There is a favorite drummer for everyone. These favorites differ greatly in terms of musical style, individual songs, personality, or skill. But when it comes to the “best” drummer, a select few names frequently come up in contentious dinner table debates. John Bonham, Ginger Baker, Mitch Mitchell, and Stewart Copeland are frequently mentioned in discussions about rock drumming.
We are more likely to discover choices based on technical proficiency when we look at the drummers these drummers identified as favorites. Baker recalled that Led Zeppelin drummer Bonham claimed they held a similar place on the drumming throne in his memoir Hellraiser: The Autobiography of the World’s Greatest Drummer.
The drummer for Cream described John Bonham as having said that Ginger Baker and he were the only two drummers in British rock ‘n’ roll. “You cheeky little bastard,” was how I responded to this. The title of Baker’s autobiography, known for his humility, is unambiguous about his favorite.
Stewart Copeland, The Police drummer, who gained notoriety a decade after Bonham and Baker, seemingly concurs with Baker’s appraisal. In a 2019 Time tribute, Copeland stated, “Before Ginger Baker, the drums were a very simple instrument providing a very simple ingredient to pop music, which was the beat.” Baker passed away in 2019. One of the attractive guys on the album cover had to be the drummer. Subsequently, Ginger Baker emerged and introduced numerous elements that were considerably more intricate.
As he concluded his kind assessment, the Police drummer recalled Baker’s affinity for jazz. He claimed to be a jazz musician, but he never convinced him of that. “With all of my appropriately submissive exchanges, I couldn’t help but rattle his cage about the jazz thing. Get over it, dude is what I would say. You are the god of rock.
Copeland is a great admirer of Baker, but Mitch Mitchell of The Jimi Hendrix Experience is the closest candidate for first place. In 2018, on The Grand Tour, Copeland and Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason chose their all-time favorite drummer.
As soon as Jeremy Clarkson, the host, identified Mitchell, Copeland chimed in, “Well, that’s the travesty right there.” This majestic, lofty… The drummer for Jimi Hendrix was this monument of drums!
A bewildered Clarkson enquired, “Well, how would you describe him?” “Well, Copeland said, Jimi was Mitch’s guitarist.” The two then decided on a ranking system, with Baker coming in second.
In a 2022 interview with Far Out, Copeland talked about his early fascination with drumming and said, “It was all Ginger Baker and Mitch Mitchell then, and Bonham came later.” “I appreciated how frequently Ginger used his tom-toms. He was playing more of his drums than anyone else was, including Mitch Mitchell, who was arguably the most motivating of them all.
