John Bonham

Re: John Bonham (Bonzo)

John Bonham, I'm sure, was the greatest drummer in rock history. He wasn't the best in all history, but definately the best in Rock history. What he comes up with was great, his technical skill was great, and Moby Dick was great. He was probably the 3rd most influential drummer to me today, and I love John Bonham, and I love Led Zeppelin. John Bonham will always remain a legend in rock history, and always will Influence people. There weren't many people at the time, who played Rock n' Roll, and could do what he did. Maybe Neil Peart, but that's for another forum. His timing was pretty solid, and he could play in really crazy time signatures. So I close this saying, Bonzo was the greatest drummer in Rock history.
 
Re: John Bonham (Bonzo)

Just to put a cat among the pigeons, I once met a guy in London who used to do session work back in the late '60s, and his take on Bonham was that he got the credit for a movement that he wasn't entirely the innovator of - that there were a bunch of guys around London at the time working to bring the solidity and huge sound that Bonham had going into rock music, rather than the previous Mitch Mitchell-esque jazzy approach. Bonham was just the first of them to get really big, while the rest remained relatively unknown.

Of course, this is all anecdotal and I can't vouch for any of it.

Personally, I think Bonham is a great drummer. If you want to play rock music there's rarely an occasion where you actually need to use anything more than he did, and he did it all so well!
 
Re: John Bonham (Bonzo)

bonzo was from birmingham. besides there is plenty of historical evidence rather than anecdotal evidence to support the popular view. the cat discoveres that the pigeons are eagles.

see

the biography by chris welch and geoff nicholls
the rhythm magazine interview with jeff ocheltree
the various authorized and unauthorized biogs of zep.

j
 
Re: John Bonham (Bonzo)

NUTHA JASON said:
bonzo was from birmingham. besides there is plenty of historical evidence rather than anecdotal evidence to support the popular view. the cat discoveres that the pigeons are eagles.
j

Sorry, poor phrasing. Wasn't attempting to imply Bonzo was from London, just that there were (possibly) London players doing the same thing prior to Zep getting big. Also not suggesting I know this to be true, just something I heard. You're obviously a man that knows more than me on the subject - I'd love to have my source here to hold the opposing POV, but I'd have no idea how to get hold of him so I'm hardly going to argue :)
 
Re: John Bonham (Bonzo)

hey nutha ..either charlie gets complete immunity from bashing or i spill the beans on bonham and the great led zepplin!
 
Re: John Bonham (Bonzo)

finnhiggins said:
Just to put a cat among the pigeons, I once met a guy in London who used to do session work back in the late '60s, and his take on Bonham was that he got the credit for a movement that he wasn't entirely the innovator of - that there were a bunch of guys around London at the time working to bring the solidity and huge sound that Bonham had going into rock music, rather than the previous Mitch Mitchell-esque jazzy approach. Bonham was just the first of them to get really big, while the rest remained relatively unknown.

Matt replies: On "Hurdy Gurdy Man" by Donovan from 1967, John Paul Jones was on bass. Listening to that record I'd swear it was Bonham on drums, although I don't know for sure. One thing is certain that style of drumming was there on that record.
 
Re: John Bonham (Bonzo)

A few points to ponder.

1) For me personally, Black Dog has the toughest timing to get right. One hell of a odd thing.

2) Bonzo's kit was like Buddy Rich's kit on steroids. Back in 1965, young drummers bought a kit to look and play like Buddy or Gene. Then, it was the fab-4 Ludwig kit. Zep hit, and the kit to have was that big-kick Bonzo kit. In the here and now, virtually all companies make a configuration to emulate this. Bonzo made vista-lite and green sparkle cool.

3)In an era of single-head toms, cardboard-box sounds, Bonzo lowered the boom. It was his time to move techtonic plates with that cavernous 26" kick drum, and his tom-punishing style. It was a far cry from the tippy-tap 4/4 rock and roll style of the 60's that so many Brit-invasion bands had, and American wannabe's did to. Imagine Zep with a drummer like Densmore from the doors, or the cat from Dave Clark 5. Ok, nevermind...I can't handle that image right now...

"Make me sound like John Bonham" Don Henley Eagles, 1976
"But you don't play like John Bonham" sound tech
 
Re: John Bonham (Bonzo)

I just did a little research on "Hurdy Gurdy Man" and found this on a song facts page. The drummer was a guy named Clem Catinni and John Paul Jones is quoted as saying he recorded "Hurdy Gurdy Man" 2 years before he even met John Bonham. I guess that answers my question. Still the track is worth listening to, the drums are great.
Here's the site I found:
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.lasso?id=1097

Clem Catinni played drums on "Telstar" by The Tornados produced by Joe Meek. Many people say it is the first British Invasion record of the rock n roll era.

Matt
 
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Re: John Bonham (Bonzo)

heh heh just kidding man just wanted to make sure that a pioneer like charlie gets the respect he deserves...
 
Re: John Bonham (Bonzo)

Bonhams amazing deffinatley one of my favorite drummers. I found this thing one time of him playing and there just short little tracks, i didn't c it posted before so here ya go.

http://www.saladrecords.com/bonhamfiles.htm

Check it out its awesome.
 
Re: John Bonham (Bonzo)

Didnt make me start drumming, but he keeps me drumming. my biggest influence and favorite drummer of all time, John Henry Bonham (which is why i talk about him so much)
 
Re: John Bonham (Bonzo)

"No Quarter" has some great ghost-note work. It has a very odd-time feel to it and switches into a funky ass sixteenth-note pattern for the outro. I practice to this track constantly.

BTW, Tool's cover is equally stunning. I love the fact that Danny decided not to just ape the beat.
 
Re: John Bonham (Bonzo)

sorry guys but i've held back long enough : don't get me wrong i love jb as much as the next person but the truth must come out 1) led zepplin was totally hated by the critics thru most of their career and the record buying community(remember i'm 43 years old so i have some memory left that the scotch wiskey did'nt kill)2) the most popular bands at the time where deep purple ,alice cooper ,black sabbath, sweet , the osmonds (ahhhh) , jackson 5 , grand funk ,sly stone, etc... remember i'm not putting them down.3) it really was'nt till the advent of f.m. radio and the classic rock format that things started happening for them (by this time jb had passed. sidenote : kiss was the most popular band in the world by then.Carmine appiece(i think i spelled his name wrong)was considered the far better drummer at the time.led zepplin was considered underground hippie music then and only appreciated by the sub culture.And we all know the story of jimmy page being the biggest thief of american black music. sorry to piss anybody off but that's the way it was in the 70's.....wayne
 
Re: John Bonham (Bonzo)

bigbang said:
sorry guys but i've held back long enough : don't get me wrong i love jb as much as the next person but the truth must come out 1) led zepplin was totally hated by the critics thru most of their career and the record buying community(remember i'm 43 years old so i have some memory left that the scotch wiskey did'nt kill)2) the most popular bands at the time where deep purple ,alice cooper ,black sabbath, sweet , the osmonds (ahhhh) , jackson 5 , grand funk ,sly stone, etc... remember i'm not putting them down.3) it really was'nt till the advent of f.m. radio and the classic rock format that things started happening for them (by this time jb had passed. sidenote : kiss was the most popular band in the world by then.Carmine appiece(i think i spelled his name wrong)was considered the far better drummer at the time.led zepplin was considered underground hippie music then and only appreciated by the sub culture.And we all know the story of jimmy page being the biggest thief of american black music. sorry to piss anybody off but that's the way it was in the 70's.....wayne

I think you did kill some brain cells.
Led zeppelin outsold the Beatles for a number of years. How in the hell were they hated by the record buying public with huge record sales and world-record setting arena attendence???

And most critics are talentless hacks with an axe to grind and poor taste. If we went by thier opinions, all rock bands suck.
 
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Re: John Bonham (Bonzo)

bigbang said:
sorry guys but i've held back long enough : don't get me wrong i love jb as much as the next person but the truth must come out 1) led zepplin was totally hated by the critics thru most of their career and the record buying community(remember i'm 43 years old so i have some memory left that the scotch wiskey did'nt kill)2) the most popular bands at the time where deep purple ,alice cooper ,black sabbath, sweet , the osmonds (ahhhh) , jackson 5 , grand funk ,sly stone, etc... remember i'm not putting them down.3) it really was'nt till the advent of f.m. radio and the classic rock format that things started happening for them (by this time jb had passed. sidenote : kiss was the most popular band in the world by then.Carmine appiece(i think i spelled his name wrong)was considered the far better drummer at the time.led zepplin was considered underground hippie music then and only appreciated by the sub culture.And we all know the story of jimmy page being the biggest thief of american black music. sorry to piss anybody off but that's the way it was in the 70's.....wayne

True or not, I don't know, but it all does nothing to affect my love for the band's music and Bonham's skills.
 
Re: John Bonham (Bonzo)

lol yes i don't have many brain cells left in fact i could probably count them on one hand .but the facts are facts, i still love zepplin to so i won't bring up the fact jb was a raging alcoholic......ooops
 
Re: John Bonham (Bonzo)

bigbang said:
lol yes i don't have many brain cells left in fact i could probably count them on one hand .but the facts are facts, i still love zepplin to so i won't bring up the fact jb was a raging alcoholic......ooops

lmao ya he was an alcoholic which resulted in his death but i was thinking all preformances Bonzo did he did drunk and after moby dick hed gulp down a pint of beer and a few shots of Vodka before playing the next song if bonham can play the drums that well and get that sound drunk imanige him playing sober it would be either terribly bad or amazing


Thinshells said:
Bonzo's kit was like Buddy Rich's kit on steroids.

lmao thats a good one
 
Re: John Bonham (Bonzo)

it's truely sad that he was taken away so early,the actual cause of death was an overdose of anti-buse (which is to combat alcohol) and drinking while on them, A very lethal combination.I'd like to think that his playing would be much better(if that's possible) while stone sober.He was a great pioneer and a HUGE influence on many drummers.
 
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