Most Inspirational Drummers
Neil Ellwood Peart, (September 12, 1952 - January 7, 2020) was a Canadian musician and writer best known as the drummer and primary lyricist of the rock band Rush. Peart received numerous awards for his musical performances, including an induction into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1983, making ...read more.
Keith John Moon was an English drummer for the rock band the Who. He was noted for his unique style and his eccentric, often self-destructive behaviour. His drumming continues to be praised by critics and musicians.
Michael Portnoy is an American drummer primarily known as the former drummer, backing vocalist, and a co-founder of the progressive metal/rock band Dream Theater. Known for his technical skill as a drummer, Portnoy has won 30 awards from the Modern Drummer magazine. 
Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Widely considered one of the most influential drummers of all time and known for his virtuoso technique, power, and speed, Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" during his career.
Mike Mangini is an American drummer. Since 2010, he has been a member of progressive metal band Dream Theater, following the departure of founding drummer Mike Portnoy. Between 2002 and 2005, he set five World's Fastest Drummer records (when he was the drummer for Annihilator).
Ian Anderson Paice (born 29 June 1948) is an English musician, best known as the drummer of the English rock band Deep Purple. He has been the band's only constant member since its foundation. Currently 99% of the metal bands use double bass drum and Ian Paice was the guy who first used it on an early metal song - "Fireball" (1971). It was a very primitive drum kit - just another bass drum put next to the first one but this enabled him to play faster. If this isn't inspirational I don't what it is. The young Lars Ulrich saw Paice performing the song live in Denmark and was so hypnotized that decided to play something fast one day.
Ian Paice complex beat on "The Mule" is also remarkable, his drum groove on "Black Knight' is amazing, too.
David "Dave" Lombardo is a Cuban American drummer, best known as a co-founding member of the American thrash metal band Slayer.
Eugene "Gene" Victor Hoglan II is an American drummer. He is acclaimed for his creativity in drum arrangements, including use of odd devices for percussion effects and his trademark lengthy double-kick drum rhythms.
John Henry Bonham was born on May 31, 1948 in Redditch, United Kingdom. Bonham (nicknamed Bonzo) was a professional hard rock drummer who was best known for being the drummer in the band Led Zeppelin. Bonham was also one of the background singers in the band. His drumming is mainly displayed on the ...read more.
Eugene Bertram "Gene" Krupa was an American jazz and big band drummer, band leader, actor, and composer. Arguably the first rock drummer.
Georgios "George" Kollias is a Greek heavy metal drummer and music teacher best known for his work with American technical death metal band Nile.
Colin Trevor "Cozy" Powell was an English rock drummer, who made his name with many major rock bands and artists like The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Robert Plant, Whitesnake and Black Sabbath. In 1991 he set a world record for the most drums (400) played in under one minute, live on television.
Powell had appeared on at least 66 albums, with contributions on many other recordings. Many rock/metal drummers have cited him as a major influence.
In the 70s he was one of the fastest and most technical drummers. His work on the genre defining metal album "Rising" by Rainbow was awesome (A Light In the Black, Stargazer).
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer, best known as the founder of the rock band Cream. His work in the 1960s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer," while his individual style melds a jazz background with African rhythms.
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins is an English singer-songwriter and musician, who has also worked as a record producer and actor.
Flo Mounier is the drummer of technical death metal band Cryptopsy. He has toured Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia and the United States as a headlining act over the last 24 years, and combined record sales have reached over 300,000 copies to date. This guy is insane - fast and brutal (technical brutal death metal).
Daniel Edwin "Danny" Carey, born May 10, 1961 in Lawrence, Kansas, is an American drummer and instrumentalist best known for his work in American Grammy Award-winning progressive rock band Tool. He has also contributed to albums by and played with such artists as Zaum, Green Jellÿ, Pigface, Skinny ...read more.
Randy Black is a Canadian-born metal drummer and recording artist best known for his stints as the drummer for Annihilator, Primal Fear, Duskmachine, and Bif Naked. He is an ambidextrous drummer. He is an ambidextrous drummer and I love watching him play because he does certain things that are simply sick - he isn't dependant on left/right limbs and this freedom shows in his playing. Of course he is very fast and technical because he plays technical thrash and speed/power metal. I also love his fills and solos - very creative.
Stewart Armstrong Copeland is an American musician, multi-instrumentalist and composer best known as the drummer for the English-American rock band The Police and for his film and video game soundtracks.
John Graham "Mitch" Mitchell was an English drummer who was best known for his work in the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
James Owen Sullivan (February 9th, 1981 - December 28th 2009), better known by his stage name "The Rev" (Short for "The Reverend Tholomew Plague") was an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the former drummer, backing vocalist and co-founder of the American alternative metal/ metalcore ...read more.
Alexander Arthur "Alex" Van Halen is a Dutch-born American musician, best known as the drummer and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen.
Francesco Paoli is the drummer for the Italian technical death metal band Fleshgod Apocalypse, formed in 2007. Fleshgod Apocalypse - The Violation.
Tomas Haake is a Swedish drummer and main songwriter of the experimental metal band Meshuggah. He is known for his polyrhythms and technical ability. In 2012, he was named the 5th best Modern Metal drummer by MetalSucks.net. He was named the number one drummer in the "Metal" category, in the July 2008 ...read more.