John Bonham

until i ran into drummerworld i thought i was the biggest bonzo fan around. having read all of the above posts i can put my two cents in here...

NO DRUMMER IS UNTOUCHABLE.

they said everest could not be climbed. then some one climbed it and now many people have climbed it. muscles, bones and brains...bonzo had them, elvin had them and i have them...we all do. it is ludicrous to suggest that ANY drummer cannot be emulated, or even far surpassed. if one person can do something, someone somewhere else, some other time will be able to do it and even perhaps do it fractionally better. Edmund hillary climbed the mountain, then others came along and did it faster, better and sometimes even with some sort of handicap.

all that remains then is to celebrate the pioneers and their creative spirits. bonzo rules for his own defined set of reasons. so too does elvin and buddy.

in my opinion i do not rank these three gentlemen against eachother. i love bonzo's work and respect the other two for theirs.

j
 
Right, they were all different and all inovative in their time. Krupa probably wouldn't have been as effective for Zeppelin, and Bonzo might not have been the entertainer that Krupa was.
 
NUTHA JASON said:
until i ran into drummerworld i thought i was the biggest bonzo fan around. having read all of the above posts i can put my two cents in here...

NO DRUMMER IS UNTOUCHABLE.

they said everest could not be climbed. then some one climbed it and now many people have climbed it. muscles, bones and brains...bonzo had them, elvin had them and i have them...we all do. it is ludicrous to suggest that ANY drummer cannot be emulated, or even far surpassed. if one person can do something, someone somewhere else, some other time will be able to do it and even perhaps do it fractionally better. Edmund hillary climbed the mountain, then others came along and did it faster, better and sometimes even with some sort of handicap.

all that remains then is to celebrate the pioneers and their creative spirits. bonzo rules for his own defined set of reasons. so too does elvin and buddy.

in my opinion i do not rank these three gentlemen against eachother. i love bonzo's work and respect the other two for theirs.

j
This sums it up just right. And it came from one of the "Bonham is my favorite" supporters who has an open mind about the entire world of drumming. When I see someone try to set up guidelines tellin' me that if I don't do X, Y or Z then I'm no real Bonham fan, that's no more than taking the path of some radical cult, except in not as harmful a way. And I don't think it does the memory of Bonham justice because it causes people to argue about stuff that shouldn't have to be argued.
 
Instrumentalists will always be able to get better. Once something is recorded and released then some other person can hear that and expand on it or simply be inspired by it and do something even greater. It's like my opinion on Hendrix. He was (and is) a great guitarist. However, once he recorded and released albums, anyone who had the talent could expand on what he did. Now we have Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, and a bunch of others who may not actually have similar styles, but were probably influenced by Hendrix even if it was indirectly by someone who was influenced by him.
 
One other thing that doesn't ever seem to get taken into account on these threads: Bonham died at age 32. That's it. His whole career was defined by that age. You can't compare what Elvin Jones (76), Buddy Rich (69), or Tony Williams (51) did in relationship to Bonham, because they played and learned and were inspired by each other for decades longer. Bonham would be around 58 years old today, and I can't even imagine how much more his playing would have evolved in that time. That's why it's silly to make comparisons, unless all things are equal. And they usually aren't.
 
Bonzo said:
One other thing that doesn't ever seem to get taken into account on these threads: Bonham died at age 32. That's it. His whole career was defined by that age. You can't compare what Elvin Jones (76), Buddy Rich (69), or Tony Williams (51) did in relationship to Bonham, because they played and learned and were inspired by each other for decades longer.

That would only be true if we were attempting to compare drummers and their career achievements. We're not. Tony Williams was raised because of the issue of foot speed. Tony was pulling off things with his right foot that make Good Times, Bad Times look like a stroll in the park back in the 1960s and early 1970s, while Tony was in his twenties.

As for the usual, predictable round of "You can't say that about Bonham" / "You guys are so up yourselves" or whatever... come on guys, play the ball, not the man. Bonham was a great drummer, he is one of my favourite rock drummers and indeed one of my favourite drummers of all time. I would not trivialise what he achieved in his (short) career. But he's not, objectively, technically better than a whole load of drummers who were his contemporaries. And his playing is not, objectively, something that is impossible to analyse.

If people stopped making stupid claims for Bonham that are well into the realm of hyperbole then I suspect this thread would cool down a lot.
 
Ok, Bonham is probably my favorite drummer. But I'm not going to come into this discussion with a closed mind. Of course Bonham will always be the grandfather of rock drummers because he was a pioneer. He inspired so many people to become drummers and inspired current drummers in the 70's. These drummers then took his material, studied it, worked it in with their own and expanded their ability. Bonham doesnt have the best chops, i agree with that, and i also agree that he doesnt have the greatest foot speed (great but there are drummers that are faster). But what I'm saying is anyone that studies his work long enough and who has the right amount of skill can mimick or copy a groove that he did, but can they be great enough to CREATE their own lick that surpasses those of Bonhams? Its 10X easier to copy a drum groove rather than to create one yourself (as mentioned in the Buddy rich vs. Bonham thread). Bonhams style of playing had a huge variety in the lines of styles of music. (rock, jazz, blues). He incorporated those styles into his grooves and came up with his own style of playing. No other drummer sounds like Bonham (unless they are trying to copy him). He had his own unique style that hasn't been matched ever sinced (but many have copied). To look at and compare Bonham to Elvin is like comparing apples to oranges. Two completley different drummers and they should be appreactiated both for what they have done to the drumming world and theyre contributions. Elvin contributed greatley to jazz and Bonham contributed greatley to Rock. Its as simple as that. But if someone is going to come on and start saying "oh bonham is such a god...bla bla bla" then this isnt the place for you. These people have never heard someone intelligently critique Bonham before like finnhiggins and theduke have on this thread and to them in theyre mind its totaly wrong because theyve only seen Bonham as a 100% god. Try to be more open minded when it comes to appreaciating drummers and youll expand more in your drumming ability.
 
To me that Jim Roman guy is far from sounding like bonham. Theres such a big difference.
 
I'm saying is anyone that studies his work long enough and who has the right amount of skill can mimick or copy a groove that he did, but can they be great enough to CREATE their own lick that surpasses those of Bonhams?

this is the point i was trying to get at.
 
Nutha Jason- Thanks for summing it up so well and eloquently as par usual for you- You will all notice I didn't say it was impossible to be either Elvin or Buddy, just extremely difficult and very, very, very few people have figured it out. Not even ones who have studied said drummer intensely for two decades or more (Froman). I'm sure it can be done by someone though.
I am in no way comparing them to Bonzo in terms of greatness. I have said this numerous times. I don't want to have that argument because it's not fair to either three of them. Apples and oranges and mangos. However, I can compare individual difficulty of learning their styles. I think. I love all three of them. Elvin the most, Bonzo close to that, Buddy Rich a little further down the list. So, I think the hyper-bonzoites perhaps need to chill a little bit and think about this rationally and logically- you'll pretty much realise that I'm right once you do.

Edit: bonhamtothemoon- You are DEFINETLY right about that. John Bohnam had a signature sound and style that was unique, original, entertaining and a joy to listen to. It's why I , among MANY others (including yourselves) gravitate to him so much for rock drumming. I don't think I ever called into question his greatness. You shouldn't feel a need to defend him. Just because I said that Elvin and Buddy were harder to imitate doesn't mean that Bohnam isn't awesome too. For another example, Tony Williams, Dennis Chambers and Billy Cobham are easier to imitate than Elvin Jones or Buddy. Elvin for his time concept, Buddy for pure fire. You'll notice my favorite drummer in the whole wide world is Tony Williams. In other words, this is no strike against John Bohnam. In terms of style, look at the company that he's in, in terms of learning difficulty, right? Get what I'm saying?
 
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You shouldn't feel a need to defend him.

precisely... if ever you do get this urge then here is my precription:

get off the computer, put on headphones, crank the volume and listen to your favourite led zep. when you are confronted with THAT drumming you will be reminded how undeniable it is and how little it needs to be defended.

j
 
theduke86 said:
Man NJ, every time I listen to Fool In The Rain, it does it for me. What a great groove. That ghost note concept developed out of a vacuum. Awesome drumming.


for me i pop in the dvd and watch the Denmarks Radio clip....dazed and confused...how many more times...those 2 songs hes such a beast on the drums its crazy
 
i feel that led zepplin as a band were perfect for each other.
i only just realised just now but imagine if keith moon and john bonham had been in each others band!
 
theduke86 said:
Man NJ, every time I listen to Fool In The Rain, it does it for me. What a great groove. That ghost note concept developed out of a vacuum. Awesome drumming.

I agree, that drumming is friggin sweet in my book.
 
Bonham Videos

Why can't I view the new John Bonham videos? I can hear the music, but the videos won't play. Any suggestions on what I might do, or is the site just broken?
 
Re: Bonham Videos

No the site is not broken, you need Quick Time 7 for Windows XP to play the new videos.
 
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Re: Bonham Videos

videos work fine for me...but i dont need the bonham page for the videos...i got that dvd ;) if you dont have it you should get the dvd....its pretty awesome....maybe because you cant see the videos on the page because you might need to download the latest version of Quicktime.
 
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