He was a just fine rock drummer, albeit not a god (to me). It's just that influence doesn't necessarily equate to quality.

Yeah, I recognize influence doesn't equate to quality, but earlier in the thread, you said he wasn't good, and now you're saying he was "just fine." Not sure if you're hedging or not, maybe "just fine" and "good" don't quite equal each other.

I did ask for another case where a single musician was as influential as Bonham and wasn't any good... If I could get a good enough example of that, it'd probably be enough to shut me up and understand your original point more. I think that any musician who gets copied by enough people has done *something* other than sell a lot of records and cash in on popularity.

For instance, you don't hear about drummers citing Lars Ulrich as an influence. In today's rock, you'll still hear all the old names (including Bonham) and you'll occasionally hear Danny Carey (Tool) or Jimmy Chamberlain (Smashing Pumpkins) from some of the newer acts. This speaks to the fact that the musicians themselves aren't trying to imitate or learn from the drummer from the band that sold the most records, they're trying to imitate or learn from the drummer that is going to teach them the most about drumming.

Anyway, you're still holding onto this notion that the influence of a band upon other bands can be equated to the influence that a single musician has on other musicians, and that's just not how it works. The influence of Limp Bizkit on all the copycat bands has more to do with marketing, record sales, popularity, etc.

On the other hand, a drummer is not going to copy another drummer (substitute guitarist, singer, kazoo player as necessary) or cite them as an influence because it makes their sound more radio-friendly or sells more albums. Musicians copy other musicians because of innovation in technique, style, etc. They see another guy doing something new, getting a new sound out of the instrument, playing a certain way, and they want to add that to their bag of tricks. Being able to do fast triplets with a single bass drum foot isn't going to directly help you sell more records, but it adds to your overall musicianship.

I'm just saying that those things don't seem to qualify the man for legend status.

If you're going to make a statement like that, then I'd hope you'd be prepared to cite what it takes to qualify a drummer for legendary status. While you're at it, maybe introduce me to what Keith Moon brought to the craft, because quite frankly, while I think he was a superb drummer, I don't think he innovated as much as Bonham did, which is maybe why he's not cited quite as often as a "drumming god."

And, incidentally, Moon is often slammed for his lousy timekeeping; it's pretty much understood that Entwistle kept the band in time. That doesn't automatically eliminate him from being an innovator or "drumming god" but it sure does show he neglected one of the things a drummer is supposed to do for a band.