My former employer just posted a crowd-sourced list of the best rock drummers. The most glaring omission is Bill Bruford (Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, U.K.).

As you would expect, I've got a whole bunch of quibbles -- although Bonham vs. Peart at the top of the list is largely a stylistic choice in my book, and I'll concede Ringo Starr and Keith Moon on their contribution to rock drumming as a whole. You can argue that Buddy Rich doesn't really count as a "rock" drummer, and/or that Tony Williams has more crossover potential. And Vinnie Colaiuta arguably belongs on the list, except that he doesn't have the name recognition as primarily a studio guy.

The three guys I would have liked to have seen included -- other than Bruford -- would be Matt Cameron (Soundgarden, Pearl Jam), Phil Selway (Radiohead) and ?uestlove (The Roots). I'd be willing to drop Ginger Baker, Mitch Mitchell and probably Alex Van Halen to make room for them. Probably the only other guy I've seen mentioned in the comments so far that I'd agree with is Josh Freese.

The question then is whether or not getting 10 or 11 good picks out of 15 makes for a good list. I'm not sure, but I seem to think so. I'm just happy that neither Mo Tucker (Velvet Underground) nor Meg White (White Stripes) snuck on to the list, because then there'd be hell to pay.

Incidentally, the web page won't let me post a comment on the site, which is irritating, especially since it's been at least eight years since I could just yell over a cubicle wall to complain about it.

I'm thrilled to have found Bill Bruford's blog, because stuff like this is just wonderfully inspiring. So many great passages to choose from, but I'll tease it with this:

Ideally the music is dictating what it is that should be played on the kit, not the other way round. In other words, what the drummer is playing is (should be) a direct function of the music's requirements; no more, no less. You exist to serve the music, not the reverse. So, super-imposing your latest lick at every possible moment only serves to attract attention, usually unwisely, to yourself, and away from the music.

Ooh, ooh, and another one:

Personally, I believe the art is to conceal the art, so I try to move in the opposite direction - maximum economy of movement, minimum of fuss. Understatement, elegance, economy. You know, that British thing!

A few weeks ago, a local radio station played an edited version of "Little Sister" from Queens of the Stone Age that interspersed Christopher Walken's whole "more cowbell" routine into the intro, which happens to have a really wimpy-sounding cowbell in it.

Now I'm listening to the first track from Audioslave's Out Of Exile album, "Your Time Has Come," and there's that same wimpy-sounding cowbell. What's the deal? Is this literally just a producer or two who thinks it's funny to throw that in there? It's so muted that it has no tone, and that just doesn't seem to serve any sonic purpose whatsoever.

This is a really odd thing for me to rant on, I realize, but if you're going to have cowbell, make it sound like a freakin' cowbell.