The Beat Goes On -- Thanks to These Guys.

Q: What did the drummer say before he got kicked out of the band? A: "Hey, check out these new songs I wrote."

It's a bad rap, of course. Drummers are the foundation of any notable group, and ones with considerable skill are essential in making a good band great.

Why all the drummer talk? During a shuffle session on the 10 Things iPod last week, the drumming of Tre Cool from Green Day got our brain wandering.

Remember Green Day before Cool joined? Great songs, but the bottom-end was seriously lacking. Once Cool entered the lineup, Green Day became a pop-punk force, eventually selling more than 50 million records worldwide. Before Cool, they had sold fewer than 100,000.

It's a recurring formula in the annals of rock: new drummer joins, band becomes huge. We present 10 Drummers Who Made a Difference.

1. Ringo Starr, The Beatles. Starr replaced Pete Best on Aug. 16, 1962, and the pop music world was never the same. Best played on the band's first recording sessions with Tony Sheridan, but Starr was behind the kit for The Beatles' first official single, Love Me Do, onward. Ringo is perhaps the best-known drummer of all time.

2.Dave Grohl, Nirvana. Grohl joined the Seattle grunge gods in late 1990, after a revolving door of drummers. Soon afterward, the band recorded Nevermind, which went on to sell 10 million copies and inspire a generation -- due, in no small part, to Grohl's powerhouse performance. Among the best, hardest-hitting drummers in rock.

3.Tre Cool, Green Day. The first Green Day recording to feature Cool was 1992's Kerplunk!, a major step forward from the band's sloppy indie debut, 1990's 39/Smooth. Cool, born Frank Edwin Wright III, has been with the band ever since, and is a major part of Green Day's manic live performances.

4.Max Weinberg, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. After two solid but go-nowhere records, Bruce Springsteen recruited Weinberg for his third album, 1975's Born to Run. The album made Springsteen an instant star, earning the E Street Band a peerless reputation along the way. Weinberg still plays with Springsteen to this day.

5.Neil Peart, Rush. To fully understand his value in Rush, one needs only to listen to the Toronto band's pre-Peart output, a plodding self-titled debut from 1974. After he replaced John Rutsey that same year, Peart immediately assumed the role of primary lyricist, which, in addition to his legendary drumming skills, helped make Rush a famous prog-rock power trio.

6. Phil Collins, Genesis. It's impossible to imagine Genesis without Phil Collins, whose particular, easygoing style made the band one of the biggest rock acts of the 1980s. He became the band's fourth and final drummer in 1970; after singer Peter Gabriel left in 1974, Collins became their singer and leader as well.

7.Travis Barker, blink-182. The difference between 1997's Dude Ranch and 1998's Enema of the State -- Barker's first with the band -- is staggering. His versatility added a much-needed legitimacy to blink-182, which he parlayed into a career with platinum punks Box Car Racer and the Transplants.

*source: Mike Devlin, Times Colonist Published: Monday, July 17, 2006