Friday, March 29All That Matters

POLYPHONIC: What Makes John Bonham Such a Good Drummer?

by captain-versavice


POLYPHONIC: What Makes John Bonham Such a Good Drummer?




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12 Comments

  • BrickGun

    I always like to share this story when Bonham is brought up…
    In college (early 90s) I worked in a record store. It was right around the time the Zeppelin boxed set came out, so we would often play the CDs of it in the store.

    Normally when we would play various music you could see certain sections of the store bopping to it. The Rock section would bop around to Nirvana or Temple of the Dog or the Singles soundtrack, country would bounce to the latest George Straight, Rap (hip hop wasn’t *quite its own section yet) would be boppin to Naughty by Nature or the Beastie Boys, etc.

    But one time when I put on CD 3 of the Zep box set and “When the Levee Breaks” drum intro started, you could look down upon the entire store from the elevated manager’s booth and *every. *single. *person. in the store had their head bopping to that intro beat of Bonham’s.

    Rap, Country, Rock, New Age, Soul… everyone. It was the only time I ever saw that in the couple of years I worked there.

    Bonham brings the world together. 🙂

    Reply
  • Nasty_Makhno

    When he was sober enough to get through a song he was a good rock drummer. My dad saw them back in the day and left the show a few songs in because Bonham was so wasted that he could barely play.

    Reply
  • KolhiiHead69

    I don’t think this really gets to what actually made John Bonham such a good drummer. I think it provides some good examples of his creativity which is a large part of why he was such a great drummer, but it also just makes some bizarre claims that don’t make too much sense.

    Bonham was such a great drummer because he was a complete package. He had awesome creativity, but he also had a shit ton of restraint. He had a brilliant ear for understanding what the song was calling for, the drum parts he wrote feel perfect, but also extremely natural like it came off the top of his head. He had an incredible sense of groove and pocket, but he also hit the drums hard with a massive sense of energy. He was just the perfect blend of high technique, great natural songwriter, bold creativity yet very unselfish.

    Reply

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