Praise for Tommy Lee

There have been some great American drummers. No doubt. Dave Lombardo from Slayer, Mike Portnoy and Mike Mangini from Dream Theater and Taylor Hawkins from the Foo Fighters come to mind right away... But let's face it, the really great ones are either from another country or are dead-Americans. Let it be noted, I recognize Phil Lesh as a great American drummer but I'm just not versed enough to really comment! I will not, however, give the same respect to the likes of Don Henley or Joey Kramer. That brings me to Tommy Lee. Is it possible that Tommy's only real crime was being in the the wrong band at the right time? I don't expect any of you to run out and buy Theater of Pain or Dr. Feelgood, but perhaps you could put away your hairband bias for just a few moments and listen to how Lee plays. I think he might just be as close as the 50 states have come to that crude character from the U.K. If you're able to clear your head of all your preconceived notions of Motley Crue, you might just discover a really solid drummer. Perhaps not Bonham but that's a pretty tall order. Tonights 5 songs are some of Tommy's greatest hits. Enjoy. I cheated on 5 songs tonight. I couldn't pick a song from Dr. Feelgood so I just picked them all. This might be the best album Bob Rock ever produced, and that includes Metallica's Black Album. Feelgood is, IMO, a perfect hard rock album and one of the most important of its era. Without it, Lars doesn't hire Bob Rock for the Black Album and Metallica makes another Justice. There is so much to love about Lee's playing on this album, but I have to bow to the production as well. Without the ride-bell slicing through and the touch of gate-reverb on the snare, who knows? Still, to be a fly on the wall when Lee was laying down the groove for Feelgood would have been magical.