Who Is The Greatest Drummer Of All Time: JOHN BONHAM Or NEIL PEART? LARS ULRICH Weighs In

September 17, 2020

METALLICA's Lars Ulrich joined Howard Stern on his SiriusXM show, "The Howard Stern Show", this week. While on the program, Ulrich was asked to weigh in on whether LED ZEPPELIN's John Bonham or RUSH's Neil Peart is the greatest drummer of all time.

"It's fucking hard," Lars said (see video below). "Listen, I've been asked that question, on and off, for 40 years.

"I would put two additional names on that list. DEEP PURPLE's Ian Paice is an incredibly technically gifted drummer, and Phil Rudd is what gives AC/DC that incredible bounce and swing."

After Howard brought up the "soul" of Bonham's drumming, Lars said: "You mentioned 'When The Levee Breaks'. I mean, that's classic Bonham. The drums are big, thunderous, ambient. He's a little bit behind on the snare. And it's got that groove. He's in the pocket."

As for his opinion of Peart, Ulrich said: "The first time I ever met Neil, it was 1984. Our manager Cliff [Burnstein] signed RUSH, and I had drum questions about gear and this and that. He goes, 'Neil loves to talk to younger drummers.' He goes, 'Call Neil. He wants to hear from you.' And it was, like, 'Huh?!' I was 20 years old with not a pot to piss in. And I called him, and we spoke 30, 45 minutes on the phone and were geeking out on drums. And the whole thing was like a fairy tale. You can't play drums and not love Neil and you can't not be appreciative and respectful."

Pressed to pick his favorite, Lars said: "Between Neil and between John, no disrespect, but I'll have to go with John Bonham."

Back in 2017, Ulrich told Baltimore radio station 98 Rock that he would pick Rudd to take over behind the kit for METALLICA if he was no longer able to play drums in the band. "He's been probably my main, biggest source of inspiration when we did the turn-away from the super-progressive stuff, the crazy stuff after 'Justice', when we got into the 'black album' and the 'Load' stuff, when it got a little more about the bounce and the riffs and the feel and the groove and all that," Lars said. "Phil Rudd, he's the top of that pyramid. Hearing Phil Rudd play behind James [Hetfield], that'd be pretty cool."

"The Howard Stern Show", which airs on SiriusXM channel Howard 100, is broadcast live Mondays through Wednesdays starting at 7:00 a.m. ET. Full show episodes are also available on demand.

Find more on Led zeppelin
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).