Posted on 09/25/2020 3:18:09 PM PDT by DoodleBob
It was 40 years ago today that Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham suddenly passed away. The 32-year-old drummer had had a heavy night of 40 shots of vodka, before tragically choking on his own sick. Now his bandmate Jimmy Page has paid tribute to one of rock’s greatest drummers of all time.
The 76-year-old posted Led Zeppelin’s first album cover on his Instagram account.
Aside from today being the 40th anniversary of Bonham’s death, it’s also the 52nd anniversary of the recording of the band’s debut album.
Page began with some fond memories from 1968 with Led Zeppelin before paying tribute to Bonham at the end.
The guitarist wrote: “Today heralds the inception of the epic Led Zeppelin I album.”
Page continued: “The moment whereby I would be able to manifest the sounds and layers I had heard in my head and also prove my status as a producer.
“The group went to Studio No.1, Olympic Studios, 117 Church Road, Barnes, London, SW13, having extensively rehearsed the material for Led Zeppelin I at my house in Pangbourne and we had had the opportunity to perform a good percentage of that material during a few concerts in Scandinavia and the UK to experience our music in a live situation under the clandestine cloak of the Yardbirds.
“In those days, the studio time was scattered and limited over a few days in September and October, dictated by Olympic's availability.
”Thus, with the aid of my old friend Glyn John's masterful engineering, at 11pm on Wednesday 25th September 1968, we began our recordings and embarked upon committing this eclectic powerhouse to tape.”
The 76-year-old added: “Much has been speculated about the initial recordings, so I thought it would be useful to show the worksheet from RAK that gives the dates and times that we were scheduled initially to go in.
“It makes fascinating reading.”
Paying tribute to Bonham, Page wrote: “The opening track of Led Zeppelin I, Good Times Bad Times, changed drumming forever with the glorious technique of John Bonham.
“Sadly, this day is 40 years since his passing. He left a heroic musical legacy.”
Following Bonham’s death, Led Zeppelin released a statement on December 4, 1980.
Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones had decided to disband out of respect for their drummer.
Led Zeppelin wrote: “We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend and the deep respect we have for his family, together with the sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager, have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were.”
Of course, Led Zeppelin have reunited over the years since.
Four times in fact, in 1985 (for Live Aid), 1988, 1995 and 2007. John’s son Jason Bonham played the drums on the latter three reunions.
Sadly, Led Zeppelin haven’t reunited since, with Page most recently saying it’s unlikely.
He told the BBC this summer: “It doesn’t look as though there’s anything in the future, unfortunately.
“We’re talking about a concert that was gigantic at the time, but that was 2007: time passes, y’know?”
Greatest drummer ever.
If you listen to Kenny Jones drumming for the Small Faces/Faces, choosing him to replace Moon was a no-brainer. But then he got that Who gig and his whole style of drumming changed. He became a lot more restrained and it never really worked out that well.
Maybe not but a rock model for sure.
”In My Time of Dying” for me exemplifies John Bonham’s crushingly powerful drum playing.
As a matter of fact, Peter Grant threatened Grand Funk Railroad’s manager, and forced them off the tour, because they were blowing LZ off the stage.
From where I was sitting they were GREAT!
I dunno...he had a pretty strong drum roll, both single-stroke and double-stroke rolls.
The only song I skip on that album is "Hot Dog" - that song just doesn't fit the rest of the album but might have had a place on Physical Graffiti.
All the other songs are atmospheric and ageless. Especially "Fool In The Rain", "Carouselambra", "All My Love" and even "I'm Gonna Crawl."
I liked the direction they were heading in.
Robert Plant's "Big Log" from 1983 is a hint of what might have been if LZ continued into the 1980s and is one of my favorite songs of all time.
What great pics! Moon looks like he’s having the time of his life. :-)
One of a very small, very elite group of immortals for sure. One drummer who was consistently underrated (which was a damn shame, because he was outstanding) was Mick Tucker of Sweet.
I’m Gonna Crawl has a great guitar solo that NEVER gets talked about. In fact that song in general really flies under the radar.
Don’t know him.
Will check him out, thanks.
I agree. Everything they did live sucked with the notable except being “Celebration Day” which their last concert.
When Moon died, he was a wreck. His performance on Who Are You is uninspiring. The Who decided against touring in support of Who Are You, in part, because of Moon's bad shape. Dalrtey allegedly wanted Moon out of the band. When he died, The Who wept but they felt Moon gave them a bit of a gift so they carried on.
I never saw Zeppelin live with Bonham. I saw something at Live Aid that was a Zeppelin-like reunion that was truly awful. I saw lots of footage and boots...prior to 1971 Zeppelin was a smoking hot live band. After that..well..not quite. Again, I wasn't there in person but others here have said kinda the same thing.
That said, Zeppelin is the fifth best-selling artist ever in America at 115.5MM units as of today, right behind The Eagles at 120MM. That's undeniable, and blows away The Who which stands at 114th with 21MM units, sandwiched between Notorious BIG and Alanis Morissett. Zeppelin was a better studio than live band, and frankly Achilles Last Stand is a masterpiece that should have been put on Voyager 2.
In contrast, The Who blows every other band on the planet off the stage. I never saw The Ooo with Moon. But I saw them nine times and they were awesome, without Moon then without John....in fact their Quadrophenia Tour in 2012 was almost Biblical. I also believe that their performance of Won't Get Fooled Again at The Concert of New York may have been the finest moment in the history of rock.
There is no denying that Moon and Bonham set the standard for legions of other drummers. They remain influential today. The Fool in the Rain isolated drum track where Bonzo plays a shuffle (which ain't easy) shows just how versatile was Bonzo. And on this version of Water, Moon at 5:13 bounces his stick off his snare with his left hand, catches it in mid-air with his right hand, and doesn't miss a beat. RIP.
I saw them at Live Aid and yea, they were awful...possibly the worst band that day (though Patti LaBelle's set was ponderous). But as the little DoodleBobs remind me when I criticize the performance, "but Dad...you SAW Zeppelin." 
Thanks for the link, learned stuff here.
Pontiac Silverdome - 1977... I think I made it home 3 days later...
Oh boo hoo
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