There are few certainties in life. Birth, taxes, and John Bonham ranking as one of the best rock drummers ever are come of them. The Led Zeppelin timekeeper earned his Bonzo nickname well before he joined the band. It just so happened to suit his powerful playing style perfectly. Still, Bonham’s drum mentor struggled to see what was so special about his now-legendary pupil.
John Bonham earned praise as Led Zeppelin’s drummer
Bonham was exposed to music at a young age and seemed destined to become a drummer. He banged on pots and pans before he ever had a drum set. He heard plenty of jazz records, but Bonham was mesmerized by one rock song that influenced his drumming.
Bonzo did the mesmerizing when he joined Led Zeppelin. He made his presence felt within the first few seconds of the first song on Zep’s first album. His first fill and the kick drum that follows on “Good Times Bad Times” were unlike anything that came before it. Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant praised one Bonham performance by saying it didn’t sound human (and it didn’t).
Bonham’s drumming was so powerful that Paul McCartney wanted him to play on Wings albums. Macca also rated Bonzo as one of the best drummers ever (behind from Ringo Starr).
For all the praise he earned later, Bonham’s drum mentor once said he never thought his pupil was very good.
Bonham’s drum mentor: ‘I never thought John was all that good’
Bonham the budding drummer worked for his dad’s construction company but had his eye on a music career. He wasn’t shy about seeking advice from older, more experienced kit men. Garry Allcock was one of them.
Bonham boldly knocked on Allcock’s door asking for a sit-down, as C.M. Kushins writes in Beast. “The front doorbell rang, and there’s this lad standing on the doorstep saying, ‘Are you Garry Allcock?” the older drummer said.
He didn’t turn Bonham away and often played with him, but Bonham’s evolving style led to Allcock saying he didn’t find the young drummer to be all that good.
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“To be honest, I never thought John was very good, although he was a quick learner. Being brought up on Count Basie and Stan Kenton, I was into big-band drumming. For me, all the beat-group stuff was comparatively easy.”
Kushins writes that Allcock started banging the drums in 1951. That was before musical tastes started changing. Big bands and jazz-based drumming remained the standard until the 1960s. As Allcock said, the “beat-group stuff” seemed easy, but it appealed to listeners’ changing tastes, which Bonham once said contributed to Led Zeppelin’s popularity.
If Allcock didn’t change his stance after seeing all his pupil accomplished later, then we’re not sure he was paying close enough attention to Bonham’s growing legend.
Bonzo was essential to Led Zeppelin
Bonham’s list of standout performances on Led Zeppelin songs — “Good Times Bad Times,” “Dazed and Confused,” “Four Sticks,” “Achilles Last Stand” etc. — almost overlaps with the band’s entire catalog. He turned in relatively few duds aside from the song Bonham and John Paul Jones both hate.
Bonzo always felt the drummer could and should be front and center for a band. His powerful drumming with Led Zeppelin hammered that point home. So did his symbol on Led Zeppelin IV — three interlocking circles that might as well be drum heads.
He was so critical to the band that founding guitarist Jimmy Page said replacing Bonham was out of the question after his untimely death in 1980. Allcock might have believed John Bonham wasn’t all that good as a drummer, but 12 years of excellence in Led Zeppelin proves otherwise.
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