8.  Charlie Benante

There are quite a few outstanding thrash metal drummers that can be plugged into this spot, but my money goes on Anthrax’ Charlie Benante.  Charlie “beats the beat the beats you beat” like a man possessed, fine double kick speed and excellent tom pounding galore.  Among The Living was my first exposure to this band and this great drummer’s talents with plenty of lively thrashing moments and technical mastery out the wazoo and really the first drummer that I’d heard that played fast with such controlled precision.  One listen to the frantic “Indians” with that tribal intro and that careening tempo had me hooked.  Although I miss that frenetic pace from the early days, Benante is still a massively strong player.

7.  Nigel Glockler

Totally unheralded and largely unknown in the United States, Saxon was around for the birth of the NWOBHM movement (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) in Britain around 1980.  After four albums, Nigel Glockler assumed the drum throne for their seminal live album The Eagle Has Landed (see my fave live albums posts on this one!) as the band started to make some headway in the good ol’ USA.  Glockler’s debut studio album Power And The Glory showed off the man’s skills with the killer intro to “This Town Rocks” and his double kick work in “Warrior”, among others.  Glockler’s steady hand behind the kit, tasty fills, and rock solid playing continue with band today.

6.  Clyde Stubblefield/John “Jabo” Starks

I’ve been a funk fan for a long time and an even bigger fan of James Brown, but if you held me down and asked me who the best funk drummer was I’d have a hard time splitting my vote between these two gentlemen.  What can I say?  JB’s beats are so classic that many have been sampled in 70’s and 80’s rap hits and that influence continues today.    The pocket is deep, the pocket is wide, and the beat is so laid back and steady that you can’t help but get swept up in it and get your toes a tappin’.  From 1965 through approximately 1971, both of these guys played on Brown’s biggest hits both in the studio AND together on tour (Starks continued on with Brown into the mid-1970s).

5.  Nicko McBrain

Always funny, always exciting, and seemingly never playing the same thing twice or at the same tempo is something that you gotta understand about Iron Maiden’s Nicko McBrain.  After taking over for the (excellent himself) Clive Burr on Maiden’s Piece Of Mind, Nicko immediately made himself known with the killer intro to “Where Eagles Dare” and hasn’t stopped since.  There is a certain unmitigated joy in the man’s playing, often sounding like a man with eight arms as he swings from beat to beat.  And when I mean “swing”, it’s just that-  Nicko has never been an out and out pounder, more of a flashy, jazzier player with plenty of unique fills in abundance.  The Maiden machine would certainly be totally different without him.