Ah yes, we count on down to number one with two guys from bands that I became a huge fan of in my late teens/early 20s.  Don’t listen to just their radio hits!

4.  Brian Downey

Yeah, you know THE hit (“The Boys Are Back In Town”) and that classic drum shuffle that’s part of it, but Brian Downey brought much, much more to the table to Thin Lizzy.  Besides manning the drum throne for their entire existence with main man Phil Lynott (save for a brief respite from some live shows here and there), Downey also added his skills to Lynott’s solo LPs as well as playing on material for fellow Lizzy alum Gary Moore.  While not flashy and certainly not heavy handed, Downey’s skillful, jazzy yet funky touch on Lizzy classics is largely unheralded especially considering the guitar talents and strong songs of the band.  His solid drum foundation and somewhat laid back style were perfect for the band and when he had his moments to shine (take the drum rolls “Emerald”, propulsive drumming in “Bad Reputation”, or listen to the live version of “Sha La La” or Lynott’s solo “Talk In ’79” for a variety of styles).  Highly underrated.

3.  Ian Paice

It’s possible that Deep Purple’s Ian Paice is technically the most gifted drummer on here.  You get into specific rudiments in drumming and Paice can play them all-  single stroke rolls, paradiddles, one handed drum rolls(!)…  it’s some crazy sweet science when you watch what he’s doing; lots of looseness overall in his wrists and fingers as he moves around the kit .  You give him ONE DRUM and he’ll make the sweetest sounds, I tell you!  Sure, everyone knows “Smoke On The Water” but you put on a slow burner like “Demon’s Eye” and check out his quick snare fills or his ridiculous jazzy workout on something like “Burn”.  One of my favorite performances from Paice is something that sounds so simple but is groovy as all get out is “Strange Kind Of Woman”-  the beat is fairly straight forward with some cool snare crashes here and there, but the FEEL is something else.  Go out to YouTube and search “isolated Ian Paice” to get a taste.