John Bonham

Jamndrummer,

Is that the actual kit he played? Were are they located? Great links and thanks. John Bohnam, "In the days of my youth".
 
To me, John Bonham is one of the best drummers that ever was. His playing, style, setup, EVERYTHING was perfect. And he was monster. Playing 30 min solos, playing with his hands even after his hands bled, his was the greatest that there could be. I've only been a drummer for a short while, but already his playing has influenced the way I want to play.
 
Re: JOHN BONHAM

ClockworkOrange said:
So many fallacies still exist about the man, it's a shame really.

Bonham never played intoxicated on any Zeppelin show, he took great pride in being the glue that held the band together, the buck stopped with him. He knew that if he was 'off' the band never stood a chance of sounding it's best...the other members of Zeppelin knew this, also. The pride also manifested itself in a 'phobia' that was stronger than his inclination to overindulge in drink to combat the feelings of guilt he would get while touring(from being away from his family) and the boredom that accompanys it, he was more afraid of having a 'bad night' and the guilt he'd feel as a result(similar to Charlie Watts in this 'perfectionist' regard), than the other guilty feelings that were drowned in drink. He had a JOB to do, and he was gonna do it to the absolute best of his ability.

He did overindulge greatly off stage, and often 'jammed' with other groups totally drunk. The comment about demolishing the drumkit applied to a drumkit that belonged to a poor unsuspecting drummer of whom, Bonham was about to jam on his kit...perhaps in a state of intoxication...as this was when the 'devil' would come out in him.

On his own drumkits, he never 'thrashed' the drums and cymbals were struck correctly. He broke very few things. When younger, he would be harsh on sticks, this changed qtuickly, however, and he rarely broke them afterwards. Heads? He had the same Emperor snare head on that 402 for three US tours. Follow the performance history from the DVD....very little bashing, if any, is evident.

I will tell you he was a master drum tuner. EVERY tension rod was tuned in perfect pitch to the others on that particular head. Tuning is a lost artform, his ears were sensitive enough to perceive any discrepancy. I believe Joe Morello has this talent, also.

He loved to sing. He often wished he was, in fact, the singer, not Plant, and loved the opportunity to put harmonies of lines in on Zep tunes, even his tune count offs were sung...we've done four already....and from the 'outtakes' of Fool, One ah, Two ah...etc . Kinda reminds one of Buddy Rich's forrays to the mic.

He was an originator of a specific new style of drumming for a newly emerged genre. It wasn't the straight ahead metal of Sabbath or the classically influenced metal of Purple, it was the 'metal' that would incorporate every other type of music from English Folk, to Blues, to Psychedelic to Middle Eastern and Indian to Country and Pop, everything into an immediately recognizable sound that could only be attributed to Zeppelin. The vehicle he would choose to draw the template from would be the R+B and Funk styles that were newly emerging from the US with selected synchopated Blues ones. The backbeat influences of these styles were coupled with the desire to shadow and mimic the rhythmic strum patterns of the Electric Guitar in the many and varied compostions and make the rhythmic 'thrust' of the music as potent, yet, unassuming, as possible....quite brilliant, really.

Through all these involvements in all these music genres, his drum sound fit perfectly. Some may complain about D'Yer Maker, BUT, if you played the typical cross sticked and accented reggae pattern that accompanies the upstroked guitar of the genre, it would have fit as appropriately as all the other compositions.

As Carl Palmer says 'He(Bonham) got it right, I got it wrong'.....though, this is a comment regarding the style of music for the American marketplace, it is just as appropriate concerning the approach to the instrument, as it was Bonham's drum style that was the underlying foundation to the compositions of Zeppelin, and indeed as witnessed by the beginning drum beats of 'Levee' or D'yer Maker or Moby Dick or Ramble On....artistry that is immediately recognizable.

For those who don't recognize this, one day the light bulb will go on and you'll understand the magic, majesty and magnificence that was John Henry Bonham.

I don't know where you got the idea that Bonham never played drunk. I know several people who saw Zeppelin at Kansas City's Memorial Hall in 1969 and all said that Bonham kept passing out and falling of his stool (from drinking) during the show. Then Jimmy would go kick him to wake him up. I have also heard tons of stories about Bonham downing twenty black russians or whatever before a show, and stuff like that. I'm not trying to shoot down your buzz here, Bonham is my favorite drummer, but alot of this stuff I hear about him just seems like gibberish. Using the same snare head for Three U.S. tours? That just doesn't make any sense, Bonham did hit his drums correctly but he still him them hard, and you don't have to hit a emporer hard to start doing a number on it, they are suppose to be replaced, and I'm sure he could easily do so.You put a jazz drummer using pencils to a Remo head and it will show wear after one day. To say drum tunning is lost art? Plenty of drummers can tune a drum kit as good as Bonham. (unrelated subject but has anyone notice how bland his tom's sound on "Since I've Been Lovin; You, great playing though) It amazing me how people will beleive anything they hear about Bonham, he is my hero, but some people just over exagerate things to the point that its just rediculous. I love Bonham, but he in no way is a perfect drummer, that just does not exist. People act like Bonham can do no wrong, but just like anyother drummer he can, and did. (I'm sorry if this was to negative, I just felt it needed to be said)
 
Re: JOHN BONHAM

Dannar said:
I don't know where you got the idea that Bonham never played drunk. I know several people who saw Zeppelin at Kansas City's Memorial Hall in 1969 and all said that Bonham kept passing out and falling of his stool (from drinking) during the show. Then Jimmy would go kick him to wake him up. I have also heard tons of stories about Bonham downing twenty black russians or whatever before a show, and stuff like that. I'm not trying to shoot down your buzz here, Bonham is my favorite drummer, but alot of this stuff I hear about him just seems like gibberish. Using the same snare head for Three U.S. tours? That just doesn't make any sense, Bonham did hit his drums correctly but he still him them hard, and you don't have to hit a emporer hard to start doing a number on it, they are suppose to be replaced, and I'm sure he could easily do so.You put a jazz drummer using pencils to a Remo head and it will show wear after one day. To say drum tunning is lost art? Plenty of drummers can tune a drum kit as good as Bonham. (unrelated subject but has anyone notice how bland his tom's sound on "Since I've Been Lovin; You, great playing though) It amazing me how people will beleive anything they hear about Bonham, he is my hero, but some people just over exagerate things to the point that its just rediculous. I love Bonham, but he in no way is a perfect drummer, that just does not exist. People act like Bonham can do no wrong, but just like anyother drummer he can, and did. (I'm sorry if this was to negative, I just felt it needed to be said)

Carmine Appice stated that he and Bonzo were guinea pigs for new gear. They broke a lot of drum pedals.

And I agree, Bonzo gets way too stratified. He's not likely to get cannonized as a saint.

- He was a great and powerful rock drummer, very influential to the point of getting a lot of credit that was due Carmine Appice who was the first "heavy" player

- Bonzo was not the best soloist. I can't watch most of his solo work now without yawning.

- He had a great right foot that was rare in those days, more common now.

- His playing fit the music, and I can't imagine anyone else playing for Zep in that era.
 
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i agree with the last two posts fully. bonham was a drummer's drummer behind the kit, but in real life he was a cool dad, a bar room brawler, a loving husband, a speeding driver, a drunk, a flashy dresser, a best friend, a worst enemy... something to everyone he knew but different. such is life. most of us are different things to different people. i like to believe that, had i known him, i would have been his friend. as a history major who has taken an active interest in the man for nearly twenty years i can tell you that in this thread there are loads of blanket statements that are, not to put too fine a point on it, rubbish. to say bonzo didn't do his own tuning for example shows a lack of chronological understanding and a blind ignorance. come on, do you think jeff was tuning for bonzo from the start? tuning for bonzo, there's a statement. FOR bonzo. which implies a leanring of what baonzo wanted and some interation between ocheltree and him about sound. bonham might not have wanted to change snare heads, this would be in line with a lot of personality indicators he had, but ocheltree admitted to 'sneaking new heads onto the kits over the years and sanding them to give them a worn look'. bonham may not have been the first at a lot of the things that are claimed of him but he was a brummy who developed a lot of stuff in parallel to stuf that was going on. the real chronology of who made who in terms of the broken triplet, hard hitting, paradiddle useage etc etc etc can never be properly determined historically. since a lot of stuff could have been shared live or informally, we cannot know the right answers. studio recordings are the only evidence and they always occour after the fact. this combined with the fact that parallel development often occoured, particularly across the atlantic, makes such bold statements ludicrous. we shall mostly have to accept that we will never know the real truth. let the legend live on, let the mystery integue us but don't go overboard. it is embarrasing to the true fans.
and above all..
don't bash bonzo

j
 
I agree with thinshells and nuthajason (especially since they agreed with me!) although I will say that I do greatly enjoy Bonhams solos, you can't deny he is good at them, but they may not be your thing, thats understandable, if all drummers like the same thing than we wouldn't have probably had Bonham to begin with. As for the Carmine Appice thing, although Bonham may not have been the first to do alot of things, he certainly brought them to the limelight, I beleive that this is mainly because Led Zeppelin was always much more successfull than any band Carmine Appice was in. Most drummers see what Bonham did and just assume he was the first to do it. Those of us who do our homework would see that Carmine Appice (and others) influnced alot of Bonhams style. Not that there is anything wrong with being influenced, most likely Carmine got his things from someone else too. This is alittle off subject but my music teacher at Wichita State University is good freinds with Carmine Appice, they use to do clinics together and pal around. I thaught that was pretty cool.
 
Bonzo was most definitely drunk an uncountable number of times during shows. With that much drinking comes levels of drunkeness, and Bonzo was probably at least "drunk" at every show they ever played. Don't believe me? Read the October 2005 issue of Mojo Magazine. Robert, Jimmy, and Jonesy all said the same thing.

Read here on how the drums were recorded on Led Zeppelin III: http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/t/3883/0

12th post down, 5th paragraph.
 
Bonzo was never the high power stroker. It was all in his forearms and wrists.

you talk about bonham like you knew him personally. You can read all the articles and books you want, but you can never truely know if there correct. You've never spoken to him, or probably spoken to someone who HAS spoken to him. So stop trying to make us all look like idiots, who gives a crap about how he hit the drum, all we know for sure is that he did hit it, AND VERY WELL. I hate people who are more in tune to a musicians personal life than what is actually coming out of the speakers. Oh and just to negate your comment, look at your avatar : )
 
Bonham to the moon said:
you talk about bonham like you knew him personally. You can read all the articles and books you want, but you can never truely know if there correct. You've never spoken to him, or probably spoken to someone who HAS spoken to him. So stop trying to make us all look like idiots, who gives a crap about how he hit the drum, all we know for sure is that he did hit it, AND VERY WELL. I hate people who are more in tune to a musicians personal life than what is actually coming out of the speakers. Oh and just to negate your comment, look at your avatar : )

Sounds like a whole lot of your posts. Talking authoritatively about music and people that were around before you were born to people that were there.

"Loosing Syd was the best thing Pink Floyd could have done."

--Ok, would you care to describe the way people felt from the start, the attude of Americans vs UK fans via a vis the musical scene, and just what this represented in terms of paradigm shift for ther band's musical direction?

Blue man group ripping off stomp? Really? brilliant observation, as if it were chronologically possible. It seems that they both cleverly concealed this information of thier respective websites.

How many Zep concerts did you attend? You talk about Bonham like you knew him personally AND no one else knows him at all.

Reminds me of Matt Damons character in "Good Will Hunting"
The guy reads something, so he's a total expert on the subject. But can he describe the mood inside the Sistine chapel? The smell? The attitude of the people there?

Not without actually experiencing it. Just like not knowing Pink floyd during personnel transitions, and what the music meant to fans at the time before the changes.

At least learn to hate and attack others posts based on actual facts and experiance. So you worship Bonham, don't like blue man group. So you can form an opinion. It's not the same thing, especially if you weren't there and get the timeline completely wrong. Establishing an accurate criteria for an opinion should be the first thing you do. There are people here who have more historical perpective on Bonham than you do as well as an educated historian's point of view, perhaps you have read input from NuthaJason before? He just might have a better lock on things than you do.

Touche.
 
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drummer said:
John bonham is the best rock drummer ever and i think everybody can agree with me one that one

Umm..no. That's a very loaded statement and a logical fallacy. Not everyone agrees on any drummer here.
 
I can't. I won't.

Don't bash Lars.

drummer said:
John bonham is the best rock drummer ever and i think everybody can agree with me one that one
 
Is this because holidays are near or because the elephants are flying low....???

We had some nice months without John Bonham, and now he's around again everywhere cluttered over all pages - please perhabs let him rest in peace for a while again...

Bernhard
 
Sounds like a whole lot of your posts. Talking authoritatively about music and people that were around before you were born to people that were there.

"Loosing Syd was the best thing Pink Floyd could have done."

--Ok, would you care to describe the way people felt from the start, the attude of Americans vs UK fans via a vis the musical scene, and just what this represented in terms of paradigm shift for ther band's musical direction?

Blue man group ripping off stomp? Really? brilliant observation, as if it were chronologically possible. It seems that they both cleverly concealed this information of thier respective websites.

How many Zep concerts did you attend? You talk about Bonham like you knew him personally AND no one else knows him at all.

Reminds me of Matt Damons character in "Good Will Hunting"
The guy reads something, so he's a total expert on the subject. But can he describe the mood inside the Sistine chapel? The smell? The attitude of the people there?

Not without actually experiencing it. Just like not knowing Pink floyd during personnel transitions, and what the music meant to fans at the time before the changes.

At least learn to hate and attack others posts based on actual facts and experiance. So you worship Bonham, don't like blue man group. So you can form an opinion. It's not the same thing, especially if you weren't there and get the timeline completely wrong. Establishing an accurate criteria for an opinion should be the first thing you do. There are people here who have more historical perpective on Bonham than you do as well as an educated historian's point of view, perhaps you have read input from NuthaJason before? He just might have a better lock on things than you do.

lol, so because you were what 2 years old when Pink Floyd hit it big? and 5 years old when led zeppelin were at there best? you hold authority over everybody? lol you werent born during the transition of Pink Floyd either, so you cant hold that agianst me. i didnt say that the blue man group ripped off Stomp, i said that they ripped off things LIKE stomp, so agian you cant hold that against me. How many Zep concerts did u attend, i doubt any seeing that you were 10 when they broke up, so again cant hold that against me. So you yourself cannot hold an "accurate criteria" agianst me. and when have i ever talk about bonhan like i knew him personally. all i ever talk about is the music, not the man. So before u pick at everybodies post, make sure u read it a few times before u post blasphemy.
 
having read through the last 15 posts i can see why bernhard hates the whole bonham thing. he probably likes john's drumming but he is sick of the avid bonzo fans.

forums are very revealing things guys. here in cyberspace it really is better to be quiet and let the world think you are a fool than type 500 words and prove it. over time because as an admin i have to read all posts as a duty i get to know members and a certain respect grows, not for the heavy posters, i don't even look at the number anymore, but for the folks who are humble, general, inquisitive, informative and respectful. it pays to do a search of all your posts and have a read now and then. how are you coming across to the rest of drummerworld?

as much as i truly love bonzo i hate a large portion of this thread, almost as much as the jordison and tre and portnoy threads. sheesh. celebrate the drummers.

j
 
John Bonham, great drummer from the past and a huge influence on many. He started the path for many current and future drummers to follow and achieve greater heights. Instead of gloating over Bonham look at the many great current drummers who built of, expanded and revised Bonham's techniques.
 
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