Just waaaaay too many to list so I'll try and stick to ones that haven't been listed yet. Verdine White/Sonny Emory- Earth Wind and Fire (it's all about the groove) Robert Sledge/Darren Jessee- Ben Folds Five (both have major jazz chops) Dusty Hill/Frank Beard- ZZ Top (both very underrated, especially Frank) Stephan Lessard/Carter Beauford- Dave Matthews Band (always in the pocket) Tony Kanal/Adrian Young- No Doubt (not a typo, both great players)
i did not mean to bag on your tastes, sorry if it was harsh, I love this topic. Obivously those musicians have meaning, and that sort of thing is subjective. Good thread, though. But seriously, listen closely to Yes, really, they do suck.
I was going to come in here and pimp the hell out of Sabbath only to find that asswipe R2K beat me to it. The Butler/Ward combo rocked so hard that Geezer invented headbanging. Led Zep's unit was awesome too, though hardly underrated, and Ozzy had some good guys working for him in the early 80s. In the 90s, I'd say Tool had the best rhythm section of the alternative set. Danny Carey and Paul D'Amour was pretty hot back in the day, making up for a lot of Adam Jones' limitations. Justin Chancellor is good too, but not as good as D'Amour. As my controversial choice, I submit Pantera. Let's just dismiss Rex's contributions altogether and discuss Dimebag and Vinnie Paul. That pair defined rhythm in heavy music for a decade and grooved harder than anyone before them.
So many good bass, drum combos out there that I could make a substantial list. Instead, I will just list a few that first come to mind. Bruford, Wetton - King Crimson Collins (he really is an exceptional drummer), Rutherford - Genesis circa 'Lamb Lies Down' and the exceptional old live lp Entwhistle, Moon (when he was on he was ON) the Who Can't remember the names off the top of my head but, the guys in Interpol make that band HAPPEN. Same with the Smiths, Joy Division and especially the Flaming Lips. Oh yeah, Buffin and Overand Watts of Mott the Hoople, of course
Yep, Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge take a back seat to no one as far as metal rhythm sections go. And I believe there was this other guitar player, Randy something or other....
I would list the Who way near the top as well. Though I do understand the all Rock and No Roll argument, so I don't know if they were number 1 or not. Paul and Ringo definitely have the flow. The Police would might be very near the top. Kim Deal, and Lovering from the Pixies have a great feel to them. PFunk might well be very close to the top. Big Country - Amazing drumming, with the bass being incosistent. I know that Tony Butler played with the Pretenders, and Pete Townsend's solo projects, and he definitely has the flow, but is just too understated to be on the top of the list IMO. But he meshes well with the amazing drumming on Big Country's first few albums and EP's.
I actually played with those guys - although it was only by chance. A long time ago (79 or so) before SRV got famous there was a blues guitar contest at Rockefellers. Pretty much anyone could enter so I thought what the Hell! The night started with SRV and Double Trouble laying down a blistering set. What followed was comic at best and trajic at worst, but every contestant (50 or so) was given the opportunity of no more than 2, maybe 3 minutes of the best one could hope to do with Double Trouble as your back-up band. In my case, I just sort of counted off an uptempo blues shuffle in A which of course they could do in their sleep - I just played the best lead on top of that I could whilst letting them dictate the song. I came out of it relatively unscathed considering my lack of skill. My buddy tried to pull off Redhouse with them (again they were unfazed and led the way), but he faltered badly. Still, we looked great compared to the inevitable hosts of idiots tht wanted to play Stairway to Heaven or Freebird, etc.. T'was an anxiety filled but fun night and the winner (not me) won a Hammer guitar. I'm guessing Double Trouble was never so glad to see agig come to an end.
I believe Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Bonham were all the best at their respective roles in THE band. I'm not too familiar what makes a bassist really good, but I know that John Paul Jones has to be top 5 or 10 - and along with the best drummer ever, that appears to be quite a rhythm section to me. Yep, my vote definitely goes to Led Zeppelin.
Yep, I saw them at the Big Easy on Friday night...they had 4 gigs over 7/4 weekend. Those two are my absolute favorite rhythm section to play with. They set a groove a mile wide and you can't help but fall into it and get greazy!
Music threads just aren't the same without a good Manny/FattyFatBastard argument...complete with a pic of that baby in the pink dress, of course.
