Black Francis

I agree that Travis is not the best drummer ever but he is actually not bad
Blink is like a simple pop punk band so if he were to show off all his technical skills as a drummer it would change Blink's sound as a band but even with that limitation he is pretty creative in some Blink songs


blink 182 going away to college lyrics - YouTube

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GuitarBizarre

I agree with everything you just said apart from the liking Blink 182. Never did like that band, and time hasn't changed my opinion.

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Dr_Rez

Haha I grew up with Enema of the State, was my first CD actually. This is coming from the dude who also likes Eiffel 65 Blue btw so ....

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Forward To Death

I don't think Barker's a bad drummer, I just don't think he's all that impressive from what I've heard. That's not much, I love EOTS and Dude Ranch, but aside from that I really could care less about Blink 182.

While we're discussing drummers, I think Lars from Metallica is a better drummer than he's given credit for.

The drumming on AJFA is absolutely brilliant, and even though he doesn't really bring it like that on any other album, every time I listen to it I gain a little more respect for his ability.

Freebase Dali

Personally, as a drummer my entire life, and having known many drummers in various bands in my local area, I can tell you categorically that Travis Barker is not exceptional in terms of technique or general skill. I do notice that he's very good at keeping time, and is a veritable metronome (from live vids obviously), but his patterns are nothing to write home about. However, he is drums in a niche, which calls for hard, non-dynamic, nail-on-the-head rhythms specifically there to drive the point home. He excels at that. But that doesn't mean to say he would excel at anything else. Put him in a jazz band and I think he would fail miserably, for instance.

While no one is claiming that a "good" drummer needs to be ace on every level and genre, I think it's important to realize whether the goal is being met appropriate, as a drummer. TB meets it in his genre and style, but on the same token, it doesn't make him a "great drummer" unless your scope of what you consider great drumming is simply being able to play your own genre effectively and above the bar set by it, in which case I would agree.

So really, there's a kind of subjectivity when it comes to this. It can be argued that TB might be the top of the chain in robotic, hard-hitting simple rhythms, but it might also be argued that complexity is a hallmark of good drumming, or that Purdie is the hallmark of good pocket drumming, when both are worlds apart.

To finish, I just want to put it out there that I don't believe the faster you play, the better you are. There are a myriad of factors involved, and every last one of them hinge on a style as it is suited to what's being played.
Really, it's like comparing who is the best guitarist in the world from the perspective of either solo electric in terms of Rock or finger picking greats in Folk. They're both guitars.
But to agree with those that say TB isn't that great of a drummer, we have to make the assumption that a particular style is inherently more skillful than the other.

If that's the case, I vote free jazz.

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Astronomer

This. Most people that listen to Blink are people who probably don't have a huge circle of music tastes (I'm making a huge, sweeping generalisation here that may not be true to all people, because I do listen to Blink-182 on occasion and as a kid was a fan of them ) and they probably aren't really aware of many other skilled drummers so, for them, Barker is supposedly talented.

I have both of those (hard copy) CDs in my collection...

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GuitarBizarre

Ah Metallica. Truly the worlds greatest example of musicians put on ill-desrved pedestals of technical skill.

Great music, mostly, but holy god the fanboys take it too far.

I can agree that AJFA has some nice drum parts though,especially given Lars other output.

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butthead aka 216

maybe cause he did that soulja boy drum cover lol i dunno. i like blink 182 tho

Dr_Rez

Technicality doesnt mean **** if it sounds bad though. I dont know anyone who thinks of Hetfield as a technical wizard. you can not deny the guy has mad chops though. You try playing those rythms while singing as well as he does, that takes some god damned talent. His singing has gotten so much better over the years as well. Not to mention the newer songs off Death Magnetic are far more involved and complicated than anything they are famous for years ago.

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djchameleon

he did more than that though, he put out his own mixtape and solo album with rappers jumping on it and it was pretty damn good.

Give The Drummer Some and Let The Drummer Get Wicked.

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