tremendous feel, kinda jazzy in spots. She and Dex can pull off the 2-piece thing really well.
Tomato (AKA Chris Harfenist)/Sound of Urchin – Probably the most incredible drummer I have ever seen in person. An absolute BEAST, AND he’s the lead singer and primary songwriter for the band. Watching him pull off the damndest fills while singing (well) is a real treat.

 

Cool thread! (Bonus points for not putting the nasty word “underrated” into the picture....)

D. J. Fontana

Just heard Springsteen interviewed on the BBC saying that they based the E Street Band’s drum sound on the fantastic snare on Elvis’s version of “Hound Dog."

 

Oh, that reminds me...Ric Parnell could certainly play!

 

Scott Rockenfield - Queensryche

Bob

 

Pete Thomas from Elvis Costello. I love him.

 

Paul McCartney? He's great, many people have forgotten that he is a drummer and he played rock music.

 

Entered thread to post this, but you were way ahead of me.

 

Dinky Diamond - Sparks
Simon Fox - Be Bop Deluxe
John 'Pugwash' Weathers - Gentle Giant

Plus he sort of looked like the Gentle Giant mascot/logo, albeit with glasses.

 

I don't think Mitch Mitchell's the least bit forgotten. Millions know and love him as Hendrix's drummer. Now his non-Hendrix work has been forgotten, but that's a different matter.

 

I was surprised to learn that four years before the Knack, he was the drummer of Jack Bruce's 1975 live band with Mick Taylor and Carla Bley.

 

I saw Steve Smith at Ronnie Scott's a year or so back. Absolutely sensational, his technique and control just blew me away.

 

Maybe my perspective is odd since I read drum magazines, but I think Steve Smith and Kenny Aronoff are nowhere near forgotten. Much less Steve Gadd who I also saw mentioned.

I'll nominate one good, rarely mentioned drummer: Willie Leacox of America. He did great drum tracks for "Tin Man" and "Sister Golden Hair" (among other songs) in the 70's and toured with the band for more than 40 years before finally retiring a year or two ago.

 

One of my all-time favorite underrated drummers is Craig Krampf. He's got a slyly subtle sense of push/pull that gets me every time I hear a track he plays on.