Lars Ulrich Settles Debate; Who’s The Greatest Drummer?

Who Do You Think He Picked?

In September 2020, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich appeared remotely on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show and talked about two legendary rockers behind the kit – Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham and Rush’s Neil Peart. There have been countless debates on who’s the greatest drummer of all time.

Ulrich admitted that it’s “a f**kin’ hard question” and he’s been asked about it for over four decades.

Of course, Ulrich doesn’t give his answer right away to add to the suspense. He even threw in a couple of other sticksmen like Cream’s Ginger Baker, The Who’s Keith Moon, Deep Purple’s Paice who Ulrich described as “an incredibly technically gifted drummer” , and AC/DC’s Phil Rudd who he said gave AC/DC “that incredible bounce and swing”.

Ulrich then recalled the phone call between him and Peart when Metallica was still just starting out.

“The first time I ever met Neil, it was 1984,” Ulrich said. “Our manager Cliff [Burnstein] signed Rush, and I had drum questions about gear and this and that.”

“He goes, ‘Neil loves to talk to younger drummers,’” he added. “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,” Ulrich remembered. “And I called him, and we spoke 30, 45 minutes on the phone and were geeking out on drums.”

Watch the rest of the interview below.