Lars Ulrich has weighed in on the greatest drummer of all time debate when he appeared on The Howard Stern Show.
Howard Stern was adamant that Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham was the greatest drummer of all time. Richard Christy, who is a regular of the show then weighed in and said that while he agreed, he would also add Neil Peart of Rush into the running.
A caller rang in and said that he would bet $100 that Lars Ulrich would be the deciding vote and would pick Neil Peart. Howard Stern took the caller up on the bet and the next day had Lars Ulrich on the phone to give his opinion.
Lars Ulrich decided that he would also add in two more names to the debate, Ian Paice and Phil Rudd as in the running for the greatest drummer ever.
“Deep Purple’s Ian Paice is an incredibly technically gifted drummer. And Phil Rudd is what gives AC/DC that incredible bounce and swing,” he said.
He had nothing but praise for John Bonham. “You mentioned ‘When the Levee Breaks’. I mean that’s classic Bonham. The drums are big thunderous and ambient, he’s a little bit behind on the snare, and it’s got that groove… he’s in a pocket,” he said.
Much to Howard Stern’s shock though, he had not realised that Lars Ulrich had actually received advice and learnt a lot from Neil Peart and therefore held him in very high regard. Howard begun to get nervous about the result of the debate.
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“The first time I ever met Neil it was 1984. Our manager, Cliff [Burnstein], signed Rush. I had drum questions about gear and this and that. [Burnstein] goes, ‘Neil loves to talk to younger drummers… 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.”
He continued, “and I called [Peart] and we spoke for 30, 45 minutes and we’re 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 [of his playing].”
Check out the full clip to find out who Lars Ulrich chose as the greatest drummer of all time:
