10 Best Metal Drummers Of All Time
9. Phil Taylor
By the time the 70's rolled around, metal was just beginning to come into its own as the most intense genre to grace the music world. In the middle of hard rock boom, Motorhead came out and decimated their listeners like a audible battering ram.
Though many fantastic drummers like Mikkey Dee and Pete Gill have gone through Lemmy's ranks, Phil Taylor was the ultimate combination of intensity and rock steadiness. Across classic records like "Damage Case" and "Ace of Spades," Taylor was able to provide the perfect backbeat for Lemmy's throaty bellow by fluctuated between swinging grooves and machine-gun like fire.
While Lemmy maintained that Motorhead were a rock and roll band throughout the band's tenure, Taylor's innovations on the kit was what kickstarted the heavy metal movement. When the band began rehearsing, Taylor first put his double-bass pedals to use on the unmistakable intro to the band's track, "Overkill," which left a lasting legacy on drummers from Lars Ulrich to Dave Grohl. Though we lost Phil back in 2015, his drumming spirit is still felt across all of the metal drummers that have come after him.