Metallica’s Lars Ulrich Recalls How Neil Peart Treated Him When They Met, Answers if Rush Drummer Is Better Than Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham

“I was 20 years old with not a pot to piss in,” the drummer said.

View of Crowded Town Square

During an appearance on The Howard Stern Show, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich was asked to chime in on the debate of who the greatest drummer of all time is, and specifically answer if he prefers Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham or Rush’s Neil Peart.Ulrich commented (transcribed by UG):

“It’s fucking hard. Listen, I’ve been asked that question on and off for 40 years…

“I would put two additional names on that list. Deep Purple’s Ian Paice is an incredibly technically gifted drummer, and Phil Rudd is what gives AC/DC that incredible bounce and swing.”

This was the point I was making about Bonzo Bonham yesterday – there was a soul to this guy’s drumming…

“You mentioned [1971] ‘When the Levee Breaks‘ – that’s classic Bonham. The  drums are big, thunderous, ambient, he’s a little bit behind on the  snare… And it’s got that groove, and he’s in the pocket.”

 

We wanna hear your opinion on Neil…

“The first time I ever met Neil – it was 1984, our manager Cliff [Burnstein] signed Rush, and I had  drum questions about gear and this and that, and he goes, ‘Neil loves to talk to younger drummers,’ and he goes, ‘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 and I called him, and we spoke 30, 45 minutes on the phone and we were 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…

“But, between Neil and between John… No disrespect, but I’ll have to go with John Bonham.”