Led Zeppelin brought out strong emotions in some people. Some critics lambasted them as pure hype. Several musicians hated the band. Led Zeppelin’s members even brought out strong feelings in each other. Robert Plant’s relationship with John Bonham hit a rough patch in Japan in 1971. A backstage fistfight left the singer with a split lip, but he and the drummer weathered the storm and patched things up like brothers.
Robert Plant and John Bonham argued and fought before a Led Zeppelin concert
Led Zeppelin was an international phenomenon by 1971. Three hit albums (with a fourth on the way late in the year) scored the band fans worldwide.
Their first Japanese tour kicked off on Sept. 23, 1971, at Tokyo’s famed Budokan. Led Zeppelin didn’t tamp down their famously wild behavior while visiting the islands. Bonham performed surgery on his hotel room with a samurai sword the night before the first show.
The drummer’s behavior the night before the show wasn’t much better. He confronted Plant over a small debt — £30 for gas Bonham gave Plant during a joyride through Scotland, writes Beast author C.M. Kushins. Plant refused to pay at that moment (just before the concert started), and Bonham punched him in the face. Bonham later confessed to Led Zeppelin tour manager Richard Cole that he meant nothing of the violent confrontation with Plant (per Kushins):
“Robert and I have known each other for so long that there’s never any maliciousness in these fights. We just lose our tempers sometimes.”
John Bonham
Bonham hammered the truth just as hard as he pounded his drum kit — he didn’t have any deep-seated ill-will toad Plant. They weren’t related, but they fought — and made up — like brothers.
Bonham and Plant’s relationship survived the confrontation in Japan
Plant’s relationship with Bonham obviously survived the dispute in the bowels of the Budokan. After all, Led Zeppelin lasted nearly another decade before breaking up.
The way both men handled the fight sheds some light on their relationship.
Bonham revealed to Cole that his attack on the singer wasn’t malicious. Plant’s bloody split lip didn’t impact his performance, but the injury piqued the curiosity of backstage media members. Plant basically told them to pound sand (per Kushins), saying, “It’s really none of your f****** business — it’s just between me and Bonzo.” He could have lashed out in the heat of the moment and thrown Bonham under the bus. Yet Plant restrained himself even as he dealt with a bleeding split lip authored by his bandmate.
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After back-to-back Budokan shows, the singer and drummer teamed up with bassist John Paul Jones to prank Jimmy Page during a bullet train ride to Osaka a few days later. Their mix of soggy rice and various liquors missed Page and hit manager Peter Grant instead, which Plant and Bonham found hilarious, writes Kushins.
Despite the fight in Japan, the pair carried on as if nothing happened. It put a brotherly spin on Plant’s relationship with Bonham. They quickly rebuilt their friendship after a brief but violent storm. The singer relished formally introducing John Henry Bonham before the drummer’s epic “Moby Dick” drum solo.
Page and Jones didn’t attend the funeral when Plant’s son, Karac, died suddenly in 1977. The drummer did. Plant and Bonham’s relationship survived and remained strong despite a bloody fight over a trivial debt.
Led Zeppelin’s singer and drummer shared a similar background
Plant and Bonham were the only Led Zeppelin members born outside of the London area. Both hailed from the industrial Birmingham, England, area, and that shared background helped them form a group within a group. The fact they played together in Band of Joy before joining Led Zeppelin gave Bonham and Plant’s relationship another unique twist.
For his part, Plant missed his relationship with Bonham when the drummer died in 1980, especially the antagonistic side that the 1971 fight in Japan hinted at.
Kushins writes that the ongoing joke in Led Zeppelin was that the band’s drummer and singer behaved like an old married couple. Whether they fought like brothers or spouses is irrelevant. Robert Plant’s relationship with John Bonham survived Led Zeppelin’s rough patches and remained strong until the drummer’s death.
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