Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor

Taylor was born on 21 September 1954 in Hasland, Derbyshire. He lived in Ashington, Northumberland, until he was two years old, and grew up in Leeds, Yorkshire. He took drum lessons at Leeds College of Music on advice from his father. After first meeting Lemmy (who was a fellow speed user) whilst that musician was still in Hawkwind in 1973, he joined Motörhead and replaced Lucas Fox during the recording of the band's first album On Parole in 1975. Lemmy said that Fox was not working out and Taylor "had a car and could give us a lift back down to the studio". Taylor, in turn, introduced Lemmy to guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke, having worked with him while painting a houseboat. Shortly after recording the classic Ace of Spades album in 1980, Taylor broke his neck after being lifted above the head of a friend in a test of strength, only to be dropped on his head. Taylor continued to play in Motörhead with the aid of a neck brace, as is visible in the music video for "Ace of Spades". As a result, Taylor had a prominent lump located on the back of his neck (affectionately referred to as his "knob"), thought to be a calcium deposit caused by his previous spinal trauma. Tour-disrupting injuries were not unfamiliar to Taylor at the time, as he had previously broken his hand whilst punching a man outside his flat in London. …

Taylor died on 12 November 2015 in London at the age of 61 after an illness. Liver failure was cited as a cause. "Fast" Eddie Clarke said of his former bandmate:

My dear friend and brother passed away last night. He had been ill for sometime but that does not make it any easier when the time finally comes. I have known Phil since he was 21 and he was one hell of a character. Fortunately we made some fantastic music together and I have many many fond memories of our time together. Rest in Peace, Phil! Lemmy told Classic Rock that he was "devastated" to have lost one of his best friends. He also remembered former Motörhead guitarist Michael "Würzel" Burston, who died in 2011.

I am feeling very sad at the moment, in fact devastated because one of my best friends died yesterday. I miss him already. His name was Phil Taylor, or Philthy Animal, and he was our drummer twice in our career. Now he's died and it really pisses me off that they take somebody like him and leave George Bush alive. So muse on that. We're still going, we're still going strong, it's just first Wurzel and now Philthy, it's a shame man. I think this rock 'n' roll business might be bad for the human life. Lemmy died on 28 December 2015, less than seven weeks after Taylor and on 10 January 2018 "Fast Eddie" Clarke also died.