Don Cab- what burns never returns. the whole album is one big drum fill. a great drum fill at that.
I don't if it quite counts as a fill, but i love the feel and sound of the drums on the song "Hello Captain" by Slint. Especially that roll that he gets every measure or so.
Any fill by Elvin Jones is the best, period. Espicially the begining of the fifth song on Sonny Sharrocks "Ask The Ages". By the way the playing on that album by everyone ups the ante for any kind of noise rock/modal/free jazz album.
Lots of great ones on "action park".

And yes, the truth that everyone tries to deny, forgets that its not there, pretends to hate because its cool to hate em but secretly at one time did air drums too ----- RUSH. Neil Peart is pretty darn amazing during Rush's prime years before Signals. I think its allmost comical how people go out of their way to diss Rush. Bands like Shellac, Don Cab, Breadwinner, The Fucking Champs, Tortoise, Slint, all math rock bands in general, speed metal bands, all owe a lot to 2112, Farewell To Kings, Hemispheres, Permenent Waves, and Moving Pictures. A lot more than they will admit. Shure they were/are ugly, had stupid ass mullets, silly lyrics, and a singer with a really annoying voice, but some of their music was pretty fucking cool back in the day.

That one fill that Meg White does in that White Stripes song. Oh wait, she's not capable of a fill. Ooops.

I'm probably too young to appriciate Rush because all of my drum teachers would rant and rave about Neil but I had never heard him. Years later, at which point I was already becoming part of the status quo (which is fine with me) by saying that John Bonham was incredible and years ahead of himself, and that zeplin (proven by the Page and Plant projects) is nothing without him, I heard Rush's Tom Sawyer on he radio and was bewildered as to why everyone was so excited. I guess he made up some kind of double bass method or some useless crap like that but the dude just isn't that good. zero groove.

Note: also wanted to add "Anything by Akira Jimbo" to the best fills
and (not that i care for them) the fill leading into Dave MAtthews BandSay Goodbye

Silkworm's Libertine is a perfect record.

If you listen to the drums on Libertine in comparison to their records before and after, it's almost hard to believe it's the same drummer.

The songs on Libertine have a lot of space. But there isn't much filling. It's fucking fantastic.

It's like donuts. You can choose the ones with a hole or the ones filled with jelly bullshit.

The first things that come to mind are:

Josh Freese, Failure Is The Best revenge by The Vandals. Purely for the quantity of fills in a song that checks in just under 2 minutes.

A thousand things Chris Pennie from Dillinger Escape Plan does that may or may not fall into the "fills" category. Are they still fills if the entire band is doing them?

That thing Danny Carey does in whatever Tool song it is. Where he starts hitting the crash with his kick, then speeds up the kick but keeps the crashes on the same time. It’s kind of a perpetual metric modulation. Pretty simple but original nonetheless.

I'm sure as I'm just about to fall asleep tonight the greatest drum fill in the world will pop into my head.

If you listen to the drums on Libertine in comparison to their records before and after, it's almost hard to believe it's the same drummer.

That's because he became a born-again Christian after Libertine was finished. It changes you - some say for the better, some say for the worse.

Neil Peart is pretty darn amazing during Rush's prime years before Signals.

Matthew, I agree with a later poster: this guy had absolutely no groove, and his idea of a good fill usually ended with a comical little "thock" on a perfectly tuned wood block. I got no truck with this sort of behavior.

I did see Rush many times in my youth. I still enjoy listening to their music when it comes on the radio. I expect they'd be less enjoyable without Neil Peart's rototom calculations... but that Battle-of-the-Bands-Sound-Check drumming he inspires is abysmal. If that's where Todd Trainer got his style - well, hell! It's like saying that human beings descended from the apes!

Michael

Dylan wrote:There's a break in Slayer's "Angel Of Death" where the music cuts out, leaving the double bass drum. I forget the drummer's name, but he does this kinda dumb tom fill to get the guitars back in - it never fails to excite me. Duh.

Bingo. This is just what I was going to say.

every track on hold your horse is by hella. that shit is hella sexy.

There's a 'series' of fills on 'Immigrant song', yes that's right, the live version off of 'how the west was won' by Led Zep, every time I hear that it really knock my socks off. Must not forget the first song off the Euphone 'Breaking Parole' ep either.... What a turn on!

jupiter wrote:Keith Moon in "Won't Get Fooled Again"

The majority of this song is a drumfill (but a damn good one).

Here is another fun drum fill related fact about the Who.

Listen to Baba O'Riley. It starts with the synth and then Moon comes in with the huge drum intro. Because the technology was so new, and Moon wasn't exactly a master of keeping time, he comes in way too fast.

After that first rush, he slows down, but slows down too much and has to speed up again to match the synth.

Give it a listen or two and you'll hear it. Then you'll hear it for the rest of your life. I just ruined the song for you.