“His influence is referenced by many contemporary drummers and he has no doubt spawned his fair share of copyists”: 6 of the most inspirational drummers of all time

Danny Carey.

DRUMS WEEK 2025: There’s nothing more divisive than a ‘best of’ list, particularly when it comes to virtuoso players. So, we thought we’d take a slightly different approach in this feature to kick off MusicRadar’s Drums Week 2025.

Here we’re going to be focusing less on ‘best’ and more on ‘influential’.

To that end we’ve picked out ground-breaking drummers who moved things forward, offering something that maybe hadn’t been seen prior to them pulling up their respective stools and getting to work.