John Bonham is likely the best rock and roll drummer of all time. He made countless people want to play the kit thanks to his big booming hits and ever-thumping kick smashes. He was like a construction site in motion.
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Bonham died young, passing away from alcoholism in 1980 at just 32. But even though he didn’t live a long life, he lived an illustrious one. And he’ll forever be remembered thanks to his part in the great British-born rock band Led Zeppelin.
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But with all that experience and talent, one might wonder what Bonham had to say about his life, career, craft and infamous rock band. Here are the 13 best Bonham quotes.
1. “People who don’t take care of their drums really annoy me.”
2. “I remember in the early days when we played six nights a week for a month and I was doing my long drum solo every night. My hands were covered in blisters.”
3. “With Zeppelin, I tried to play something different every night in my solos. I’d play for 20 minutes but the longest ever was 30 minutes. It’s a long time, but when I was playing it seemed to fly by.”
4. “Sometimes you’d come up against a brick wall… or sometimes you go into a fill and you’d know halfway through it was going to be disastrous.”
5. “I hate it when people slag us off. We had done three tours during 1970 and we finished off feeling we had just about had enough. We had done so much in that short space of time, we were drained.”
6. “My nerves before a gig got worse; I had terrible bad nerves all the time. Once we started… I was fine.”
7. “There was absolutely no intention of splitting up. We had so many great ideas to use on the new album. John Paul Jones was incredible, coming to the studio each day with new instruments to play.”
8. “There were times when I blundered and got the dreaded look from the lads. But that was a good sign. It showed I’d attempted something I’d not tried before.”
9. “I dare not drink before a gig because I’ll get tired and blow it. So I have to sit drinking tea in a caravan.”
10. “Not everybody likes or understands a drum solo, so I like to bring in effects and sounds to keep their interest.”
11. “We once did six tours of America in 15 months.”
12. “We had offers to go everywhere and we could have done them. But what would have been the point? We were tired. We had worked hard and needed a break before we got stale. We spent six months at home and writing songs.”
13. “Drumming was the only thing I was ever good at.”
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