RIP John Bonham


Remembering John Bonham today on the 37th anniversary of his passing. I'm posting this since there is a current discussion about him in the Forum.

http://loudwire.com/led-zeppelin-john-bonham-dies-anniversary/

He and Buddy Rich were my main influences as a drummer.
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Dylan toured with The Band the following year (’74), and if you want to hear a Rock ’n’ Roll drummer who plays the music the way it should be played, listen to Levon Helm on those recordings. No gratuitous, narcissistic, immature, amusical showing off. Rather, tasteful adult accompaniment played by a mature musician. Though Jagger sang "It’s the singer, not the song", that it not correct. It IS the song; the best musicians know that, and play accordingly---in service to the song, for the greater good of the music.

Of course, playing Led Zeppelin "songs" (;-) is an entirely different proposition that playing Dylan songs. There is no way Helm could have played in LZ, or Bonham in The Band. The fact that Bonham’s playing is essential to LZ, that it is in fact representative of everything they were about, says it all. If you know what I mean.

My High School bandmates and myself loved The Yardbirds. The first three albums, that is. That band (and a few others) became the model for how to play. First with Eric Clapton's playing setting the tone, then Jeff Beck's. When the fourth album (Little Games) came out, we said to each other "WTF happened?!". It was TERRIBLE. I assume you know Jimmy Page was the lead guitarist on album four. He shortly thereafter formed LZ.

When Eric Clapton said, in The Last Waltz, that "Music had been going in the wrong direction for a long time. When I heard Music From Big Pink, I thought, well, someone has finally gone and done it right", it is exactly and precisely Led Zeppelin, and Bonham's playing, that he is calling "wrong". Of course, that's just Clapton's opinion; you are entitled to your own.

Clapton is certainly entitled to his opinion about what was "wrong" about where music was heading, after all, he is "god."

I continue to be amazed at how utterly good The Band was. "Life Is A Carnival" is in my will, to be played at my wake.  LOUDLY.  Even whilst dead I'll probably hear something new in it. I do every time. (Wow, wotta cool idea for another thread.)






it is incredible to me how a discussion of john bonham morphed into talking about dylan and the band in less than 20 comments...
john bonham changed the course of rock drumming when he hit the scene...he was put upfront in the mix in a big way. his drums were large, unmuffled and recorded along with a mike in the center of the room, hence his "stadium" like sound. he started out as just a heavy hitter, but quickly gained finesse in his grooves, in part by listening to and emulating james brown records. listen to his drumming on "no quarter" or "the crunge" and you'll see what i mean. one of my favorite tracks is "the lemon song", which shows off his creative abilities while improvising along with jp jones.
live, he was a monster. between he and ian paice of deep purple, no one in rock could touch their energy and technical prowess, especially when playing an arena drum solo. guys like bonham were geniuses, and mere mortals like us could only sit back and wonder at the things they created. they had attitudes, and their talent "excused" them from it. to coin buddy rich "it ain't bragging' if you can back it up!" i will always miss "what could have been", but glad to have been influenced by mr bonhams' masterful playing. rest in peace

Bonham passing 37 years ago doesn't seem possible, man time flies. Never got to see Zep but did see Page & Plant at Red Rocks years ago and what a show. As far has Jon being a A hole on tour yes that seems to be the word but at home he was supposed to be a great dads and great guy with his friends. 

Plant is like a father to Jason and flew instantly to be with the Bonham family after Jon passing and stayed for quite some time.

Jason last I heard was playing drums for Sammy Hagar, not  a bad gig.
Im sure Jon would be proud to hear Jason play Im sure. 

RIP Jon, what a legend.
Threads have a way of meandering off-point that sometimes take on new lives and subjects. 

For me personally Bonham was the guy that made me acknowledge drums as an instrument. I didn't possess a bias against drummers or anything, after all I was about 12 when Zep broke. I recognized that something was DIFFERENT the moment one of my brothers played Zep 1 on our Magnavox console stereo for the first time. Before that I pretty much paid attention to any other instrument/player, but this was remarkably different. He, perhaps more than any other player made me LISTEN more carefully to music in general. To bands and how the members synced/contributed/and made what is truly magic together. 

That's Bonham's contribution to me.