The Life and Death of John Bonham

 

Four decades ago today, we lost an important figure in the rock scene, Led Zeppelin's John Bonham. Bonham died as a result of heavy consumption of alcohol ripe at the age of 32.

So much to live for

Born on May 31, 1948 in Redditch, Worcestershire, England, Bonham took a vested interest in music at five years old when he began to drum using containers and tin coffee cans as a drum kit. Bonhams idols of the day were Max Roach, Gene Krupa, and Buddy Rich - all jazz drummers. His mother got him a snare drum for his tenth birthday, and his father got him his first real drum kit, a Premier Percussion kit, at fifteen. 

While a student attending Lodge Farm Modern Seondary School (now Tudor Grange Academy), Bonham's headmaster often said that Bonham would become either a dustman or a millionaire. At sixteen, Bonham joined his father as a carpenter apprentice, and on his days off, drummed for local bands.

Also in 1964, Bonham joined Terry Webb and the Spiders who had a single with She's a Mod in 1965. In 1966, Bonham joined A Way of Life, but it wasn't until 1967, when drumming for Crawling King Snakes, that Bonham met future LZ singer, Robert Plant. Eventually, A.W.O.L. reformed and Bonham had to rejoin, but promised to keep in touch with Plant.

The story begins

In the summer of 1968, Jimmy Page elected to form another band after the demise of The Yardbirds, to be called The New Yardbirds. The first recruit was vocalist Robert Plant, who recommended Bonham for drummer. Though Page was unsure, everything changed when Page, Plant, and manager Peter Grant attended a Tim Rose concert at a club in North London, on which Bonham was the drummer of the backing band. Page was enthused and invited Bonham to join, who reluctantly did at the expense of turning down a lucrative offer from Joe Cocker, which he never regreted.

The name Led Zeppelin came during a tour of Scandinavia and Finland during which the band joked about how they would all go down in a balloon of lead.

In the dozen years since then, Bonham's drumming laid down the law for the band. At the advice of Vanila Fudge's Carnine Appice, Bonham invested in Ludwig drums, which contributed to the powerful, thumping sound as heard on tracks such as Rock and Roll, Kashmir, The Ocean, In the Evening, and All of my Love, among others.

Gone too soon

It was the 24th of September when assistant Rex King picked Bonham up to meet his bandmates at Bray Studios, where rehearsals were to take place for a 1980-81 tour of North America - their first since 1977. Bonham asked King to stop for breakfast during which time Bonham downed sixteen shots of vodka. 

Bonham's drinking did not stop there. He continued drinking during breaks in the rehearsal, and was weary by the time they reached Page's home. Bonham was put to bed and on the morning of September 25, 1980, bass player John Paul Jones, and Page found Bonham unconcious. Bonham was pronounced dead later that afternoon. 

The three remaining members, at that point elected to disband, although they did reunite in 1982 to put together an album of outtakes and unreleased content, Coda. Robert Plant since started a solo career with hits such as Big Log and Ship of Fools. In the mid 90s, Page and Plant hooked back up as Page-Plant, playing Led Zeppelin songs, and Plant's solo work.

In 2007, Led Zeppelin shortly reunited for the Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert at the 02 Arena in London, with John's son, Jason Bonham, at the drum throne.