Out of Context: John Bonham

Skulmoski

Gold Member
I was reading Wikipedia about John Bonham and what Charlie Watts said about him:

John Bonham is the best at being John Bonham and doing what he does. Or did - unfortunately, he's dead. He was the best. There wasn't anyone better than John Bonham at doing that, and thank goodness we've got some records so that you can hear it

I then went to the source interview with Jas Obrecht (circa 1994/95):

Jas Obrecht: Would you suggest a course of study, people he or she should hear?

Charlie Watts: Yeah. I would say learn to read music and listen to people other than John Bonham. Now you've got totally the wrong impression about what I just said - I can see it in your face. [Leans forward and speaks carefully.] John Bonham is the best at being John Bonham and doing what he does. Or did - unfortunately, he's dead. He was the best. There wasn't anyone better than John like that, and thank goodness we've got some records so that you can hear it. But there are a lot of other people.
http://www.cuicoland.bigpondhosting.com/newslets/htmldocs/japdates/2007/20071204.html

In bold, you can see what is missing from Charlie's citation in Wikipedia. It seems that Charlie had a respectful opinion about John and his unique style. However, Charlie suggests that there are "a lot of other people" that we should learn from.

The Wikipedia citation therefore has taken Charlie's comments out of context. Bad Wiki. Bad.

GJS
 
Well edit it. It is not Wiki's fault other than any person can edit the thing.
 
Great article. Wise words and sound advice.

Yeah, Wiki must have been using editors from one of our local rags that day. Classic example of knowing the whole story and the context behind it.

Thanks for that, I'd seen the Wiki quote before, but never the rest of it.
 
I was listening to a DrummerTalk podcast once and they pulled up a wikipedia article that said Adrian Young used ZBTs. LOL!
 
Well he is on the box isnt he??? How else would the Joey J is god lot know how to pic thos wicked off da hook black symbols????

Good find Skulmoski- case in point showing there are lies, damned lies and statistics.

You can make any numbers or words fit exactly how you want them to if you use them correctly(or incorrectly as the case my be!)


On a side note- Wy Yung, what the hell is going on bro? I've read about 10 of your recent posts and they were all seriously venomous???

Relax a little
 
Well edit it. It is not Wiki's fault other than any person can edit the thing.

Exactly. No one need worry about anything that's wrong in Wikipedia - it's easy to edit. I used to edit some articles and created a couple but I haven't done it in ages and forgotten my username and password.

Not sure that advice for fledgling drummers is appropriate in an encyclopaedia article about Bonzo so I can understand why it was edited the way it was. It at least shows the respect that a high profile drummer like Charlie had for him.
 
Yes, and 46.37% of all statistics are made up!

GJS

That's only true 94.5 % of the time.

I think Wy was saying that anyone can edit Wiki and if you see something that you know is wrong go ahead and correct it, or complete the quote in this case.
 
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