John Bonham

(from 5/29/09: editor's note...in the 5 months since writing this I've done a bit of study on Bonham and have come to appreciate his work and to begin to try and incorporate some of what he does. I actually like him now and can identify plenty of LZ songs)
In recent weeks I've been reading some books about drummers and magazines about drummers. What I've learned, which I had already started to pick up on, is:
1. Everyone kind of think that Charlie Watts (Rolling Stones) and Ringo Starr (The Beatles) sucked...but everyone still lists them amongst the most important drummers of all time. Which makes me wonder if playing in a really important band makes you important by default. It also makes me wonder how bad Pete Best was. For the record, I was once compared to Charlie Watts...which I think was meant as a compliment, but I took it as a back handed one.
2. If you want to be taken seriously as a drummer, you go into jazz. I don't want to be taken seriously. Nothing bores me more than jazz drumming. It is very hard to eliminate it from my drum education though...it is everywhere. I'm sure jazz influences rock drumming and is therefore somewhat valuable to understand...but I have enough to learn already. Don't make me master jazz first in order to play rock. Jazz is harder and I don't like it. Just teach me the rock.
3. People worship Jon Bonham (Led Zeppelin) and Stewart Copeland (The Police). Copeland I'll treat later, but as far as I can tell, he didn't play the same thing twice, which I guess makes people think he's good. I don't mind playing the same thing twice, so I doubt I'll become a follower of Copeland.

And then there's Bonham.

Here's what wiki says about his style:
Bonham used the matched grip. When using his snare, he would often add emphasis with rimshots to bring out a more solid attack. His heavy sound was due in part to the unusually large drums incorporated into his various kits. Bass drums in common use at the time were on the average of 22 inches in diameter, whereas Bonham opted for 24 and 26 inch bass drums. His mounted tom was 12 inches deep, much like a parade drum.

One of the highlights of his Moby Dick drum solo, would be a segment where he would play his drums with only his hands.

Bonham was known for his unusual time signatures on many songs like "Nobody's Fault but Mine" and "In My Time of Dying". Despite being rather basic blues songs, he would make them complex using off-tempos. He would also tend to utilise interplay with the rhythm and bass guitars on a track, often seeming to "play along" with them. This led to his widely regarded "sense of groove", as this tended to lead to drum beats uniquely tailored for each song and that also tended to fit with the song well. Examples of this can be heard on the track "Over the Hills and Far Away", where there is a lot of interplay between Bonham and bassist John Paul Jones, as well as the final, Hard Rock section of "Stairway to Heaven", where Bonham's rhythm is perfectly in sync with both guitarist Jimmy Page's guitar and John Paul Jones' Bass.

I quote here because I have no idea. I don't think I could name a Led Zeppelin song if asked. I MIGHT Be able to identify one if it were played for me...I suppose I knew that they did Stairway to Heaven for instance. I just never got into them...never had a reason to. Same goes for The Who.

Here he is playing Moby Dick:


In any case, I suppose I should listen to some of the man's work for reference sake. But I doubt he's going to influence me the way people like Gina Schock do. I guess I'm just shallow.