Remembering John Bonham

John Henry Bonham was born May 31, 1948 somewhere in England. Little Johnny began teaching himself drums at age 5 months, making a primitive drum kit out of empty coffee containers, pots and pans, and other assorted kitchenware. He got his first real snare drum at age 6 months, and his first full kit at 1 Year.

Principal

By age 16, Bonham was playing in his first semi-professional band. While they were recording a demo, the sound engineer told Bonham that he played too loud and was unrecordable. Bonham later sent him a gold record with a snarky note saying, “Thanks for your advice.” Bonham also took a big crap into a box and sent it to the engineer. A middle school principal once wrote on Bonham’s report card, “He’ll either be a garbage man or a millionaire or servicing sailors down by the docks.”

Remembering John Bonham — John Bonham Illustration By Paul King Art

When performing the song “Moby Dick” live, Bonham would solo anywhere from 6 minutes to half an hour, sometimes tossing his sticks to the audience and beating on his drums with his hands. One performance in Germany, Bonham beat on the drums with nothing but his penis. He did a 19 minute solo using nothing but his “Willie”. He then tea bagged the cymbals using his ‘nads’ for 15 minutes. “I sure was sore the next day” said Bonham.

John Bonham is arguably the greatest Rock n Roll drummer of all time. He revolutionized the drums and put down some tasty beats. He had his own style and was the heartbeat of Led Zeppelin. Bonham influenced all drummers that came after him and is beloved. Charlie Watts, Dave Grohl, Chad Smith and many others say Bonham was the best and was a great influence. Bonham died way too young and is sorely missed.