This debate has been going on for decades. Both Neil Peart and John Bohham were both extraordinary drummers and, in my opinion, they were the best drummers in the world.
Neil Peart
Neil Peart was born on September 12, 1952 in Canada. He was a drummer, song writer and drummer most notably for drumming and being the primary singer in the band Rush. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Readers Poll Hall of Fame as the youngest ever to receive this amazing honor. He is by far the most technical drummer and for his live performances for their exacting nature and stamina.
Peart’s initial exposure to music was piano lessons, but did not have much of an impact on him. He loved drumming on anything he could find around the house. His parents bought him drum sticks, a practice drum, and lessons. They told him if he stuck with drumming for a year, they would buy him a drum kit. He received that drum kit at age 14th for his birthday and began talking lessons at the Peninsula Conservatory of Music. During his adolescence, he was in many bands trying to make drumming a full time career. He eventually moved to England to focus on his music. But after a dispiriting stint, he returned home to Canada and ultimately became the drummer for Rush, a Toronto based band in late 1974. This was 6 years after Rush’s establishment.
Rush made 19 studio albums and 10 of them exceeding millions of copies in the United States. Billboard has ranked the band for the most successive gold or platinum rock and roll bands.
Neil drew most of his inspiration from the drummers Keith Moon of The Who, Ginger Baker of Cream, and John Bonham from Led Zeppelin Who were notably the most famous and talented drummers in English Rock.
Peart started to mirror jazz and big band musicians Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. In1994 he became not only a friend of as well as a pupil of the jazz instructor Freddie Gruber. After working with Gruber, Neil revamped his sound to incorporate both jazz and swing components.
As well as being the drummer for Rush, he was also the primary lyricist, and published several memoirs about his journey. He wrote a total of 7 nonfiction books focused on his travels and personal stories. His lyrics for Rush addressed universal themes and diverse subjects including science fiction, fantasy and philosophy, as well as secular, humanitarian, and libertarian themes.
Peart announced his retirement from Rush on December 7, 2015. Although due to an interview with Drumhead Magazine, Peart was misquoted and said he was simply taking a break. In January 2018, bandmate, Alex Lifeson, announced that Rush was retiring due to Peart‘s health issues. After suffering for three years, Peart passed away from glioblastoma on January 7, 2020 at the age of 67.
After moving to England trying to find a band to play with for 18 months, he became disappointed and moved back to Canada. After returning home, a St. Catherine’s band called J R Flood who played in the Ontario bar circuit. Not long after joining the band a mutual friend convinced Peart to audition for the Toronto based band Rush who was looking for a replacement for their original drummer. Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson were there to oversee Peart’s audition. Peart felt like he bombed the audition and while Geddy and Peart hit it off due to having similar interest with books and music, Alex Lifeson was less than impressed.
Lee and Lifeson had a conversation about Peart’s audition and finally decided to offer him the gig as the drummer for Rush and joined the band on July 29, 1974, which was only 2 weeks before the band started their US tour!
Peart settled into his place in the band as not only a drummer but also as their primary lyricist and his writing became just as noticed as his drum and other musical skills. The band was working hard to establish themselves as a recording band take on extensive touring.
The band’s original recording in 1975 was successful but the follow up recording which the band had high hopes for was a disappointment to the fans and critics. Peart responded to the negativity by writing “2112” on their third album by the same name and became the breakthrough they were working for and they were gaining a good following in the US.
The tour for this album brought them to a 3 night stand in Toronto at a bar called Massey Hall. Playing at this venue was a dream of Peart’s. He was introduced by Lee as The Professor of the Drum Kit. Rush record five studio albums in 4 years coupled with 300 gigs a year pushed Rush into a new direction.
Peart was suffering from chronic tendinitis and other shoulder problems and in 2018, Alex Lifeson made the announcement that Rush was retiring. On January 7, 2020, Peart died from glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. He was diagnosis three years prior but was kept a tight secret to Peart’s inner circle.
Peart’s drumming style and amazing technique is highly regarded by his fans, other musicians, and music journalists. The Who was Peart’s first inspiration that sparked his interest in both playing drums and writing music. Peart is distinguished for playing "butt-end out", reversing stick orientation for greater impact and increased rimshot capacity. He is quoted as saying “When I was starting out", Peart said, "if I broke the tips off my sticks I couldn't afford to buy new ones, so I would just turn them around and use the other end. I got used to it, and continue to use the heavy end of lighter sticks – it gives me a solid impact, but with less 'dead weight' to sling around."
Peart had mainly played “match grip” (where you hold both sticks the same way) but converted to “traditional grip (where one hand held the stick as in a match grip, but the other hand was held upside down) and he changed his stick style in the mid 90s. He did go back to playing match grip but he would alternate between match and traditional while playing music from Test For Echo, when traditional felt more appropriate such as during the rudimental snare drum section of his drum solo.
Variety Magazine wrote “Widely considered one of the most innovative drummers in rock history, Peart was famous for his state-of-the-art drum kits – more than 40 different drums were not out of the norm – precise playing style and on stage showmanship."
ISA today compared him to the best drummers in history such as John Bonham from Led Zeppelin, Ringo Star from the Beatles, Keith Moon of The Who, Ginger Baker from Cream, and Stewart Copeland from The Police. He was widely known and admired for his impeccable technique. In 1983 he was inducted to the Drummer Hall of Fame.
Amanda Petrusich wrote “Watching Peart play the drums gave the impression that he might possess several phantom limbs. The sound was merciless."
With Rush, Peart played Slingerland, Tama, Ludwig and Drum Workshop drums in that order. His symbols were Zildjian A-Series cymbals and Wuhan china cymbals into the early 2000 when he switched to Paragon, a line designed especially for him by Sabian. On Rush’s 1984 tour, Peart used a 360 degree drum kit that rotated as he played the different parts of the kit.
During the late 70s, Peart added orchestra bells, tubular bells, wind chimes, crotales, timbales, a gong, a timpani, temple blocks, bell tree, triangles and melodic cowbells. Beginning in 1984, he used Simmons electric drums in addition to an Akai digital samplers. After deciding to add electric drums, he added a rotating drum riser. This allowed Peart to swap the prominent portions of the kit (traditional acoustic in front, electronic in back). Peart had more than 30 different pieces of equipment on his drum kit. Peart also designed his own significant drum stick series with Pro-Mark made of Japanese White Oak.
Peart was know for his distinctive in concert drum solos using exotic percussion instruments and long, intricate passages in odd time signatures. His solos were featured on every live Rush album that was released.
Peart received a mind blowing awards and honors:
Hall of Fame: 1983
Best Rock Drummer*: 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 2006, 2008
Best Multi-Percussionist*: 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986
Best Percussion Instrumentalist: 1982
Most Promising New Drummer: 1980
Best All Around: 1986
1986 Honor Roll: Rock Drummer, Multi-Percussion
(* – As a member of the Honor Roll in these categories, he is no longer eligible for votes in the above categories.)
Best Instructional Video: 2006, for Anatomy of a Drum Solo
Best Drum Recording of the 1980s, 2007, for "YYZ" from Exit... Stage Left
Best Recorded Performance:
1980: Permanent Waves
1981: Moving Pictures
1982: Exit... Stage Left
1983: Signals
1985: Grace Under Pressure
1986: Power Windows
1988: Hold Your Fire
1989: A Show of Hands
1990: Presto
1992: Roll the Bones
1993: Counterparts
1997: Test for Echo
1999: Different Stages
2002: Vapor Trails
2004: R30
2007: Snakes & Arrows
2011: Time Machine
2012: Clockwork Angels
Peart received the following awards from DRUM! magazine for 2007:
Drummer of the Year
Best Progressive Rock Drummer
Best Live Performer
Best DVD (Anatomy Of A Drum Solo)
Best Drumming Album (Snakes & Arrows)
Peart received the following awards from DRUM! magazine for 2008:
Drummer of the Year
Best Progressive Rock Drummer (Runner-Up)
Best Mainstream Pop Drummer (Runner-Up)
Best Live Drumming Performer
Peart received the following awards from DRUM! magazine for 2009:
Drummer Of The Year
Best Progressive Rock Drummer
Peart received the following awards from DRUM! magazine for 2010:
Drummer of the Year
Best Live Performer (Runner-Up)
Best Progressive Rock Drummer (Runner-Up)
Other honors and awards
Peart was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on May 9, 1996, together with Lee and Lifeson. The trio was the first rock band to be so honoured, as a group.
Peart was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame along with Lifeson and Lee in 2010.
On April 18, 2013, Rush was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
After Peart's death, the St. Catharines city council began a process to name the pavilion in Lakeside Park after Peart.
Neil Peart was an outstanding musician and intriguing to watch play drums. His massive drum kit made him stand out among other notable drummer.
I personally feel Neil Peart was the most technically gifted drummer in all of rock and even surpassed his idols. Watching him play a 30+ piece drum kit leaves his fans in awe as not every professional drummer could do this.
I was going to compare Neil Peart and John Bonham in one blog entry, but this one has become longer than I expected it to. So this will be part one of the comparison of the two best drummers in all of rock music and I will cover John Bonham next.
Who are your favorite drummers? Another drummer I really admire is Dave Grohl. He is talented in so many aspects of music including guitar, being the front man, singing, and playing drums. He seems to have the special touch where everything turns to gold.
After reading part two: John Bonham, please let me know who you think which one is the best. I know that both of them are immensely talented and in different ways, but even as much as I love Led Zeppelin, I think Neil Peart is definitely number one and John Bonham is an extremely close number two in my book.
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