Mike Anthony’s Favorite Drummers, The Incredible Neil Peart

So, I’ve been telling you about my favorite drummers this week.  If you’ve been following, I had a metal drummer in Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan, I even had a jazzy jam band drummer with Carter Beauford of the Dave Matthews Band.

But today, I’m talking about a legend who left us too soon.  It’s Mike Anthony’s Favorite Drummers, Neil Peart.

Neil is a listener favorite here at WDHA. It was a huge loss when he passed.  Although Rush had said they stopped playing, you weren’t sure if maybe they’d reunite for something.  Sadly he’s gone, but man did he leave behind an incredible body of work.

When he came aboard for Rush’s second album, the change in technique and sound was prominent.  It felt good.  No disrespect to their debut recording, but Neil just had a special feel that worked in this band.

His fills were always thought out and methodical but at the heart of this progressive drummer was really a rock drummer keeping superb time.

ALSO SEE: Mike Anthony’s Favorite Drummers, Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan

As Rush got into the 80’s they had more synth sounds and Neil played along to this perfectly.  Always add just enough to keep you wondering if it was a human playing or not.

The live shows were amazing.  His solos never disappointed.  He handled the drums like he was a mad scientist sitting behind his workstation creating insane concoctions to unleash onto the world.

I remember at one moment in my life, I kind of stopped playing drums and took a break.  I was bummed out about a lot of things and just couldn’t get my head right.  One day I sat there and listened to “Limelight” and something clicked.

It wasn’t the fact that there were these great crashes and fills throughout the song.  But it was the fact again that everything was placed on purpose with precision and intent.

It hit me so hard that I picked up my sticks and started banging away again.

Here’s to you professor…..a legend!

The other day marked the 2 year anniversary of Taylor Hawkins's passing. It was a really tragic loss to the music industry and to fans in general. He seemed like one of the nicest guys in rock, always having fun and always sounding great while drumming. Let’s take a look at 5 Entertaining Foo Fighters Music Videos as we remember Taylor.

For my feature, First Call Last Call at 5 pm I asked for my favorite Foo Fighters tunes the other day. I even said it could be songs pre-dating Taylor’s arrival in Foo because he played those songs so well live. I got some amazing responses. It was great to go back and listen to the tunes that inspired and touched so many of us.

As for music videos, Taylor has been in a bunch. Foo Fighters have notoriously had fun with their videos, whether dressing like females or seniors or what have you. It’s great when a band doesn’t take themselves too seriously. I think that makes for more entertaining footage and we clearly got a lot of that from this band. There are so many things that could make for a great video. Performances are always neat. Telling a story is fun or just a message around the lyrics of the song works too. The Foo Guys have always varied things up and kept us on our toes as viewers.

I mean look at how Dave did the cheesy Mentos take on “Big Me”. It was hilarious but became so tied to the song that they had to stop playing it for a long time because concertgoers were hurling Mentos at the band. And I’m sure that didn’t feel too great. They pack a punch lol.

So as we remember Taylor, let’s look at some of the videos he was in as I bring you 5 Entertaining Foo Fighters Music Videos.

A guest appearance from Tenacious D. Plus the band playing several different roles while flying in the air. Pretty fun stuff!

A great performance with some images of someone that may have gotten the best of you.  It's a cool piece of footage.

Elderly people causing havoc.  It's a neat performance with Foo looking old!

I'm not sure what the story boards looked like.  But once again it's older people tearing it up.  This time not played by the band!

Dave and company square off against a riot squad?  It's an awesome abandoned spot performance video, that just builds!!